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Diary On Ice
Welcome to Wavery Peak.
NO ONE IS LYING. NO ONE IS DYING. NO ONE GOT FUCKED. AND NO ONE IS OUT FOR BLOOD. NESTLED OFF THE COAST OF MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA, IS A HAVEN FOR THE WEALTHY AND PRIVILEGED.
Meet Yesoh Yeo, she’d rather die than wish on a shooting star, she burns to become one. Trading her humid Jakarta summers for frosty New York winters was the cost of being Julliard’s perfect poster girl. She thought she’d left her Waverly peak past behind— until she finds the diary of the boy who’s doing everything he can to forget her.
Meet Wynter Andy Kwon, Olympic champion & the golden boy skating on thin ice. A prodigy in his own right, he was born to be loved by many destined for the stars. When fate brings him face-to-face with Yesoh again, old memories begin to thaw… along with the truth about what really happened that winter night on Clementine Street.
EVERYTHING CHANGED SUMMER SEVENTEEN: A DIARY, A BLOOD BOND AND AN ACHE UNLIKE ANY OTHER. SOME PEOPLE ARE WILLING TO DO WHAT EVER IT TAKES TO GET WHAT- WHO THEY WANT.
NO ONE IS LYING. NO ONE IS DYING. NO ONE GOT FUCKED. AND NO ONE IS OUT FOR BLOOD. NESTLED OFF THE COAST OF MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA, IS A HAVEN FOR THE WEALTHY AND PRIVILEGED.
Meet Yesoh Yeo, she’d rather die than wish on a shooting star, she burns to become one. Trading her humid Jakarta summers for frosty New York winters was the cost of being Julliard’s perfect poster girl. She thought she’d left her Waverly peak past behind— until she finds the diary of the boy who’s doing everything he can to forget her.
Meet Wynter Andy Kwon, Olympic champion & the golden boy skating on thin ice. A prodigy in his own right, he was born to be loved by many destined for the stars. When fate brings him face-to-face with Yesoh again, old memories begin to thaw… along with the truth about what really happened that winter night on Clementine Street.
EVERYTHING CHANGED SUMMER SEVENTEEN: A DIARY, A BLOOD BOND AND AN ACHE UNLIKE ANY OTHER. SOME PEOPLE ARE WILLING TO DO WHAT EVER IT TAKES TO GET WHAT- WHO THEY WANT.
559 pages, Paperback
Published December 25, 2025
6 people are currently reading
89 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
wasnt-able-to-finish
December 31, 2025thank you so much to the author for the early copy! all opinions are my own!
DNF at 49%
i just prefer to abandon it before i give it a low rating, because tbh it's not catching my attention. the premise is good but i think the main problem is the narration. it's too repetitive and sometimes it doesn't make any sense. i know the author has said she wanted to keep it as she wrote it when she was nineteen, but the book truly needed an editor. by the time i decided to abandon it, there were so many grammar mistakes that i couldn't take it anymore.
also, the characters don't show any growth in half the book. they look like they were when the novel started when they were 13, and some attitudes don't make sense. the flashbacks are too long to my liking, they could've been shortened and edited more to make it seem like they were narrated by teenagers. and it's probably a me thing but i didn't like the switch of POVs and, again, the lenght of the chapters.
in summary, the book could've been shorter and show a little bit of that massacre they were talking about during the book. at least there was a bit of ballet and ice skate, but it didn't intrigue me enough to continue.
DNF at 49%
i just prefer to abandon it before i give it a low rating, because tbh it's not catching my attention. the premise is good but i think the main problem is the narration. it's too repetitive and sometimes it doesn't make any sense. i know the author has said she wanted to keep it as she wrote it when she was nineteen, but the book truly needed an editor. by the time i decided to abandon it, there were so many grammar mistakes that i couldn't take it anymore.
also, the characters don't show any growth in half the book. they look like they were when the novel started when they were 13, and some attitudes don't make sense. the flashbacks are too long to my liking, they could've been shortened and edited more to make it seem like they were narrated by teenagers. and it's probably a me thing but i didn't like the switch of POVs and, again, the lenght of the chapters.
in summary, the book could've been shorter and show a little bit of that massacre they were talking about during the book. at least there was a bit of ballet and ice skate, but it didn't intrigue me enough to continue.
December 6, 2025
!ARC READER!
perfect winter romance for those who love romance, mystery, found family, forbidden romance
Munema’s book is such a perfect romance. Sometimes with books where the characters are the same age as me (around 18) and the writers are around 40ish i have this problem where the book is cute but its just not there BUT HERE i found myself giggling so hard. She is around her characters age so she understands what they need. They have chemistry, tension, bater, cute moments i could go ON. Also i just love seeing all the artists, tv shows, movies that our generation loves. It really does feel real and amazing
Munema mixes easy writing style with beautiful poetic and lyrical so well. It was such an easy and fun read but i still found parts when i was like damn that is such a beautiful quote. Such good plot twists too
Wynter: as a nonbinary his character was such comfort for me because i can understand his struggles in self expression so reading about him being confident in himself was amazing. he was soft yet had this moments where he was sarcastic and a baddie. he has such a big heart for everyone around him and wants to give the world to them
Yesoh: such a baddie. sometimes stubborn with was great for her character and was really well written. love a good ballerina character. both she and Wyn had their struggles but they are such a great couple and worked them out.
I could write so much more about this book but its already long but all i can is RECOMMEND it!!! read this book for sure
perfect winter romance for those who love romance, mystery, found family, forbidden romance
Munema’s book is such a perfect romance. Sometimes with books where the characters are the same age as me (around 18) and the writers are around 40ish i have this problem where the book is cute but its just not there BUT HERE i found myself giggling so hard. She is around her characters age so she understands what they need. They have chemistry, tension, bater, cute moments i could go ON. Also i just love seeing all the artists, tv shows, movies that our generation loves. It really does feel real and amazing
Munema mixes easy writing style with beautiful poetic and lyrical so well. It was such an easy and fun read but i still found parts when i was like damn that is such a beautiful quote. Such good plot twists too
Wynter: as a nonbinary his character was such comfort for me because i can understand his struggles in self expression so reading about him being confident in himself was amazing. he was soft yet had this moments where he was sarcastic and a baddie. he has such a big heart for everyone around him and wants to give the world to them
Yesoh: such a baddie. sometimes stubborn with was great for her character and was really well written. love a good ballerina character. both she and Wyn had their struggles but they are such a great couple and worked them out.
I could write so much more about this book but its already long but all i can is RECOMMEND it!!! read this book for sure
December 29, 2025
This is not the full review, but I just needed to post about this book. I absolutely LOVED it. Yesoh and Wynter are so adorable. While this book is obviously about their relationship and how they become who they are, for example, how Yesoh yearns for Wynter, and not just because she thinks he's pretty, but because she truly sees him for who he is. I also adore that Wynter didn't make her feel stupid or crazy for her feelings. He didn't say some meaningless things to make her feel better; he actually empowered her at the times she needed it. I think it's also really important to highlight how the writer incorporated authenticity and not letting others change who you are.
December 1, 2025
(ARC READER) I repeatedly kept finding myself in this book the sibling interactions, the strength and feelings of love. The writing style is flowy and gorgeous picturesque imagery and a storyline that will stun you and leave you wanting and asking for more.
December 8, 2025
First and foremost I want to say thank you to the author of the book for providing me with the ARC! This is my first ARC ever and I don't have a large IG following, so I didn't think I'd get chosen. But I was really passionate to read this book and I appreciate the opportunity <3
Let's start with the good.
💗 There was so much potential with the themes. An exploration of how straight men find themselves in stereotypically feminine sports like figure skating and how that affects how they view their masculinity. What it feels like to be a black ballerina. How a tragedy can break apart people who love each other. Unfortunately, I don't think the themes were explored as well as they could have been.
💗 Interracial couple with both of them being mixed! MMC is Korean-British and FMC is Indonesian-Zambian. It was so nice to see the representation of mixed people as a mixed person myself. Also, something you don't get to see often in literature is an interracial couple where neither person is white. So kudos for that.
💗 The author included a lot of references to Indonesia and Zambia and we spent a couple of chapter in Jakarta. I enjoyed learning about new cultures that I don't know much about.
💗 The writing is very descriptive and poetic. It's not something I'm usually used to, but it gave the book its own distinctive style and absolutely put you in the mood of melancholy. The author definitely created the vibe they were going for with their purple prose.
💗 The cover is beautiful. Kudos to the artist.
💗 This book was definitely not written with AI.
💗 There were some outstanding quotes in the book that I saved. They're below. They're not spoilery but I hid them anyway.
Now, onto the confusing and what could be improved.
💙 The FMC claims she and her family have often not being well-off and she has to pretend to be wealthy to fit in with her rich best friend and the Kwons (MMC's family). But everything in the story (but her own words) point to the fact that she's rich? Her family lives in New York. But her dad buys a house in California so they spend summers in hot climate similar to Indonesia? And he does it in a town where all the wealthy people of America buy houses? She says her dad pays for her and her brother to go to Julliard. That's 100K dollars A YEAR. For four years, he's shelling out almost half a million for their school. How is she poor? Also she says she doesn't accept money from her dad (except for the 5oK of tuition) to get by. But we never see her go to a job? How does she afford life if her dad doesn't fund it?
"I didn't come from a lot of money - many times my family has been comfortable, many times they have not. I always had a roof over my head, sometimes two. I always had food on the table, wine glasses filled to the brim, pantries bursting forth with delicacies from all over the world." She's saying her family didn't have a lot of money but then she's saying the wine glasses were always filled to the brim? Which one is it?
💙 I don't understand the premise of the book. The MMC - Olympic figure skater teaching ice skating programme at Julliard. Okay, I can accept that in the book Julliard decides to create figure skating degree at their school, it's artsy enough that I can suspend my disbelief for that. But how is he the coach at the programme? If he was a retired figure skater then yeah. But he's still competing. He'd be spending his whole day at training or flying to competitions. How does he have time to teach ice skating and on top of that even spend time with the FMC? Which also begs the question when the couple , how do both of them have time for this? He's teaching/training and she has rehearsals for a ballet, neither one of them would be able to leave Julliard?
💙 The mystery of what happened in Waverly Peak is ever present in the story. And when we finally find out, I'm just confused. So from my understanding of the book, this whole group of friends knew each other from spending summers in Waverly Peak. The FMC and her family lived in New York, so at least they had to come to Waverly Peak for the summers only. Flashbacks were always titled summer 13 or summer 15, making me think again that they only came for the summers, kinda like in The Summer I Turned Pretty. But the tragedy happens during winter? Why are any of them there during winter?
💙 So the plot of the book is that the FMC steals the diary of the MMC from when they were children. She promises not to read it in return for ice skating lessons but she reads it anyway which to me is a massive red flag. But my bigger problem is that the MMC's diary entries do not sound like a diary at all. He has an entry from the 12th of June. But the entry talks about why he loves ice skating, how he felt skating for the first time, how he saw figure skaters for the first time when he was X years old, his competitions from when he was a child, essentially giving us his whole biography. How is this a diary entry?
💙 I've found that most of the flashbacks to their time in Waverly Peak (the summer home) were not needed for understanding the present and made the story unnecessarily long and slowed down the pacing.
💙 The book is mostly from the POV of the FMC, which means we should only be privy to the knowledge that she has. But MMC's family sometimes talks in Korean. And she translates it immediately after it's said in her head. But it's never said she speaks Korean? How would she know what they're speaking about if she doesn't speak Korean?
💙 There were a lot of random POV changes. Most of the book happens from the FMC 1st POV. But then there are MMC's diary entries from 1st POV. But then some chapters are in 3rd-person omniscient POV. And a random chapter is from FMC's brother's POV.
💙 It wasn't proofread. There are random capitalisation of words the sentence would look something like this: "I was doing ballet Because I loved it." Sometimes there'd be a coma instead of full stop. Sometimes the first word in the sentence wouldn't be capitalised. Sometimes a completely wrong word was used. "The kid turned hotter, messier -> I imagine it was supposed to be "kiss" instead of "kid". I think it's disrespectful to release a book with so many mistakes because it really impedes the ability to read the book. Especially since just using Grammarly would have fixed most of these mistakes.
Let's start with the good.
💗 There was so much potential with the themes. An exploration of how straight men find themselves in stereotypically feminine sports like figure skating and how that affects how they view their masculinity. What it feels like to be a black ballerina. How a tragedy can break apart people who love each other. Unfortunately, I don't think the themes were explored as well as they could have been.
💗 Interracial couple with both of them being mixed! MMC is Korean-British and FMC is Indonesian-Zambian. It was so nice to see the representation of mixed people as a mixed person myself. Also, something you don't get to see often in literature is an interracial couple where neither person is white. So kudos for that.
💗 The author included a lot of references to Indonesia and Zambia and we spent a couple of chapter in Jakarta. I enjoyed learning about new cultures that I don't know much about.
💗 The writing is very descriptive and poetic. It's not something I'm usually used to, but it gave the book its own distinctive style and absolutely put you in the mood of melancholy. The author definitely created the vibe they were going for with their purple prose.
💗 The cover is beautiful. Kudos to the artist.
💗 This book was definitely not written with AI.
💗 There were some outstanding quotes in the book that I saved. They're below. They're not spoilery but I hid them anyway.
Now, onto the confusing and what could be improved.
💙 The FMC claims she and her family have often not being well-off and she has to pretend to be wealthy to fit in with her rich best friend and the Kwons (MMC's family). But everything in the story (but her own words) point to the fact that she's rich? Her family lives in New York. But her dad buys a house in California so they spend summers in hot climate similar to Indonesia? And he does it in a town where all the wealthy people of America buy houses? She says her dad pays for her and her brother to go to Julliard. That's 100K dollars A YEAR. For four years, he's shelling out almost half a million for their school. How is she poor? Also she says she doesn't accept money from her dad (except for the 5oK of tuition) to get by. But we never see her go to a job? How does she afford life if her dad doesn't fund it?
"I didn't come from a lot of money - many times my family has been comfortable, many times they have not. I always had a roof over my head, sometimes two. I always had food on the table, wine glasses filled to the brim, pantries bursting forth with delicacies from all over the world." She's saying her family didn't have a lot of money but then she's saying the wine glasses were always filled to the brim? Which one is it?
💙 I don't understand the premise of the book. The MMC - Olympic figure skater teaching ice skating programme at Julliard. Okay, I can accept that in the book Julliard decides to create figure skating degree at their school, it's artsy enough that I can suspend my disbelief for that. But how is he the coach at the programme? If he was a retired figure skater then yeah. But he's still competing. He'd be spending his whole day at training or flying to competitions. How does he have time to teach ice skating and on top of that even spend time with the FMC? Which also begs the question when the couple , how do both of them have time for this? He's teaching/training and she has rehearsals for a ballet, neither one of them would be able to leave Julliard?
💙 The mystery of what happened in Waverly Peak is ever present in the story. And when we finally find out, I'm just confused. So from my understanding of the book, this whole group of friends knew each other from spending summers in Waverly Peak. The FMC and her family lived in New York, so at least they had to come to Waverly Peak for the summers only. Flashbacks were always titled summer 13 or summer 15, making me think again that they only came for the summers, kinda like in The Summer I Turned Pretty. But the tragedy happens during winter? Why are any of them there during winter?
💙 So the plot of the book is that the FMC steals the diary of the MMC from when they were children. She promises not to read it in return for ice skating lessons but she reads it anyway which to me is a massive red flag. But my bigger problem is that the MMC's diary entries do not sound like a diary at all. He has an entry from the 12th of June. But the entry talks about why he loves ice skating, how he felt skating for the first time, how he saw figure skaters for the first time when he was X years old, his competitions from when he was a child, essentially giving us his whole biography. How is this a diary entry?
💙 I've found that most of the flashbacks to their time in Waverly Peak (the summer home) were not needed for understanding the present and made the story unnecessarily long and slowed down the pacing.
💙 The book is mostly from the POV of the FMC, which means we should only be privy to the knowledge that she has. But MMC's family sometimes talks in Korean. And she translates it immediately after it's said in her head. But it's never said she speaks Korean? How would she know what they're speaking about if she doesn't speak Korean?
💙 There were a lot of random POV changes. Most of the book happens from the FMC 1st POV. But then there are MMC's diary entries from 1st POV. But then some chapters are in 3rd-person omniscient POV. And a random chapter is from FMC's brother's POV.
💙 It wasn't proofread. There are random capitalisation of words the sentence would look something like this: "I was doing ballet Because I loved it." Sometimes there'd be a coma instead of full stop. Sometimes the first word in the sentence wouldn't be capitalised. Sometimes a completely wrong word was used. "The kid turned hotter, messier -> I imagine it was supposed to be "kiss" instead of "kid". I think it's disrespectful to release a book with so many mistakes because it really impedes the ability to read the book. Especially since just using Grammarly would have fixed most of these mistakes.
December 21, 2025
5 ✨
Oh my gosh this book is the perfect winter romance. If you love a tortured girl and a determined boy who desperately wants and needs each other no matter what and if you love some Olympic Games vibes too, then this is the book for you. It’s a romance filled with family dynamics, forbidden love, found family and some mystery too.
This is the third book Munema has released and as a person who has been here since she published Chasing River, I can say with confidence that these books just keeps on getting better and better and the maturity in them is also very shown. All of these books were originally written when Munema was younger but these new versions of her books shows just that maturity and how she’s grown as a writer and person. And with Diary on Ice there’s not doubt in my mind that this is her best work so far.
Yesoh Yeo my girl. She’s a upcoming Juilliard student, determined to make her way in the ballet world. She’s truly talented and she’s longing to find her ground in something she loves. And ballet and Juilliard is just that for her. Yesoh has grown up very comfortably in a New York life style, but even though she had it comfortably, she still felt like an outsider in her own life and the circle she’s in. And she’s kinda tortured because of all those feelings. She’s constantly pushing herself to be better and the best version of herself and I do see myself in her sometimes because of that. Because I know that feeling of wanting to improve yourself and especially in what drives you and what you love doing.
Wynter Kwon is truly what I want a MMC to be like. He’s determined when it comes to his sports career but also so kind and generous because of the people pleaser in him. He’s truly whipped when it comes to Yesoh and would literally go through fire for this girl. Wynter is the quiet respectful boy you love to love in romances such as this one and want to do whatever he can to succeed. He’s also very rational and a 180 of what Yesoh is.
Yesoh is a little bit on the wilder side than Wynter is and honestly it’s good for him. But she does steal his diary at one time and goshhhh you have read what happens because of it. I was flabbergasted and so hooked into the story and how juicy it got. But gosh it had such a perfect ending and I seriously got emotional after finishing it because of the emotional damage and journey it brought me on. Yesoh and Wynter is perfect for each other if you ask me and them finally getting together after all that longing and back and forth was so perfect to me and definitely needed.
Thank you so much M.C. Sakala for my ARC!
⛸️🩰What to expect:
— olympic sports romance
— brother’s best friend
— she’s a ballerina
— he’s a figure skater
— childhood friends to lovers
— morally grey fmc
— she falls first but he falls harder
— gender & sexuality exploration
— found family/close sibling bonds
— forbidden love
— girl obsessed… rather concerningly
— new adult romance
— devastating plot twists… it truly hurts
Oh my gosh this book is the perfect winter romance. If you love a tortured girl and a determined boy who desperately wants and needs each other no matter what and if you love some Olympic Games vibes too, then this is the book for you. It’s a romance filled with family dynamics, forbidden love, found family and some mystery too.
This is the third book Munema has released and as a person who has been here since she published Chasing River, I can say with confidence that these books just keeps on getting better and better and the maturity in them is also very shown. All of these books were originally written when Munema was younger but these new versions of her books shows just that maturity and how she’s grown as a writer and person. And with Diary on Ice there’s not doubt in my mind that this is her best work so far.
Yesoh Yeo my girl. She’s a upcoming Juilliard student, determined to make her way in the ballet world. She’s truly talented and she’s longing to find her ground in something she loves. And ballet and Juilliard is just that for her. Yesoh has grown up very comfortably in a New York life style, but even though she had it comfortably, she still felt like an outsider in her own life and the circle she’s in. And she’s kinda tortured because of all those feelings. She’s constantly pushing herself to be better and the best version of herself and I do see myself in her sometimes because of that. Because I know that feeling of wanting to improve yourself and especially in what drives you and what you love doing.
Wynter Kwon is truly what I want a MMC to be like. He’s determined when it comes to his sports career but also so kind and generous because of the people pleaser in him. He’s truly whipped when it comes to Yesoh and would literally go through fire for this girl. Wynter is the quiet respectful boy you love to love in romances such as this one and want to do whatever he can to succeed. He’s also very rational and a 180 of what Yesoh is.
Yesoh is a little bit on the wilder side than Wynter is and honestly it’s good for him. But she does steal his diary at one time and goshhhh you have read what happens because of it. I was flabbergasted and so hooked into the story and how juicy it got. But gosh it had such a perfect ending and I seriously got emotional after finishing it because of the emotional damage and journey it brought me on. Yesoh and Wynter is perfect for each other if you ask me and them finally getting together after all that longing and back and forth was so perfect to me and definitely needed.
Thank you so much M.C. Sakala for my ARC!
⛸️🩰What to expect:
— olympic sports romance
— brother’s best friend
— she’s a ballerina
— he’s a figure skater
— childhood friends to lovers
— morally grey fmc
— she falls first but he falls harder
— gender & sexuality exploration
— found family/close sibling bonds
— forbidden love
— girl obsessed… rather concerningly
— new adult romance
— devastating plot twists… it truly hurts
December 11, 2025
3.5-4 ⭐
"You have known me. You have seen me. Therefore you have loved me"
I want to give my biggest thanks to the Author, for trusting me with and ARC for this book and also for the ability to post little blurbs and review it before its release date.
My personal thoughts of the book- This book is gorgeous, the way it was written feels so personal. The characters don't feel fake, as they could be someone I would know. The book was very long did and did take a little while to get into and very slow burn. There were some more "explicit" moments if that's something you tend to steer aware from. If you don't like that stuff, I would not suggest this book or just be cautious to it as it doesn't take over the whole book. If you'd rather not read that type of stuff highly suggest The Idol Effect.
Yesoh Yeo- Actually obsessed with her. She such a strong woman who pushes herself to get better constantly. She gets hurt on a hike with Wynter but doesn't stop and pushes herself to keep going. This does lead to some trouble however she adapts and keeps going. She is such a fun character joking with her friends, siblings and Wynter. She has such a personality, and it just continues to emerge as you progress in the book. She is a little crazy... She steals Wynters diary and welp... read to find out but there are some consequences to her actions.
"I was a ballerina and balance was my forte, both mentally and physically. I could walk across a tightrope like I was as light as a feather, I could stand on my toes for hours and not break a sweat. And yet, all it took was one name to have me losing all my composure."
Wynter Kwon- He's so whipped for Yesoh. Holy does this man praise her. He's such a relatable character if you are a people pleaser. He gets sick and he still goes to his plans with his sisters to not disappoint them. He is very rational and almost a 180 of Yesoh. He has a diary from his time at Wavery Peaks and Yesoh ends up with it. He is so likeable and so good to his family.
"He moved across the ice as if gravity barely applied to him, each glide a smooth, silent stroke that made it seem like the rink was his"
This book was so good. I highly recommend checking out her other work as well. I loved this book the mystery of what happened, the RITE OF SPRING!!!!, figure skating, the diary all of it works so well together. I do believe there was some confusing moments especially because of flashbacks, perspectives but overall, such a good book.
"You have known me. You have seen me. Therefore you have loved me"
I want to give my biggest thanks to the Author, for trusting me with and ARC for this book and also for the ability to post little blurbs and review it before its release date.
My personal thoughts of the book- This book is gorgeous, the way it was written feels so personal. The characters don't feel fake, as they could be someone I would know. The book was very long did and did take a little while to get into and very slow burn. There were some more "explicit" moments if that's something you tend to steer aware from. If you don't like that stuff, I would not suggest this book or just be cautious to it as it doesn't take over the whole book. If you'd rather not read that type of stuff highly suggest The Idol Effect.
Yesoh Yeo- Actually obsessed with her. She such a strong woman who pushes herself to get better constantly. She gets hurt on a hike with Wynter but doesn't stop and pushes herself to keep going. This does lead to some trouble however she adapts and keeps going. She is such a fun character joking with her friends, siblings and Wynter. She has such a personality, and it just continues to emerge as you progress in the book. She is a little crazy... She steals Wynters diary and welp... read to find out but there are some consequences to her actions.
"I was a ballerina and balance was my forte, both mentally and physically. I could walk across a tightrope like I was as light as a feather, I could stand on my toes for hours and not break a sweat. And yet, all it took was one name to have me losing all my composure."
Wynter Kwon- He's so whipped for Yesoh. Holy does this man praise her. He's such a relatable character if you are a people pleaser. He gets sick and he still goes to his plans with his sisters to not disappoint them. He is very rational and almost a 180 of Yesoh. He has a diary from his time at Wavery Peaks and Yesoh ends up with it. He is so likeable and so good to his family.
"He moved across the ice as if gravity barely applied to him, each glide a smooth, silent stroke that made it seem like the rink was his"
This book was so good. I highly recommend checking out her other work as well. I loved this book the mystery of what happened, the RITE OF SPRING!!!!, figure skating, the diary all of it works so well together. I do believe there was some confusing moments especially because of flashbacks, perspectives but overall, such a good book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Review of advance copy received from Author
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
ARC REVIEWER! 🎀
This book completely swept me up into its world. The world building is intense from the start but it sets the scenes up so well, you can really imagine what’s going on. I’m very biased but i especially enjoyed the description & vibe of New York City. As someone born and raised in NYC, seeing my city represented made me happy The scenes in the luxury store where they first see Wynter again instantly reminded me of SoHo or 5th Ave.
And even though Yesoh is clearly living a more comfortable NYC lifestyle (lol), I still resonated with that outsider feeling she was describing in some moments. Growing up so close to the “rich” but not actually being in the polished rich world is such a unique experience. The weird “in-between” space Munema highlights is written well.
Wynter and Yesoh themselves are pretty dynamic characters. And something I really appreciated was that even though many side characters fall into familiar roles, the “best friend,” the “sweet older brother,” etc. — each of them gets at least one moment where they feel fully rounded and human.
One small critique: in the flashback chapters like where Yesoh meets Wynter, Becca, and Bae, the language and dialogue felt a bit too mature for their age range. Maybe they’re just very articulate kids (which, fair), but it did stand out to me. Not a bad thing, just something I noticed.
There were also a few spelling errors throughout, and some parts of the world-building, though beautiful, leaned toward being a little overly wordy. Sometimes simpler lines would’ve made certain emotional moments even sharper. But honestly, none of this took away from my enjoyment.
Overall the poetic writing, the vibes, the characters, & the representation, made this book super enjoyable to read. Oo! and the poc representation meant so much to me!! love reading about my people in books & romance 🙂↕️ Also loveeee the playlist 🩷🎀
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 9, 2025
!ARC reader here🌸
After reading this book, I think she's officially my favourite author ever. I love the writing so much and just how she articulates her words. The writing is so descriptive to the point where I can paint the story in my head. I love how much zhe centre black women and just people of color in general in her books. I love how Yesoh and Wynter's chemistry is so undeniable even at a point where they hadn't realized it yet. Like how they were so drawn to each other. One of my fav book tropes is the "best friends brother" trope and I love how it didn't go with the usual route of he's always liked her and considered it wrong and then grew up and decided to pursue it. Like my favourite scene is hands down when he finally processed his feelings. I love that he had time to process and decided what he did and didn't want with her.
As someone who is African myself and who lives a bit far from home (indigenously wise), I relate so much to Yesoh and just how homesick it feels to be far away from your culture, the food and the people. I love how the author played into that in the book. I love how well written the characters are, they're so complex yet understandable and relatable at the same time.
The little details too like how they act around each other even without realizing it. It's an amazing read.
After reading this book, I think she's officially my favourite author ever. I love the writing so much and just how she articulates her words. The writing is so descriptive to the point where I can paint the story in my head. I love how much zhe centre black women and just people of color in general in her books. I love how Yesoh and Wynter's chemistry is so undeniable even at a point where they hadn't realized it yet. Like how they were so drawn to each other. One of my fav book tropes is the "best friends brother" trope and I love how it didn't go with the usual route of he's always liked her and considered it wrong and then grew up and decided to pursue it. Like my favourite scene is hands down when he finally processed his feelings. I love that he had time to process and decided what he did and didn't want with her.
As someone who is African myself and who lives a bit far from home (indigenously wise), I relate so much to Yesoh and just how homesick it feels to be far away from your culture, the food and the people. I love how the author played into that in the book. I love how well written the characters are, they're so complex yet understandable and relatable at the same time.
The little details too like how they act around each other even without realizing it. It's an amazing read.
December 10, 2025
Y’all don’t understand how much I love this book!!! It’s the most perfect book that fits the mood of this time of year.
M.C. Skala has such an incredible writing style, you can literally feel every emotion that the characters are feeling. It truly feels like I was transported into the book. I absolutely loved the characters. Wynter and Yesoh relationship was so cute, I literally was smiling and kicking my feet the entire book!!
M.C. Skala has such an incredible writing style, you can literally feel every emotion that the characters are feeling. It truly feels like I was transported into the book. I absolutely loved the characters. Wynter and Yesoh relationship was so cute, I literally was smiling and kicking my feet the entire book!!
Review of advance copy received from Indie Reviewers
This was an ARC read and it was so so sweet! I loved the story and the characters. I really enjoyed the little Easter eggs of some of my favorite shows and songs too 🤭
I went into the book knowing it was open door and that’s totally fine! I’m not an open door FAN per se but I still enjoyed the book a lot and think it was done really tastefully!
Love love love you M.C. Sakala 🩷
I went into the book knowing it was open door and that’s totally fine! I’m not an open door FAN per se but I still enjoyed the book a lot and think it was done really tastefully!
Love love love you M.C. Sakala 🩷
December 27, 2025
4.1 - had some twists in the story I was not expecting
January 7, 2026
I was an arc reader for this I tried my best to finish my way through but I couldn't
it started off great but my issue was the back stories and how it was laid out
I would definitely want to try it again bit for now I had to dnf it
it started off great but my issue was the back stories and how it was laid out
I would definitely want to try it again bit for now I had to dnf it
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