I have an intense fondness for the 1992 figure skating romcom, The Cutting Edge, and end up watching it whenever I run across it. So I was immediately drawn to this book since the synopsis sounded very similar to the movie. In this book, Jasmine is a pairs figure skater without a partner. She's prickly and quick to fight (so more Tonya Harding than Kate Moseley). She hates Ivan Lukov, who is wealthy and holds several skating titles and gold medals, so when he wants her to be his new skating partner, her initial impulse is to turn him down, but she needs a partner and Ivan is very good, but can the two of them stop fighting and work together? The obvious answer is yes, and there's nothing surprising in this story, but there are many references to The Cutting Edge and several scenes that were cribbed from the movie. Since the story was told entirely from Jasmine's point of view, many of Ivan's actions made little sense, but I'm not sure that matters much. No one said, "Toepick!" which was a minor disappointment, but the pamchenko was referenced. ( )

It was very reminiscent of the movie "The Cutting Edge," but with a lot more swearing and a lot more blinking. (Seriously. They would not stop blinking at each other.) ( )

I can't imagine not loving a Mariana Zapata novel.

This one really made me miss ice skating when I was younger. Amazing. ( )

I can't imagine not loving a Mariana Zapata novel.

This one really made me miss ice skating when I was younger. Amazing. ( )

Freakin good character development ✅
An actually interesting hard working main character ✅
Family issues ✅
While I didn't like the romance aspect , it should have been written with more tension that builds up but I got nothing of that except extreme friendship vibes and then we were hit with romance at the end , I think 90% or something which made the romantic part of it not really convincing but other than that I loved how a lot of issues especially being unsure of the future and family problems and a hard working kickass main character are discussed which really stood out for me . ( )