This was a really strange read. It felt like reading fanfic, but not the good fanfic, the fanfic that people think you get when you read fanfic – really long and pointlessly indulgent. This was going to be a 3 star read, because even though it needed a lot of editing, and 150 fewer pages, it wasn’t horrible. And then I got to the end and was so confused as to what the point had been and why so many plot lines were left loose. I suspect this book is very popular on BookTok because it is an earworm of a read, with a lot of drama. Hilariously, the Goodreads reviews are either 1 star or 5 star, so I guess I’m being generous with 2?
So the plot. I don’t know if there’s a lot of plot, or just a lot of things that happen. The narrative structure is very me telling a long gossipy story to a friend about people they don’t know so I have to keep going on tangents about who these people are. Whether it’s plot or events, it goes on for 435 pages.
I’m going to go ahead and copy/paste the book description:
Anastasia Allen has worked her entire life for a shot at Team USA.
A competitive figure skater since she was five years old, a full college scholarship thanks to her place on the Maple Hills skating team, and a schedule that would make even the most driven person weep, Stassie comes to win.
No exceptions.
Nathan Hawkins has never had a problem he couldn’t solve. As captain of the Maple Hills Titans, he knows the responsibility of keeping the hockey team on the ice rests on his shoulders.
When a misunderstanding results in the two teams sharing a rink, and Anastasia’s partner gets hurt in the aftermath, Nate finds himself swapping his stick for tights, and one scary coach for an even scarier one.
The pair find themselves stuck together in more ways than one, but it’s fine, because Anastasia doesn’t even like hockey players…right?
A lot of the stuff doesn’t happen until we are well into the book. There are SO MANY THINGS happening. There’s the very nice fuck-buddy, the abusive skating partner, way more partying and a lot less training than I would expect from someone serious about the Olympics, who is also in college. There are friend dramas, relationship dramas, team dramas, family dramas, miscommunications, lying, plots and stratagems, a weird thing where Stassie falls through the ice and almost dies but Nate rescues her and then his asshole dad shows up, or maybe that was after his asshole dad left. My point is, there was a lot going on and in the end I couldn’t tell who learned what or grew in what way, but Nate and Stassie ended up with an extremely traditional HEA that threw me for a loop because it introduced a whole other set of drama that while I’m glad we didn’t see it play out for another 400 pages, I had maxed out on my drama with this couple. It was on Kindle Unlimited and now they want $10 for it. Do not recommend.
CN: Disordered eating (challenged), abusive control exerted through calorie counting and food restriction (challenged), slut shaming (challenged), sexual assault, physical assault, near death experience, death of parent off page, toxic father, an accident that leaves a secondary character disabled before book starts.