Running with Lions
Okay, so usually novels like this are my absolute favorite thing in the world. I love sports centered novels with LGBTQ+ characters and I love the whole non-stereotypical part of these stories where being a different sexual orientation other than straight is not your defining characteristic or as significant as compared to “the big game” or the “playoffs” or whatever it is (strangely enough it’s always soccer or hockey for some reason).
Anyways, I was super excited to read this book and I loved the cover art and the synopsis and the beginning, but then it just started…sucking. Figuratively and literally.
I really wanted to enjoy this book more, but there were just so many glaringly obvious issues that depleted my enjoyment faster than traffic on the 405 on the weekends, and here is why:
Number one, the book was so choppy. I always find it bizarre when people refer to writing as choppy, but this book makes it abundantly clear that waves are not the only things crashing.
This book is all over the place in terms of characterization, dialogue, and plot. Half of the time I was confused about who was talking and the other half of the time I felt like people were talking that had never been introduced before.
Winters introduces so many people randomly throughout the novel and just expects you to know who they are without sufficient character exploration or detail and it’s actually downright impossible. At this moment, these are the characters I can recall by name without looking at the book or descriptions of it online: Sebastian, Emir, Mason, Willie, Hunter….and that’s is.
For real though, I would consider it a personal failure if someone read my 300+ page book and could only remember the names of FOUR people when I had described thirty. What this shows is a disappointing failure on the part of the author to make any of his characters memorable, relatable, or frankly even realistic.
In terms of the plot it was trite and predictable. The main character, a short white guy-why are they always short white guys??-is having such a difficult time because his life is soccer and air is soccer and love is soccer and soccer is ending and whatever shall he do?
I simply found this so-called conundrum so pedestrian and hackneyed that I could never fully back the character. In addition to this supposed huge obstacle, Sebastian can’t figure out what he wants to do after high school and the pressure is building. Last, his ex-best friend has returned from London and he has a major crush on him but it’s awkward cause they used to be best friends and now they’re…not.
Honestly, that’s the whole damn novel. I don’t even know how Winters managed to write a whole story based on this but he did. Actually, more than half of the chapters started with Sebastian waking up, complaining in myriad ways about how abhorrent his alarm his, stealing Willie’s iPod and going for a run, which was inevitably followed by varying descriptions of a sunset. No joke, this made up about 80% of the novel.
The only positive I can think of was Winters’ writing itself and the way he depicted the atmosphere and relationship of the sports team. His writing was coherent and adequate and his depiction of a bunch of boys included a lot of bragging and roasting, but also a lot of real vulnerable moments and touching accolades. If only I knew who was talking to who, it would have been much more enjoyable.
In the end, the book resolved itself on an unbearably cheesy note and I was frankly elated to be rid of Sebastian, the sucky captain, and his team of Lions. If you want a LGBTQ+ sports team story with actual plot, characterization, and sufficient details and explanations, check out Loser by dedicated Quill-that story is AMAZING and delivers on every sports and romance related needs you may have.
Recommendation: Check out the very pretty cover art and then put it back on the shelves, poor yourself a cup of chamomile tea with honey stirred in, and look up the link to Loser and enjoy.
Score: 3/10
