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sarahs_booklove's review against another edition
4.0
Wenn man mich fragen würde ob dieses Buch besonders tiefgründig war, einen tollen Plot hatte oder mit nicht kindischen Charakteren überzeugen könnte dann müsste ich diese Fragen (leider) verneinen. Es war eine sehr flache Geschichte mit einem sehr vorhersehbaren Ende, sehr viel künstlich erzeugtem Drama und (aufgrund des Alters) wahnsinnig kindischen Reaktionen auf Dinge. Hab ich die Geschichte trotzdem absolut verschlungen, wollte immer weiterlesen und hab so etwas wie Spannung verspürt? Absolut! Zum Ende hin wurde es sogar richtig emotional, und ich hatte Gänsehaut bei den Dingen, die so passiert sind. Das Buch konnte mich also richtig richtig gut unterhalten, und da ich Storys über Eiskunstlaufen bzw. Jegliche Art von Sport Wettkämpfen in Büchern total gerne lese waren die oben benannten Punkte total irrelevant. Ich wollte sie euch trotzdem nicht vorenthalten, weil man einfach nicht mit einer großen Erwartung an das Buch gehen sollte. Wenn man diese allerdings runterschraubt und sich einfach ein wenig berieseln oder unterhalten lassen will: Go for it! Ich habe es tatsächlich sehr genossen!
macoliumb2's review
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
paytonaubree's review
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
thelaurajay's review
3.0
This book is FUN. It is great to read a ice skating novel that really nails the sport. I liked the stakes and the clear dynamic between her and her family. It was also interesting to have a love triangle deployed where both choices for the girl were equally great. For 60% of the book, I felt that the romance had the potential to go either way. I'd read a series about this main character, Adriana.
The only drawback was I did not feel the two main guy characters were super fleshed out. Adriana barely talked to one for most of the book, though the history is supposed to fill in those gaps. Unfortunately, it was not something seeable so I could only buy into why Freddie liked Adriana, but could not get a clear feel for their chemistry (the best scene was ROSES) or Freddie's personality other than he's strong, serious and...there from childhood. A lot of what might have filled that in is saved for a letter at the end of the book. Dramatic tension, yes, but I would have loved to have more personality from him to invest into their love story earlier.
Brayden's characterization is simply: cad who has fallen in love. I get why he likes Adriana (again, she's awesome) but not any real story beyond that. What's he like beyond playboy? Does he have family or fears or worries? I liked his sense of humor and his long standing like for Adriana, but I don't know much more about him.
We spend our time in Adriana's head, so it makes sense that we see them only through her, but I would have loved to understand more about them to make them fully fleshed out characters. The two guys felt simply there for her affection or not, which is frustrating because the groundwork was there for them to also be interesting, compelling people separate from Adriana but also provide more reason for her to be attracted (or not) to them.
The only drawback was I did not feel the two main guy characters were super fleshed out. Adriana barely talked to one for most of the book, though the history is supposed to fill in those gaps. Unfortunately, it was not something seeable so I could only buy into why Freddie liked Adriana, but could not get a clear feel for their chemistry (the best scene was ROSES) or Freddie's personality other than he's strong, serious and...there from childhood. A lot of what might have filled that in is saved for a letter at the end of the book. Dramatic tension, yes, but I would have loved to have more personality from him to invest into their love story earlier.
Brayden's characterization is simply: cad who has fallen in love. I get why he likes Adriana (again, she's awesome) but not any real story beyond that. What's he like beyond playboy? Does he have family or fears or worries? I liked his sense of humor and his long standing like for Adriana, but I don't know much more about him.
We spend our time in Adriana's head, so it makes sense that we see them only through her, but I would have loved to understand more about them to make them fully fleshed out characters. The two guys felt simply there for her affection or not, which is frustrating because the groundwork was there for them to also be interesting, compelling people separate from Adriana but also provide more reason for her to be attracted (or not) to them.
books4susie's review
5.0
This was the perfect love triangle, square, octagon book. Reminding me of one of my favorite movies, The Cutting Edge, Adriana is put in an awkward situation when her former ice dancing partner comes to train at her family’s rink for the world competition. Both have new partners and are surrounded by the rest of their teammates. Full of the expected ups and downs on and off the ice, Adriana must decide if the risks of following her heart and worth the possible hurt.
spevensie's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
daivan's review
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
brandypainter's review
1.0
Two Things About Me:
1. I LOVE Jane Austen. Teaching my unit on Austen to my students is one of my most favorite things to do as a teacher. [b:Persuasion|2156|Persuasion|Jane Austen|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1385172413l/2156._SY75_.jpg|2534720] is in my top three of her novels, where it falls specifically depends on my mood.
2. I am a FAN™️ of Ice Dance-not just figure skating in general but specifically Ice Dance. The other three disciplines I watch casually during Nats, Worlds, and the Olympics (sometimes also Europeans and 4CC if time permits). Ice Dance I schedule into my weekend during every Grand Prix of the season and as much as I possibly can during Challenger and Junior comps.
This book was always going to be a love it or hate it for me. I did firmly tell myself that I would let inconsistencies about the skating that wouldn't be noticeable to casual fans slide as long as they weren't too egregious. While I have a major quibble with the skating, my bigger problem with this book is all the reasons it is a subpar Persuasion retelling.
Every novel Austen wrote has a dichotomy between a Bad Man and a Good Man. (Those two descriptors are bland and reductive, but I'm not currently writing that essay.) Every single one of her villains falls on the spectrum of sexual predator (some to more extremes than others). The villain in Persuasion is the mildest form this takes, but he is still very much not a good person who sees women as disposable in his quest for what he wants. Iacopelli made the mistake of turning the foil for her Wentworth character into an actual decent person she spent more time developing than she did Wentworth's counterpart in this book. I was not at all surprised to skim the reviews on this and discover that so many people were outraged about how the romance pans out. Freddie is mayonnaise on white bread with the crusts cut off. (Frederick Wentworth deserves so much better. UGH.) I think in many ways the author was leaning into this being a reworking of Persuasion to do the work for her in selling the Adriana/Freddie ship, but the problem there is her target audience is teenagers, and none of my students have ever walked into my English class having read Persuasion. If they have experience with Austen, it's [b:Pride and Prejudice|1885|Pride and Prejudice|Jane Austen|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320399351l/1885._SY75_.jpg|3060926] or [b:Emma|6969|Emma|Jane Austen|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1373627931l/6969._SY75_.jpg|3360164]. And of course they would be outraged. Brayden is the one with the personality, charm, and evident care for Adriana. He is the other half of the fake dating scheme, and the first half of the book focuses on his relationship with Adriana. Zero surprise people are mad.
The family dynamic part of this succeeds in being both an excellent reflection of the dynamics in the source work AND an interesting look at the pressures and nepotism prevalent in skating overall. Too bad this book wasn't just about that. It could have been great.
Regarding the figures skating. Here's the thing that bothered me the most. Iacopelli grounded her FS world in real world skating by placing the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, the 2026 Olympics in Milan, AND name dropping Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron. I could have moved past the first two. Throwing real live people in the mix means we're now truly grounded in real life skating. If P/C exist in this world, then don't all the US Senior Ice Dance Teams, who Iacopelli had the audacity to say tanked in Beijing? (I know she was writing this before the Olympics actually arrived, but what does she have against H/D, C/B, and H/B that she would send those kind of vibes their way?) The US Olympic Team comes in 5th in the Beijing team event somehow in this book, and (here's where it got really annoying) the USFSA* is toying with the notion of sending Adriana/Braden to Senior Worlds because of how bad the Senior teams competed at the Olympics, which is RIDICULOUS. First, it's ridiculous because there is nothing FS audiences love more than a redemption narrative arc, so Olympic failure doesn't mean diddly squat when it comes to attending Worlds. Second, Worlds assignments are determined at Nationals. At the end of Nats weekend, USFSA chooses the teams that will compete at Worlds AND THEIR ALTERNATES. The US Senior Ice Dance bench is DEEP. For a team that had only ever competed as Juniors to be sent to Senior Worlds, all the Senior teams would have to be tragically blown up on a boat during a party a la Will Ferrell's Eurovision movie. Even then why would they bother when the required technical elements are not the same? They would need TWO new (or at the very least greatly reworked) programs. The most annoying part is this didn't need including to raise the stakes, and it just kept getting brought up for the last 1/4 of the novel, so I couldn't ignore it either.
Either your skating world needs to be made up out of whole cloth or grounded in reality. Don't straddle.
*Called something else in this book probably for trademark reasons. (Me giving the benefit of the doubt about author's research skills.)
1. I LOVE Jane Austen. Teaching my unit on Austen to my students is one of my most favorite things to do as a teacher. [b:Persuasion|2156|Persuasion|Jane Austen|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1385172413l/2156._SY75_.jpg|2534720] is in my top three of her novels, where it falls specifically depends on my mood.
2. I am a FAN™️ of Ice Dance-not just figure skating in general but specifically Ice Dance. The other three disciplines I watch casually during Nats, Worlds, and the Olympics (sometimes also Europeans and 4CC if time permits). Ice Dance I schedule into my weekend during every Grand Prix of the season and as much as I possibly can during Challenger and Junior comps.
This book was always going to be a love it or hate it for me. I did firmly tell myself that I would let inconsistencies about the skating that wouldn't be noticeable to casual fans slide as long as they weren't too egregious. While I have a major quibble with the skating, my bigger problem with this book is all the reasons it is a subpar Persuasion retelling.
Every novel Austen wrote has a dichotomy between a Bad Man and a Good Man. (Those two descriptors are bland and reductive, but I'm not currently writing that essay.) Every single one of her villains falls on the spectrum of sexual predator (some to more extremes than others). The villain in Persuasion is the mildest form this takes, but he is still very much not a good person who sees women as disposable in his quest for what he wants. Iacopelli made the mistake of turning the foil for her Wentworth character into an actual decent person she spent more time developing than she did Wentworth's counterpart in this book. I was not at all surprised to skim the reviews on this and discover that so many people were outraged about how the romance pans out. Freddie is mayonnaise on white bread with the crusts cut off. (Frederick Wentworth deserves so much better. UGH.) I think in many ways the author was leaning into this being a reworking of Persuasion to do the work for her in selling the Adriana/Freddie ship, but the problem there is her target audience is teenagers, and none of my students have ever walked into my English class having read Persuasion. If they have experience with Austen, it's [b:Pride and Prejudice|1885|Pride and Prejudice|Jane Austen|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320399351l/1885._SY75_.jpg|3060926] or [b:Emma|6969|Emma|Jane Austen|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1373627931l/6969._SY75_.jpg|3360164]. And of course they would be outraged. Brayden is the one with the personality, charm, and evident care for Adriana. He is the other half of the fake dating scheme, and the first half of the book focuses on his relationship with Adriana. Zero surprise people are mad.
The family dynamic part of this succeeds in being both an excellent reflection of the dynamics in the source work AND an interesting look at the pressures and nepotism prevalent in skating overall. Too bad this book wasn't just about that. It could have been great.
Regarding the figures skating. Here's the thing that bothered me the most. Iacopelli grounded her FS world in real world skating by placing the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, the 2026 Olympics in Milan, AND name dropping Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron. I could have moved past the first two. Throwing real live people in the mix means we're now truly grounded in real life skating. If P/C exist in this world, then don't all the US Senior Ice Dance Teams, who Iacopelli had the audacity to say tanked in Beijing? (I know she was writing this before the Olympics actually arrived, but what does she have against H/D, C/B, and H/B that she would send those kind of vibes their way?) The US Olympic Team comes in 5th in the Beijing team event somehow in this book, and (here's where it got really annoying) the USFSA* is toying with the notion of sending Adriana/Braden to Senior Worlds because of how bad the Senior teams competed at the Olympics, which is RIDICULOUS. First, it's ridiculous because there is nothing FS audiences love more than a redemption narrative arc, so Olympic failure doesn't mean diddly squat when it comes to attending Worlds. Second, Worlds assignments are determined at Nationals. At the end of Nats weekend, USFSA chooses the teams that will compete at Worlds AND THEIR ALTERNATES. The US Senior Ice Dance bench is DEEP. For a team that had only ever competed as Juniors to be sent to Senior Worlds, all the Senior teams would have to be tragically blown up on a boat during a party a la Will Ferrell's Eurovision movie. Even then why would they bother when the required technical elements are not the same? They would need TWO new (or at the very least greatly reworked) programs. The most annoying part is this didn't need including to raise the stakes, and it just kept getting brought up for the last 1/4 of the novel, so I couldn't ignore it either.
Either your skating world needs to be made up out of whole cloth or grounded in reality. Don't straddle.
*Called something else in this book probably for trademark reasons. (Me giving the benefit of the doubt about author's research skills.)
catherine_silva25's review
2.0
The ending sucked. Poor Brayden got the short end of the stick. This is the first book I’ve ever read where I didn’t predict the final couple and it was very upsetting, it ruined my streak and not even in a good way. just frustrated. Also what is up with the epilogue, it’s trash. And her family’s spending problems??? What happened to that plot point?? It makes me feel better that I’m not the only who got got by this book :( But it was fun to read i guess