Off Edge

by Addison Brae

Maxy Awards 2025 Young Adult

Her gold medal vanished. Now her identity might too.

Fifteen-year-old figure skating phenomenon Docia thinks winning Olympic gold is the start of her future—until the judges strip her of the medal and accuse her of being too young to compete. The scandal threatens to destroy her career overnight.

Forced to escape from Russia, Docia pushes her coach for answers and learns the secret her father never meant her to uncover—he has lied about her adoption. Without proof of her age or her past, the judges’ accusation might be true. Cut off from the sport she loves, Docia turns to her best friend and a journalist she barely knows. Their search for the truth leads to buried documents, powerful enemies, and a legacy that someone is determined to keep hidden. As lies swirl around her, Docia must find the courage to reclaim her identity, her career, and the fire inside that made her unstoppable on the ice.

Perfect for fans of twisty YA mysteries, fierce heroines, and stories about family secrets.

"Immersive, empowering, and inspiring. Un-put-downable!" (5-Star Reader Review)

Genres: Young Adult

271 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 26, 2024

About the author

Addison Brae lives in Dallas, Texas on the edge of downtown. As a child, she was constantly in trouble for hiding under the bed to read when she was supposed to be napping. She has been writing since childhood starting with diaries, letters and short stories. She continues today with articles, video scripts and other content as an independent marketing consultant.
When she’s not writing, Addison spends her time traveling the world, collecting interesting cocktail recipes and hosting parties. She’s still addicted to reading and enjoys jogging in her neighborhood park, sipping red wine, binge-watching TV series, vintage clothing and hanging out with her artistic other half and their neurotic cat Lucy.

Reviews

[Cath · Rating 4 out of 5]

Docia Sikorsky is a fifteen-year-old figure skater on the American team, competing for a medal at the Olympics in Moscow, Russia, when the unexpected happens. Her rival on the team and former best friend, Kacey, tries to disrupt her concentration before her turn on ice, with a strange comment, but Docia tries to ignore it all and listen to her music, as she awaits her turn. Her final programme has her breaking from her father’s strict instructions, instead following her own desires for her performance and it leaves her actually winning the gold medal! Just after the medal ceremony however, everything goes pear shaped, as her father takes her medal from her and pushes her to leave immediately with her trainer, Lena, and get a plane back to the USA. She had seen Kacey and approaching the Russian judges and only found out hours later, that her age was in question and whether she was actually American! Her parents adopted her from Russia as a baby and it seems that maybe her adoption wasn’t quite legal, and her father has to stay in Russia to sort it out. Docia finally got Lena to explain all of this to her and it has left her bereft and too devastated to even want to get dressed or even go back onto an ice rink. She has a few visits from a journalist, who had also interviewed her in Russia, and she starts to speak freely to her about what has been happening. Her best friend Lily tries to get her out and to the rink, but more to get her to speak to her former romance interest, Diego, who her father blamed wrongly for her getting injured the previous year, but Docia can’t face him. Her mother arrived back a day after Docia and is now looking for a full-time job, as loads of Docia’s endorsements have been either cut or put on hold, so they will not help pay the family’s bills.

Docia is determined to get to the bottom of what happened to her in Moscow and just what the truth is about her birth. The Russians have accused her of being fourteen and unable to compete in the Olympics, and Kacey’s coach and father showed the judges a copy of a birth certificate, which Docia has never seen. Her adopted father’s control streak has become too much, and she is beginning to break away from this, starting her own fight for independence. The few days without him on their return from Moscow, has allowed her to see her mother in a calmer mood, not using pills and alcohol to medicate herself! Docia knows that her coach is hiding something from her and is her father who has forced this to be hidden! He has betrayed her trust all of her life and forces her to do as he says in everything, not allowing her any choice in her daily life, even down to what she wears and eats. She wants to know who her birth parents were and what else her father has lied to her about. Lena agrees to tell her what she knows, but only if she gets back to the ice rink for practice. Diego comes back into her life and helps her see how much her mother is struggling with her husband’s control freak attitude that covers her and Docia. His own mother suffered under an abusive partner, as did Diego, and even after they were gone, the damage took time to get over. Docia’s father continues to try and control her life, even while still in Russia and is worse when he returns. The decisions she has started to make for herself, he keeps on changing, not paying any attention to her wishes, which causes a few difficult situations.

Due to what happened at the Olympics, the media have been in a frenzy to find out more about what happened, but this has also turned a large number of people against her, believing the smear game on her good name. She has lost a lot of her confidence in her skating, none of which helps when her father says she needs to get ready for the Worlds. She asks the journalist Joy, who was doing a story about her rise, to help investigate the truth of her birth and get her medal back! Joy herself was adopted and failed to find her own birth parents. Lots of adopted children have the same search issue and not having their proper paperwork can make life impossible as they get older. Docia will find she has a lot more support than haters, as her search for redemption and her birth father continues. A lovely story of fighting back against the odds, when betrayal done in the hopes of having her disqualified, to give another skater a chance at a medal, backfires completely as the truth is revealed. She is only fifteen and obviously shouldn’t do a few things that she does, but she finally gains the courage to go against her father’s control to get the answers for herself. Lily and Lena are there to give her the support her parents don’t and are a key part to her keeping sane with all that’s going on. Loads of figure skating terminology and performances to keep the fans involved, as well as a complex tale of family, birth and adopted, and the relationship issues they can suffer from. This is a teen whose whole life has been all about her sport and her father’s control. No More! I received an ARC copy of this book from BookSprout, and I have freely given my own opinion of the book above.

[Jeanne Beall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book by Ms. Brae. It was nearly impossible to put it down! I highly recommend it!!

[T R · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the exciting descriptions at the very beginning where 15 y/o Docia Sikorsky is representing America skating in the Olympics in Russia,, an arena surrounded by flags of the world exploding with applause, TV cameras and photographers come alive. So does her puppet master father, Jerry, who triggers her anxiety and is more interested in her fame than her, who scowls as he lands one criticism after another on her. The balance, her supportive mother and coach Lena. She performs well, but when Stacy, a teammate, says enjoy with a threatening follow up, “until everyone finds out,” mystery oozes into the plot, and I’m hooked wanting to know Stacy has up her sleeve that makes Docia feel like the poor adopted girl from Texas she is. Playing off of each other, the characters are well set up from the beginning moving the action-packed story along at a rapid clip. With so many questions from the very first pages, this one is hard to put down. Will Docia go on in further competitions to win a medal? What will her father’s reactions be and how does this mold her life? And what becomes of Stacy’s threatening words. As I’m turning the pages, I can’t get enough of this story, an easy read, an entertaining read that flows seamlessly from chapter to chapter, from scenes that are filled with vivid descriptions, where I can feel the cold ice, hear the skates glide through the rink, and the music penetrates my cells. I’m lost in the imagery, floating along with great storytelling, feeling anxious as the scenes turn from success to devastation and unexpected situations with new characters being introduced: Lily her best friend, Diego a love interest and Joy the journalist. New questions arise about who her parents are and I remain lost in the story through the frightening twists and bumps right down to the ending I won’t forget.

[Cathy Geha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Off Edge by Addison Brae

Immersive, empowering, and inspiring ~ un-put-downable ~ Loved it!

What I liked:
* Docia: athlete, strong, focused, talented, figure skater, adopted, learns, grows, matures, and becomes empowered as the story progresses
* Lily: Docia’s best friend, cheerleader – in more ways than one, supportive, caring, kind, good friend
* Diego: athlete, gentle, warm, attracted to Docia, positive, boyfriend by the end of the story
* The plot, pacing, setting and writing
* That I felt part of the story and cared about the outcome
* The complexity of the storyline that looked at issues like adoption, controlling parents, fans, being a role model, health, finding oneself, decision making both good and bad, and solving problems
* That it was age appropriate and felt perfect for NA/YA readers
* That the threads of the story came together at the end leaving me pleased with the future that I could see ahead of Docia and her mother
* Thinking about the time and effort that goes into becoming an athlete and the dedication, persistence and strength required to become a “star”
* Thinking about what might lie in the future for Docia and her friends
* All of it except…

What I didn’t like:
* Who and what I was meant not to like
* Thinking about parents who put winning ahead of their children’s welfare
* Knowing that bullying, abuse, bad press, rumors, and lies can do both mental and physical damage

Did I like this book? Yes
Would I read more by this author? Yes

Thank you to the author for the ARC – This is my honest review.

5 Stars

[BooksBooksandmoreBooks69 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love watching figure skating ⛸️ it’s so graceful and full of passion.

This is a story that captures all that passion and beauty.

YA/NA read that just transports you into the mind of a fifteen year old skater. Her joy at skating her best, winning a medal. Then her confusion at the cryptic conversation with a fellow skater. Then horror/fear and absolute sorrow/pain at being stripped of the medal.

Docia was such an amazing character, you feel her joy and her pain in this book. Her father was a total a$$! How he could do that to his daughter just floored me! Her friend was just a rock.

We also get a little romance 🥰 a daring escape and a twist that was a little unexpected, but a nice surprise. Watching Docia come into her own, breaking away from her overbearing father. To discover family doesn’t have to be blood related.

Told from Docia’s point of view. Her emotions are put on display. Her resilience, her determination and her willingness to fight for what was done to her.

So, if you like skating/mystery or even just a new book/author to read, then grab this book.

🦋

[Cam Torrens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Addison Brae's "Cutting Edge" brings mystery, intrigue, and suspense to ice skating like Megan Abbott's "You Will Know Me" did for gymnastics!

Brae pens the story of Docia, a young figure skating prodigy whose life is shattered when her Olympic gold medal is stripped for reasons beyond her control. This young adult page-turner deep dives into Docia's journey of self-discovery and resilience as she uncovers hidden truths about her past, faces the emotional fallout of a father she can't trust, and fights to reclaim her identity both on and off the ice. This maelstrom of emotions and fast-paced tale is a must-read for lovers of stories about determination and overcoming personal challenges.

[Book Zone Reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

Off Edge by Addison Brae is an engrossing read. The timing of this book is perfect and relevant because the Olympics recently occurred and American gymnast, Jordan Chiles had her bronze medal stripped away from her and is still struggling to reclaim it.

The main character Docia, a figure skater is stripped of an Olympic Gold medal. Though she is the clear winner her medal is taken away because of a last-minute revelation by one of her teammates, Sandy, and her coach. According to their claims and proof, she is too young to participate, and the legality of her adoption is questioned.

Rushing out of Russia with her coach so as not to be detained she is bewildered and heartbroken. Upon her return to the States, she encounters negativity from fans and people in general.

With her identity in question, she feels adrift, betrayed, and defeated. She begins to resent her parents, especially her dad, and buck their authority. Her best friend is wonderfully written. She listens, comforts and rallies Docia out of the listless state she falls into.

Docia’s angst and anguish were so well done, that I felt like I was fifteen again going through the struggle with her. I must admit that I shed a tear or two and remembered that time in my life when everything was larger than life and I felt I would die of embarrassment every day for some reason or other.

I did not lose a medal but understood her pain at her belief in herself and her life being undermined by the hatred of some of her fans, the weight of being the breadwinner of the house at fifteen, and the controlling behavior of her father.

As an immigrant in a high school with those who had already cliqued up after years of going to school together, I had to figure out my identity once again. I thought I knew who I was and what I was about, but scoffing at my accent and upbringing made me question myself and my identity. It was not until later in life that I learned that my identity is not defined by others but by who God says I am.

I loved Docia’s relationship with her coach. Her coaching style served as a buffer for the abrasiveness of her father’s approach.

While I understood her frustration, there were scenes in which she was very disrespectful to her parents and that is never okay.

This book touches on betrayal, friend-to-friend and parent-to-child, identity, disrespect, supportive friends, determination, and courage in the face of it all.

Teens, lovers of figure skating or sports novels will be swept into this book because of the realistic emotions. I suggest that parents read it as well so that open discussions can be had about some of the content.

[Amys Bookshelf Reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Simply awe-inspiring story

Addison Brae writes a dramatic coming of age YA tale with Off Edge. I haven't read anything by this author before, and what a hidden gem. I enjoyed it so much, that I have now followed the author and look for more books to read. The reader is introduced to Docia, a young woman who entered the Olympics for being a figure skater, but her father's lies about her age, came out, and she lost her gold medal. Docia is young and tenacious, and she tries rebuilding her life and reputation, but first, she needs to figure out herself. What and who is she? She has to be more than a figure skater, disgraced by her father's actions. She knows her passion, but there is still the journey to figure out who she really is and what she really wants. The characters are so real, it's like being with them within the story. This journey was very unpredictable for both Docia and this reader. I'm not complexly familiar with figure skating and the terms, so I looked up the word edge, which is used to describe when the curved part of skate makes contact with the ice. I recommend that readers of all ages read this book. Sometimes adults should sit back and remember what it was like to be a kid, and whatever their child may be going through. Off Edge is a definite recommendation by Amy's Bookshelf Reviews. I read this book to give my unbiased and honest review. Amy's Bookshelf Reviews recommends that anyone who reads this book, to also write a review.

[J. Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Addison Brae's YA/NA outstanding novel set within the framework of World-Champion-level figure skating is one of both emotion and suspense. With several mid-teen protagonists (the primary one being delightfully-mature Docia, who has her Olympic title stripped away from her, almost as soon as she steps on the podium), even adults will be swept away by the story and its very real interactions and events. Suffused with energy and grace, this novel is equally packed with romance, frightening health issues, misunderstandings and overbearing authority figures, a mystery, hopes for a reunion...and through it all, we cheer from the sidelines as Docia leaps, twists, then lands confidentally. She successfully manages to discover the meaning of real family and the most valuable of rewards. Off Edge will have you feeling the same throughout - teetering slightly off edge awaiting answers and solutions. But with a terrific balance of dialogue and description, like the final chapters, this book is truly a cause for celebration. Were I still teaching English to this age group, I would definitely be pushing for this to be on the curriculum as both an educational, and an entertaining read.
- J. Ivanel Johnson, award-winning author of the JUST (e)STATE mysteries, & former high school teacher/coach

[Maya Tyler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Off Edge is about Docia Sikorsky, a young and talented figure skater, who dreams of Olympic gold. Her adoptive parents, especially her father, control every aspect of her life. The ice rink is the one place where she doesn’t feel like a prisoner. At the pinnacle of her career, she achieves her dream only to have her medal and her identity cruelly snatched away. She realizes the person she thought she was doesn’t exist, and she must discover the truth of her past. During the course of her story, Docia sheds the overbearing expectations of her adoptive father to come into her own, a strong, brave young woman who knows what she wants. In standing up for herself, she reclaims her life.

Off Edge is an easy-to-read YA, a captivating page turner. I thoroughly enjoyed watching Docia bloom, and highly recommend this uplifting and motivating tale.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an enjoyable story yet at times a very emotional one. I turned the pages fairly fast trying to read what would happen to Docia, a young talented athlete with a very over-bearing father. One of those “winning is everything” types.

There is a lot involved in this story. Layer after layer of athletics, threats, hidden secrets, and more. Being adopted, it helped me identify with a few things. This story almost seems like non-fiction in some ways. I suppose because the Olympics are coming up and there is so much pressure on our athletes. This also had a feeling of mystery. While there are many layers, it is never unclear “who is who” so to speak. The story reads clearly and flows well. An excellent YA choice.

[Eliora · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

cool novella, finished it in a day. very like icebreaker in the whole getting rid of toxic man thing, that was nice and i respect that, and the descriptions were great.

kinda confused about why people would think she’s a fake? she won the medal as a 15yo, even if shes disqualified as a 14yo it still doesn’t change the fact that she skated well enough to medal?

also i’d have liked more information about the mum defecting and all. and also to have seen docia meet her real dad.

writing could have been a bit more subtle and the plot could’ve used more development but still an entertaining read

[Regina Buttner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Docia has a lot to contend with: the pressures of Olympic competition, an overbearing father, a loving but addicted mother, an ex-boyfriend who she thinks hates her, and a fellow skater who's the exact opposite of a team player. As if that wasn't enough to throw a 15-year-old girl into a state of perpetual anxiety, she's been stripped of her hard-earned gold medal for a reason that throws her world into chaos. OFF EDGE is a fast-paced and compelling story of secrets, betrayal and family drama, set against the fascinating backdrop of world class figure skating.

[Kimberly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Off Edge should very much be a movie, and it's written with such realistic detail and emotion that it could be a biopic. This is so much more than a story about betrayal, it's a story about identity and believing in yourself.

[Hailey C · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was a great coming of age story! i’m glad she was able to overcome all of her challenges and find herself after dealing with so much!