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lbarsk's review
3.0
There were parts of this that were really good — the fact that it’s kind of a “you know which ice dancing team” wish fulfillment, the character of Brendan who was such a sweetheart, the times when the book did grapple with “what do you do after you’ve achieved your dream?” — but the way Katie’s anxiety is handled was tough to read. The whole time I just kept shouting WHERE IS A THERAPIST? And then in the later part of the book “therapy” is mentioned, but I couldn’t tell if that was conflated with physical therapy or if it was its own thing. And if it was, Katie needed a new therapist, lol.
jackiehorne's review
4.0
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 insults and anger. I usually hate the "I love you, kiss me, I hate you, go away" trope, but in MacRae and Maltese's hands, it's not plot contrivance but painful character depiction, showing a real woman in deep emotional crisis. Brendan is more even tempered, but he's experiencing his own difficulties adjusting to the change, too, and allows his own temper to flare. Even though the two clearly love one another, they may want very different things out of life post-skating. And if they don't learn to communicate with words, rather than just with their bodies on the ice, even their love might not be enough to help them find a way to be together without doing real emotional damage.
Really admired the authors for writing a romance novel with a heroine who is so very hard to like. But who is deeply loved.
Really admired the authors for writing a romance novel with a heroine who is so very hard to like. But who is deeply loved.
mltokars's review
3.0
Decent read, the characters weren’t 100% my favorite as I struggled with Katie’s inability to make choices and Brendon’s lack of ability to do what he needs for himself.
lassarina's review
2.0
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 my feelings are just very complicated about this; I wanted to like it, and yet I cringed every time Katie did something intensely anxiety-ridden because I know how that feels, but also I wanted to shake her.
kimu's review
3.0
I’d give this 3.5 stars if I could. There were parts that I really enjoyed and then there were parts that made me want to shout at the lead characters, both of them.
annaswan's review
2.0
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.