Chalk Dust and the Olympic Promise by Laura Shouse
A YA Short Book published on (06/11/25)
I received an Advanced Review Copy (or ARC) on Reedsy Discovery
Summary:
“Who is Amanda Scott without a leotard? Is she just a gymnast? What would happen if the dream, this consuming, all-encompassing Olympic dream, didn’t work out? The thought, usually buried under layers of discipline and determination, now surfaced, raw and terrifying. If she wasn’t tumbling, wasn’t vaulting, wasn’t perfecting a routine, then who was she? What did she offer?”
Sixteen-year-old Amanda Scott isn’t just chasing Olympic gold—she’s battling the voice in her head that questions if she’s ever enough. In the quiet before routines and the stillness between each breath, doubt presses harder than any rival. The gym is her sanctuary and her test, where perfection is the expectation and every misstep feels monumental. As the dream of the Olympics glimmers ahead, Amanda must decide if she has the strength not just to perform, but to believe she belongs.
Keywords:
Gymnastics, Olympics Dream, Training, Injury, Competition, Short Book, Teen
My Review:
This book starts with an essay-tyle recap of what will happen in the following chapters as if it’s a summary of a previous book. Chapter 0 outlines what’s to come, referencing later chapters in parentheses, which felt disorienting. Then Chapter 1 begins at the true start of Amanda’s story: she’s 16 and training for her Olympic dream.
While the depiction of elite gymnastics offers a window into the physical and mental demands of the sport, the story lacks the shape of a traditional narrative arc. Instead, there are small emotional ups and downs. The pacing is slow, and I found myself wishing for more tension, more drama, more something.
Amanda, the protagonist, doesn’t feel fully realized. Aside from Anya, her trainer (who also feels underdeveloped), there are few other characters, and Amanda’s world exists almost entirely within the gym. There’s little exploration of who she is outside her athletic identity, although she does question this identity. When I follow a real-life Olympic hopeful, I’m drawn in by the full story behind the talent—what makes this athlete different from the rest. Here, Amanda feels too narrowly defined by her sport to be compelling on the page.
The first real moment of tension appears when Amanda hits a setback beyond her own internal conflict. That’s when the story briefly finds momentum, and I started to care—if only a little—about her journey. But just as it starts to build, the story ends abruptly. The epilogue mirrors the prologue in tone and structure, reading like an essay summary.
The perspective is psychologically rich and emotionally introspective, but sometimes to a fault. Inner monologues stretch on, and the repetitive sentence structure creates a kind of narrative loop—training, doubt, incremental progress—without much sense of movement. While there are moments of emotional insight, they’re buried under layers of reflection that bog down the pacing.
This reads like a literary sports memoir than a fictional narrative. For readers who identify with the nostalgia of elite sports or Olympic dreams, there may be something compelling about reading this story but for anyone digging for plot, they won’t find much here.
This novel was published on 06/11/25 and is available on Amazon here.
TL;DR Star Rating: 3.25
Links for more information:
Rachel Author Barnard 