4.5 😭
Okay to say I was excited to read this would be an understatement especially when it comes to reading queer sport romance most of them usually stay in the similar 3 sports ⚽🏀⚾
And to see have be hockey and ice skater I was here for it !!!!!!
The book kind of reminded be of an Disney Channel movie and gay and it. Worked great for me.
I did have some critics on it and they were mostly my own personal dislikes
The romance was really slow building at points I wasn't sure how alexa actually felt about her until like past 60% mark.
But there was so much I honestly did love while reading
Actually made her train in ice skating and ballet and she wasn't automatically perfect just because she was a hockey player and showed while she could be great in both she had to practice and put in the time for both sports because they ultimately very different.
Thank you so much net gallery for this arc i had an amazing time reading

Charlie + Alexa

-sapphic romance
-hockey player x figure skater
-rivals to partners to friends to lovers
-rivals girlfriend

so this was a YA romance story but it sounded so good i needed to read it anyways & it was well well worth it!! i loved it so much, the tension was so amazing!! & the climax killed me!! i was so sad for a second!! but these two were made for each other & i loved the tenacity to never give up for charlie!

This is the sapphic figure skater/female ice hockey player romance we've been asking for!

I absolutely loved the premise, characters and plot progression of this story. Charlie Porter is an ice hockey player on a co-ed team at a private school in a tense rivalry with the local public high school. After a losing match, Charlie is baited by a rival player and lashes out, accidentally injuring a nearby figure skater in the process. To make up for her mistake not only does she have to now attend public high school for six months with the rivals that pushed her, but she also has to stand in on the opposite side of the rink as a figure skater for the person she injured.

Through lots of sarcasm and stubbornness, Charlie actually comes to befriend her new skating partner Alexa while also finding a new love for the more "graceful" ice skating sport. These two have excellent chemistry together, but Alexa is with a boy- one of the ice hockey players that bullies Charlie. There's no way she could be developing feelings for Charlie, too, right?

I was so pleasantly surprised with so many parts of this story. Despite not knowing much about either sport, I fully enjoyed this and am already hoping for a sequel!

~~~~~ SPOILER~~~~~

Charlie and Alexa at the Olympics! And we can't forget Coach Geri and Frankie!

I adored this book! Charlie was such an amazing character, and the romance is written wonderfully. I love how her and Alexa are characterized, as well as the amazing other characters in this story. I’ve always been a fan of books with figure skating/ hockey, and this one didn’t disappoint. The author perfectly balanced plot with romance, and I found myself sucked into this book. The pacing never felt too fast or too slow, and overall I just really liked the writing style. This book was so enjoyable, one of my favorites I’ve read recently, and I would definitely recommend it.

This was a super fun and super cute book to read. It's always nice to read a YA novel and actively observe how an author explores young queer characters. The book itself was quick paced and didn't necessarily contain heavy handed drama or angst. The plot was interesting and well versed. Overall a great YA with easy to connect-to-characters with well rounded development. The side characters were a blast as well! Thank you again to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me the opportunity to read this eARC! :D

Charlie Porter, a fiery hockey player, gets into a brawl after a hockey game, which leads to her suspension from school, effectively ending her hockey season and her hopes of playing in front of college scouts. A disciplined figure skater, Alexa's dreams are dashed when her skating partner is injured in the same brawl. She's desperate to find a replacement, and despite Charlie's inexperience in figure skating, she embodies the physicality that could save Alexa's competition hopes. Alexa's Olympian mother will use her connections to get Charlie in front of college scouts if she agrees to partner with Alexa.

The tension between the two is challenged by Charlie's reckless, impulsive nature, which contrasts with Alexa's icy and controlled demeanor, making it hard for them to find common ground. Their differences, at first is a source of friction, gradually become complementary strengths. They develop a deeper connection and true partnership as they train together. Charlie and Alexa navigate trust and vulnerability while exploring their ambition and self-discovery. The romance and personal growth blend makes it a compelling and heartwarming read.

I received an ARC ebook for my honest review. Thank you, NetGalley and HarperCollins.

This gave me the energy of being a disney channel movie and I absolutely loved it. It was cute and relatable. I was a bit suprised that it was only one POV, but Charlie was an amazing POV and I loved reading her story. Charlie and Alexa had amazing chemistry and their romance was so sweet.

Absolutely devoured this. The day before I got the arc I watched disneys go figure and was thinking if this was a sapphic book I would die or it. And after reading this I can confirm I would die for it. While this was a little cheesy and the pacing was a little off, all of the characters and their growth and journey were wonderful. I cannot wait to read more from Corson!

I Hate Men and Love Women! It’s A Love/Skate Relationship truly combined everything that I love. Enemies to Lovers, Sapphic love stories, Broadway Musicals, Taylor Swift and badass female characters! Charlie and Alexa were adorable and had me giggling and kicking my legs over their banter!

Thank you author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this book!!

When I first started reading this I was a little sad that it wasn’t dual pov cause I just really wanted to know what Alexa was thinking. In the end I think it would’ve given too much away and I love Charlie so it all worked out I guess. There were some parts that the language was a little weird to read but I kind of just chalked it up to Charlie being a teen so it works for the story.

I loved this story so much. This gives Disney channel original movie vibes so much it’s incredible! The hockey to figure skating storyline is giving the cutting edge and I can’t get over it! It’s also easily queer, there’s no big coming out or reluctance about being queer. I always feel like my inner child healed just a little bit when I read books like this. I definitely recommend this book and I will be reading it again

I am going to shove this down so MANY throats. By the time I’m done, everyone in the universe will have read this sapphic masterpiece.

It’s kind of like a Disney Channel Original Movie, but make it gay. And you know what? I’m gonna eat that up. It does mean that the conflict and everything require a suspension of disbelief because it’s all super played up and dramatic without ever getting deep but it’s fun! The premise is also totally DCOM material: butch hockey player gets in trouble after a huge, damage-causing off-ice fight with her school’s rival team and has to fill in as the ice princess’s figure skating partner to pay off her debt? I mean, you’re seated already, right?

The fact that it ends up being an uplifting sports story where they ~just might fall in love~ is just the cherry on top.

Also, the cover is the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen.

It’s probably closer to 3.5 for me but I’m going to round up because sapphic hockey player/figure skater romance <333 duh

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Children’s Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is a solid YA FF romance, hockey player/figure skater book.

Charlie & Alexa are good characters with their own struggles in high school while navigating being student athletes. After Charlie gets suspended from her school and hockey team, she lands in an opportunity to fill in for Alexa's pair skater who is injured. The Cutting Edge vibes with a queer twist. The exploration of how these characters live in a place/time where they are comfortable and supported with life outside of gender norms is done really well. Charlie never questions her thoughts and actions and neither does Alexa and that was very refreshing. There is hardly even the question of whether two females can compete on the same pairs team. I love YA, and this is a nice, fun, easy highschool romance story.

Thank you NetGalley and Carli J. Corson for an advanced digital copy of this book.

Thank you to netgally and HarperCollins publishing for the chance to read this E-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I immensely enjoyed reading this great book, it did start a bit slow but quickly picked up speed. I thought the characters had great growth throughout the book as well, especially Charlie. Going from hockey to winning nationals in figure skating was impressive. I really liked that she wasn't immediately a great figure skater, she worked her butt off getting to where she is. Also I liked the slow burn romance, going from enemies to lovers was a great choice in this book. Alexa and Charlie put their all in on both skating and dating.

I give this book 5 stars. It was well written and a fun read that I highly recommend!

It's a Love/Skate Relationship is a fun and heartwarming YA story about figuring yourself out, realizing you don't have to box yourself in, that you can be whoever you want to be and that those who love you will stay by you 100%.

In this YA romance we follow two girls from different walks of life - one a fabulous figure skater with a famous skater mom and a bright future, one a determined hockey player who is not afraid to hit back. When circumstances push the two together, they slowly realize that their animosity might just be lack of understanding - and that maybe, just maybe, their new figure skating routine might bring them closer not only to a podium but also to each other.

This book is all sorts of sweet while also being laugh out loud funny AND it has such a cute and relatable love story! You can't help but root for our main girls even when things seem impossible. I can't wait to see what this author writes next!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me this ARC. This review will be posted on goodreads August 21st.

I was dreaming about reading a ice skater and hockey player sapphic romance. When this appeared on my feed I couldn't get my hands on it soon enough.

I've devores this book, it's fluid and you don't want to put it down. I was suprised at first that it was writen with one pov and from first person point of view, but it worked really well for the story. I ended up loving that it was from Charlie's pov. The fact that we don't have Alexa's one is not a con at all. Charlie is a sweet and strong character and it was a delight to read her story.

Charlie and Alexa had a good chemistry and were really cute as ennemies to lovers.
Charlie is strong, loving and hotheaded. She has a good sens of fashion and a taste for poor jokes (but still kinda funny)
Alexa is passionate, a big nerd and have a taste for rules breaking.

This romance was so sweet I smiled ear to ear almost for every page. It also had a pretty good ratio between sports and romance, since it's a sport romance I wanted to read a lot about Hockey and Ice skating because it's one of the thing that made me wanna read it.
It made me happy to see a sweet queer love story not being full of angst and sadness (it has angst don't get me wrong but not all the way).

I think the end of the book was a little bit rushed, even if it was as good as the rest of it. After one of the main event appears, the time passes a lot faster, days, weeks and months in one or to chapters with not much description of what was happenning. I think we also needed to see the last hockey match that mirrored the first one, not reading it through fell a little flat for me as well as the dissaperance of the rivals of the main character.

But this wasn't what I liked less from this book. It had something that I really, really don't like to see in any book ever : brands names droping. This is not specifically against this book, but this one had a LOT. It just feel like add breaks and gets me out of my reading experience. Same for pop culture references, even more when unecessary (which was the case here). It also have a tendency of aging poorly. That's why it's not a 5 stars.

Anyway this book was a dream and I would absolutely love to see another romance book in the same universe, still with romances and sport and sooo queer. I would die for Frankie's story or one about Alexa's mom !

I just recently reread Icebreaker and then soon after picked up this one, it gives similar vibes which I liked. This one was definitely YA and sapphic which was something I didn't know I was missing in my life until now.

I stalked Edelweiss for MONTHS waiting for this one to drop, and man, I was not disappointed.

The hockey player/figure skater romance I didn't know I had been craving, this hits all the right notes. Fun banter, found family (and real family), a school rivalry, co-ed hockey, and a main couple that hit the perfect balance of snarky and sweet. I really enjoyed watching Charlie and Alexa's story play out.

All the thrill of competitive figure skating and a sweet blossoming romance, this one had me smiling from start to finish!

The dream: to dominate on the ice. And as a rising ice hockey star, Charlie has every reason to think that she'll be able to do just that. The wrench: an accidental off-ice brawl scuppers her plans for the season, her chance to be seen by scouts, and her practice time. The solution: stay on the ice by standing in as an elite pairs skater's partner for a few months. And the second wrench: they can't stand each other.

I have a thing for ice skating books (also gymnastics—see Sports for Which I Do Not Have the Coordination, and also Sports for Which I Do Not Have the Pain Tolerance), which made this feel like an obvious pick. Charlie's first love is hockey, but she's willing and able to transfer some of that passion to pairs skating, because at the end of the day she loves being on the ice.

The characters are a lot of fun here. Charlie's a teenager, and she acts like it; she has her moments of maturity, but also her moments of, you know, sticking her tongue out and gloating, or making rash choices. "It's on the tip of my tongue to explain to Dad what I learned in bio the other day—how my brain's frontal lobe isn't fully developed, which is why teenagers make risky decisions. But he won't really accept that as reasoning, so I hang my head instead." (loc. 2772*) There's an element of "The Outsiders" at times (though Charlie would belong to the Socs, not the Greasers), and of "Ice Angel" (sort of), but there's also a lot of playfulness.

What I'm less certain about is the realism factor. When Charlie picks up pairs skating, it's without any experience in figure skating, but she leaps in at a very high level and exceeds expectations almost immediately. She works *hard*, but I have to conclude that she has some sort of preternatural ability if she's able to jump in like this. I enjoyed the book enough that I was generally rooting for Charlie to do unnaturally well anyway, but I think I would have found it more realistic if she had had some level of background in figure skating (say, as a kid before her parents/father wised up and put her in hockey instead?) and/or if she'd been called on to train for regionals rather than sectionals (to say nothing of later competitions in the book).

3.5 stars; lots of fun; don't assume from this that you'll soon be seeing your favorite ice hockey stars on the Olympic ice without their teams and their pucks and their padding.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.

*Quotes are from an ARC and may not be final.

This was really disappointing and I'm sad. Just a lot of weird little moments and I didn't really like the main character or the romance.