This was an okay book. There was nothing absolutely great about it but it was cute with just enough spice. I enjoyed it.

A lesbian with abandonment issues that struggles to be vulnerable and open up to people? Whew is this fucking play about us?

Love how delicately Caros mental illness and trauma with non accepting family was handled, and the development of that throughout. Also loved that her boundaries toward PDA and being a couple in public eye was handled.

This was a cute book about people growing together and had a lot of health communication as well as conflict that characters needed to work through.

I was really excited to read this sports romance and the audio version was wonderful. I was not familiar with the narrator and I enjoyed her performance, she definitely made an already good book even better and fun to listen to. I never had any issues following her characters and the audio qualify was great. I especially enjoyed the part where Amy, the queer flag waiving activist, is encouraging Caro to certify the sports center as queer friendly. I thought their discussion and Caro's internalized homophobia was well done.

This was a cute rom-com about hockey and two women who fall for each other. It’s also one of them coming out and having to navigate losing family because of who they are. I feel like this was written in a really good way and not just all spicy like so many are.

I was excited to read this book, but it didn’t resonate as much as I had hoped.

Out on the Ice tells the story of Caro, a retired professional hockey player and current hockey coach. Caro keeps to herself and doesn’t want her identity as a lesbian to become public. Amy is an out-and-proud bi woman, professional hockey player, and a coach at Caro’s training center for a summer program. Despite their differences, Caro and Amy are drawn together and want to see if they can make a long-distance relationship work.

I enjoyed the hockey focus and the emphasis on mentoring girls. Amy has cute, supportive parents, and Caro has an adorable rescue dog. I thought the narrator did a great job as well. The narration was easy to understand and not distracting, while also conveying personality and emotion. I loved seeing Amy’s pride in her bi identity and her dedication to advocating for the whole queer community.

However, there were a few things that didn’t work for me. First, this was a closed-door romance, and I don’t think that worked well for this particular story. A lot of Caro and Amy’s initial attraction seemed physical. There was a lot of buildup of sexual tension, so it was surprising (and not super satisfying) to realize it was a closed-door romance. Second, the book touches several heavy themes and references traumatic events (mostly around depression, internalized and societal homophobia, and familial estrangement). The discussion often felt superficial, and I would have liked to have seen those topics talked about with more nuance and depth. It seemed like we were being told how those events made characters feel rather than being shown. Finally, it seems like the author was trying to educate the reader by debunking stereotypes about bisexuality. To me, it felt like bi stereotypes were being presented so there would be an opportunity to educate the reader, rather than happening organically as part of the story.

Highlights:
- lesbian main character & bi love interest
- public coming out
- mental health rep: depression
- enjoyable narration
- hockey romance

Thanks to NetGalley for a free copy of this audiobook!

Two female hockey players fight their feelings for each other while one also has to prove her worthiness of identity to her family. The premise of this sapphic sports romance was great, but I am sorry to say I thought the execution fell a bit flat. I couldn’t relate to the stubbornness of Caro or how naive Amy was portrayed. I also wasn’t a fan of the narrator either, the voice she had for Amy was too young for the subject matter presented.

The narrator was amazing!! I absolutely loved this book! It was so cute and I can't wait to read more from this author in the future! Definitely one for the shelf 👏

I love Kelly Farmer books and I was so excited when I found out that her books were coming out on eaudiobooks. I listened to this book and can't wait to get the rest of the series to listen to. Hockey romances are so popular right now and I am here for it. I love that this story was about women because we don't get enough girls playing hockey stories. It also featured such a sweet, could actually happen in real life, romance. I love the representation and the sweet couples.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this ARC!!

I really enjoyed this book!! It was so cute!! I enjoyed the setting and all of the characters! I loved the story! Such good writing style!!

3.5 Stars, round to 4 Stars.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Thank you, to NetGalley as well as Spotify Audiobooks for the opportunity to read this book as an audio copy.

The narration for “Out on the Ice” was phenomenal. The narrator really did a great job at bringing these characters to life.

I love that the topic of “bi erasure” was brought up in the book and addressed. As someone who identifies as bisexual, this is something that I deal with on a daily basis so to see it being acknowledged and discussed in print media is encouraging because hopefully it will help remove some of these stereotypes and the need to decenter us from the community.

Important Details/Themes:
-Sapphic Romance
-Women’s Hockey
-Dual POV
-Mental Health Rep

Something very important to note here is there is blatant on page homophobia and this may be triggering for some. I was not aware of this before reading the book so hopefully this helps.

I would definitely read more books by this author. This was my first book by Kelly Farmer and it definitely will not be my last.

DNF @ 20%. I just could not get into this. There are too many books waiting on me to review. I wasn't connecting with either main character and I so wanted to love this.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ALC!

A cute and quirky, opposites attract love story that deals with tough topics such as internalized hemophobia, feelings of inadequacy, and societal pressure in a warm and gentle way. This was a delightful queer hockey romance that centered the relationship just as much as the game. I really appreciated the emphasis on mental health and the way the characters communicated with each other, even through struggle. I'm excited to read the rest of the series.

I mean overall this book was interesting. Like I liked women in hockey, and I wanted Caro to just be a tiny bit more confident with herself. I get she was navigating the homophobia in her family. I thought it was cute.

I got an alc of this book on NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Another great novel by Kelly Farmer. I thoroughly enjoyed the contrasting personalities of Caro and Amy as they got to know each other. One is battling trying to hide her sexuality while the other is openly bisexual and is an advocate for LGBT rights and safe locations open and supportive of everyone. Caro's struggles are family-related and throughout the story, you feel her tension as she tries to navigate the new relationship she develops with Amy and the contrast in personalities. Her fears of being openly out and what that may do to her business, which is one of the only things she can see as something she has accomplished. Amy, on the other hand, tries to follow what her girlfriend wants, to keep their relationship low-key and under the radar. Their relationship goes through a very rough patch at one point as Caro continues to struggle with her family and as Amy is in another city playing hockey.

The story was fantastic and was a true emotional ride. The narrator provided an excellent pace through the audiobook. Her differing voices provided enough contrast to tell the various characters. She added an extra level to the story with the emotion she provided to each character.

I highly recommend this story and look forward to more from the author in the future.

I enjoyed this one. I loved that they are both women's hockey players!

One of my favorite things about this book was the acknowledgement of bi erasure and how it can effect someone. There were a lot of strong and serious notes in this, which I thought were handled well especially with them being a little older.

There were still problems and a third act breakup (sorta) but it all worked well and was believable for their situation.

I definitely want to read more of Farmer's work in the future.

This book started off really cute. I liked the setting and the fact that it was slightly different to other romance books. Unfortunately, I didn’t find the characters compatible by the end of the book which made it quite hard to root for them. I also think the third act break up was pretty toxic which I wasn’t a fan of.

All in all I think it was a quick and easy listen but nothing too special unfortunately

This is a re-release of an older title with an updated cover and a new audio format. I hadn't heard of this book when it was only in print, and I'm very glad that the audiobook got on my radar. As a skater, I love the idea of the ~50,000 hockey romances out there, but they're mostly straight and it was great reading a queer one.

I liked the slowly-building romance, the fact that the protagonists were well-established adults in their 30s balancing romance and other life shit, and that there was both queer joy and a look at some of the pain and fear that can be associated with being fully-out, even as an adult.

Caro Cassidy is disciplined, driven, and married to her business of teaching young girls hockey. Her life is a well-oiled routine of work, eat, sleep that she is perfectly fine with. Perfectly. Fine. When she hires free-spirited Amy as an instructor at Girls and Goals- her life starts to get a little more unexpected and her nose-to-the-ground attitude and regimented life begin to feel stifling.

While I really like the writing style and storylines, the narrator's use of a infantilized voice for Amy really took me out of the story and made me feel weird about the steamy parts of the book.

This was a decent read, I did find the beginning a bit slow and struggled to keep my attention.

I liked the message the story was putting out but I did have a hard time with how much Amy was pushing Caro, I understand that she was comfortable with her situation but it felt like she was just pushing Caro to far to fast.

Decent book though happy I read it and would read from this author again

I was excited to listen to the audiobook for Out on the Ice, which was originally published August 2020. I’ve previously read and enjoyed the two sequel books in this series Unexpected Goals (Nov 2021) and Calling the Shots (Nov 2022). All of them are tied to female hockey players but can be read as stand alone novels. In this book Caro Cassidy is a retired hockey legend and former Olympian. She now runs a girls hockey training center in the Chicago area. Amy Schwarzbach currently plays hockey professionally for a Boston team. She accepts an off season job helping run summer camp for Caro as it will put her near her parents while her dad recovers from a surgery.

The pair couldn’t be more different. Caro is almost closeted to her homophobic family and around work, fearing potential problems. She is in therapy and does what she can to battle depression. I really like that therapy moments are included in the storyline. Amy on the other hand is out and proud and actively supports LGBTQ causes. I love how the author shows her hyperactive squirrel brain. And I appreciate her frustration at Bi stereotypes and erasure. The story is more about building a relationship and trying to work and compromise together. I love how Amy helps Caro find a supportive friend network when her family is not there for her. And I love Doug the dog and how Amy talks to him.

This is very much a book about adults still dealing with personal issues and logistics as a couple. It is great to see Caro’s change over the story and find inner strength. And I appreciate that the pair bring out the best in each other. I knew from reading the author previously the story would be closed door. But she still shows the longing and chemistry, especially in the first half of the book. I enjoyed the narration and voicing of characters by Chelsea Stephens.