Scan barcode
lovely_fantasy's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
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? Yes
3.5
I liked the book and won’t think harder about it. Therapy speak was a bit much. The actual plot went a bit slow then warp speed at the end.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Cursing, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Injury/Injury detail
joy_s's review against another edition
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Not bad, but I’ll be so real, I was bored a lot of the time, especially in the last third. I wanted to have a fun maybe even jokey time (with how bad I thought this might be), but it wasn’t bad, it was just meh. Not awful, but not at all the content I expected. I appreciated how non-toxic they both were as people though. By the last quarter of the book their relationship becomes pretty healthy, and they work through the remaining jealousy and ego issues in the last few chapters in a way I appreciated!
But this book was too long for me, the tropes were thrown in left and right and in some places hindered the flow of the story/relationship. Sometimes they were fun, sometimes they were a buzzkill.
But this book was too long for me, the tropes were thrown in left and right and in some places hindered the flow of the story/relationship. Sometimes they were fun, sometimes they were a buzzkill.
To be honest, I was a bit bored, and would’ve actually appreciated more sexual scenes given the length of the book and the amount of time they spent as unofficial boyfriend/girlfriend.
Not much to say about the characters though, they were all overall well rounded, and I identified with Anastasia frequently and really enjoyed her distinct personality.
Not much to say about the characters though, they were all overall well rounded, and I identified with Anastasia frequently and really enjoyed her distinct personality.
My only real complaint is the shit with Aaron went on waaayyyyy too long. We already got that he’s a piece of shit, and proving it over and over again starts to back up Nathan’s ego-fed narrative rather than Anastasia’s personal, well thought out decisions; starting to prove her wrong for her willingness to work with him as a skate partner only, and making her whole clinical and healthy approach to things feel pointless. Yes, technically her actions were fruitless in the long run, but showing that over and over again, even while Nate’s friends made very good points about his state of mind about the whole thing, still make it feel like Nate’s protective paranoia comes out on top of Anastasia’s maturity. Choosing to have Aaron be the only real conflict the book has, especially by the end, didn’t really make me happy.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Vomit
snarkycrafter's review against another edition
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.5
While I enjoyed parts of this book, I cannot, in good faith, give it a higher rating especially knowing that there are much better sports romances out there.
The writing is so-so, the story is so-so, the spicy-ness is so-so. Even the characters are so-so. 😒
Major trigger warning for disordered eating, body shaming, eating disorders, fat shaming, manipulative and toxic relationships.
The entire book I kept feeling that Anastasia is supposed to be perceived as a strong FMC…But she’s not. And for all of Nate’s green flags he has some red flags too. Anastasia has to walk these men through sharing their feelings and being their pseudo-therapist. And for all the therapy she’s been through, she puts up with Aaron’s abuse, manipulation, and fat/body shaming for 90% of the book before standing up to him. I mean, it took 54% of the book for ANYONE to even acknowledge her disordered eating and a little longer for her to start working through it. She’s also really bad a setting boundaries until much later in the book, again…SHE’S BEEN IN THERAPY HOW LONG?!
The toxicity of Aaron is just…too much. And she excuses his behavior for a majority of the book that it’s annoying.
The romance is cute but not great. I wouldn’t recommend it to my fellow romance readers or friends. I don’t understand the hype behind this book. Even the smutty scenes are…quite tame and not scandalous in the least. They’re…ok. Not even super detailed which is what I expected after so many people online calling this book “smut”…it’s not.
Finally, the epilogue. 😒🙄
A pregnancy…? Really? Why? What was the purpose? I would have rather read about her at the Olympics, then pursing their professional dreams together and supporting each other’s dreams. But no. We got a cliche pregnancy which makes no sense in the context of the rest of the book. I could not roll my eyes harder if I tried.
TLDR; it’s ok. I wouldn’t take the time to read this book when there are better ones out there.
The writing is so-so, the story is so-so, the spicy-ness is so-so. Even the characters are so-so. 😒
Major trigger warning for disordered eating, body shaming, eating disorders, fat shaming, manipulative and toxic relationships.
The entire book I kept feeling that Anastasia is supposed to be perceived as a strong FMC…But she’s not. And for all of Nate’s green flags he has some red flags too. Anastasia has to walk these men through sharing their feelings and being their pseudo-therapist. And for all the therapy she’s been through, she puts up with Aaron’s abuse, manipulation, and fat/body shaming for 90% of the book before standing up to him. I mean, it took 54% of the book for ANYONE to even acknowledge her disordered eating and a little longer for her to start working through it. She’s also really bad a setting boundaries until much later in the book, again…SHE’S BEEN IN THERAPY HOW LONG?!
The toxicity of Aaron is just…too much. And she excuses his behavior for a majority of the book that it’s annoying.
The romance is cute but not great. I wouldn’t recommend it to my fellow romance readers or friends. I don’t understand the hype behind this book. Even the smutty scenes are…quite tame and not scandalous in the least. They’re…ok. Not even super detailed which is what I expected after so many people online calling this book “smut”…it’s not.
Finally, the epilogue. 😒🙄
A pregnancy…? Really? Why? What was the purpose? I would have rather read about her at the Olympics, then pursing their professional dreams together and supporting each other’s dreams. But no. We got a cliche pregnancy which makes no sense in the context of the rest of the book. I could not roll my eyes harder if I tried.
TLDR; it’s ok. I wouldn’t take the time to read this book when there are better ones out there.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
kmmartin2000's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
I liked the plot of this book and the overall storyline, however, the prose seemed juvenile, and it felt like there was too much information to keep up with throughout the story, especially with the side characters. I did enjoy the ending, and i felt that the book improved as it went on. Overall a fun and lighthearted read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Eating disorder, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Death of parent
ceredonia's review against another edition
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Cursing, Eating disorder, Sexual content, and Toxic friendship
ariajb's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Sexual assault and Vomit
Minor: Pregnancy
rynjean's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body shaming, Eating disorder, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Abandonment and Alcohol
lucia2's review against another edition
emotional
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Sexual content, Violence, Vomit, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, and Medical trauma
Minor: Bullying
swamprat410's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
slow-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
4.0
TL;DR: Don't expect a beautifully constructed, insightful book that will change your life, and instead, take it for what it is: a light and spicy, contemporary college romance book with the emotional maturity of the 20-somethings it was written about.
Storyline is full of tropes: grumpy girl boss and the sunny hockey captain (the lovable father figure of the found family/ragtag team of unruly hockey players) go from enemies-to-lovers who have to overcome limited resources and learn to share the ice.
I read this book as an audiobook and honestly I wish that I'd had a physical book/ebook to read along with for the sole purpose of annotating/keeping notes to keep the sheer number of characters straight.
This book was like being in a college social circle -- in that there are so many people coming and going and at times you have no idea who is going to stick around/be relevant. There were times where I found myself thinking "why do I care/who the hell is this person?" at some of the anecdotal details, but then again, that's probably what builds the universe that the author is creating.
At times I definitely struggled to get through the story. Anastasia is kind of annoying, there's tons of nicknames (like she has at least 3 I feel like), some of the writing is clunky, and the pacing is weird. Plus there's a lot of stuff that if it happened in real life in your friend group you'd be like uh wtf...Like if I found out one of my friends was hooking up in an Uber that I was in at the same time as them I'd be pissed. Have some manners girl!! Put some underwear on, knock it off! But I promised that I would tough it out, and I'm glad I did - Wildfire, the sequel, was much better.
Storyline is full of tropes: grumpy girl boss and the sunny hockey captain (the lovable father figure of the found family/ragtag team of unruly hockey players) go from enemies-to-lovers who have to overcome limited resources and learn to share the ice.
I read this book as an audiobook and honestly I wish that I'd had a physical book/ebook to read along with for the sole purpose of annotating/keeping notes to keep the sheer number of characters straight.
This book was like being in a college social circle -- in that there are so many people coming and going and at times you have no idea who is going to stick around/be relevant. There were times where I found myself thinking "why do I care/who the hell is this person?" at some of the anecdotal details, but then again, that's probably what builds the universe that the author is creating.
At times I definitely struggled to get through the story. Anastasia is kind of annoying, there's tons of nicknames (like she has at least 3 I feel like), some of the writing is clunky, and the pacing is weird. Plus there's a lot of stuff that if it happened in real life in your friend group you'd be like uh wtf...
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder, Sexual content, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Body shaming, Cursing, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Gaslighting, and Alcohol
blackcatl's review against another edition
Definetly look at the content warnings
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder
Moderate: Sexual content and Toxic friendship
Minor: Vomit, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail