Thank you @netgalley for my advanced reader's copy of It's a Love/ Skate Relationship by Carli Corson!

When Charlie the rising hockey star gets benched, she meets her foe-turned-begrudging ally in the form of Alexa: a fierce competitive figure skater. Without a way to skate on the team, Charlie finds herself in new territory, going for the gold in a completely different arena. Corson does a great job building just enough animosity between the two to revel in their growth and relationship development over the course of the book. I liked how supporting characters had lives of their own outside of the main relationship, and I also really liked how Mac was so supportive with Charlie and overall the non-toxic vibe of the men in her family. Petition for more Frankie and Cyn storylines in the future! If you're looking for a sweet sapphic romance, don't forget to pick this up when it comes out May 2025. Thank you again to NetGalley for the ARC!

I'll readily admit that The Cutting Edge is one of my favorite movies, so I was really looking forward to It's a Love/Skate Relationship. I fell in love with Alexa and Charlie falling in love, and the hockeu-player-turned-figure-skater was so well done. I also really appreciated how the book addressed how pairs skating doesn't always mean a man and woman, but rather two people skating together. I truly enjoyed this book, and I can picture so many students who would love it.

thank you to netgalley for the arc! OKAY FIRST OF ALL: THE COVER. i love them.

THIS WAS SO GOOD. just to be clear: if you care about the actual hockey/figure skating learning curve too much you may not enjoy this to the same extent. luckily i am able to suspend my disbelief to accept that yes, this hockey player who has never figure skated in her life can get that good in six months. just pretend coach geri (alexa's mom) is a magical wish-granting fairy and is just capable of training anyone that way. honestly if that was in the book i would have accepted it.

third act breakup is approximately seven pages out of four hundred (APPRECIATED) and also this is more "we're kind of snarky to each other to lovers" than "enemies to lovers." but then they apologize to each other so its fine.

mark this on your calendars guys i love sports and i love lesbians

thank you to @netgalley, @epicreads and @harpercollins for providing me with this eArc that i read in one sitting.

rating: 4.5/5

This book is cute, sweet, witty, hilarious. It is very descriptive and intense at times so you get all the feels of watching a game.

Charlie is a delight to follow as the main character and i truly cannot recall when did i ever like a coming of age story this much.

My favorite thing about this book (and any book that has this theme for the matter) is the ode to girlhood. In my very humble (and very true, mind you) opinion, female friendship is the most magical bond on earth. Charlie, Em & Jade remind me of my best friend and I in high school talking about all the random stuffs in the world, doing silly things, cleaning out closet at 2 in the morning, absolutely sobbing over new emotions and growing up together. It is really that nostalgic and refreshing feeling that hit home for me.

I absolutely adore the hockey player x figure skating trope, and to make it sapphic had this on my radar IMMEDIATELY! I will 100% recommend this like I do most YA I love to anyone who just wants to have a good time. Nothing absolutely mind blowing or life changing, but not every book has to be that way! This was just a great time & would act as a lovely palette cleanser.

like our main character, Charlie, this book started out a little rough around the edges. however, as Charlie grows and improves (both on the ice and off), Love/Skate Relationship takes a turn for the better. by the end, i found myself touched by Charlie and Alexa's story - a story about rolling with life's punches (no pun intended) and facing each new day head-on. it's a cute, heartwarming read that i found myself devouring in just one day, desperate to know the outcome of each competition.

in Love/Skate Relationship, the sapphic romance is sweet and the queer joy is palpable. pick this one up for a story that will melt your heart like an icicle in the sun ❄💕

omg I LOVED this book - I was giggly and excited the entire time. A sapphic, YA Hockey Player x Figure Skater romance?? YES PLEASE!!

I really liked the plot of Charlie having to fill in as a pairs figure skater while she can't play hockey and finding a romance with her skating partner and getting to see her develop as a person and athlete over the course of the school year. Seeing Charlie at critical competition moments throughout the book with the rivalry hockey game, skating sectionals, and skating nationals, really helps show how she grows throughout the book.

I thought the writing, especially when it came to the individual characters, was excellent. The characters all felt extremely well developed and each of their personalities really came through in the text and I just feel like that really helped immerse me in the story. Charlie is seriously hilarious, her dad jokes and puns are next level. And the banter between Charlie and Alexa?? Ugh, don't even get me started - it was *chef's kiss*. I love when the main characters have good chemistry and these two really had a lot of it. The side characters were also amazing- Charlie's friends, Alexa's original skating partner, Alexa's mom; each of them were so unique and well developed, everything just felt exactly right. I could definitely see this book being made into a teen film one day, it had the exact vibes for an adaptation.

Tropes:
~Enemies to Lovers
~Forced Proximity
~Hockey Player x Figure Skater
~Opposites Attract


"I came here to be a Zamboni."
"What?"
"Y'know...Smooth things over?"

In my dreams, I go viral for sinking a sick trick shot or delivering a brilliant body check. Instead, I’m Hockey Rocky—but, like, the one where he blows the big match at the end.

rating: 4.25★

ok this was actually so cute omg.

charlie and alexa had great banter and chemistry from the start, and i felt like the way their relationship progressed felt really natural.

i agree there's some suspension of disbelief w the sports aspect, but do i care? no. lmao. there's enough info as well to really give you a feel for what's going on, but not so much it overwhelms you or the story.

there were a few things i wish got circled back to, but overall this was such a fun romance read, i was rooting hard for these two. shoutout to charlie having such a cool little friend group and the positive parental figures in here.

also, charlie is also such a hoot. not to be completely locked tomb brainrotted but there's definitely some gideon nav vibes going on there for me.

“Well, you know what they say about girls with big feet.”
“Big egos?”

“You’re too big to be a ballerina.”
My arms cross over my chest. “Yeah? Well you’re too small to ride the really fun roller coasters.”

“Are you ready to hora?”
I frown. “What did you just call me?”

an honest arc review ♡

This had me from the start! This is a YA Cutting Edge and make it Sapphic, and I loved everything about it.

Charlie gets suspended from playing hockey for the season after a public fight, but she gets the opportunity to figure skate in the meantime to make up her debt. Too bad her partner can't stand her.

I loved Charlie and all the people who care about her. This was a fun story with lots of emphasis on skating. The pages flew by in the best ways. I love the emphasis on therapy being a support tool for addressing issues. Absolutely recommend for teens who enjoy sports romances!

Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for the opportunity to read and review.

A very cute young-adult sapphic romance. Though I wasn't as engaged as an adult, I do think that I would've loved this as a kid. This is the kind of book I will happily recommend to young adult readers with my whole chest. Not only that, but it's for those fans of skating movies from Disney Channel– Ice Princess, Go Figure. If you wished Ice Princess was sapphic, this is the book for you.

Were you, like me, obsessed with the movies Go Figure and Ice Princess when you were younger? Do you wish to read a book like those movies, but sapphic? If so, this is the perfect book for you.

This book was literally everything I could have ever wanted in a book, it was absolutely perfect.

The relationship developed so naturally and beautifully and I absolutely loved that there was no internalized homophobia from Alexa throughout the book. Her falling for Charlie was unexpected to her but it didn't sent her into a crisis or cause her to have doubts which was a nice change of pace from other stories. I'm not the biggest fab of sports romances but the hocky and figure skating in this was absolutely fascinating and at times, had me at the edge of my seat. I love that the characters are flawed and complex, it made them so much more realistic. All in all, I loved this. I want to read it all over again!

Also, that six months later? I would love a second book!!

Hockey, figure skating and sapphic enemies to lovers? Count me in this is exactly what I’ve been looking for. I genuinely loved this book, it was perfectly paced and filled with action, suspense, humor and cute moments. The romance was adorable and I loved the mix of hockey and figure skating with scenes that make you feel as though you were on the ice with the characters. I don’t know too much about figure skating but as a hockey player myself I would say it felt a little unrealistic how fast Charlie picked up jumps? I truly loved the characters and their dynamic from start to end. Charlie was super passionate about both hockey and figure skating and Alexa seemed to match that ambition. Overall an amazing and easy read definitely recommend :)

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me access to the ARC and allowing me to read this book ahead of time!

This was a new take on the hockey player/figure skater romance that proves that if you've read one, you haven't read them all. I found this story fun and refreshing and it was great to read a skate romance for a YA lgbtq+ audience.

The main character, Charlie, was very flawed, yet likable. Between fights, over confidence, bad grades, and a short temper, it would seem it'd be easy to write her off, but she's complex and has many redeeming qualities.

I don't know if Corson skates, or just did her research, but I enjoyed the skating scenes and appreciated that training and skating were included so thoroughly in the story.

It's a Love/Skate Relationship was a fun, sweet and charming sapphic sports romance. This book felt like coming home after school on a Friday and getting cozy to watch the newest made for tv romcom - in the best way.

Charlie and Alexa had good chemistry, and I especially enjoyed Alexa as a character. I only wish to have been able to enjoy parts of the story from her POV.

I usually get bored with the sports bits of sports romance (lol) but I actually really enjoyed all of the figure skating scenes in this! I also really enjoyed learning about Charlies struggles with her mom, as I think that bit offers clarity as to why Charlie sometimes pushes herself harder than she should.

I will definitely check out what Carli J. Corson has to offer in the future!

This was such a fun and easy read! I loved both main characters and it felt very relatable with what is important to teenagers while weaving in a really sweet, movie worthy, love story. Even though the characters have obvious and annoying flaws, I still found myself drawn to them and wanting to see what happens. I'm excited to read any following novels this author writes! 4 stars

This was a sweet YA story following a hockey player ‘forced’ to partner with a pairs figure skater in preparation for a big figure skating competition. Both main characters are relatable and show genuine growth throughout the story. It kind of reminds me of a sapphic twist on the Disney channel movie Go Figure (which I also loved).

Highly recommend this book for anyone looking for a sapphic YA sports, enemies to lovers book.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley.

This was such a delight, I ended up reading the whole thing in one sitting! Taking the “hockey player and figure skater have to work together” plot and making it a sapphic YA book? Genius. Charlie was such a great main character to follow. When she starts a fight that gets her kicked out of school and off her hockey team, she winds up having to be the new training partner for Alexa, a local pairs figure skater.

One thing I really appreciated about the book was how Charlie and Alexa really do start out disliking one another. They both don’t have any interest in working together and it takes them a long time to warm up to becoming teammates, then friends, then finally girlfriends. I can get annoyed when a story is pitched as rivals or enemies to lovers but then one of the pairing has always been harboring feelings for the other. Or they start liking each other way too quickly, I need the slow burn of things thawing before feelings develop.

I loved watching the ways that Charlie developed throughout the book. She starts out very impulsive and acts without fully thinking through different outcomes, which feels very realistic. The majority of the book is lighter and focused on the sports romance part of the plot. But the serious aspects that come about through her relationship with her mom and the consequences of her impulsive actions felt well incorporated into the story.

Definitely check this one out if you’re in the market for a sapphic YA sports romance. Charlie and Alexa make an excellent pair both on and off the ice.

This book was the sapphic, enemies to lovers, hockey romance DCOM-esque book of my dreams. It requires a certain level of suspension of disbelief as all good Disney Channel Original Movies do, but if you give me butch hockey player must fill in for a prim figure slayer’s partner to atone for injuring him (accidentally) in a fight with her rival school’s hockey team, I’m gonna eat that up.

The first 3/4 of this book were great! I saw someone compare this to a queer Disney Channel Original movie and I felt that was very fitting - kind of hard to believe premise but charming enough if you just went along with it. I think the dialogue and the character work was good, and I appreciated the emphasis on the two romantic leads having other relationships and goals that were important to them. However, there's a pretty intense point that the book rotates on that ends up getting swept away for the romcom of it all and that just really did not work for me. It shook me out of my ability to just accept and enjoy things. It also made me more aware of an issue that I'd been having with the book up to that point, which is that certain things that feel like they'd be important enough to happen directly on page get summarized over after the fact. Ultimately, I feel like characters end up making big choices that I just didn't see the development for on page and so the ending fell very flat for me. Having said that, I do think that this book has a fun premise and good potential - I'd still read the author's next books!

I was really surprised by how refreshing this book was. There were some moments of bullying, anxiety and heartache but through all of that there was a beautiful foundation of friendship and family and love. There was so much support for Charlie throughout this entire book even while everyone was worried for her or not entirely sure what she was doing was the best thing for her they were calm and they showed up for her the entire way.

When Charlie wasn't there for her loved ones the way she should've been they weren't afraid to tell her and she was quick to be thankful for those comments and the opportunity they gave for her to be a better friend instead of getting defensive. Of course, no one is perfect and Charlie definitely had her moments where she wasn't doing the best for her or for the people she cares for but I think it's safe to say she made up for all of it by the end.

Overall, I think this is an absolutely wonderful YA novel and I hope a lot of people get the opportunity to read it and that they get as much joy out of it as I did.

P.s. I love Charlie and Alexa (and all of their wonderful friends) so much and I miss them already. I genuinely can't wait until the day I can reread this and see them and this wonderful story again.