We Loved to Run, Stephanie Reents
We Loved to Run, Stephanie Reents
List: $23.00 | Sale: $16.10
Club: $11.50

We Loved to Run

Author: Stephanie Reents

Narrator: Jesse Vilinsky

Unabridged: 11 hr 4 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 08/26/2025

Categories: Fiction, Coming Of Age, Women


Synopsis

A fearless debut novel about a women’s cross country team and how far girls will push themselves to control their bodies, friendships, and futures

“This novel is a wild, brave run through the dark, and the ending might stir you to tears.”—Eric Puchner, New York Times bestselling author of Dream State

We loved running because it was who we were, who we’d been in high school, who we hoped to be in futures we couldn’t yet imagine. Strong and fast. Fast and strong.

At Frost, a small liberal arts college in Massachusetts, the runners on the women’s cross country team have their sights set on the 1992 New England Division Three Championships and will push themselves through every punishing workout and skipped meal to achieve their goal. But Kristin, the team’s star, is hiding a secret about what happened over the summer, and her unpredictable behavior jeopardizes the girls’ chance to win. Team Captain Danielle is convinced she can restore Kristin’s confidence, even if it means burying her own past. As the final meet approaches, Kristin, Danielle, and the rest of the girls must transcend their individual circumstances and run the race as a team.

Told from the perspective of the six fastest team members, We Loved to Run deftly illuminates the intensity of female friendship and desire and the nearly impossible standards young women sometimes set for themselves. With startling honesty and boundless empathy, Stephanie Reents reveals how girls—even those in competition—find ways to love one another and turn feelings of powerlessness into shared strength and self-determination.

Reviews

Goodreads review by DianaRose on September 12, 2025

firstly, thank you to the publisher for an arc! 3.5 stars — this is the third women’s coming to age sports novel i read this year, and while i did enjoy it, especially the difference complex characteristics and backgrounds from each of the girls on the team, it was certainly the most depressing of th......more

Goodreads review by Ashli on May 16, 2025

A powerful, quietly devastating look at girlhood, ambition, and the weight we carry when we’re supposed to be strong. This one stays with you. We Loved to Run isn’t just about running—it’s about girlhood, perfectionism, and the way young women push themselves to the edge to be enough. Told through s......more

Goodreads review by Sarah on May 27, 2025

From its first chapter, We Loved to Run draws the reader into the all-consuming drama and sacrifice of being a top runner on a collegiate cross-country team. “We hated running, and we loved it. We spent so much time trying not to think about our bodies that we were always thinking about them. Thinki......more

Goodreads review by Shannon on September 18, 2025

A moving debut coming of age story set in the early 1990s that follows a group of college runners as they bond, share secrets and try to help one another heal from trauma. This was great on audio narrated by Jesse Vilinsky and perfect for fans of books like Pretty furious by EK Johnston that feature......more

Goodreads review by Ellen on June 09, 2025

I received a copy for review. All opinions are my own. It was very interesting to learn about each girls individual life struggles and see how they all would have to come together at the end. The character development was really great and helped make the book easy to follow. I love that it takes pla......more


Quotes

“The heroism of women with a common cause, in a world of men who think they know best, makes for a moving narrative.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Stephanie Reents's bold, propulsive first novel explores the experience of running cross-country through the plural voices of six female runners at a small liberal arts college.”Shelf Awareness

“Reents has written a new kind of campus novel: a funny, inventive, warmhearted portrait of a college cross country team that begins as an insightful exploration of human competitiveness and becomes a moving ode to surviving trauma through female friendship and collective action. This novel is a wild, brave run through the dark, and the ending might stir you to tears.”—Eric Puchner, New York Times bestselling author of Dream State

“Pulled tense with all the beauty, strength, and desperation of youth, We Loved to Run is a stunner of a novel. It’s as gorgeous and ferocious as the sport at its center, covering miles in the lives of the star runners on a college cross-country team. This book is muscles in motion and hearts spilled out. It’s a tribute to what the body can do, what it suffers, and how it survives.”—Julia Phillips, bestselling author of Bear and Disappearing Earth

We Loved to Run is smart, funny, compelling, important, and, best of all maybe, different from other campus novels and other sports novels and other coming-of-age novels, though it is all of those. Stephanie Reents has written the rarest of debuts: one that ensures you’ll read everything else she ever writes. I really, really, really loved this novel.”—Laurie Frankel, New York Times bestselling author of This Is How It Always Is

We Loved to Run jumps out of the gates and doesn’t let up, not even for a second—it’s blistering, it’s unputdownable.”—Marisa Crane, author of A Sharp Endless Need

“A propulsive read . . . The six teammates at the heart of this novel, and the torturous, rapturous experience of racing together, are made vivid through Stephanie Reents’s exquisite prose.”—Leah Hager Cohen, author of Strangers and Cousins

“I was moved and captivated by this elite crew of complicated, intense, altogether real college athletes. You will love We Loved to Run.—Daphne Kalotay, author of The Archivists

“I couldn’t stop reading We Loved to Run. A poet of speed, a chronicler of exhilaration, Stephanie Reents reminds us that why we run, and what we run from, ultimately matter less than what, or whom, we choose to run to.”—Andrew Altschul, author of The Gringa

“Rousing . . . The narrative doesn’t shy away from the darker realities of college life—including substance use and eating disorders—as well as the mental intensity of elite athletics, bringing an authentic perspective to the characters’ struggles, connections, and fortitude.”Booklist

“Reents offers a fresh perspective on the tension between an athlete’s personal sacrifice and a team’s group identity, especially as the runners seek to harness each other’s strengths. This is worth a look.”Publishers Weekly