Kelly Farmer’s debut, Out on the Ice, is a sweet f/f romance. Hockey romance is a surprisingly large subset of m/m romance. When I saw a women’s hockey romance on NetGalley, I was delighted. I got this as an arc from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Amy Schwartzbach is a professional hockey player with the National Women’s Hockey League team the Boston Ice. Caro Cassidy has been retired for a few years and has opened up a hockey focused ice rink for girls, Girls & Goals. She has hired Amy to work for her as a coach for the program’s Summer camp.
Amy is a bouncy, out and proud bisexual who uses her social media platform to raise the profile of women’s hockey and LGBTQIA+ rights. Caro is not in the closet, but her relationship with her family makes her shy about being open and public. She is also wary of alienating the parents of the girls she trains at her rink.
They take time to get to know each other before starting a romantic relationship, and then ease into a long distance relationship. Farmer very nicely works their daily lives, friendships and families into their romance. Caro and Amy bring needed things into each other’s lives and that’s reflected not only in how they relate to one another, but also in how they relate to the other important people in their lives.
A major plus is Caro’s very good dog, Doug. Doug is an emotional bridge that allows Caro to connect with people. I was disappointed that Out on the Ice is a closed door romance. I think the way people have sex is an important part of the romance. When Amy thinks about the way they had sex for the first time in generalities, I felt deprived. That said, the emotional intimacy between them was built beautifully. It was a nice read.