A fast-paced, deeply emotional tale of two people who don't know what they want for the future — and yet, know they can't live without each other. I've never read a skating romance before, and sports romances normally aren't my thing. But McRae and Maltese have written an accessible, witty and highly engaging book that's a peek backstage into the world of high stakes, Olympic ice skating.Like most of the world, I've watched some skating, and I've admired the athletes' focus, grace and sensuality...

Three hours to read this book cover to cover and I could not put it down. Beyond the fact that it had my hooked because I love the sport of figure skating, I kept turning page after page for these characters, for their relationship and the fact that I found them so damn relatable. Yes the ending could be predicted from the start and I knew exactly what I would be reading when I started, but this to me became more than just a cheesy sports romance. And another thing I have to praise about this bo...

This was an interesting read, and my feelings are a little jumbled. I'm finding that how I feel about a book is often ~directly~ proportional to whether or not it fulfills the preexisting expectations I have before reading the book (see also- my thoughts on The Intimacy Experiment🤦🏼‍♀️) And this book was absolutely nothing like what I expected. However, it was a ~gorgeously~ written book, both Katie and Brendan were deeply compelling characters and I was really rooting for their HEA. Overall I w...

Another stellar romance from McRae & Maltese. I ripped through this in a day, rooting hard for both characters the whole damned time.Katie & Brendan have the kind of deep trust that pair skaters who routinely spend time physically close while having knives on their feet need to have. They've been partnered for over a decade, working day in and day out, and they have achieved their dreams: they just won an Olympic Gold medal.They've had chemistry for years, but the last ill-fated attempt to be to...

It was alright. I came for the great premise (i.e., Tessa and Scott fandom) but felt let down by the lack of character growth. Brendan was at the destination from the get-go, while Katie ran hot and cold and was a pretty big jerk to Brendan. Then she - what, just got over herself? And they lived happily ever after? It didn't feel earned to me.(This is a weird small niggle but I feel like "Katie" is not the diminutive this character would have chosen. She seems like the kind of person who would g...

That was my first skating romance and a pretty enjoyable one to read. Brendan and Katie are fascinating to read on the ice, and their relationship was really believable in the way long-term relationships are. The authors do a really good job of communicating their closeness and illustrating how well they work together as a team on the ice. The romance is also a comforting presence of its own in this book. Katie and Brendan love each other, and when they are in the room and interacting, it's clea...

Excellent novel about love, skating, anxietyI was drawn into this book so deeply I couldn’t put it down all day. I’d been a professional ballet dancer from age four till age 25, when I had to have serious surgery (x3) on my right knee after an accident on my way to a performance, ending my career suddenly and tragically. The themes throughout this love story of ice skaters, of never being enough, of *needing* to be first, of never being thin enough, strong enough, beautiful enough, the anxiety a...

How Not to Live with AnxietyI wanted to love this book, but I found it so maddeningly frustrating. I wanted to love Katie, the heroine, and feel a kinship with her over our shared clinical anxiety, an affliction which is so rarely depicted in books or movies in a nuanced, insightful way. Instead, I resent Katie, and this book, for making anxiety an excuse for bad behavior.I get that anxiety is hard. It can be paralyzing and all-consuming; it can make us behave irrationally; it can sideline caree...

Shew. I am giving up. Katie is bitch to him. And he is literally the sweetest man ever. This relationship would not be a partnership. It would be her getting and never giving anything in turn. I can't read that bullshit.

Sweet baby J., this was horrifyingly bad. Waste of time. I wanted to scream at the screen, throw my device across the room and reach into it to slap both of these characters, all at the same time. You wanna know what this book is about? One horrible lady who doesn't deserve any love or happiness and one victim of Stockholm syndrome. And the lady's love for cows. And how NOT to give someone a haircut. With a knife. In darkness.It's painfully obvious that there were two writers responsible for thi...

I loved this. Katie and Brendan were perfection. Yes there were times when Katie was frustrating but there are so many romances where the hero is frustrating for most of the book and the reader forgives them because the heroine forgives them. Katie is complicated and Brendan is the sweetheart who loves her flaws and all. Reverse this and it’s about 80% of most romances. There was a thread on Twitter a few months ago about how male characters are almost always forgiven for being stubborn and comp...

this book will be my villain origin story

This book is literally VirtueMoir fanfiction (and that's probably the reason I bought it)! There is a lot of things I really liked about this book but there are also quite a few things that bothered me! I did not understand Katie at all! I really did not get what she blamed Brendan for all the time. He on the other hand was way too forgiving and took the blame for everything! I wanted to stand up for him on numerous occasions! Also the end felt kind of rushed! However, it's an enjoyable and quic...

I wanted to like this more than I did, but it was very hard to get through because Katie's massive anxiety hit too close to home for me. I know some other reviews have commented on the lack of communication as the characters being "too old" for this, but it makes sense in the crucible of Olympic competition that they would be very good at skating and very bad at a lot of other things. I did feel like Brendan got really dragged about and should have stood up for himself more. I think in the end m...

1 'I should have dnf it' starsThis book was poorly executed. Most of the time I didn't know what was going on, why Katie was angry at Brendan? I felt sorry for him...And the lack of communication was completely stupid. They were almost thirty, for God's sake! Not thirteen! And then at 70% or so (I had already lost interest in this), suddenly, everything was good between them, without resolving whatever was wrong but getting married anyway 🤦🤦

Katie has spent the last twenty years of her life working towards her life goal: winning an Olympic gold medal in pairs' skating with her partner, Brendan. But with that goal finally achieved, and the pair about to announce their retirement from amateur skating, Katie, who has always suffered from anxiety, is emotionally derailed. During their post-Olympic skating tour, Katie whips back and forth between making sexual advances to her partner (and former boyfriend) and pushing him away with insul...

Quite a page turner. Kate was so frustrating, though! Like one of the other reviewers said, anxiety isn’t an excuse to keep treating people badly.

I made it to Chapter 15, and I feel Iike I deserve my own Olympic medal for that accomplishment. I could’ve really enjoyed this if not for the miserable, horrible, awful female character. I get it, she was dealing with anxiety and ‘real life’ struggles, and not every h in every novel can or should be a Mary Sue. But, Jiminy....they need to at least be somewhat likable. Katie might just be the absolute worst character I’ve ever read. It’s not that she was dealing with anxiety, it’s that she let h...

why did i do this to myself???? i was so excited to read about ice skating but this was complete TRASH. Don’t waste your time.Katie never knew what the fuck she wanted and can’t communicate for SHIT. I get that skating was your life but now that you’re retiring you should at least have some idea about what you’re thinking about doing next. Except the bitch never fucking knew anything but skating this and skating that. She literally acts like a whole child when they’re supposed to be thirty. Havi...

I didn't like this book. The romance didn't make any sense. The characters didn't seem to have any chemistry and Katie spent the whole book blaming Brendan for everything. And then suddenly he proposes and she accepts? And then they continue to fight? I didn't believe in the HEA because the characters did no work to make that ending possible. The other issue is the figure skating bits. I've been following the sport since I was a kid so I've watched a lot of pairs programs in 30 years. A program