A review by wardenred
Kiss and Cry by Keira Andrews

emotional hopeful slow-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

3.75

Though we’d never been friends, he was unfailingly friendly, which was honestly infuriating because it made it more difficult to resent him. I still managed.

I was really looking forward to this book because it sounded like it might have one of my favorite characte dynamics. Enemies/rivals to lovers, grumpy/sunshine, wet cat/golden retriever—what's not to love? And yes, the book does indeed keep this promise, but something about the execution fell a bit flat to me. I liked both leads, their relationship developed as I would expect in terms of the above-mentioned tropes, but I just failed to see much chemistry. That's the problem with "opposites attract" stories: there's that line where "they're so different, they can compliment each other really well" can turn into "they're so different, they're better off apart," and where it lies depends as much on the reader as on the book itself. Unfortunately, in this case for me the characters ended up too different in some of the core aspects of their personalities for me to ship them.

I did, however, very much like them as separate characters. Both Henry and Theo are really well-developed and come alive on the page. I loved the supporting characters around them, too, and all the webs of relationships that have shaped them: their relationships with their families, coaches, to an extent their respective federations and fans. I emapthized with Henry's anxiety and cheered on Theo's commitment to establishing borders with his mother. Really, I like them both so much! I just could take or leave them together.

The best thing about the book for me is how well-research it is. Must be written by a fellow figure skating fan, yay! I wish people making skating movies and tv shows took half of the effort to make sure all the technicalities about the various moves, training process, competitions etc rang true. The only problem was with the Grand Prix assignments, as for both guys to share the same event one of them had to have finished last year's Worlds outside of the podium, which... doesn't seem like a thing that has happened? But I guess I can handwave just this one thing.
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