Fake Skating

by Lynn Painter

A #1 New York Times bestseller!

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Better Than the Movies Lynn Painter comes a heartfelt and banter-filled “feel-good rom-com” (School Library Journal) about childhood sweethearts whose icy reunion in their hockey-loving hometown unexpectedly thaws when they fake a romantic relationship.

Growing up, Dani couldn’t help but follow around the adorable son of her mom’s best friend. Funny, kind of nerdy, and a little soft, Alec was always down to hang with Dani when they were little. From play dates to sneaking into movie theaters, Dani and Alec were inseparable. Until Dani moved away. Alec promised they’d stay in touch—except, they didn’t.

Flash forward and Dani is back in Minnesota for her senior year, she and her mom living with her grandfather. Dealing with the fallout of her parents’ devastating divorce, Dani wouldn’t mind a nerd-out with the cozy and comforting Alec (and maybe a chance to confront him on his MIA status for all these years). But teenage Alec is nothing like the kid Dani remembers. He’s a hockey star in a town where hockey players are worshiped as gods. Dani’s place as his shadow has been taken up by drooling female fans…and he loves it.

Dani is resolved to ice out her former best friend until an unlikely series of events brings them together—and forces them to fake being a couple. Once stuck together, the former childhood sweethearts begin to reconnect, unearth complicated family secrets, and face their true feelings towards each other…including the real reason Alec has been pushing Dani away all these years.

Genres: Romance, Young Adult, Fake Dating, Sports Romance, Sports, Contemporary, Friends To Lovers

448 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 30, 2025

Reviews

[Ali Goodwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars! Lynn Painter really never misses 🤭 i love EVERYTHING about this book!! Fake dating, sports romance, childhood friends to lovers... need i say more? Lynn Painter does a FANTASTIC job of writing books that give me all the giggle kick my feet feelings 🤭 that ALSO have characters with lots of depth.

Dani is dealing with her parents' divorce and the effects of growing up as a military kid. Having moved around so much greatly affects her friendships and sense of home. And Alec has a huge pressure on his shoulders to succeed at hockey for himself and his family.

This book is also a second-chance ish romance. I usually don't love second chance TBH 😅 but surprisingly that aspect of this plot didn't annoy me lol

[Larissa Cambusano · Rating 4 out of 5]

“I don’t like cliches”

*popular jock x smart shy girl*

me: 🤤👀🥰🥰💕💓

[♥︎ Heather ⚔ (Semi-Hiatus-attempting return) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

This was a really cute one, as I find most Lynn Painter stories. This is more like a 3.5 or 3.75 rating for me though.

Idk. The story just didn’t wow me, it felt very familiar and a little recycled 😬

The miscommunication that the whole story hinges on was a little stupid, but it is YA.

If you love Better Than the Movies, you’ll probably enjoy this one as well.

—-
I just KNOW LP is going to entertain TF outta me with this one, and help this slump 😩 -

Yee i got the arc and i cant wait to dive in 😍

I'll read anything this woman writes. Can't wait. 🤸🏻‍♀️🤸🏻‍♀️🤸🏻‍♀️

[bruna (back!) · Rating 2 out of 5]

──‎ ‎ ๋ · ★ ⌇ 2.25 stars.

₊ 𓂃 𖥻 “Everything was wrong if she wasn’t happy. Because Dani was sparkling eyes and contagious laughter. Dani was happiness.” 𑇛 ˚ ⊹

i had been looking forward to reading this book ever since it was announced because it has some book tropes i enjoy — childhood friends to lovers, fake dating and sort of second chance to be specific — and also because the overall premise just seemed good. but sadly... it didn’t give me what i thought it would give.

i will say, before i start sharing my own honest opinions, that i do not think this is a terrible book. the first few chapters were okay, for a while i was even excited to see where things were going and i believed there was a chance i could end up giving this a three star rating (or perhaps a bit higher). but it didn’t take long for me to change my mind and start noticing the issues it had.

the main issue for me is that the main characters simply weren’t that well-written or particularly interesting. Alec and Dani weren’t characters that i hated per se, but they weren’t characters i found myself liking or connecting with either. their two-dimensional personalities didn’t do much for me. and i won’t lie, i didn’t think beforehand that they would be the most profound characters ever because this is a young adult romance (not saying that ya romances can’t have characters with depth by the way! just saying that at least a majority of the ones i’ve come across didn’t exactly deliver that), but i thought that at least they would be characters that i would look at them and think “eh, they're somewhat nice and i like them”. unfortunately, i was wrong.

the story itself also didn’t do much for me. me not loving the protagonists already played a big part because how can you be interested in whatever is happening in their lives if you are not interested in them in the first place? but besides that, the story just didn’t have enough substance (and that is kind of crazy for a book that is over 400 pages long). we have tons of boring filler scenes, some sub-plots that were frankly not interesting at all, others that maybe had the potential to be interesting, but that the author didn’t know how to flesh them out so they ended up being just as uninteresting, and a romance that’s simply shallow in my honest opinion.

with tropes like childhood friends to lovers and fake dating with some angst involved, i genuinely expected so much more from it. more build-up, more tension, more feeling, more chemistry between the protagonists... but i got none of that. their relationship didn’t evolve in a way that i could find compelling and a lot was missing from it, which truly sucks because i feel like the potential was sort of there.

all in all, Fake Skating didn’t quite meet the expectations i had. good premise, for sure, but definitely not the best execution. though i genuinely think i would’ve connected with it more if i had read it when i was in my early teens; from my standpoint, it’s the kind of novel that works well for younger audiences, so if you fall into that group, i heavily recommend it to you. and it might also work well for those who, regardless of their age, just love young adult romances in general methinks, so do give it a go if that’s you.

thank you for the buddy read, roro. 💌

[May (previously Violet) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to Netgalley for giving me this ARC in exchange for an honest review

» Little League - Conan Gray «
0:53 ─〇─────3:25
↻ ◁ II ▷ ↺

✧˚ · The last thing I needed was for Dani Collins to be beautiful and a student at Southview · ˚✧

{🎧} My playlist:
Apple Music:
https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/f...
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6n9...

Thank you to Netgalley for giving me this ARC in exchange for an honest review

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️- 6 stars
Dual First Person POV
Spice Level 🌶️ - 1.5/5
⤷ descriptive make out sessions and sexual comments made, some jokes alluding to characters hooking up
Age rating - 15+
⤷ frequent cussing, partying and drinking and smoking weed, some violence

⁺˚⋆｡° 🏒 My Thoughts 🏒°｡⋆˚⁺
Best.
Lynn.
Painter.
Book.
Ever.

⊹ ࣪ ˖ When we were younger, we didn’t know how it would be ˖ ࣪ ⊹

Did I read this in one day? Yes.
Did I lose a butt ton of needed sleep before camp? Also yes.
Did I regret it? Heck to the NO

I freaked out the second I saw the ARC in my inbox and binge read it immediately. This is by FAR Lynn Painter’s best book yet, and I can’t wait to get my hands on a physical copy when it’s published. Not only is the cover ADORABLE but the entire book is too. She did not disappoint whatsoever.

⊹ ࣪ ˖ We were the dumb the wild the free ˖ ࣪ ⊹

Also I’d like to give a shout out to my girlie jenoodle!!!!! Thank you for buddy reading this epic book with me and getting to swoon and freak out over all the different parts together! 💕

⁺˚⋆｡° ❄️ The Plot ❄️ °｡⋆˚⁺
Lynn Painter did not fail to deliver, it was everything I had imagined and more. The chemistry was perfect. The characters were perfect. The plot was perfect. The entire book was perfect. The only thing I had trouble with was the excessive cussing but I was able to tune it out after awhile.
She addressed the struggles of divorce, military families, expectations put on teens, and social anxiety so so well. I was able to relate to all the different characters while also swooning and laughing my butt off at different parts.

Also can I say I LOVE that she made Liz Alec’s cousin?! I love how she ties all her characters together

⊹ ࣪ ˖ And when we were younger we wore our hearts right on our sleeves ˖ ࣪ ⊹

⁺˚⋆｡° 🥅 Characters 🥅 °｡⋆˚⁺
➥ Alec: THIS MANNNNNNNN. Bro forget freaking Wes bennet and give me Alec. I’m blushing thinking about this hottie. He was so swoony and I literally burst into giggles any time he so much as breathed. A book character should not do these things to me, why can’t my mans be real 😭😭😭
╰┈> Falling Faster - Dylan Espeseth ♫₊˚.
➥ Dani: Soooo Dani was literally me and it freaked me out. From her social anxiety, to her obsessive overthinking and bluntness. I felt soooooo called out, but it was nice to have a character who got it. Her character made me feel heard and seen, and that I wasn’t insane for having a panic attack at simple parties or having to plan everything out beforehand. She was easily my favorite Lynn Painter fmc tho she was frustrating from time to time due to commitment issues.
╰┈> Panic Attack - PEGGY ♫₊˚.

⊹ ࣪ ˖ Why did we ever have to leave? ˖ ࣪ ⊹

⁺˚⋆｡° 📚 Conclusion 📚 °｡⋆˚⁺
GOOD LORD READ THIS BOOK
YOUR LIFE WILL NOT BE THE SAME WITHOUT IT.
IM BEGGING YOU.
*clears throat*
I’m calm, I’m calm. Totally not having a mental breakdown bc I can never read it for the first time again *sighs*
But the second this gets published you better be hopping in your car and zooming over to the bookstore to get your hands on this book. It’s worth every. Freaking. Penny.
Can’t wait to see y’all’s thoughts when you read it!!

⊹ ࣪ ˖ Little League ˖ ࣪ ⊹



.𖥔 ݁ ˖ pre-read ˖ ݁ 𖥔.
GUYS GUYS GUYS I GOT THE ARC I GOT THE FREAKING ARC. Buddy reading it with jenoodle ✨

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ pre-release ˖ ݁ 𖥔.
You've got my attention. Lynn's books never fail (except for the Do-Over...but other than that they never fail lol). She is going to eat with a hockey romance

[Ashley · Rating 1 out of 5]

things just change. people move houses, we fall out of touch with our previous best friend/childhood sweetheart, time seems to fly by faster, what have you.

and now, unfortunately, i'm unable to get giddy over lynn painter books. i fear i can no longer defend her YA books because all her works are turning monolithic!!

i can’t quite pinpoint if it’s some innate evanescing of whimsy paired with an exponential growth of wrath on my end, or if her writing has genuinely devolved into what feels like fast fashion 24k gold labubu ai sombr matcha dubai chocolate brainrot, but to say i was in the trenches was an understatement. so i’ll just lay out my thoughts for you with candour!

- this was 500 pages and 500 pages too long.
- who said it was a good idea to include an egregious amount of pop song lyrics into the narrative???
- somewhere along the way we lost the plot of yearning and genuine love because all i read was unrelentingly repetitive scenes and dialogue, irksome pet names, and lusty monologues that also never cease mentioning flushed cheeks, kissing, “tension”, and alec’s grandiose body. i guess we’ll never know the real reason why they love each other—it's inconceivable.
- alec "zeus" (which is apt because they're both lusty womanizers) barczewski is an icky, vapid, narcissistic, conceited, unswoonworthy prick with an ego bigger than his vocabulary who probably likes to ask his fans to bark for him like one of his favourite artists does (sombr), which can ostensibly be redeemed by the fact that he's tall, plays hockey, thinks of dani whenever he sees gummies, wears glasses and grey sweatpants, and secretly has a “big brain” because he can perambulate the history section without looking out of place at barnes and noble. alec also happens to call girls "chicks" and derive pleasure from knowing that dani, his “shitty ex best friend” (all because she didn’t respond to the letters he sent after her family moved when they were little, since mail can’t get lost nor tampered with and people don’t have lives), is sick after they fell out once again! how sweet and empathetic! better than wes bennet, my ass.
- alec’s didactic ramblings felt painfully reminiscent of johnny “i need to focus on my sport and not get distracted by a shy girl with super cute flushed cheeks and nice hair” kavanagh's, thereby giving me ptsd
- alec and dani are two boring caricatures who are clearly made for each other, as they have less personality and individuality than soggy toilet paper! i wasn’t aware that booze and a fallout that happened with your best friend when you were 12 were personality traits? granted, dani does have anxiety/social anxiety—as do i, and at one point that elicited a tic disorder, but i digress—HOWEVER, it felt shallow, and i couldn’t resonate with her whatsoever.
- lynn painter needs to fucking stop fucking writing a shit ton of fucking curses every two fucking seconds like this because frankly it’s fucking annoying and no one fucking talks like that.

i don’t want to believe i’m outgrowing YA. but instead of a silly, butterfly-inducing read, this felt like a chore. nick stark remains the best lynn painter mmc and i will die on that hill!!!

-

IT’S FINALLY OVER!!! RTC!!!

-

NAT AND I ARE BACK WITH A LYNN PAINTER BUDDY READ!! granted, our responses are business weeks apart and we’ve barely touched it, BUT WE ARE WORKING ON IT

-

frankly i’ve been let down a lot recently by lynn so i won’t be surprised if i dislike this 😬

[jenoodle✮⋆˙ · Rating 3 out of 5]

・:〃➜ 𝐒𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐫 𝐅𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 ❄️༄.°
₊°｡🌨️ 𝖳𝗁𝖺𝗇𝗄 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝖭𝖾𝗍𝗀𝖺𝗅𝗅𝖾𝗒 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝖺𝗎𝗍𝗁𝗈𝗋 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝗀𝗂𝗏𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗆𝖾 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝖠𝖱𝖢 𝗍𝗈 𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗌 𝖻𝗈𝗈𝗄 𝗂𝗇 𝖾𝗑𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗇𝗀𝖾 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝖺 𝗁𝗈𝗇𝖾𝗌𝗍 𝗋𝖾𝗏𝗂𝖾𝗐! ❆ ･ﾟ🌀

🧊⊹ ࣪ ˖ 𝑭𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝑺𝒌𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 ⋆🤍₊˚ෆ
⋆⁺₊🐻‍❄️❅。 𝙧𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚: 14+ (𝙠𝙞𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙞𝙣𝙣𝙪𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙤, 𝙛𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙙𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜), 𝙘𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜: 14+ (𝙛*𝙘𝙠, 𝙨𝙝*𝙩, 𝙖*𝙨 𝘼𝙇𝙈𝙊𝙎𝙏 𝙀𝙑𝙀𝙍𝙔 𝙋𝘼𝙂𝙀. 𝙀𝙎𝙋𝙀𝘾𝙄𝘼𝙇𝙇𝙔 𝙈𝘼𝙇𝙀 𝙋𝙊𝙑.) 𓂃 ࣪˖☃️⭑.ᐟ

*̩̩͙‧͙•̩̩͙┈┈・｡˚₊ ❆ ｡˚₊・┈┈‧͙ •̩̩͙‧͙*̩̩͙

╰ now playing: 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙩𝙤 𝙛𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙨 🥶 ⸝⸝.ᐟ⋆
˚.🩵* 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙗𝙧
⦊ 0:42 ——◦———— 2:25 ⦉
↠ⁿᵉˣᵗ ˢᵒⁿᵍ ↺ ʳᵉᵖᵉᵃᵗ ⊜ ᵖᵃᵘˢᵉ 💙
꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦

›  ֺ۪ ❄️ "𝙃𝙤𝙬 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙬𝙚 𝙜𝙤 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙨" ! ݁ ݂ ͡ ☆

⛸️⋆⁺❅. I am NOT going to lie. The moment I saw this I actually SCREAMED. I was hopping around giggling "NEW LYNN PAINTER BOOK!!! NEW BOOK MAN!! NEW DRAMA!!!" and running around my bedroom for a solid 5 minutes. Because I ABSOULTELY DEVOUR anything written by Lynn so when I saw she was writing a freaking HOCKEY ROMANCE?? WITH WINTER VIBES??? Yeah I was SOLD SOLD SOLD. Mrs. Lynn you can TAKE MY MONEY. So now that I actually was able to read the ARC for this book (Unlike you losers who are stuck not reading ittttt/ jkjk) I WAS HYPED UPP!! I binged this in three days and probably could have binged it in one if I wasn't busy. But I will admit after reading this one once I had read all of her YA books, I will say I def had conflicted feelings on this…

›  ֺ۪ ❄️ "𝙒𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙬𝙚 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙖 𝙗𝙚𝙙? (𝙔𝙚𝙖𝙝)" ! ݁ ݂ ͡ ☆

⛸️⋆⁺❅. STARTING OFF HEADSTRONG!!! I actually REALLY loved the representation and the plot of this book SO, SO, SO much. We have girl lead who suffers from anxiety attacks and is ALWAYS OVERTHINKING, which I found SO refreshing to read. I felt like I could relate to her in some ways and it just felt really good reading about a girl who struggles with things every teenager could relate too. We also get the representation with the main girl's parents being recently divorced which had caused her to move across the country to live with her grandfather. I LOVED that we got to see her side and how kids or teens or anyone in general for that matter struggles with having their parents divorced. It was really refreshing and fun to have read about a character with some many key points that made her relatable to some. NOW MOVING ON FROM THAT, THE PLOT OF THIS BOOK WAS ACTUALLY REALLY REALLY GOOD!! I actually ate up the Minnesota aesthetics and the whole fake dating shenanigans. It was classic, iconic, yet I STILL DEVOURED IT. We also cannot forget that this is CHILDHOOD FRIENDS TO LOVERSSS which actually made it EVEN better. And even though it was childhood friends to lovers I really felt like it was more childhood friends to enemies to loversishh because I SORTA got those vibes at times. THERE WAS ALSO THE MISCOMMUNICATION. AND OH LORD, I actually really hated this but loved it at the same time. I just think it was such a stupid thing to be miscommunicated about though, hence why the rating is a teeny bit lower. Because I FELT LIKE IT COULD HAVE SOOOO EASILY BEEN RESOLVED. But that is for my hating segment of this review 🙈🙈

›  ֺ۪ ❄️ "𝙃𝙤𝙬 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙖𝙩 𝙢𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙙" ! ݁ ݂ ͡ ☆

⛸️⋆⁺❅. NOW. as MUCH as I ate the plot, the characters, the overall idea. I HAVE SOME COMPLAINTS FOLKS I HAVE SOME COMPLAINTS. Starting off where I left off the whole MISCOMMUNICATION ORDEAL. I feel like this was NOT resolved exactly clearly when we are getting into the romance part because our main guy Alec started liking Dani even though the issue was NOT resolved and even though he said he was STILL mad at her. Now I get the guy loves the girl still, and this happened when they were fake dating. But the issue I have at hand is when they actually confessed to eachother THE PAST ORDEAL WAS NOT RESOLVED. And while it does get fixed in the end, I found it quite annoying that he would be constantly in love with her yet still complain about the drama they had in the past. I feel like it would have been better to have resolved their issue while they were still fake dating before moving on to the real thing because it just PISSED ME OFFF. NOW ANOTHER THING, and I know I am going to sound SUPER petty when I say this but I DID NOT LIKE THE PET NAMES ALEC WAS USING. Hear me out, hear me the FREAK OUT. He was calling her "Baby" and "Honey" *mentally dies and not in a good way* I DID NOT LIKE THESE PET NAMES AT ALL. First and foremost, "Baby" sounds like a freaking playboy and I know people say it all the time but ME PERSONALLY I DIDNT LIKE THAT NAME. AND SECOND "Honey" SOUNDS LIKE A DAD TALKING TO HIS DAUGHTER AND I HATED IT SO BADLY TOO. Like there was so many other ones they could have used for them these ones were just like, not it I am sorry. (No hate if you like these ones though) BUT I JUST HAD TO MENTION THAT! Oh yeah and another thing I must add is the amount of cussing (Which is not surprising in Lynn books) BUT STILL.

MAAM.
PLEASE.
CHILL.

I do not need a cuss every sentence THANK YOUUU. <3333

›  ֺ۪ ❄️ "𝙄'𝙢 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪'𝙫𝙚 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙢𝙚𝙩?" ! ݁ ݂ ͡ ☆

── .✦ 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔 ⋆⁺₊❅. 💋
🏒₊˚⊹ 𝐃𝐚𝐧𝐢: I HONESTLY LOVED HER SO MUCH. I think she might be the best main character girlie Lynn has written because I honestly couldn't find a single flaw about her. She was really sweet, and funny, and I related to her sm. Love my girl Dani <3
🏒₊˚⊹ 𝐀𝐥𝐞𝐜: UGHHH now I LOVED HIM ACTUALLY. I think I might love him more than Wes but not more than Charlie. He was SO funny at times and like honestly, SUCH A BAD BOY WHICH I DEVOURED. He was a touch her and you die kind of guy and OH BOY I do not mean that metaphorically. This guy would KILL for his girl. I did find him kind of like a playboy at times but hey that's ok, its all apart of the bad bot vibe. SUCHHHH a cutie tho.
🏒₊˚⊹ 𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐚 𝐌𝐢𝐜𝐤: HONESTLY THIS GUY WAS A DIVAAAAA!! I actually laughed so hard at his parts. He is just so savage and cool, and like he was just misunderstood guyssss. I loved him so much I need a grampa like him ugh.
🏒₊˚⊹ 𝐂𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐞: AHHHH THE TYPICAL BESTIE GIRLBOSSS! A Lynn painter book is NOT complete without at least one of these girlies supporting our main lead!! She was really sweet I loved her.
🏒₊˚⊹ 𝐁𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐢: OKAY IM GONNA BE SO FOR REAL RIGHT NOW, I ACTUALLY FELT BAD FOR HIM IN THE BEGINNING. I was like oh poor guy, BUT AT THE ENDING GODDD I HATED HIM. I hope he dies.

💌 And like always, there is SO MANY MORE CHARACTERS in this book. (But that is for you to find out babes.)

⛸️⋆⁺❅. 𝑶𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒍:
I actually found this book to be both bitter AND sweet, and honestly? I would probably read it again. This is such a cozy roadtrip kind of book you would take with you or just read it along with a cup of tea. I loved the plot and the characters so so much. And if you were a fan of Lynn and want a new man to obsess over, I DEF recommend to try it out and see how you like it <3


*̩̩͙‧͙•̩̩͙┈┈・｡˚₊ ❆ ｡˚₊・┈┈‧͙ •̩̩͙‧͙*̩̩͙

❄️⛸️ 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝: GUYSSS I GOT THE FREAKING ARC!!!! OMG OMG OMG IM SCREAMINGG!! THANK YOU LYNN!! ☃️ BR WITH MY POOKIE Violet AHHH IM SO EXCITED

ok guys bye im gonna go cry bc this cover has my soul😫🙈🙈🙈

[Ana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was so cute, I loved it.
It was fun, heartfelt and incredibly sweet, filled with moments that made me laugh and swoon and some that broke my heart a little..

It was my first Lynn Painter book and I definitely understand why she's loved now. Her writing is beautiful!

Dani and Alec were childhood friends, she used to spend summers in his hometown, until Dani stopped coming and they stopped writing to each other too. Years later, Dani's back for her senior year, after her parents divorced, and she's excited and nervous to see her friend.. But Alec is a hockey star now and not the boy she remembers, but neither is she. When they find themselves faking a relationship to help each other out, things might start to feel a little too real.. They might be strangers now, but their connection never truly went away..

I loved Dani, her social anxiety, the loneliness and her tendency to overthinking and overprepare hit too close to home, so how could I not. I loved seeing her come out of her shell, be more social after everything that happened.. I really hated the situation with her dad though.. But seeing her reconnect with her grandad was both endearing and hilarious..
Alec, I adored him, he was so sweet and a little bit of an asshole, the perfect combination.. His soft side is what made me fall in love with him and seeing all the pressure he put on himself was heartbreaking. The way he really saw Dani, how he helped her even when he was mad at her and the way he was genuinely happy every time the old Dani would crack through the facade, was everything. I loved the way he loved her.

The two of them were absolutely perfect for each other.. Seeing them reconnect was delightful.. The teasing, all the cute moments, the way they cared, all the moments their vulnerability was shown, it was absolutely adorable. And them constantly being interrupted was so funny.
I also loved their friend group, they were amazing. Cassie was my favourite though.
And then there's Benji, I hope his nose never heals right..

I had fun most of the time, it really was a well written novel. But, the miscommunication being dragged on to the very end, just for us to kind of skip over it, put a damper on an, otherwise, amazing book. I wish it was solved sooner and in a better way.
And I, personally, didn't liked all the lyrics being thrown in the dialogue, it messed with the flow of the book. I get that it can be seen as a fun addition, but I found it a little annoying.

Overall, I really enjoyed it and this will finally give me the push I needed to read her other books.

*Thank you to Netgalley and to Simon and Schuster UK Children's for providing me with an ARC.*

.·:*¨ ¨*:·.

I'm so excited to read this!!
I can't believe I got an ARC, hoping this is as amazing as I think it will be! ❤️

[Belle₊˚⊹♡ (for keeps ∞♡) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75 stars!🌟🌟🌟
(spoiler-free🐵)


🎵𝙒𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙨𝙖𝙮 ...'𝙃𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙮'
𝙎𝙪𝙢𝙢𝙚𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚 𝙨𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙯, 𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙨𝙠𝙞𝙚𝙨
𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙘𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙢𝙚 '𝙝𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙮' 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩
𝘽𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙄'𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩’ 🎵

🎧𝙷𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚢~𝚃𝚊𝚢𝚕𝚘𝚛 𝚂𝚠𝚒𝚏𝚝

↻ ◁ || ▷ ↺
_____________

~“…𝘴𝘶𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦.
𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘤𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭, 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘥𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘥𝘥𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨.”

This was such a cute read! 📖🏒

Definitely took me some time to get into this but overall it was so fluffy and pretty fast paced 💨 🩷

This is a childhood friends to lovers trope which I usually always eat upppp
But for some reason I found the plot a little repetitive at times? 😩🙈

Don’t get me wrong I loooved the ending but the start was definitely slower than how her other books were,
But definitely doesn’t take away from the fact Lynn painter is one of my top favorite authors!

Alec and Dani were so adorable at times, but omg Alec got on my nerves at first but he found his way back to being likable towards the middle end 😭

but Alec was so DOWN BADDD for Dani in the best way possible which I looved, like this was literally his inner monologue when they kissed

“𝘎𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘺, 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦, 𝘎𝘰𝘥.“

LIKE WHAT- 🛐

So there definitely was some parts that had me squealingggg 🤭

And Dani was just relatable at times 😩
Her struggling with her anxiety and her panic attacks I found were well written and the relationship between her and her family was so plot heavy which I loved reading 📖

Though at the end it’s not of my favorite Lynn painter books I still find something so cute and adorable about them no matter how cliche the ending is, I still love her work 🙌🏼🙂‍↕️

⭐️Rating: 3/5
🔥Spice: 0.5/5 (the kissing was pretty descriptive but the cussing was a little excessive🙈)
📚Age Rating: 14+

💐📸Insta-vid: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DR21-I...

🎧Songs:

~When Did You Get Hot?~Sabrina Carpenter

~seven~Taylor Swift

~now that we don’t talk~Taylor Swift

~imgonnagetyouback ~Taylor Swift

~I Can Do It With A Broken Heart~Taylor Swift

~so high school~Taylor Swift

~The Alchemy~Taylor Swift

~Wi$h Li$t~Taylor Swift

~Opalite~Taylor swift

~Honey~Taylor swift

~gold rush~Taylor swift

~Little League~Conan Gray

~12 to 12~Sombr

~I love you I’m sorry~Gracie Abrams


⛸️💕Pre-read:
YAYY I CANT WAIT TO READ THIS😻
I just know this is gonna be sooo goodddd
And youre telling me the mmc is a TTPD lover & a Conan gray fan?
Say less 🗣️

{💘Prerelease:
Update: THE COVER IS SO CUUTE!!!! So excited to read this !⛸️🥰🤭💝
NO WAY WE ARE GETTING A LYNN PAINTER HOCKEY ROMANCE BOOK IM SCREAMING🚨 😭😭💞💞💞
I CANT WAITT 😩}

[Uswah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eeep!!! I’m so happy I got to read this 🥹🫶

I felt all of Lynn Painter’s magic in this book, magic that I didn’t feel in Maid for Each Other by this author 😭 which honestly left me really sad and disappointed. But this book?? THIS BOOK. It was so much better and gave me all the feels I needed 🤭❄️ It wrapped me up in all those cozy, swoony feels 🤭🙂‍↕️

Dani is such a lovely character 🥹 I’m so happy with her journey, and I’m sooo glad she finally got the happiness she deserved 🥹🫶 Her journey is so satisfying 🥹

And Alec—oh my gosh, I love him so much 😭🫶 Another character officially added to my infinite book boyfriends list 😔 Ahhhh, his love for Dani is so incredibly sweet 🥹 and sounds exactly like the soft, sweet, giggle-inducing kind that makes readers melt 🤭 May this kind of love find us all, besties 🫂🌷

This couple made me giggle so much 🥹 I was completely hooked on their story and everything about them 🤭❄️ I had such a great time with this read, and I’m so happy that my last read of 2025 was this good, cute, and lovely 🥹🩵

Oh, and we love Grandpa Mick 🙂‍↕️🤭 I also loved all the friendships 🥹🫶

Overall, I’m so delighted 🤭 and had so much fun reading this. Dani and Alec are my favorites 🌷🫶

Yea, that’s it, guys. Love y’all 🫶❄️

———————————————
₊˚｡❆⛸️ pre-read ₊˚｡❆⛸️

I’ve been meaning to read this for a while, and it feels like the perfect timeeee 🤭❄️

[emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

i just can't resist a pun.

https://emmareadstoomuch.substack.com...

that will probably be my downfall someday.

i set out to read every goodreads choice award winner and, in what would become a theme, that entailed reading this book by an author i had forced myself to give up on.

i really liked one of lynn painter's YA contemporaries – one of my favorite genres to really like – and then i found another one just okay, and then i hated two of her adult romances with every molecule of my heart.

so i gave up.

until i suddenly backed myself into a corner of going back to the original category.

not to sound like the kind of christian mom who protested the harry potter books in the early 2000s (and not for any of the reasons they should be protested), but my first observation was that there was so much swearing here.

this falls into the current trend i hate: a straight romance with both a male and female perspective. even worse, it achieves the former through the strategy known as "throwing a ton of cursing in and calling it masculinity." when the source of that machismo should be doing math homework, it comes off even sillier.

here's an example: “I was a grown-ass man with a car and a job, for God’s sake.” well, no. you’re a 17-year-old who works part-time in his dad’s hardware store.

anyway.

every fake dating trope requires a fundamental choice by the reader to forget what it means to be a living, breathing human being, and i love that about it. this was just a bridge too far even for me.

everybody in this is either pure good or pure evil and either way completely obsessed with our main characters’ lives to the point of having no time for their own. there is so much drama that it’s impossible to wrap it up, even in not one but two epilogues, so some things are just never answered or addressed again.

also this is like 40% song names.

but sure, they yearn.

bottom line: i will continue to trust my gut over the goodreads choice awards.

[ashlyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was so cute and honestly really hard to stop reading. Once it hit its stride, I was hooked Dani and Alec’s dynamic gave me exactly the swoony, childhood sweethearts to fake dating to real feelings vibe I wanted.

But I’m knocking off a star because those first few chapters were rough. The pacing felt slow, and the characters were acting super immature for high schoolers. I get that it’s meant to be lighthearted and fun, but it threw me off at first.

Still, once the story got going I loved the cozy small town setting, the hockey energy, and the sweet romance.

Buddy read with my bb kitkat go check out her review 💗




Pre read: I GOT THE ARC!! 🧎‍♀️‍➡️🧎‍♀️‍➡️ thank you queen Lynn Painter

[cherie ^_-★ (back soon) · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars ⭐
⤷ spoiler-free review!! ⋆౨ৎ˚⟡˖ ࣪

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ my thoughts
i hate to say it, but this book didn’t work for me 😞 i wanted to love it, but instead i ended up feeling more annoyed than anything else. the miscommunication and fake dating tropes are very hit or miss for me, and in this case, they were a miss. i don’t mind miscommunication when it’s done well, but it felt kinda dumb here 😭 so much of the conflict could’ve been resolved—or avoided altogether—if dani and alec had just talked to each other. and honestly, the reason behind the fake dating arrangement had me rolling my eyes 🙄

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ characters
♡.ᐟ dani 👩🏼‍🏫
dani was a bit of a mixed bag for me. her tendency to avoid difficult conversations—especially when it came to her relationship with her dad—frustrated me a little, even though it was something i could relate to 😬 that said, i appreciated the social anxiety representation. i understood exactly how she felt in those moments, and that aspect of her character helped me connect with her on a deeper level.

♡.ᐟ alec 🏒
alec didn’t make the best first impression. while it was clear he wasn’t a bad person, his cocky, arrogant attitude towards dani at the start really rubbed me the wrong way. and his nickname (it’s zeus if you’re wondering)? yeah, no 😭

♡.ᐟ dani + alec
the romance didn’t do much for me if i’m being honest :/ what annoyed me the most was how they were upset with each other because they believed they’d been ghosted, only to fall for one another once they started fake dating, then remember the supposed ghosting and get upset all over again. like bruhhh 🤦🏻‍♀️

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ overall
i can’t fully explain why this book annoyed me as much as it did (perhaps it was simply a case of wrong timing), but it just wasn’t it for me 🫩 i’m pretty disappointed because so many people loved it and i really thought i would too 😔 at this point, i fear Lynn Painter’s books haven’t been hitting for me lately, and none of them have come close to topping Better Than the Movies.

────────── ⋆⋅end⋅⋆ ──────────

pre-read ⛸️
i haven’t picked up a book in over a week, but i’m ready to ease back into reading and i think a cute winter romance is exactly what i need ~

(update: i’ve eased back into reading and i’ve heard good things about this book so i’m hoping it’ll be a 4/5-star read for me 🤞🏻)

[kitkat (semi-hiatus ♡︎)]

- post read ❤️ -
loved this one!! frtc <3

- preread 🩵 -
HOLY SHIT YALL I JUST GOT THE ARC 😭😭😭😭😭 life is worth living 🥹🙏😭

>> buddy reading with my favorite girl ashlyn - go check out her thoughts too <3

————

istg not another hockey romance 🙈🙈

but at the same time…

*SCREAMS* ⛸️🤭🤍

>> thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an arc !!!

[hannah ꣑ৎ · Rating 5 out of 5]

didn't expect anything less than 5 stars 🤭

[Fairuz ᥫ᭡. · Rating 4 out of 5]

★★★★☆
Fake Skating by Lynn Painter Huge thanks to Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing | Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers & NetGalley for the eARC! 💌

okay. listen. this book??? felt like snowflakes melting on your palm and first crush butterflies.

❄️ Childhood Sweethearts
🤍 Fake Dating
❄️ Sports Romance (Hockey)
🤍 Second Chance Romance
❄️ Small-Town Setting
🤍 Family Drama
❄️ Opposites Attract
🤍 Coming-of-Age

the vibe is sooo wintery small-town teen movie-core but like, if the emotional beats actually hit. 🫶

DANI
queen of overthinking and lowkey awkwardness.
i loved her. her voice felt so real—messy, raw, and full of that post-divorce, “who even am I anymore” confusion. her jealousy, her loneliness, the awkward nostalgia of coming back to somewhere that used to feel like home? UGH. it was giving depth.

ALEC
you will want to give this boy a hug.
popular hockey star with an actual soft center. he’s a little confusing, a little guarded, a lot ✨boy✨ but it makes sense once you get his backstory. also he listens to Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga… like sir. pls get in line. 💿

the romance?
childhood besties ➝ strangers ➝ fake dating ➝ real feelings 💘
the way they slowly opened up again?? like watching frost melt off glass. and the locker room scene… iYKYK.

this was a warm mug of cocoa with just a little emotional ache stirred in.
perfect for fans of Better Than the Movies, Betting On You, or literally anyone craving a swoony, soft YA romance with fake dating and family feels.

this book gave me frostbite and heartburn in the best way possible.

━━━━━━━━━━━⊱♡⊰━━━━━━━━━━

Getting a Lynn Painter ARC on my birthday??? I WON. 😭💘

Huge thanks to Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing | Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers & Netgalley for the best birthday gift ever 🥹🎁

🧊 Fake Skating by Lynn Painter
childhood besties → fake dating → hockey royalty??? Oh she’s about to cook fr 🍿

Lynn’s pen never slips & if this gives even 1% of the Better Than the Movies chaos-meets-swoon energy?? I’m gone. I’m deceased. pls bury me with this book 😭💞

Reading this rn — I’m ready for icy tension, swoony glances, & fake kisses that feel way too real 👀⛸️

[rei ‧₊˚✩彡 · Rating 5 out of 5]

╰┈➤ 5 stars!

happy publishing to fake skating! 🩵⛸️🏒

lynn painter did it once more! this book wasn’t part of my anticipated release this year but it became as one of my best reads this year for sure! i love everything about this book and i can’t wait for everyone to get their hands on it!

౨ৎ dani. her constant moving from place to place left her with a deep sense of rootlessness, as if she didn’t truly belong anywhere. this frequent relocation, a result of being a military child, inevitably shaped who she became. she was essentially forced to adapt over and over again, and that kind of life change would impact anyone. it’s no surprise that she evolved into someone quite different from the dani that alec once knew growing up. that kind of transformation was bound to happen under the circumstances. on top of that, she began to carry a heavy sense of guilt after learning about the many sacrifices her mother made for her. that realization added a deeper emotional weight to dani’s journey and influenced how she viewed both herself and her past.

౨ৎ alec. he is completely in love with dani—wholeheartedly and unwaveringly. what’s truly remarkable about him is that he hasn’t changed a bit when it comes to his feelings for her, even with the time and space that passed between them. his love remained constant, a quiet anchor in the middle of everything else changing around him. however, witnessing his father go through a major transformation due to past events took a serious emotional toll on alec. he’s always been a family-first kind of guy, and seeing the shift in his dad affected him deeply. you can feel how much it weighed on him. more than anything, he just wants to enjoy playing hockey—the game he loves—without the crushing pressure of letting anyone down. you really feel for him as he tries to hold it all together.


this book had me completely in my feelings. the way alec loves dani is so intense and genuine—it’s the kind of love that doesn’t fade, no matter how much time passes. their connection is the emotional core of the story. but what made this book even more special was how tightly knit every relationship was. the characters shared such a beautiful sense of closeness, and the way they supported one another was heartwarming. it’s the kind of found family dynamic that stays with you.

what happened between alec and dani is truly heartbreaking, especially since they were apart during the moments in life when they needed each other the most. that separation created emotional distance that pushed them apart, even though their bond was still strong underneath it all.

lynn painter did such an incredible job writing this story. i genuinely cannot wait for the book to be published so everyone can read and experience this beautiful journey. and although there’s no explicit spice, the tension is absolutely unreal. every time they kissed, the chemistry was so intense that i wanted to scream into a pillow! it felt so real and raw.

dani’s relationship with her grandfather was another highlight—it was so touching. i was so upset with her dad for ruining something so special. grandparent relationships are deeply important to me because i grew up with my grandmother, so seeing that connection suffer really hit home.

also, i think we can all agree to collectively dislike ben. what was even going on with him? he came off as immature, insecure, and honestly kind of annoying.

overall, i loved this book so much! lynn painter absolutely outdid herself. if you're a fan of sports romance, fake dating, childhood friends to lovers, and dual POVs, then you’ll fall in love with this story just like i did.

Thank you to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster, and the author for the ARC in exchange of my honest review.

・。・。・。・。・。・。・。・。・。・。・。・。・

pre-read:

time to read another arc, but this time it’s from lynn painter!! i can’t believe i got accepted for this arc and i’m genuinely so excited because the blurb sounds promising 🤭🫶🏼

[aubrey౨ৎ₊˚⊹ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars 💌 well that was a little disappointingg not bad but definitely not my favorite

let’s start w what i didn’t like

1. the plot felt slightly monotonous and nothing rlly happened that made it exciting i guess
2. the excessive cursing took me out of the story at times like do we rlly need to be cussing every other word
3. lastly, i genuinely cringed at some of the lines:/ the audiobook for this, oh dear, it was rough.

don’t get me wrong it was still cute and had that classic lynn painter banter that makes you smile and giggle….but i feel like this could have been done so much better. they never really talked abt their friendship and what happened between them, they kind of just hated each other for a couple chapters, rushed into a fake relationship, and boom feelings. idk i feel like the storyline and tropes were good and the chemistry was their but it just wasn’t done as well as i had hoped. ALSO she totally fumbled a panic attack scene between dani and alec

i saw a lot of people saying that alec gave wes some competition and was her best mmc but he was just lacking something? he was sweet but he’ll never come close to charlie sampson ok

now the things i loved

1. mick, i absolutely love him he reminded me so much of luke from gilmore girls. lowkey have a crush on him..who said that
2. alec’s animosity for physical touch🫦 maybe i’m touch deprived but i’m a sucker for subtle small touches
3. the fake dating was done rlly well and the flirting had me giggling and losing mind

solid three stars nothing life changing but it’s lynn painter so obviously it’s good…no this did not take me more than a month to read mmkay let’s keep moving along:)

[aira · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this on vacation, so I don't remember enough to write a proper review...however, I still lowks enjoyed it!! 🤭

[Nilufer Ozmekik · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes, I finally found it—my favorite YA romance of the year! Lynn Painter has officially outdone herself. While I’ve long been a fan of her sparkling adult romcoms, this YA novel captures something even more special: the magical mixture of first love, heartbreak, family chaos, personal growth, and the second chances that make your heart flutter in the very best way. This isn’t just a love story—it’s a celebration of resilience, reconnection, and finding your voice when the world keeps trying to silence it.

The story centers around Dani and Alec, childhood best friends and first loves who grew up side by side as neighbors. They shared their first kiss, secret jokes, and late-night dreams—until Dani’s father, a strict and often emotionally distant colonel, uprooted the family time and again, moving them from country to country. Despite their promises to stay in touch with coded postcards, life intervened. Miscommunications, pain, and unspoken assumptions led to silence, and the once-inseparable pair drifted apart, each secretly blaming the other for ghosting.

Now, after her parents’ divorce, Dani returns to her grandfather’s home in small-town Minnesota—back to where it all began. Grandpa Mike is a local legend and former hockey star with a sharp tongue and an unexpectedly warm heart. Their relationship is rocky at first, but watching it slowly mend is one of the most touching parts of the novel. Mike adds so much humor, wisdom, and unforgettable one-liners to the story, and honestly? He steals every scene he’s in. (The hospital scene had me laughing out loud. He deserves his own book!)

But things get complicated when Dani crosses paths with Alec again. He's no longer the boy she remembers—he’s the school's charismatic, devilishly handsome hockey star with a legion of admirers and a carefully constructed image. Dani is still furious at being ghosted; Alec is quietly hurt and harboring his own regrets. Their reunion is tense, charged, and irresistible to watch unfold.

When a chaotic moment leads them to a spontaneous fake-dating arrangement—meant to help Alec clean up his public image and Dani boost her extracurricular résumé for Harvard—things begin to shift. Pretending to care quickly turns into something dangerously real, forcing them both to confront the unresolved feelings, wounds, and dreams they’ve been hiding. But with college, distance, and old fears still looming, can they risk falling again—knowing how much it hurt the first time?

Painter absolutely nails the dynamic between Dani and Alec. Their banter sparkles with wit, their chemistry leaps off the page, and their emotional growth is deeply satisfying. I adored Dani's fierce intelligence, vulnerability, and sarcasm, and Alec’s layers—beneath the charm is a guy who’s trying to keep everything together while dealing with pain of his own.

And let’s not forget the fantastic supporting cast. Dani’s journey of making new friends, standing up for herself, and finding her place in a new school environment is handled with so much heart. The small-town hockey backdrop adds such a cozy yet dynamic vibe, reminiscent of Friday Night Lights with a YA romcom twist. Honestly, it felt like Fredrik Backman’s Beartown collided with a feel-good Netflix teen movie, in the best possible way.

This book has everything I love in a YA romance: emotional depth, hilarious moments, slow-burning chemistry, heartwarming family themes, and characters you genuinely root for. I didn’t want it to end—and yet I couldn’t stop reading. You know that rare feeling when a book makes you laugh, swoon, tear up, and want to hug the characters all at once? That’s this book. It’s extra adorable, extra emotional, and extra unforgettable.

Final verdict: A five-gazillion-star knockout! This book is a total gem—heartfelt, charming, and one of Lynn Painter’s best works to date. I wholeheartedly recommend it to readers of all ages looking for a romcom with depth, laughter, and heart.

A huge, heartfelt thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing / Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers for sharing this amazing YA romcom digital reviewer copy with me in exchange for my honest thoughts. I loved every moment of it and didn’t want to say goodbye to these wonderful characters.

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[jo ୨୧ · Rating 4 out of 5]

❄️ HAPPY RELEASE DAY TO THIS GORGINA OF A BOOK ❄️ !!!! GO BUY A COPY OR SMTH AND READ IT !!

＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚　spoiler free review　˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊

.❅ big thanks to netgalley & the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review !! ❅



grab a mug of ur favorite beverage + cue up your sombr playlist, it’s time babes.

the absolute joy i had when i saw this inbox should be bottled up so when im sad i can like, use it again??? Because my mom was genuinely concerned when i went “OH MY GOSH I GOT THE LYNN PAINTER ARC” it’s an honor to be writing this review because lynn eats and devours every single time. Call her a chef because she’s cookin (pls im sorry) 🤭🤭

I binged this book in one night – dont question it, my goodreads updates were me trying to be normal haha

“everyone loves the things you do” ~ when we were young

I loved almost everything about this book! It was so close to being a five stars but i docked off one star for two reasons which i will dive into below! But first off the positives.

✎ fake dating is hands down one of my favorite tropes. Nothing will ever top enemies to lovers or academic rivals but fake dating >>> it slays every single freaking time. The tension, the yearning, the “fake” but its “real”ness of it makes me giggle and kick my feet. Also makes me feel single! We stan that hahahah..no. um yay
✎ our characters felt real and i could relate to dani and some of the other characters so well. Couldn’t relate to alec because im not like a ripped guy who plays hockey and is like super hot (in my dreams ig)
✎ The writing !! so many quotable moments + moments where i was just laughing
✎ the childhood friends to lovers to strangers to friends-ish to fake lovers to lovers eats every time >>>
✎ he hands her a tote bag and says “fill her up” at the bookstore (that’s what she said)

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ now onto the cons

✎ miscommunication. If someone wanted to torture me alive they could hand me a banana and a misscommunication trope book and tell me to eat and read. Id rather die ty. Im not being dramatic guys, this is the truth and nothing but the truth .
But i loathe that trope with a passion but MOSTLY when it’s over the stupidest thing ever. Or something that could be resolved with *clears throat*

TALKING LIKE THE ALMOST OR ADULTS THAT YOU ARE!?

But yeah, the miscommunication in this book almost made me throw it across the room at 2am in the morning which
1. would have made me break my phone
2. woken up the entire household over some idiots not talking to each other
So i opted to just rant in my notes app (which btw, my notes app makes no sense, i don’t even know if i was speaking english in it that early in the morning.)

✎ the language. now hear me out here. im not a sensitive to language girly, it usually doesn’t bother me. but when the mmc does not know how to desrive like…anything or mentally think without being like “yada f***ing blah f***ing sh*t” im just like ???
like babes, the library is right behind u, lemme grab a dictionary and while im at it, i’ll snag a thesaurus (lowk cant spell) for you too! It’ll totes help that…vocab. anyways that’s a random rant on me lol like it just kinda effects the writing style when it’s not in dialogue !!

✎ our mmc alec already liking dani when his brain was still filled with the “misscomunication” UGH

✎ if a man ever calls me “baby”, “honey” and says “good girl” after one singular thing. Please write up my speech for my funeral because ive died and not in an at all good way. no, ive deceased from cringe. too many pet names. I’m a “last name by term of endearment” girly >>

✎ all in all, not a lot of cons so that says enough hehehe

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ characters !!

dani
I actually had no idea if id like her at not at the beginning but i loved her. She spoke her mind and wasn’t trying to be like *tucks hair* “Im just…not like…other girls” she was her and i love that. Also lets get some recongizition for a fellow 5’7 girlie! Like when her grandpa went, thats pretty tall for a girl, i literally was like, bestie no it’s not but okay!!!
Love her dedication and how she’s focused on her goals we stan a girlboss.

alec
Look this man might (i mean might) be better than wes bennet. He was a walking “touch my gf and u will reget whatever u say”. I mean his man punched a guy talking bad (no not bad, disgusting) about dani. He’s such a loverboy under his “im such a bad guy like who plays hockey.” this man does have the mouth of a sailor though, holy frickin crap. (i did that on purpose)
But realises WHAT TEENAGE BOY WHO PLAYS HOCKEY IS LISTENING TO SOMBR !? like imagine “hey what are you listening to?” “oh just undressed by sombr and anxiety by doechii” plsssssss. If u are a teenage boy reading this, my culture is not to be played with. JK JK\

grandma mick
My. Favorite. Character. I need a grandpa mick in my life. I mean that. He was an absouloute diva and just always had the best lines. Also his disaste for one character–i have respect for grandpa m.

benji.
go drive ur frickin mazzartti off a cliff 😃 if benji has no haters just know i died


cassie
Lynn painter writes the best girl friendships who have their own personalities and are divas. Love her sm 🤭🤭


other
Too many characters ngl. Also her dad? He sucks.


⋇⊶⊰❣⊱⊷⋇ ⋇⊶⊰❣⊱⊷⋇ wrapup ⋇⊶⊰❣⊱⊷⋇ ⋇⊶⊰❣⊱⊷⋇

☃︎ all in all, this book eats and is the perfect book for reading in a cozy cabin or by the beach….? Or on a trip or on a plane, or JUST GO FRICKIN READ THIS BOOK! It has humor, fun characters, and like the hockey vibes without being too much. We stan. If u love lynn painter, you wont regret reading fake skating. ☃︎


.❅ big thanks to netgalley & the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review !! ❅

full review to come !! i need to understand my notes app-- (aka no clue what i was yapping about) but THIS BOOK >>>

pre-review ive peaked in life bc i got the arc

[manas · Rating 4 out of 5]

➳ GIVE ME A PART TWO ☆

first and foremost, thank you, simon and schuster & netgalley for this ARC. as always, this will be an honest review.

your honor, I LOVE THEM. if you have been keeping up with my updates, you would know how much fun this book was. i miss them so much, already. when the audio book comes out, trust me, i will be reading this again. fake skating is the perfect YA romance for everyone who misses that romcom feeling. i will be the first to say, i love alec & dani more than wes & liz. i didn't think lynn painter could out-do herself, but she cooked, served, and ate. i can't wait to see everyone's reaction to this book. i hope you guys love it as much as i did. this book comes out on september 30th.

☆ YA romance
★ dual point of view
✮ childhood best-friends to strangers to lovers
☆ fake dating
★ sports romance
✮ small-town
☆ yearning + angst + LOTS of miscommunication
★ shy, quiet girl + popular guy
✮ found family

the vibes of this book were immaculate. i love a good romance story that takes place over winter and lynn did not disappoint. from the jump, we see a little glimpse of our main characters when they were younger—to then how everything unfolded when dani comes back into alec's life in the present timeline. the romance and their romantic relationship was a solid 10/10 for me. this was by far the highlight of the book. since dani & alec are only high school seniors, their development together and individually made a lot of sense for this narrative. their love was ever present—a quiet but static love that never went away. in this book, one of the focal points that stood out for me, was the gradual shift in their relationship. they went from best-friends who had a crush on each other, to strangers, then best-friends again, to lovers. some parts were chessy, but it was so cute to read about.

꩜ ── dani
dani is such a real character. for once, a YA romance doesn't have the main characters doing backflips and fighting thanos. a lot of the setting from this book takes place at her home and at school. due to some tense relations with her family—and her newer reformed relationship with alec—we see many sides of dani that are different, but equally important. after she moved away to live with her parents, we find out that her and alec fell out, without ever knowing the why or how. this was a huge weight that dani carried throughout the book, and when it finally was revealed, it felt a little kooky. i would've liked a little more depth with that story-line, since a HUGE part of the plot was this miscommunication. i do feel like everything was resolved a little too quickly with no real repercussions for it to be such a signification implication.

꩜ ── alec
alec is the definition of pathetic. lynn knows how to write a good MMC. similar with dani, he is your typical popular jock and everyone loves and worships him. however, unlike a lot of arrogant hockey stars, alec is very guarded on the inside and also has layers that go deeper than his surface level facade. he also has a lot of weight on his shoulders at such a young age with hockey, his family, and his and dani's relationship. similar to what i mentioned before, i wish this book would've dived a little deeper for those aspects since there was such a looming presence. regardless, i loved everything about them and i need more. love, love, love them both.

i desperately NEED to have another book about them—similar to “better than the movies”. there is so much potential here to reintroduce certain conflicts and allow them to learn and grow from that. a lot of this book is petty miscommunication which is why i can't give this a full 5 star rating. the romance is a 5/5, but i could've done without the lack of random disclosure at the end. i can’t wait to see what everyone thinks of this!

4.25/5

[McKenzie (writing hiatus) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pre-release

Okay. I’m finally in a good state of mind to write a pre-release lmao. I love her books so much and I have NO CLUE how she’s able to release three books in one year but I’m here for it. My romance loving fall/winter girlie self is screaming inside. I’m really hoping I can buddy read this with @darbydoo


Review

TW: cussing, anxiety, drinking, family problems, panic attacks, and although there is no spice some comments may be uncomfortable.

This book was SO GOOD. I genuinely think Lynn painter just gets better and better. Like wdym this book is her best book.

Quotes
“I was proud of my little friend Alec, who was a certified hockey god”- Dani
“It didn’t matter that we were pretending, because the honest-to-God truth was that I was on the best date I’d ever had in my entire life”

Dani- this girl was so cute. She grew so much over the course of this book. She went from having social anxiety and not wanting to talk to family to loving it all. She probably evolved more than the other Lynn Painter characters I’ve read in the past. Her relationship with her dad broke my heart and it shatters my heart even more to picture someone relating to Dani’s struggles.

Alec- he literally confused me so much in the beginning because like why was he so mad? Well it made SO. MUCH. MORE. SENSE. In the end so if that’s why you aren’t liking the book, just wait. And the thing that I loved is that the miscommunication MADE SENSE. how rare is that? Well it happens to be way too rare. Also, the indirect pressure from his parents? I’m so glad Lynn painter writes men and women that others can relate to. ALSOOOO best book boyfriend ever

Final thoughts
If you were considering reading this book and just weren’t sure, read it. Genuinely it is amazing. I do think that if you have problems with anxiety or family it will either be semi triggering or very nice to see a character you can relate to. It really depends. But like… I sobbed. And I yelled. And I giggled. I say that a lot but I promise it is in fact true.

[Liana Cincotti]

dare I say my favorite Lynn Painter book!?

[TheConnieFox · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel was simply amazing! I know it’s going to be an instant best seller, when it gets released. The way this author writes is captivating, it pulled me in right away! It is a young adult sports romantic comedy, that is just too cute! I had a lot of fun reading this one! It is not only heartfelt, but came with humor in it as well. It’s about hockey and childhood best friends! The two best friends names are Dani and Alec. Well, these two besties reconnect after Dani returns to her hometown. Dani comes back to her hometown in Minnesota because of her Parents divorce. After returning home, she reaches out to Alec to reconnect. These two besties end up fake dating and their town is nothing short of hockey obsessed! Alec so happens to be a popular hockey player, someone that Dani can’t wrap her head around. He was very different before she left.

As they are in their senior year of high school, they begin to fake date, due to unexpected events that occur. As they start fake dating, they begin to spend a lot of time together. Even though Dani had moved and they grew apart, a reconnection between them happens. When this started happening in the book, I was so excited and happy! Was it predictable? Absolutely. Did I care that it was predictable? Absolutely not. I loved both of these characters in the story and was thrilled when the reconnecting was happening! This book explores themes of authenticity versus perception, dealing with different emotions, first love and romance, vulnerability and a found family. If I could give this book more stars, I would! I give this a high 5 out of 5 stars!

I think fans of “Better Than The Movies” would really enjoy this book! Content warnings include cussing, substance abuse, violence and sexual content.

Thank you to NetGalley, author Lynn Painter and Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing for this electronic arc of this book in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

This book is expected to be published on September 30, 2025!

[ˋ°•*⁀➷ ellie · Rating 4 out of 5]

➳ 4.25 ☆! ❄️ spoiler free + mini review
⤷ SO CUTE !!! betting on you is still my #1, but i love that lynn got back into ya sports romances!

⋆˚࿔ 3rd review of the year
⤷ first ACTUAL read of 2026

“the rest of the world just disappears for you when you’re reading doesn’t it?

🎧 - deeply still in love
ᯓᡣ𐭩 but im deeply still in love
in love with you

₊‧꒰my thoughts꒱ ‧₊⛸️
⤷ overall such a fun read!! lynn made it super fast and easy to get thru <3 i will say this wasn't able to beat my top ya romances but i dont read many hockey ya books so this was a good start 💌 my main issue was that i felt the ending was a bit rushed! i also feel like id love to see more of them as they get into college yk..! anyway, lynn has been hinting at a new ya book for this yr and i couldnt be happier, she really shines in this genre 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️ will be looking back on this book and im so glad i decided for it to be my first read of 2026!! the PERFECTT WINTER BOOK! happy reading everyone 💗 also props to grandpa mick i loved him

--------

said dani.. dont you know zeus? and i was like.. huh

preview ᝰ.ᐟ⛸️

₊‧꒰1.4.26꒱ ‧₊
⤷ FIRST READ OF THE YEAR YAY!! also trying out a new preview format tehe, im so excited for this!! ive been anticpating this for so long, and with all the fantasy ive been reading i wanna go back to ya romance 🙂‍↕️ i have a feeling ill adore this!! more thoughts soon, and HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!! i love you all and cant wait to see what we all read 🥹💌

----- 𓂃⋆.˚

yall.. "icebreaker meets better than the movies"

HUH??? please be a cute fluffy ya rom com thank you very much. i just need something remotely close to BTTM okay 😌 either way you WILL catch me reading this

[liz ౨ৎ · Rating 4 out of 5]

no one does young-adult fake dating romances like lynn painter!! i devoured this book.

[vita ౨ৎ · Rating 3 out of 5]

❄️⛸️ ⋮ ⌗ ┆ 3.75 ★ review with spoilers!
⌞ started: november 16 - finished: november 17 ⌝

.ᐟ tropes
⤿ dual pov
⤿ sport: hockey
⤿ fake dating
⤿ childhood friends to lovers

‧₊˚ ┊the plot 𓂃❄️

starting with dani collins moving with her mother to minnesota after her parents' divorce, spending her entire life moving until she settled down in a real home to live with her grandfather. dani is dreading but also hoping to reconnect with her childhood best friend, alec barczewski, the boy she spent every summer with, sharing the sweetest and most fun moments of that wonderful season, a tradition that was interrupted but now she's back! although alec and dani are no longer the same friends they used to be, time changes you and so does heartbreak. a big misunderstanding on both sides had left a huge void between them. they're no longer as close as they once were but for a beneficial purpose for both of them they must pretend to be dating, so they agree to do so. their true feelings; well, the ones that never left them, return. a fun and sweet romance may develop. welcome to a town where its people consider hockey more than just a sport, their whole lives revolve around it and they treat their players like big stars. 🌟⛸

‧₊˚ ┊characters 𓂃⛸️

┆ ⤿ ☁️ ⌗ dani collins

“dani was sparkling eyes and contagious laughter. dani was happiness.” — alec

most relatable fmc to me. i love that lynn always makes a solid background to build on her characters so you can connect with them, the complicated relationship with her dad, the divorce, anxiety; it was so well portrayed here, it's exactly how it feels. i'm so happy she finally got a place where she feel like she belongs, the real friends she made, how she started feeling and acting like her old self. SHE DESERVES ALL THE HAPPINESS IN THE WORLD. I LOVE YOU SO MUCH DANI 😭💘

┆ ⤿ ☁️ ⌗ alec barczewski

“alec barczewski had always been a hilarious ray of sunshine with the uncanny ability to make everything better.” — dani

i adored how he truly cared for and loved dani. i liked his story, the pressure he felt to succeed at hockey to support his family, the fear of disappointing everyone who believed in his potential. i felt sorry for him and understood his dilemma perfectly because it's very difficult to live up to your family's expectations when you love them so much that you would do anything to make them happy. his personality? yeahh i’m smiling again just thinking about him 🫶🏻 PLUS, HE SOMETIMES WEARS GLASSES, HAS INCREDIBLE MUSICAL TASTE, PLAYS HOCKEY EXCEPTIONALLY WELL. he wanted to major in history oh my god, i'm in love. so happy he can do that as well as play hockey. AND the fact that he and dani invented a secret code for their postcards WAS THE CUTEST THING EVER 🩵

‧₊˚ ┊thoughts 𓂃☃️

there are some things i didn't like so much, such as the miscommunication between alec and dani. they could have resolved their misunderstanding from the first day they saw each other again but i understand that's the plot: if it had been resolved from the beginning, there would have been no fake dating. also, i think if dani's dad hadn't admitted the truth about the postcards, it would have taken longer for them to have that much-needed conversation. as for the ending, i would have liked to see more moments of them as a real couple. now that i've gotten that off my chest, i'm going to say EVERYTHING I LOVED: the chemistry and connection between alec and dani. they were so cute and hilarious that i couldn't stop laughing while reading. it was a very fun and quick read, like all of lynn's books. the way dani's relationship with her grandpa improved. the bond that everyone in town felt towards hockey. the girls were so sweet to dani, i loved their friendship. obviously, all the songs that are here slayyy (conan, sombr, role model, olivia, taylor and more!!) and now, every time i hear little league by conan, i'll remember this book, which is very special to me because i love remembering books with songs, for example: betting on you? in between by gracie. better than the movies? forrest gump by frank ocean. i could go on and on (keep in mind that this is only with miss lynn painter's books, i'm not going to start with other authors because then i wouldn't stop yapping) this is the first time i've read a romance book about hockey and i will be adding more books with this trope to my never-ending tbr because i loved it. OVERALL, I HAD A GREAT TIME READING IT AND HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT 🥺💘

‧₊˚ ┊ my playlist𓂃🎧

⤿ look at the woman, deeply still in love & frances by role model
⤿ little league & can we be friends? by conan gray
⤿ spring into summer by lizzy mcalpine
⤿ close to you, us & risk by gracie abrams
⤿ suck it and see by arctic monkeys
⤿ savior, perfume, come closer & dime by sombr
⤿ when did you get so hot? by sabrina carpenter

⊹ ࣪ ˖ ໒🫧𓂃⊹ 𝐩𝐫𝐞-𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 ₊˚⋆ FINALLYYYY I’M GOING TO READ THIS. SO EXCITED

⊹ ࣪ ˖ ໒🎐𓂃⊹𝐩𝐫𝐞-𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 ₊˚⋆ this year i discovered lynn painter's books and have read almost all of them, she just delivers. i would read even her shopping list, that's how fun and lighthearted her writing is 🙂‍↕️ another fake dating romance? give me 50 of them!! hockey, childhood friends to lovers. I’M SO READY TO HAVE A FUN TIME READING THIS. CAN'T WAIT 💘 ⤿ may 24, 2025

[Carolina · Rating 4 out of 5]

➸ 4.5 ✰ 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘥𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘦𝘦𝘦𝘦𝘦𝘦𝘦!!
𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘻𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘩 𝘨𝘰𝘥, 𝘐’𝘮 𝘴𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘺 𝘐 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘪𝘵 🥶❄️💙

☃︎⋆꙳•❅*ִ
“𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒂 𝒌𝒊𝒔𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒐𝒏𝒆'𝒔 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒌𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆
𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒂 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒔 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒂𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓” - 𝑾𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒕𝒌𝒂 𝑩𝒐𝒘𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑳𝒆𝒂𝒈𝒖𝒆

𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘺 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘓𝘺𝘯𝘯 𝘗𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘴𝘰 𝘺𝘢𝘺, 𝘢 𝘸𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 ⛄️

.𖥔 ݁ ˖⋆ ˚❆.𖥔 ݁ ˖⋆ ˚❆.𖥔 ݁ ˖⋆ ˚❆.𖥔 ݁ ˖⋆ ˚❆

➢ 𝐃𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚 ( 𝐃𝐚𝐧𝐢 ) - she is so cute and I loved her personality growth so much.
She is one of those girls that we wanna be friends with for real cause we know she won’t judge. I also felt quite bad for her with all the dad situation :/ 💕

.𖥔 ݁ ˖⋆ ˚❆.𖥔 ݁ ˖⋆ ˚❆.𖥔 ݁ ˖⋆ ˚❆.𖥔 ݁ ˖⋆ ˚❆

➢ 𝐀𝐥𝐞𝐜 - I LOVED HIM! Like what do you mean he remembered the little details even though they hadn’t spoken in YEARS! THE GUMMY BEARS!? The fact that every-time he sees “gummy anything”, it reminds him of her it’s beyond me cause awww 🥹

.𖥔 ݁ ˖⋆ ˚❆.𖥔 ݁ ˖⋆ ˚❆.𖥔 ݁ ˖⋆ ˚❆.𖥔 ݁ ˖⋆ ˚❆

➢ 𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐩𝐚 𝐌𝐢𝐜𝐤 - he has to be in my review cause in the beginning I thought I wasn’t going to enjoy his characters for obvious reasons but then I actually loved him! His personality it’s so charismatic and funny as well, idk 🙈

➢ 𝐅𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩 - I loved their friends, they were lovely and pure and hell yeah, I wouldn’t mind a book for each one of them

𝐑𝐎𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄 - 𝐈 𝐀𝐓𝐄 𝐈𝐓 𝐔𝐏! 𝐈 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐃 𝐈𝐓! 𝐈 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐌 𝐒𝐎 𝐌𝐔𝐂𝐇 𝐈𝐓’𝐒 𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐀𝐍𝐄
❄️❄️🧣

𝘋𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘺𝘱𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘦𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘷𝘪𝘣𝘦𝘴 🤭🌨️

⋆꙳•̩̩͙❅*̩̩͙‧͙ ‧͙*̩̩͙❆ ͙͛ ˚₊⋆⋆꙳•̩̩͙❅*̩̩͙‧͙ ‧͙*̩̩͙❆ ͙͛ ˚₊⋆

𝘐’𝘮 𝘴𝘰 𝘨𝘭𝘢𝘥 𝘐 𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘐’𝘮 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘥𝘥𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 “𝐁𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐎𝐧 𝐘𝐨𝐮” 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 🫶🏻

𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 ⋆𐙚⛇☘︎꙳˖

₊˚｡⋆❆⋆｡˚₊

⤷
☃︎ 𝘋𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 25𝘵𝘩 - 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘪𝘦 𝘗𝘶𝘵𝘩
☃︎ 𝘜𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘳𝘦𝘦 - 𝘌𝘥 𝘚𝘩𝘦𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘯
☃︎ 𝘔𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘰𝘦 - 𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯 𝘉𝘪𝘦𝘣𝘦𝘳
☃︎ 𝘜𝘯𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 - 𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘣𝘳
☃︎ 𝘋𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘭𝘺 𝘚𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘯 𝘓𝘰𝘷𝘦 - 𝘙𝘖𝘓𝘌 𝘔𝘖𝘋𝘌𝘓
☃︎ 𝘓𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘓𝘦𝘢𝘨𝘶𝘦 - 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘯 𝘎𝘳𝘢𝘺
☃︎ 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘮𝘢𝘴 𝘚𝘰𝘯𝘨 - 𝘖𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘢 𝘋𝘦𝘢𝘯
☃︎ 𝘕𝘰 𝘖𝘯𝘦’𝘴 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘒𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘠𝘰𝘶 - 𝘞𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘵𝘬𝘢 𝘉𝘢𝘸𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘓𝘦𝘢𝘨𝘶𝘦
/\___/\
꒰ ˶ᵔ ༝ ᵔ ˶꒱<
/づ ⛄️

please please please read this book 🩵🎶

𝘣𝘶𝘥𝘥𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘈𝘴𝘩𝘭𝘦𝘺

⋆⁺₊❅. . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁ ⋆⁺₊❅. . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁ ⋆⁺₊❅. . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ .

𝐩𝐫𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝: just give me something that screams winter and a bunch of fluffiness ❄️🌨️⛸️🤍

[Gillian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was so good! A heartwarming and relatable young adult romance about love, deciding on your path family, and courage. Fake Skating follows Dani who moves back to Minnesota with her mom and tries to reconnect with Alec who she hasn’t seen since Middle School. But Alec is very different and doesn’t want to reconnect. Alec and Dani make a deal to fake date when Alec gets into trouble which could affect his future as a hockey star. Will their feelings become real?

I enjoyed this book from the first page, although the middle was slow paced. The plot was engaging for most of the book, a few times it was a bit boring. The writing was descriptive and flowed well throughout the book. I loved Dani, she was hardworking, kind, resilient, smart, and protective of the book she cared about. Dani’s character development was great, she was very anxious and uncertain about moving back to Minnesota, but became more confident. I also appreciated the anxiety representation, the author highlighted it in a relatable and realistic way. I’m in love with Alec he had his walls up at first but then he opened up and showed a soft side. I loved how protective and sweet he was to Dani. There were many moments between them that made me blush and swoon. The side characters were great too especially Dani’s grandpa, Dani’s mom, the hockey team and Cassie. I enjoyed Dani’s reconnection with her grandpa it was so sweet to see them relate to one another. The chemistry and tension between Dani and Alec was amazing! I’m also glad that their relationship developed over time, they started off as friends and then their feelings changed years later. I also appreciated that their relationship was relatable and wasn’t perfect, they had to learn to communicate with each other effectively. I was not a fan of the miscommunication near the end of the book and I wished it was resolved quicker. The ending was great, I love how everything was resolved and I’m glad it ended with a happy ending.

I recommend this book to anyone who loves romantic comedies, great characters and awesome chemistry between the characters.