"Like the tide pulling me under, I'm losing myself in Logan Rivers. And the truth is, I don't know if I want to be saved."

Summary
Coco is a figure skater looking ahead to Nationals and then the Olympics. Logan Rivers is the captain of his NHL team, headed to the playoffs, and he hasn't scored in weeks. He accidentally injures Coco during practice, preventing her from prepping for competition. He visits her in the hospital and the two start to catch feelings. This greatly improves his on-ice performance, giving them the idea she might be his lucky charm. She and his coach agree, behind Logan's back, to make her Lucky Charm status official (and paid), but how long can she keep the ruse up while falling for him at the same time?

Why did I pick up this book?
I was browsing available titles on NetGalley and love the prospect of any self-proclaimed "Steamy Hockey Romantic Comedy," so I decided to check it out, in exchange for an honest review.

What did I enjoy about it?
I have read other books where the male MC is a brawny hockey player and the female MC is a dainty figure skater, each with competitive spirits and ambition to the moon – I love the premise so much. I particularly love when we start to see the hypercompetitive partners start to rely on each other, and the gooey center of the tough male reveal itself. This book had all of these qualities, plus an adorable five-year-old adopted daughter of Logan's, so it had the makings of a story I could have loved. Sadly, the ideas did not come to fruition in a way that I felt was a strong execution.

What did I not enjoy about it?
The setup/summary were extremely misleading. This book is far more focused on Coco's financial struggles, head injury, and overall downward spiral than it is about Logan's success and need for a lucky charm. Also, the author calls this a Steamy Romantic Comedy but had multiple "potentially steamy" scenes that faded to black and I don’t recall chuckling once. It is unclear to me how/why the characters fell for each other as I couldn’t really tell you any personality traits they demonstrated, other than Logan's wealth and ability to grovel, and Coco's one-track, selfish, hypocritical mindset towards her Olympic goals. So many parts fell flat, despite the potential.

This story left me quite conflicted. I loved the premise of this book, and the story started off very strong, but unfortunately, it fell a little flat to me at around 60%. Below, I'm going to summarize my thoughts for my 3 ⭐️ rating:

(+) Poppy is one of the most adorable book-children ever
(+) Logan 🥵
(+) Coco is a sweet and adorable FMC
(+) The buildup of Logan's and Coco's relationship was so perfect - sweet and flirty, with just the right amount of banter and tension.
(+) Wonderful side characters - each of them had a unique part to play in furthering Logan's and Coco's relationship

(-) Coco not knowing who Logan was when she was taking Poppy to find him was pretty implausible: she had seen him in a suit so many times, but then couldn’t figure out who Poppy’s dad actually was; she even assumed he was a hot dog vendor
(-) Brent entering the picture randomly at 70% - it was too much of a coincidence and the timing was a little too predictable.
(-) Did I miss the part where it was Logan’s idea for Coco to take on that job? Because it seemed very convenient when it was finally revealed that he knew the truth the entire time right when Poppy was ready to come clean.
(-) Poppy signing an NDA and taking the deal in the first place - if she really was falling for him, she shouldn’t have kept such a huge secret from him to begin with

Overall 3 ⭐️ and a potential re-read.

NOTE: ARC received in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Honestly, when I went into this I didn't have high expectations. I thought maybe a 3 star read, but I really enjoyed this one. So much fun, and I loved Logan and Poppy. I wish we got a bit more father daugther scenes tho, or Coco & Poppy scenes just cuz she's the cutest! This was also my intro to hockey romance! It was such a fast enjoyable read. I feel like this series is gonna be so cute and I really hope we get more of that found family kind of feeling I got with the WAG's.
The only reason this isn't higher is because sometimes it was a bit repetitive in the writing, I had to go back and chech I wasn't reading the same page. And at some times Coco was just too annoying, she complained alot which to some, I understand but I just wanted to shake her and say "Not everyone is out to hurt you, he has done nothing wrong!"

The Cutting Edge

Thank you NetGalley, Siesta Key House publishing, and Lisa Daily for this ARC!

I cruised through this book, it was easy to read and entertaining. More than half of the story took place in the hospital but it didn’t slow the story down.

Logan is truly a man written by a woman. He was too perfect! I wanted more insight and development from Coco. She was quite the hypocrite when she got made at Logan for lying about the same thing she lied about.

The banter was great and the characters were fun, especially Poppy. I will most likely be reading the next book about Cam and Lana!

#hockeyromancebooks #bookrecommendations #booktok #bookstagram #netgalley

This was a really lovely romance. It was really well written with great dialogue and plot and a fantastic set of characters, both the main ones and the peripheral ones. Would really recommend. Thank you to NetGalley and the Publishers for giving me access to a review copy of this book.

Unfortunately I didn't love this book. The idea of it was great and I did enjoy that their meet-cute, as it isn't one that has been overused, at least in the books that I've read.
I did love that there is single-dad rep, even more so in the way that it is shown, there were parts of the book though where I felt that Poppy had either been forgotten about as a character or was simply there as an accessory.

Everything else felt quite empty, there was no real tension, it was VERY insta-lovey which isn't a trope I particularly enjoy, the third act miscommunication breakup seemed extremely hypocritical to me. For a hockey romance I was expecting more hockey, or at least more ice hockey rink, the majority of the book took place in a hospital over a short period of time and by the third day of knowing her he was already in love.

There were also consistent grammar issues, I'm not 100% sure if this was a formatting issue for the e-book as it appeared different on my kindle app to my netgalley app but it was something that I was continuously noticing throughout my read and it would always remove me from the scenario that was happening.

Aside from this, it was a fast read and if you're looking for something fast and cute, something that you don't really need to use brain power on I could see someone enjoying it, it just wasn't for me.

Thank you NetGalley and Lisa Daily for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

This was a super cute book, I lost count of how many times I found myself smiling while reading it.

The plot was inventive, I like the way Logan and Coco. I liked how their relationship developed but as usual, I got frustrated for the third act break up, I never like them.

I'm very curious to find out what happens in book 2

I really enjoyed the concept of the book but there were a few inconsistencies for me that threw off the story.
The first was the whole aspect of their relationship in the middle, Logan calls Coco his girl to his teammates and she questions it before quickly confirming that she'll have him but then a few pages later she's shocked that the team thinks they're dating.
Another thing was how quickly coco took him back after she kicked him out of her hospital bed.

Overall the story was cute, and we love a single dad NHL player romance, it just needs some tweaking

This was a quick little read under 250 pages. Coco and Logan are good together. I like the pace of the book as well as the humor and slow burn. It you are a fan of slow burn this book is for you. The conflict i saw coming from halfway and was easily remedied. So, over all I like the book not loved but it was pretty good.

Thank you, Net Gally for the Arc.

Being sent to a hospital after getting hit by a hockey puck slapshotted by one of hockey's best players is never a good start to a relationship, but in The Cutting Edge it works. Coco is a figure skating champion with goals to medal in the Olympics. Logan is a single father who doesn't make the best first impression on his daghter's skating teacher when he injures her with a hockey puck to the head. Wanting to make it up to her, Logan spends a lot of his free time at the hospital with Coco where sparks start to fly.

I thought this was a cute and fun sports romance. It isn't so dark and dirty as some of the other hockey romances that are all the rage right now, but I enjoyed it a lot for what it was. I always gage a book on whether I'm happy to get back to reading it, and I was always excited when I got to go back to this one. I liked the characters a lot and enjoyed the light heartedness of the book.

Thanks to Siesta Key and to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book.

From the moment i saw the cover of this book i knew id love it . That is because i love both hockey and figure skating romance. But to have a book put the two together was amazing. At first i thought it was gonna be like icebreaker but i was surprised and happy to find out it wasnt .

i loved the premise of the book and i loved how smitten logan was for fl . That may be because i love mmcs who are instantly in love with / crushing on the fmc .

The way he was so caring and sweet had me swooning . Everything he did was so sweet . i would definitely reccommend this book and it deserves 5 stars

The Cutting Edge is a cute rom com about the romance between a Figure Skater and a NFL player. I really enjoyed this romance, it was clean and funny at all the best times. I thought the characters were so lovable and relatable. Thank you again to NetGalley and the publisher for this opportunity :-)

Really cute hockey rom-com! I like that this hockey romance actually included hockey and not just a sprinkle of it. Coco and Logan are an adorable couple - can’t wait for Lana and Cam’s story next! ❤️

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

Ok, this was some creative storytelling! There isn’t really a great meet-cute in this book; it’s more like an “Oops, I’ve injured you” interaction! I truly loved the two main characters! They were both such goofy dorks, and were perfect for each other from the start!

I also loved Logan’s daughter. So often, I feel like child characters are often not properly represented based on their stated ages; they’re either written too old, too young, too intelligent, too verbal for their claimed age. That wasn’t the case here. The child was portrayed very much like a five year old child! She was adorable, and added so much to the story!

This isn’t really a slow-burn situation. I mean, they weren’t hopping into bed at first sight, but their attraction was pretty much immediate and mutual. It was very satisfying!

When Coco finds out the secret about Logan, she feels betrayed and angry. But wasn’t she keeping the exact same secret? It was a frustrating double-standard that she held.

Ultimately, though, both main characters were able to accomplish their independent goals, even while in a relationship, something they weren’t sure could happen.

So, besides the story itself, I had an incredibly hard time reading this book because I was SO distracted by the many grammatical and punctuation errors. When I started reading, I was highlighting and bookmarking each one. That became ridiculous, as I was marking about every third page. The story was really great, the book could have been so much better!

2.5/5 stars - the cutting edge by lisa daily had an interesting premise, and the one trope everyone loves: the olympic skater & the nhl hockey player. i firstly want to thank netgalley, siesta key, and lisa daily for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

when i read the description i thought the plot was really interesting, but a lot of aspects of the book fell flat for me in the actual execution. close to 52% of the book (actually, 52% on the nose according to the kindle app) takes place in the hospital after logan accidentally injuries coco, giving her a concussion that could make or break her skating career. there is a lot of forced chemistry between the characters. logan is very clearly a male written by a woman, but somewhere around the 67% mark is when his behavior begins to shift.

he starts being more... well, male. swearing also begins to happen more - but seems to only be in logan's point of view chapters. the entire premise that's promised in the book description finally begins close to the 70% mark, and at this point, i had lost almost all interest in the book.

some other things to note:
- there was a lot of spelling and grammar errors, including misspelling of character's names which is a personal pet peeve
- repetitive use of descriptions, metaphors, etc. many times i had to go back and re-read parts because i wasn't sure if i had read the same page over again and forgot to scroll on my kindle. nope, just repetitive.
- there is no actual buildup to the romance between coco and logan. they just instantly hit it off, flirt, kiss, and the whole nine.
- coco had no idea who logan was even though poppy is one of her favorite students???
- logan has always had a crush on her??? meanwhile it's noted multiple times he's barely ever picked poppy up
- 5/5 stars to poppy. she's the star of this book

The Cutting Edge
By Lisa Daily
Release Date: 6/22/23
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

An ice hockey/figure skating couple romcom? Yes please! I was immediately invested in this story from the first page. Lisa Daily has a great writing style that captivates you and makes you not want to put the book down!

Read if you love:
•single dad trope
•cinnamon roll hero
•touch her and I’ll kill you
•ice hockey/figure skating
•man who spoils his lady
•he falls first—and hard!

Seriously, I can’t recommend this enough! I laughed as much as I swooned!

I really liked the two main characters in this one, and Poppy was the cutest little girl. They were definitely a highlight of the book! The main story though felt like it dragged - Coco was in the hospital for the majority of the story so it was just a lot of conversations and they all seemed to revolve around her injury and recovery. And when she starts falling for Logan and then gets mad at him for the accident, it seemed really juvenile for me. If the story was better developed, this could have been a fantastic book.

Some things I really enjoyed about this book were the mention (albeit slight) of some social justice and equity issues. I wish the author would have expanded on the struggle of Black women in figure skating or the difficulty of less popular athletes living paycheck to paycheck. I don't see these themes mentioned often in books and would've liked to read more. I appreciate the author including this.
As other reviews have mentioned, the timeline of this book felt slowed down at the beginning and then sped up at the end. There was also a lot of repeated phrases and words that often took me out of the story. The premise of this story was different and if some changes were made I think it may be better received.

The overall arc of The Cutting Edge is an insta-true love story as a star NHL player falls hard for an Olympic figure skater after accidentally sending her to the hospital with a concussion. These types of rom-coms are rarely believable true life stories, so I’m quite surprised at all of the negative reviews about the storyline. I found it to be a cute, fun read.

The multiple editing errors are hard to overlook. The book seems to have made it to publishing in an early draft state. Chapters are alternatively narrated by Logan (a male), and Coco (a female). It seems that the author would forget whose point-of-view they were telling, and frequently confuse pronouns. There are also jarring errors: Logan raps on Coco’s door, and then a paragraph later he again reaches Coco’s door and knocks. The sloppiness of the editing took a lot away from what was overall a nice read.

If the book was better edited, my rating would absolutely have been higher.

THE CUTTING EDGE by Lisa Daily has a fantastic premise. Hockey player accidentally concusses figure skater with a slapshot, love ensues. Now, this book is already out, but I found it while browsing Read Now options on NetGalley. It brings me no joy to say this, because I really wanted to love it, but there are a lot of issues. I know ARCs are "uncorrected" but dang, this felt like a first draft. Not just the incessant quotation mark issues (quotes that open but don't close, close but never opened, smart quotes facing the wrong way...you name it) or the whole paragraph that appears twice, or they're talking outside the arena and then she turns and walks into her house, or her neighbor's name spelled four different ways, or he knocks sharply on her door and then two paragraphs later arrives at her door again and knocks softly, or where it periodically seems to switch to third person or maybe just forgets who is narrating. All of those things happen and honestly, by the time you get to an ARC they should have been caught. I'm not even talking about similes that don't work or the ending that is like a chapter and a half too long. I'm talking conflict and tension and resolution. Technically all the plot beats are there, but they end up feeling too convenient or too easy. This could have been a really good book. But I'm not willing to spend the $4.99 to find out what the final product is, because I fear I would be disappointed.