A beautiful story of overcoming hardship and finding the strength to persevere. These driven characters find ways to make dreams come true even when life throws the hardest obstacles at them. I love the strength they gain from each other and the way they focus on the good in their lives. Tyler and Amaliya are both pure and good through and through. The magic they create together on the ice is inspiring. I love watching them grow together. The author kept me captivated as I followed along this journey.

Ice skating and Ballet are two of my favorite themes to read, when i knew about this book, I needed to read it ASAP, it's the first time I read the author.

Amaliya is a ballet dancer; she dreams to dance with a professional company, but her dreams were shattered when her parents suffer an accident. (I just found out that there is a book about her parents, it goes to my tbr)
Tyler is a professional ice skater, competing under the category of pairs with her sister, but she is going retiring soon, so it is time to look for a new partner.

When they meet, a connection arises between them. Amaliya is new to this sport, but not totally amateur, her father was a hockey player and her mother professional dancer, she inherited the talent and grace of both.
I love the descriptions, especially of their training, learning the names of the jumps and etc.
What a great team, always supporting each other, both are talented and had the same goal; participating in the Olympics.

It's a multiple PIV story, Amaliya and Tyler are the principals, but Amaliya's parents have little chapters,I appreciate knowing a little more about their recovery.

Amaliya and Tyler are sweet and likeable, the romance is slow burn, friends to lovers. The story was light and clean, feels a little more YA or NA, rather that adult (although I think both are more mature than other books in the genre, I liked that, Amaliya is 18 and Tyler 21) Overall, was a nice story, read it if you like Ice skating, sweet romance or want read something different.

When a family tragedy hits, aspiring ballerina Amaliya Marcell is forced to leave her home, friends, and all that is familiar to her to try and build a new life, all while finishing her senior year of high school. Filled with guilt and uncertainty as she waits for healing to happen, she moves to a new state. As she tries to find something normal she heads to the ice rink and finds an unexpected glimmer of hope.

Tyler Linden is thrown into one bad audition after another trying to find a new pairs figure skating partner, after his sister announces retirement. He is having to come to terms that he might have to give up the opportunity to go to the US national championships when he sees a beautiful young woman at the local ice rink. She has poise and grace and he takes a risk on Amaliya, by asking her to be his partner.

She agrees, which is surprising considering she has a long way to go to make up the basic jumps required to compete. They both know it won't be an easy path to make it to the championships, but as they continue to get to know one another and skate with one another, they are able to find an easy and solid partnership- on and off the ice. The competition is fierce though, and have to put everything on the line if they wish to achieve their Olympic dreams.

What Traci has done here is such a clever idea. I love the idea that she had in setting up Robert and Katerina in a novella, and then continues their story through their daughter twenty years later. I loved the connection between hockey, ballet, and figure staking. I have always thought that ice dancing in the Olympics was the closest thing to dance. As Tyler says, "Your dad is a skater. Your mom is a ballerina. Combine the two and you get a figure skater." That is really does make sense.

I am trying to think of a book that I have read in the past that has figure skating, and I am coming up blank. However, there were a few times that I wished that the line, "toe pick" had been used just one time. Cutting Edge anyone? I appreciated that Amaliya tried to really find her own path. Although her original path of dancing in San Francisco would have served her well, I understand the need to step back from something after a big life event. In the end it ends up being the best route for her.

It was an endearing read with sweet romance, determination, familial love, and competition. I promise you, it is worth every word and every second. I only wished it kept going. Can't wait to read more in this series.

Rating: 5 Stars

I love figure skating and hockey, so when I saw this book I was thrilled at the chance to read it.
I’m glad I did.
Setting the book in 82 works. The plot would struggle in an age of constant communication, but in 82 it works.
The characters were solid. Amaliya and Tyler are fun and it’s great to watch their relationship develop over the course of the novel.
The book doesn’t feel YA, even though it starts with Amaliya in high school. And it doesn’t feel NA even though Tyler is 21. It’s not a bad thing, but it does run through the reader’s mind at times. With the high school scenes and prom I guess I’d lean YA.
I cheered for Amaliya throughout the story. My biggest problem with the story is that Amaliya’s father is the Capital’s coach and he and his wife—a ballerina who defected from the Soviet Union—have been severely injured and no one seems to know who they are or who Amaliya is. Even in 82 that seems impossible.
And still with that I cheered for Amaliya and Tyler.
The book is enjoyable. I’m glad I got the opportunity to read it.

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Truly well written Novel by Traci Hunter Abramson. Artfully well written novel. As a reader I really enjoyed knowing what the characters were thinking. I really enjoyed getting a peak into the ice skating world as well!

An Unlikely Pair by Traci Hunter Abramson, 304 pages. Covenant Communications, 2021. $17.
Language: G (0 swears, 0 “f”); Mature Content: G; Violence: G
BUYING ADVISORY: HS - ADVISABLE
AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH
Amaliya is a dancer, like her mother; in fact, she would be dancing professionally right now if Amaliya’s parents had allowed her to accept the offered position before finishing high school. Tyler dreams of skating in the Olympics, but he can’t go without a partner, and his sister no longer shares that dream. While Amaliya and Tyler feel right when they meet each other on the ice, all logic says winning is too far out of their reach.
When I saw that Abramson wrote a book about figure skaters, my brain didn’t know how to reconcile the information presented. Amaliya and Tyler’s story is extremely different from everything else I’ve read by her. While the story is less intense life-on-the-line-wise, it is still as intense emotionally. Amaliya and Tyler focus on growth, and they find dreams where they didn’t think to look before their struggles. I loved watching the story unfold because I, as the characters, could feel the devastation of all the pieces falling apart even as I, as the reader, could see that all the pieces were really falling into place. The pressure built throughout the book and held me until the last word -- and didn’t even really let me go, instead leaving me ready for more.
Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen

#AnUnlikelyPair #Netgalley

Oh my goodness!! I loved this book so much! This book is set in the 1980's, I can relate, I was in high school.
Figure Skating is not something that Amaliya Marcell has thought about doing. Amelia is a ballet dancer liked her mother and wants to be a part of the San Francisco Ballet. When tragedy strikes her family, Amaliya moves to Connecticut, to live with friends of her parents. Amelia has watched her dad coach hockey and she loves to ice skate.
Tyler Linden is looking for a new partner, his sister Carolyn has decided to retire, and Tyler would like to make it to the Olympics someday, as a pairs figure skater. Will he take a chance on an inexperienced figure skater who still needs to learn all the techniques?
I love the movies, The Cutting Edge, Ice Castles and Ice Princess. I remember watching figure skating during the Olympics. This book was so fun to read. I can't wait for the sequel.

This is a book you won't be able to put down once you start reading it. It hooks you on the first page and doesn't let go. It's a sweet heartwarming inspirational romance that I absolutely loved. I highly recommend this book. Thank you Covenant Communications via NetGalley for the ARC copy of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

This was a fun story about persevering, and finding joy thru the hard times. I loved seeing our main characters grow, especially the heroine. She was a dancer, and had to put her knowledge on to the ice. Hard work, practice, and friendship kept her going until they made it to the championships! This was my first book by this author, and now I need to read more by her! I love her style!!!!! Love conquers all❤

I received an ARC from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Amaliya Marcell is an aspiring ballerina whose dreams are put on hold after an accident leaves both her parents hospitalized. She meets Tyler Linden who needs a new pairs skater after his sister and former partner retires. A chance encounter shows Tyler the potential Amaliya has, and he decides to take a chance on her.

First, I absolutely LOVE figure skating and was excited to read a story following pairs skaters. I think my main issue with this is that it felt like you were being narrated to instead of feeling like a part of the story. Then, this is marketed as romance, and unfortunately the chemistry between characters fell flat. I thought it was a sweet and easy read, but it felt like the characters were very one dimensional. The same issues came and went, and it just felt like you were reading the same thing over and over again.

I read this more as a YA novel, and if you read it with that in mind then you'd enjoy it. It is marketed as romance, but that wasn't really the focus of this story.

4.5 stars
I can envision this story as a great underdog sports movie that would be really fun to watch. I would love to see the dance and the skating on a screen. It would be beautiful. I thought Tyler was a true gentleman once he got past the moment of whining when his sister announced her plans. He was so caring and I liked him a lot. Amaliya was a little young and I wasn't too sure about her in a relationship. I'm glad the story focused so much on them as skating partners and maybe less as a romantic couple. And frankly, the skating aspect of the story was intriguing enough that this could have been written with no romance involved and still have been a great story.
A word to the wise before you read this story. Pay attention to the year it takes place so the fact that they were using landlines instead of cell phones, etc... doesn't confuse. And recognize that this is a series that will continue. I presume we will see them at the Olympics. I didn't realize that until after reading it so the ending felt abrupt. It wouldn't have if I'd realized before hand. I still would have had the "NOOOOO! You can't end there" response since I wanted the story to continue but it wouldn't have been so bad.
As I read I wondered why these kids were eating so much junk food when they were supposed to be in training, and their coach was a disaster. I believe the casualness of their eating habits and even the tone of the book early on was to show the huge contrast to what their efforts would look like by the end.
It was a good story and I was happy to see their efforts pay off in the end.

No sex, language or violence

I always admire when a character is resilient in the midst of hard things but when they also take the time to adjust and grieve the unexpected change. Amaliya Marcell is a young woman to be admired. She learns quickly to roll with the punches, do her best every day, and keep moving forward even when her world gets turned upside down. It was so easy to get swept up in this story and the world of figure skating. This book, while a little slow in spots, is such a sweet tale of determination, love, and family.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my advanced copy of this book.

I struggled so much to read the format of this book. But I love ice skater romance! This was so good! It reminded me of all the ice skating movies there are but that made it so comforting and awesome.

"An Unlikely Pair" was just the book I needed. Easy to read, comfortable, with just a little bit of drama, and a lot of wholesomeness, this was the perfect read to relax and escape my routine reads.

The book takes places in the US in the 1980s, a time I'm not familiar with, so it was interesting to see what people had and didn't have at that time (such as no personal mobile phone, but the family's landline!) and what the culture was like (seemingly rarely going to university, marrying young, etc.).

"An Unlike Pair" follows Amaliya, a young women hoping to become a ballerina like her mother. But when both her parents have a grave accident, she abandons dancing and has to move to a new state with her new guardians. Recently arrived in Connecticut, she accompanies her uncle to the local ice skating rink—a place she is very familiar with, as her father is an ice hockey coach—where she meets Tyler, a very promising young professional skater. Both decide to take a chance and become skating partners, although Amaliya still has a lot to learn about dancing on ice. But supported by her close entourage, she quickly becomes a talented competitor, who raises some jealousy among other skaters.

As someone who did 10 years of ballet and 4 of ice skating, this was a book I immensely enjoyed. I could see how well-researched the book was and how accurate where the details. But I also enjoyed the characters, which were simple but with a good head on their shoulders. I wish their personalities were a bit more developed, but they were still likeable, even though we didn't really know much about either of them. Since the book is set over half a year, it would have been nice to get to know Amaliya and Tyler more, and observe their evolution—individually and together—a bit closer. But, I did especially enjoy that they didn't ask themselves a thousand questions, didn't dramatise their lives or situations, but took the challenges as they came. It was pretty refreshing, compared to many other books!

I am quite looking forward to reading the following books in the series, and hope I won't have to wait too long ;)

One moment, Amalia is planning her future ballet career, and the next she's visiting her parents in the hospital.
Likewise, Tyler's professional figure skating career is in limbo when his sister/ skating partner unexpectedly retires.
Tyler and Amalia connect and begin to wonder if they can both reach new goals together.
It was a sweet story with a TON of action moving the story along. It's definitely more plot driven, and i usually prefer character focused development. I was interested in the plot, but the character chemistry fell flat. The detail in the plot was thorough, and that was refreshing. I just wish the writing incorporated more feeling, and not just narrating action.
I really enjoyed the ice skating, ballet, and hockey connection.
I received a complimentary copy this review is voluntarily given, entirely my own thoughts.

I found this book to be somewhat enjoyable it didn’t have any real drama which can get tiring after while since most of the drama is down to miscommunication or no communication.

What I didn’t like about the book was it being set in the 1980s mainly because somethings I had to look up to remember what they were. I didn’t like how her family were worrying about finding the money for things when it turns out they lived in a crazy mansions. I wasn’t really a fan of the sappy since it become very grating sometimes

I will read a Traci Hunter Abramson book any chance I can get! Her writing is always consistent, fluid, and engaging from start to finish! There are so many elements of this book that I loved. I loved the theme of overcoming hardship. Both Amaliya and Tyler have challenges they must overcome and the growth their characters go through is realistic and relatable. I really enjoyed the skating aspect. There were so many little details mentioned that while I was reading I felt knowledgeable in a sport I don’t actually know the specifics of. The romance was perfectly balanced with the rest of the story and I can’t wait to see where this series takes these characters.

Another winning read from this author. Thank you NetGalley and Covenant Communications for an early copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Let me start out by saying I am a huge huge fan of sports romance! This book has moved one of my favorites. I have never read anything my Traci Hunter, but she has become one of my favorite authors with this book.

I loved Tyler and Amaliya’s chemistry throughout the whole book. Their innocence, passion, and strength was so amazing to read. Tyler and Amaliya are both going through some tough changes. Tyler dealing with the loss of his skating partner, not death but leaving the sport and Amaliya dealing with her parents being in a horrific car accident that has left them in critical condition. Amaliya though being a ballet dancer started finding her escape through skating. Tyler seeing her and her strength and passion chose her to be his new partner. Their growth together throughout the book was so heart warming.

This was a fantastic read!

I could not stop reading this book! An Unlikely Pair is such a heartwarming and sweet sports romance book that catches you from the very beginning and does not let you go. I adore the progression of the relationship between Amaliya and Tyler. They make such a great pair on and off the ice and I did not want the story to end. I am hoping there is going to be a sequel because I feel like there is so much more for their story.

The book does switch between three POV; Amaliya's, Tyler's and Amaliya's mom, Katerina. I do feel like Katerina's POV was a bit out of place and seemed odd at times. The transitions between the POV's were a bit awkward for me at times and jumped too quickly. I think more time spent on each of the character's would have made more sense.

This is very clearly a happily ever after story so if you are looking for a bit more of an inspirational sports romance then this book is for you.

3 1/2 elevated to 4.

Having read the prequel about Amaliya's parents Robert and Katerina, a Canadian hockey player and a Russian ballerina, made this story more interesting and easier to connect to. Their story was set in the 60s and this one is set in 1982.

Both Robert and Amaliya are at a stressful point in their lives with changes they can't control—her parents are in a bad accident and she has to move from CT to NY; his sister decides to retire from figure skating and he needs a new partner.

When Robert and Amaliya meet and start skating together, it becomes obvious they work well as a pair. Spending so much time together, they become friends and eventually fall in love.

I think book 2, the next one, will probably be them qualifying and going to the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, and all the problems and triumphs associated with that.

I received a copy from the publisher via NetGalley and this is my honest opinion.