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Icing on the Lake
New Year's Resolutions
by Kirsten (with help from Crystal, Jones, and Emma)
1. Survive the month at my sister's house. Survive my 3-yr-old nephew and crazy sister.
2. Learn to ice skate better. Or not fall down. Or just get a cuter skating outfit.
3. Find hockey-playing, winter-loving hottie. and invite him to the weekend cabin trip (aka "groundhog getaway") with everyone.
Oh, sure. No problem.
by Kirsten (with help from Crystal, Jones, and Emma)
1. Survive the month at my sister's house. Survive my 3-yr-old nephew and crazy sister.
2. Learn to ice skate better. Or not fall down. Or just get a cuter skating outfit.
3. Find hockey-playing, winter-loving hottie. and invite him to the weekend cabin trip (aka "groundhog getaway") with everyone.
Oh, sure. No problem.
342 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 2005
33 people are currently reading
1763 people want to read
About the author
Catherine Clark
70 books391 followersI love reading books for children, young adults, new adults and all the old people after that.
I love writing for pretty much the same audiences.
I love writing for pretty much the same audiences.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 116 reviews
December 20, 2010
I'm feeling Rachel Hawthorne-ish all over again.
As much as I like reading fiction romance, sometimes it's very 'relaxing' to switch from having to understand a complicated relationship to enjoying a typical teen romance, after all it's is more realistic and we could relate to them more.
Summer romance/fling has always been what I've read for non-fiction romance, but ever since Rachel Hawthorne's Snowed In and Love on the lifts, I started to develop a kind of preference towards winter romance as well! Haha! Icing on the lake is yes, a typical teenage romance drama but it still made me swoon, and giggle, and face-palmed a gazillian times. I just wanted to strangle the leading female, Kirsten for her sarcastic remarks. Gah! And I'm dazzling in love with the deep Conor, hehe. This book is funny!
When I'm reading Catherine's book it does sort of showed a bit of similarity with Rachel's ones, so I enjoyed reading them too! If you're up for a good laugh and into something much 'simpler' or a light reading, this is the book for you:) Only for romance lovers!
As much as I like reading fiction romance, sometimes it's very 'relaxing' to switch from having to understand a complicated relationship to enjoying a typical teen romance, after all it's is more realistic and we could relate to them more.
Summer romance/fling has always been what I've read for non-fiction romance, but ever since Rachel Hawthorne's Snowed In and Love on the lifts, I started to develop a kind of preference towards winter romance as well! Haha! Icing on the lake is yes, a typical teenage romance drama but it still made me swoon, and giggle, and face-palmed a gazillian times. I just wanted to strangle the leading female, Kirsten for her sarcastic remarks. Gah! And I'm dazzling in love with the deep Conor, hehe. This book is funny!
When I'm reading Catherine's book it does sort of showed a bit of similarity with Rachel's ones, so I enjoyed reading them too! If you're up for a good laugh and into something much 'simpler' or a light reading, this is the book for you:) Only for romance lovers!
April 25, 2017
This one was just okay. Not cute enough to just enjoy the story and not interesting enough to enjoy it. The struggle between the two brothers was painful - I don't really go for love triangles too often so this one didn't have much hope of me loving it.
The dog was a cute ice breaker but didn't seem to do much else. I never did warm up to her older sister, she always seemed awful and Brett was just a distraction from everything else. I was glad to see some of the growth in Kiersten over the span of the book but I though the end was a bit abrupt, too quick and had too much maturity growth in a few characters to make it realistic.
The dog was a cute ice breaker but didn't seem to do much else. I never did warm up to her older sister, she always seemed awful and Brett was just a distraction from everything else. I was glad to see some of the growth in Kiersten over the span of the book but I though the end was a bit abrupt, too quick and had too much maturity growth in a few characters to make it realistic.
December 18, 2018
As a fan of anything skating related, I was excited when I first saw Icing on the Lake by Catherine Clark This book is short and sweet, and the main character is relatable. There is a love triangle in the story, but I still ultimately enjoyed it.
Full Review on The Candid Cover
Full Review on The Candid Cover
December 14, 2017
This book takes place in January and February so it’s not a Christmas read so much as a winter read, so I was a little bummed by that.
The main character Kirsten (who I kept calling Kristen in my head) goes to live with her 20something sister for the winter after the sister breaks her leg. She meets a guy (or two) and a love triangle ensues.
My biggest problem with love triangles is it seems like in almost all of them, one of the guys is sweet and wonderful and the other guy is a complete jerk. That certainly happened here. Sean was kind of a jerk in the beginning (though he did redeem himself by the end and became less self centered). I couldn’t figure out what Kirsten saw in him. Also, I found it a little unbelievable that two brothers would be dating the same girl. Doesn’t that violate the Bro Code?
The main character Kirsten (who I kept calling Kristen in my head) goes to live with her 20something sister for the winter after the sister breaks her leg. She meets a guy (or two) and a love triangle ensues.
My biggest problem with love triangles is it seems like in almost all of them, one of the guys is sweet and wonderful and the other guy is a complete jerk. That certainly happened here. Sean was kind of a jerk in the beginning (though he did redeem himself by the end and became less self centered). I couldn’t figure out what Kirsten saw in him. Also, I found it a little unbelievable that two brothers would be dating the same girl. Doesn’t that violate the Bro Code?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 16, 2010
I thought this was a cute novel and I had to give it four stars. There were several reason's why I had to give it four stars. The main reason was I enjoyed reading about a relationship starting that wasn't based on lust. Does every relationship especially teen relationships have to be based upon that and be the main driving force. The couple that emerges from the story gets stranded in a truck during a winter storm. As they have to spend the night next to each other there is no making out. The lay by each other holding hands. How often does that happen in stories and how often should it happen in real life. Another reason why I liked this story was the relationship was built upon a friendship. They enjoyed being together and liked each other, he looked out for her and always wanted to make sure she was o.k., isn't that what a real lifelong relationship should be built upon. Well I am finished with preaching from my soap box but I did find the book enjoyable.
November 16, 2009
This was a cute story. Kirsten moves to Minneapolis for a month to help her sister, who has a broken leg. As soon as she arrives she meets the super cute Benson brothers. Sean is really cute and acts totally interested, while Conor is equally cute, but acts like he hates her. The story moved along quickly, nothing really exciting happened. I was kind of disappointed with how Kirsten handled the situation, but overall thought it was an okay story. It seems like most of the books I read lately have had a similar theme of the girl liking the super popular guy and then ending up with someone else. What’s up with that?
April 6, 2010
This book was pretty similar to the book Love on the Lifts. In both of the story's plot there was that guy that the girl originally liked. However later on in the story they end up falling for the guy that has been liking them all along.
I think this shows that love is blind. Or that you don't have to search for love and that it'll come eventually and naturally. I think that both books also show that friendships can lead to relationships because in both books the guy and the girl were just friends at first. After realizing how the guy felt they eventually started to like each other more than friends.
I think this shows that love is blind. Or that you don't have to search for love and that it'll come eventually and naturally. I think that both books also show that friendships can lead to relationships because in both books the guy and the girl were just friends at first. After realizing how the guy felt they eventually started to like each other more than friends.
March 22, 2016
2.25 Stars - This was a very teenager type book - probably for tweens. Conor was very rude and standoff-ish to Kirsten in the beginning but it was hard to understand why. Because Kirsten was friendly with Conor's one year younger brother, Sean? It seemed that all of the characters acted young and immature. It seems that is Conor and Kirsten were both starting college in the Fall, they'd act more mature. Conor does start doing little things to look out for Kirsten, but it was difficult for me to accept that she loves him at the end of the book? Just not a good book.
July 3, 2012
The main character's sister provides the perfect description for Kirsten, the leading lady -- sickeningly pessimistic.
Instead of a witty, flirtatious banter, we get awkward exchanges between the lead guy and girl, complete with extreme mood swings, annoying jump-to-conclusions, defensive comebacks, and wrong impressions and assumptions.
Instead of a witty, flirtatious banter, we get awkward exchanges between the lead guy and girl, complete with extreme mood swings, annoying jump-to-conclusions, defensive comebacks, and wrong impressions and assumptions.
April 24, 2011
i'm working on a teen romance list for work, but haven't actually read that many. i got this from someone else's list. it was so stupid. all of the characters were really immature, the humor was lame, and the actual romance part had no chemistry. disappointing.
December 8, 2015
Eek. I had no expectations for this book because the synopsis is two sentences long... But it wasn't very good. Romance was annoying and lame (sibling love triangle), all of the "drama" was superficial and out of nowhere, and the writing/dialogue was choppy and rough. Not a fan.
May 17, 2018
I read this years ago and remembered not liking it. It was one of the worst of the rom coms.
The words on the cover are stupid: 'cold feet, and hands, and ears...but warm hearts).
I didn't think it was a good way to start the book off with her about to run into people.
I found it odd when she says her friend Crystal moved to Minnesota from Colorado and hadn't adjusted to the low temps or 4-day no sunshine. Minnesota is supposed to be really cold.
She's 7 years younger than her sister, who's 24. That hit a lil hard cuz that's my age. And this is a teens bk& I relate to the older sister!
She said she landed on top of one, then says one of them she'd fallen onto asked if she's ok.
He tells her how to play crack the whip,& she says gee thanks, I'll try to remember that.
She'd like a guy that's bad at skating so she could laugh when he fell down.
She said maybe he'd been obnoxious. And then defends he couldn't be that terrible of a person since he'd bothered to return her hat. The next sentence she said he hadn't been suave about it. Especially not after he'd tried to be nice and she'd been rude. What does that have to do with him being suave?
Her friend says he likes her cuz he was looking for an excuse to talk to her. She said or to harass me, cuz he made fun of her. And she said he would have left the hat in lost and found, so she'd have to come back and see him again. Why would he put it in lost and found when you were right there that very day? Why hold it to give to you another time when he could see you right then & there?
These girls are over analyzing something very simple, a guy returning your hat.
Idk why these books are so ridiculous. Her friend Jones is obsessed with Topher Grace and asked her ex bf to go by the name Topher. She didn't break up with him, but it didn't help his cause. How bizarre to ask someone to change their name to your crush, and get upset when they won't. How would you like to be called by another woman's name that ur bf likes?
She said it herself. She has a month to get to know a guy well enough by to ask to a wknd getaway. That's ridiculous.
Ironic that Jones is saying Kirsten has to find a guy when she's single too. How do these girls expect to just find a guy? If you haven't yet, you most likely wouldn't in a month. Especially to be close enough to invite for a wknd trip.
And jones was gonna invite her ex just because he's a good skier& can make a fire. Our lil Kirsten actually realized it was mean.
The comment about being 25 hurt. It hurt a lot.
The characters are always so difficult in these books. The main and sides. She jokes her sister has been disorganized since birth, and lost her bottle. & Sean is like how would you know if she lost track of her bottle if you're younger. Just go with the joke. It was obviously a joke. Maybe her parents told her she always lost her bottle.
She starts to say the thing about crack the whip& he doesn't understand.& she's like oops. That must have been the other guy. You dr who said what??
The mention of polar bear plunge was cool. But when her sister says you should do it, Kirsten says no you should,& they're acting like her sister can jump in with a broken leg. Her sister is flirting with the worker there,& says she's gonna be on the shore so she can keep him warm, when she was giving the impression she'd be jumping in.
It's funny she called tanning the fake bake.
She sees the guy who had her hat& says the cute guy. Idr her finding him cute. Then says the one she'd fallen on. Earlier it was 'sort of landed on'.
It's far fetched that a 17 yr old would have a credit card.
I found it embarrassing she thought he was talking to her, asking if she needed help w/ her groceries& he said he was talking to that elderly woman.
Their mom is nice enough to send cupcakes, and just because her sister is on a diet she wants to get rid of them. Idk why Kirsten even suggested dumping them. She goes upstairs to check on Brett and tells him there's cupcakes. When they go downstairs, Gretchen puts them in the garbage disposal. Why didn't she just let her sister &kid have them? She tells Brett they were messed up in the mail. So you lied to your kid. That was a crappy mom moment right there.
It turns out Brett's bday is at the end of the month, and she'll be buying a cake for him then. So...wth. Why not keep these cupcakes? I guess we're supposed to give her props for allowing her son to eat bday cake on his bday.
'Because then it wouldn't be as much fun for us, we couldn't just relax. We'd have to keep track of him. He'd spill coffee, he'd bug people. He'd bug us." Wow,& she's his mom.
She says her sister should meet ppl. She has a broken leg& it's snowing out. Her sister has to say give her a week cuz it's so hard getting around on the snow. And Kirsten responds with idk.
'I realized he was the Zublansky's dairy aisle guy, and the one I'd nearly knocked down at the skating rink,& the one who brought me my hat.' We get it. You don't have to keep a list.
Now we can add Connor to the list of difficult characters.
He's like why did u ask it like a question? & more awkwardness ensues with her answer.
His fellow worker says his name,& she thought Conor was a nice name, but she already heard it, when the old lady said she prefers Conor to help with her groceries.
She trash talks her sister to strangers, sayig they went to another bakery until the guy ruined her wedding cake w/ a figurine that was too big for her. She realizes she's making a fool of herself, but continues doing so with "my sister is a control freak with a bad self image." You're not making a fool out of yourself because you're babbling, but because you're talking about ur sister.
She said she's "going to Europe, too. well England. Then maybe Europe." And Conor yawns. That's so rude.
I found the comment tacky where she says the laptop has had more upgrades than Janice Dickinson has plastic surgery.
Conor is acting rude too.
No humor Sean strikes again. She says she'll have to take Bear on long walks or run a marathon cuz he's full of energy,& Sean asks if she runs marathons, looking impressed or startled. Lots of ppl run marathons. She says yes, she could run if she's being chased. Then he asks if she's planning on being chased. Take a joke, dude.
Sean says his bro is insane, as goalies are. And she says this is ur bro ur talking about. You've said things about your sister too!
The sister bickering/taking shots thing is getting old. She wants to go skiing with Sean and her sister says no way cuz she wiped out. When she was a kid. So that means you can nvr go skiing? So she actually says since her sister is dead set against her skiing they'll have to do something else. I was lookin forward to them skiing, so I was annoyed.
"I had to farm out the shoveling. But now that you're here, I guess I can cancel it--I hadn't even thought of that." Then Kirsten goes no don't fire him!
I was so surprised when she went to surprise Sean with hot choc. But I knew his bro would be Conor.
Of course Conor did a better job at shoveling.& they agreed that the mall was a waste.
All of a sudden on pg 134 she wears glasses,& a few pgs later she said it gets old when ppl look at her and assume she's stupid. She's had it with that. When has anyone treated you like that?
He implies she can't get into a good school.
She says she's all about sledding,& Conor says you keep saying that. How can u be all about everything? This is so embarrassing & rude.
She says the snow reminds her of the movie Shackleton. Conor gets pushed in the snow,& all of a sudden says he read Endurance,& no one comments on it. It was bizarre.
'"Hey," the group said, almost in unison, like they'd done this before and had a routine.' Or they're just saying hey. Hey is something ppl say when meeting others.
She lands on top of Sean and kisses him. When he looks surprised, and 'wasnt sure about all this' she kisses him again. So when someone looks like they dw kiss you, just kiss them again, harder, until they feel differently. How does she go from trying to work on her inner flirt to outright kissing him, when they haven't even really came out and said they like each other. They've only been hanging out.
And poor Conor has to see that.
Conor asks if her and Sean are an item. Teens don't talk like that.
He warns her from Sean. 'What was with the criticizing Sean? Brotherly love, it wasn't.' You've said worse!
Inundating is a big word.
'It wasn't as if Sean didn't like her because they'd done a lot together.' No you haven't.
So obnoxious when Jones said how about you take one and I'll take the other, like the brothers are pieces of meat.
She says she wants to talk to Sean in private& jones asks if she's gonna invite him. She says he's totally injured and she's just not doing it, so Emma urges do it. Don't sweat it, we won't be watching to make you nervous. What part of she's not doing it don't you understand?
Conor wipes her tear away & she thought he was gonna kiss her.
Her sister said the girl on his lap doesn't sound like much. When is that not much?
When she opens the door and Sean smiles she forgets everything she was going to say. She wants to kiss him but won't until she knows the truth. So when he asks where she went she doesn't say anything about the girl on his lap.
They're having a convo about what's for dinner. Chicken, baked, fried?
Chicken with onions mushrooms peppers and tomatoes. How exciting.
C says he's all about tomatoes, and she looks at the other cashier and they give each other 'irritated, he-is-so-annoying-and-we-have-no-patience-for-this glances.' More rudeness.
The line two bags' worth and you get me was funny.
She says Conor thinks she's stupid then starts following her everywhere& sort of kisses her. Neither of which are true.
I really hate when embarrassing/awkward things happen to the MC. She goes to kiss his cheek before going to get changed, which was random to do anyway. But he'd turned his head to talk to his friends and she ended up kissing the air.
Then these guys come up, hitting on her right with Conor there,& there's no reaction from Conor.
What's the point of wearing the skirt if Sean or Conor don't really react?
I like that Conor said he hates HS,& it's fake, competitive and he hates cliques.
So annoying how Conor is trying to be serious, telling her about his brother,& she tries to lighten the mood with her dumb jokes. Then changes the subject to herself& how she played field hockey in PE. So we didn't even get the full story.
She said she flattened her friend's finger enough to break it,& Conor said that's hilarious. Um, no it isn't.
It's so stupid she turns it into a deal, she'll go to his formal dance if he goes on their weekend getaway.
Jones says if she won't ask Conor, she'll ask him.& she's never even spoken to him. Then ends up saying she's joking. Why would you joke about that? That is not funny.
It's so stupid when she said it was like she was more interested in inviting Conor than Sean. That makes absolutely no sense, because you don't even like him.& you just spent the afternoon kissing his brother.
They use stupid things to show they're meant to be together. Like that Conor knows what groupie means. & that he plays baseball and she plays softball.
Bear jumps on her lap and she says 'If my head wasn't hurting, my legs would soon.' Your legs can still hurt.
Gretchen all of a sudden went out with her friends, which begs the question of why Kirsten said she needed to go out and meet ppl.
He makes a snowball in her coffee foam& she says does that rlly look like a snowball to you? So rude.
Conor didn't go dating just to date, didn't have tons of gf, which is refreshing.
She actually asks Conor to the winter carnival.
Conor asks if they can leave Bear home so he doesn't knock anyone down& she said she'll take him to an off-leash park so he can run all he wants, & he won't miss them. Why tell us this? Just leave the dog home.
Kids. Strollers. 'Necessity bag.' This shouldn't be in YA.
He asks if she has any side effects from falling on the ice. She says no but Gretchen made her go the docs with them just in case. He asks what the doc said and she said that her sisters leg is healing. I thought she went to the doc for her head, also, not just for her sister.
It's cute they crowned King Boreas and Snow Queen.
He talks to a beauty Queen, asks to take their pic& then poses with them.& says he has a thing for princesses. I didn't like that. He's supposed to like the MC, not some freaking beauty queens.
He says you'll always be miss Midwest to me and she says gee thanks. Why can't she be sweet??
She thinks Conor was going to kiss her& moves away. Then says she was pretty sure if Conor didn't kiss her she would kiss him.
It was weird how Conor said jones has a point, they look good together.
"You have to admit we make a cool couple." Who says cool couple?
All of a sudden says maybe she was more interested in him than Sean.
Conor is delusional saying he's been nice since day one. NO you haven't.
She says she didn't sense any interest from him,& Conor says what about serving her coffee& bagging her groceries& going sledding to protect her from the guys.& it was just so lame and sort of pathetic. Like Kirsten said, that was his job.
'According to Gretchen and the saleswoman (basically clones of each other), it looked great with my hair and slightly golden skin. Whatever.' Yea it's a real bummer being complemented like that.
She says her sister sprang for the dress to repay her for helping out.& of course a pair of shoes, a shawl, and nail polish. What a hardship to have someone buy you a whole outfit. How awful.
She bought herself a dress& said of course she couldn't go shopping without buying herself something. Well your sister should after buying you all that.& wanting to celebrate losing 10 lbs.
She says "forget about Brett's silly bday cake. Let's talk about the party some more." What kind of mom is this?
Gretchen is trying to teach Kirsten how to dance,& stops suddenly, her eyes widening& continues staring like an idiot at Conor standing in the door. Why would u react like that to a HS kid standing in YOUR house. When Kirsten later says how embarrassing, and her sister says who cares, it's only Conor. Then why were u acting like an idiot when he walked in?
On Pg281 Sean all of a sudden looks like Ashton Kutcher. Because of the suit? His hair?
It makes no sense to go to the party with Sean and break up with him there. And then you'd have to ride home with him. Break up with him so he can bring someone who actually likes him.
Then after Conor shows up with a date you say you'd be having fun if you were with Conor.
All of a sudden 3 girls come up asking Conor to dance. I got the feeling he wasn't that popular.
Auld Lang Syne for New Years.
Connor was dancing with an entirely dif girl than the one he brought.
No teen says may I cut in like Melissa did to Sean. And guys usually cut in, not girls.
The slip in the ice sculpture puddle as she makes her exit was annoying. As was the calling herself cursed again.
That's funny she said it isn't fair Conor ran out on his date. You're not the person to talk about what's fair. You're planning to break up with Sean, and date his brother.
He says do you think I'd invite you and go with someone else which is refreshing. But he was with 5 dif girls.
She said kissing Conor wasn't like anyone else she'd ever kissed before. I didn't realize she had. She didn't say her and Tyler did. They only dated a month. Then Sean.
He says he has to work and she's like too bad becuz you're coming away with me.
& he oddly asks if it's to show up some old bf.
She tells sean in front of her sister that she left with Conor,& he has to ask when that happened.
Idk why Gretchen was telling her to be with Sean.
She tells Gretchen how Conor made sure she was ok. And left out the part where Conor ran over her foot with the cart. It was a freaking accident.
You told Sean you like his bro so when he shows up you think he came to tell you Conor couldn't go and you guys were back on.
'There was no reason we couldn't go out with each other, but there was no reason we should, either.' Huh.
She says Sean is too nice& that's why he has all the girls around him. He should be discriminate and be mean to a few to thin the pack. Wth.
They're leaving for the cabin on pg 327, and it hit me. This should have happened ages ago. Why were we reading of them in town when they could have been on the trip? That would have been much more exciting to read about.
I like that she said she didn't plan on sleeping with anyone until she was older.
Then Bear chases after them & they have to bring him back. Freaking leave already.
It took several more pages on their journey at the gas station. Which was unimportant.
They'd be going skiing, snowshoeing& hiking. I'd rather be reading about that.
She writes I luv u Conor in the snow& it ends the way their relationship was, with rude jokes.
He doesn't even say I love u.
They only kissed once. She kissed Sean more than she did Conor, the guy she ended up with.
I didn't enjoy this. Besides the humor in here, there was nothing.
Conor seemed so nice and sweet when he returned her hat, idk where he disappeared to. It was never brought up why he was so rude to her after. It seemed to be because she was rude to him. But he never said and he actually thought he'd been nice to her the whole time. So bizarre.
Conor actually acted like the bad boy, who you don't end up with. So to have him actually be the 'good guy' in the end just blows my mind. I literally don't understand why he was written so horrible. Then again, the MC is rude and uptight too, so maybe they deserve each other.
This could have ended a lot better. The most exciting part of the book--the weekend getaway--was saved for the very end and only lasted a few pages, while the entire book was full of mundane things. The last lines ended the way their entire relationship did; sort of rude. This just wasn’t good.
I had given this two stars from memory, and after rereading it, it was even worse than I remembered. This is actually one star. I don't think I enjoyed anything in here.
The words on the cover are stupid: 'cold feet, and hands, and ears...but warm hearts).
I didn't think it was a good way to start the book off with her about to run into people.
I found it odd when she says her friend Crystal moved to Minnesota from Colorado and hadn't adjusted to the low temps or 4-day no sunshine. Minnesota is supposed to be really cold.
She's 7 years younger than her sister, who's 24. That hit a lil hard cuz that's my age. And this is a teens bk& I relate to the older sister!
She said she landed on top of one, then says one of them she'd fallen onto asked if she's ok.
He tells her how to play crack the whip,& she says gee thanks, I'll try to remember that.
She'd like a guy that's bad at skating so she could laugh when he fell down.
She said maybe he'd been obnoxious. And then defends he couldn't be that terrible of a person since he'd bothered to return her hat. The next sentence she said he hadn't been suave about it. Especially not after he'd tried to be nice and she'd been rude. What does that have to do with him being suave?
Her friend says he likes her cuz he was looking for an excuse to talk to her. She said or to harass me, cuz he made fun of her. And she said he would have left the hat in lost and found, so she'd have to come back and see him again. Why would he put it in lost and found when you were right there that very day? Why hold it to give to you another time when he could see you right then & there?
These girls are over analyzing something very simple, a guy returning your hat.
Idk why these books are so ridiculous. Her friend Jones is obsessed with Topher Grace and asked her ex bf to go by the name Topher. She didn't break up with him, but it didn't help his cause. How bizarre to ask someone to change their name to your crush, and get upset when they won't. How would you like to be called by another woman's name that ur bf likes?
She said it herself. She has a month to get to know a guy well enough by to ask to a wknd getaway. That's ridiculous.
Ironic that Jones is saying Kirsten has to find a guy when she's single too. How do these girls expect to just find a guy? If you haven't yet, you most likely wouldn't in a month. Especially to be close enough to invite for a wknd trip.
And jones was gonna invite her ex just because he's a good skier& can make a fire. Our lil Kirsten actually realized it was mean.
The comment about being 25 hurt. It hurt a lot.
The characters are always so difficult in these books. The main and sides. She jokes her sister has been disorganized since birth, and lost her bottle. & Sean is like how would you know if she lost track of her bottle if you're younger. Just go with the joke. It was obviously a joke. Maybe her parents told her she always lost her bottle.
She starts to say the thing about crack the whip& he doesn't understand.& she's like oops. That must have been the other guy. You dr who said what??
The mention of polar bear plunge was cool. But when her sister says you should do it, Kirsten says no you should,& they're acting like her sister can jump in with a broken leg. Her sister is flirting with the worker there,& says she's gonna be on the shore so she can keep him warm, when she was giving the impression she'd be jumping in.
It's funny she called tanning the fake bake.
She sees the guy who had her hat& says the cute guy. Idr her finding him cute. Then says the one she'd fallen on. Earlier it was 'sort of landed on'.
It's far fetched that a 17 yr old would have a credit card.
I found it embarrassing she thought he was talking to her, asking if she needed help w/ her groceries& he said he was talking to that elderly woman.
Their mom is nice enough to send cupcakes, and just because her sister is on a diet she wants to get rid of them. Idk why Kirsten even suggested dumping them. She goes upstairs to check on Brett and tells him there's cupcakes. When they go downstairs, Gretchen puts them in the garbage disposal. Why didn't she just let her sister &kid have them? She tells Brett they were messed up in the mail. So you lied to your kid. That was a crappy mom moment right there.
It turns out Brett's bday is at the end of the month, and she'll be buying a cake for him then. So...wth. Why not keep these cupcakes? I guess we're supposed to give her props for allowing her son to eat bday cake on his bday.
'Because then it wouldn't be as much fun for us, we couldn't just relax. We'd have to keep track of him. He'd spill coffee, he'd bug people. He'd bug us." Wow,& she's his mom.
She says her sister should meet ppl. She has a broken leg& it's snowing out. Her sister has to say give her a week cuz it's so hard getting around on the snow. And Kirsten responds with idk.
'I realized he was the Zublansky's dairy aisle guy, and the one I'd nearly knocked down at the skating rink,& the one who brought me my hat.' We get it. You don't have to keep a list.
Now we can add Connor to the list of difficult characters.
He's like why did u ask it like a question? & more awkwardness ensues with her answer.
His fellow worker says his name,& she thought Conor was a nice name, but she already heard it, when the old lady said she prefers Conor to help with her groceries.
She trash talks her sister to strangers, sayig they went to another bakery until the guy ruined her wedding cake w/ a figurine that was too big for her. She realizes she's making a fool of herself, but continues doing so with "my sister is a control freak with a bad self image." You're not making a fool out of yourself because you're babbling, but because you're talking about ur sister.
She said she's "going to Europe, too. well England. Then maybe Europe." And Conor yawns. That's so rude.
I found the comment tacky where she says the laptop has had more upgrades than Janice Dickinson has plastic surgery.
Conor is acting rude too.
No humor Sean strikes again. She says she'll have to take Bear on long walks or run a marathon cuz he's full of energy,& Sean asks if she runs marathons, looking impressed or startled. Lots of ppl run marathons. She says yes, she could run if she's being chased. Then he asks if she's planning on being chased. Take a joke, dude.
Sean says his bro is insane, as goalies are. And she says this is ur bro ur talking about. You've said things about your sister too!
The sister bickering/taking shots thing is getting old. She wants to go skiing with Sean and her sister says no way cuz she wiped out. When she was a kid. So that means you can nvr go skiing? So she actually says since her sister is dead set against her skiing they'll have to do something else. I was lookin forward to them skiing, so I was annoyed.
"I had to farm out the shoveling. But now that you're here, I guess I can cancel it--I hadn't even thought of that." Then Kirsten goes no don't fire him!
I was so surprised when she went to surprise Sean with hot choc. But I knew his bro would be Conor.
Of course Conor did a better job at shoveling.& they agreed that the mall was a waste.
All of a sudden on pg 134 she wears glasses,& a few pgs later she said it gets old when ppl look at her and assume she's stupid. She's had it with that. When has anyone treated you like that?
He implies she can't get into a good school.
She says she's all about sledding,& Conor says you keep saying that. How can u be all about everything? This is so embarrassing & rude.
She says the snow reminds her of the movie Shackleton. Conor gets pushed in the snow,& all of a sudden says he read Endurance,& no one comments on it. It was bizarre.
'"Hey," the group said, almost in unison, like they'd done this before and had a routine.' Or they're just saying hey. Hey is something ppl say when meeting others.
She lands on top of Sean and kisses him. When he looks surprised, and 'wasnt sure about all this' she kisses him again. So when someone looks like they dw kiss you, just kiss them again, harder, until they feel differently. How does she go from trying to work on her inner flirt to outright kissing him, when they haven't even really came out and said they like each other. They've only been hanging out.
And poor Conor has to see that.
Conor asks if her and Sean are an item. Teens don't talk like that.
He warns her from Sean. 'What was with the criticizing Sean? Brotherly love, it wasn't.' You've said worse!
Inundating is a big word.
'It wasn't as if Sean didn't like her because they'd done a lot together.' No you haven't.
So obnoxious when Jones said how about you take one and I'll take the other, like the brothers are pieces of meat.
She says she wants to talk to Sean in private& jones asks if she's gonna invite him. She says he's totally injured and she's just not doing it, so Emma urges do it. Don't sweat it, we won't be watching to make you nervous. What part of she's not doing it don't you understand?
Conor wipes her tear away & she thought he was gonna kiss her.
Her sister said the girl on his lap doesn't sound like much. When is that not much?
When she opens the door and Sean smiles she forgets everything she was going to say. She wants to kiss him but won't until she knows the truth. So when he asks where she went she doesn't say anything about the girl on his lap.
They're having a convo about what's for dinner. Chicken, baked, fried?
Chicken with onions mushrooms peppers and tomatoes. How exciting.
C says he's all about tomatoes, and she looks at the other cashier and they give each other 'irritated, he-is-so-annoying-and-we-have-no-patience-for-this glances.' More rudeness.
The line two bags' worth and you get me was funny.
She says Conor thinks she's stupid then starts following her everywhere& sort of kisses her. Neither of which are true.
I really hate when embarrassing/awkward things happen to the MC. She goes to kiss his cheek before going to get changed, which was random to do anyway. But he'd turned his head to talk to his friends and she ended up kissing the air.
Then these guys come up, hitting on her right with Conor there,& there's no reaction from Conor.
What's the point of wearing the skirt if Sean or Conor don't really react?
I like that Conor said he hates HS,& it's fake, competitive and he hates cliques.
So annoying how Conor is trying to be serious, telling her about his brother,& she tries to lighten the mood with her dumb jokes. Then changes the subject to herself& how she played field hockey in PE. So we didn't even get the full story.
She said she flattened her friend's finger enough to break it,& Conor said that's hilarious. Um, no it isn't.
It's so stupid she turns it into a deal, she'll go to his formal dance if he goes on their weekend getaway.
Jones says if she won't ask Conor, she'll ask him.& she's never even spoken to him. Then ends up saying she's joking. Why would you joke about that? That is not funny.
It's so stupid when she said it was like she was more interested in inviting Conor than Sean. That makes absolutely no sense, because you don't even like him.& you just spent the afternoon kissing his brother.
They use stupid things to show they're meant to be together. Like that Conor knows what groupie means. & that he plays baseball and she plays softball.
Bear jumps on her lap and she says 'If my head wasn't hurting, my legs would soon.' Your legs can still hurt.
Gretchen all of a sudden went out with her friends, which begs the question of why Kirsten said she needed to go out and meet ppl.
He makes a snowball in her coffee foam& she says does that rlly look like a snowball to you? So rude.
Conor didn't go dating just to date, didn't have tons of gf, which is refreshing.
She actually asks Conor to the winter carnival.
Conor asks if they can leave Bear home so he doesn't knock anyone down& she said she'll take him to an off-leash park so he can run all he wants, & he won't miss them. Why tell us this? Just leave the dog home.
Kids. Strollers. 'Necessity bag.' This shouldn't be in YA.
He asks if she has any side effects from falling on the ice. She says no but Gretchen made her go the docs with them just in case. He asks what the doc said and she said that her sisters leg is healing. I thought she went to the doc for her head, also, not just for her sister.
It's cute they crowned King Boreas and Snow Queen.
He talks to a beauty Queen, asks to take their pic& then poses with them.& says he has a thing for princesses. I didn't like that. He's supposed to like the MC, not some freaking beauty queens.
He says you'll always be miss Midwest to me and she says gee thanks. Why can't she be sweet??
She thinks Conor was going to kiss her& moves away. Then says she was pretty sure if Conor didn't kiss her she would kiss him.
It was weird how Conor said jones has a point, they look good together.
"You have to admit we make a cool couple." Who says cool couple?
All of a sudden says maybe she was more interested in him than Sean.
Conor is delusional saying he's been nice since day one. NO you haven't.
She says she didn't sense any interest from him,& Conor says what about serving her coffee& bagging her groceries& going sledding to protect her from the guys.& it was just so lame and sort of pathetic. Like Kirsten said, that was his job.
'According to Gretchen and the saleswoman (basically clones of each other), it looked great with my hair and slightly golden skin. Whatever.' Yea it's a real bummer being complemented like that.
She says her sister sprang for the dress to repay her for helping out.& of course a pair of shoes, a shawl, and nail polish. What a hardship to have someone buy you a whole outfit. How awful.
She bought herself a dress& said of course she couldn't go shopping without buying herself something. Well your sister should after buying you all that.& wanting to celebrate losing 10 lbs.
She says "forget about Brett's silly bday cake. Let's talk about the party some more." What kind of mom is this?
Gretchen is trying to teach Kirsten how to dance,& stops suddenly, her eyes widening& continues staring like an idiot at Conor standing in the door. Why would u react like that to a HS kid standing in YOUR house. When Kirsten later says how embarrassing, and her sister says who cares, it's only Conor. Then why were u acting like an idiot when he walked in?
On Pg281 Sean all of a sudden looks like Ashton Kutcher. Because of the suit? His hair?
It makes no sense to go to the party with Sean and break up with him there. And then you'd have to ride home with him. Break up with him so he can bring someone who actually likes him.
Then after Conor shows up with a date you say you'd be having fun if you were with Conor.
All of a sudden 3 girls come up asking Conor to dance. I got the feeling he wasn't that popular.
Auld Lang Syne for New Years.
Connor was dancing with an entirely dif girl than the one he brought.
No teen says may I cut in like Melissa did to Sean. And guys usually cut in, not girls.
The slip in the ice sculpture puddle as she makes her exit was annoying. As was the calling herself cursed again.
That's funny she said it isn't fair Conor ran out on his date. You're not the person to talk about what's fair. You're planning to break up with Sean, and date his brother.
He says do you think I'd invite you and go with someone else which is refreshing. But he was with 5 dif girls.
She said kissing Conor wasn't like anyone else she'd ever kissed before. I didn't realize she had. She didn't say her and Tyler did. They only dated a month. Then Sean.
He says he has to work and she's like too bad becuz you're coming away with me.
& he oddly asks if it's to show up some old bf.
She tells sean in front of her sister that she left with Conor,& he has to ask when that happened.
Idk why Gretchen was telling her to be with Sean.
She tells Gretchen how Conor made sure she was ok. And left out the part where Conor ran over her foot with the cart. It was a freaking accident.
You told Sean you like his bro so when he shows up you think he came to tell you Conor couldn't go and you guys were back on.
'There was no reason we couldn't go out with each other, but there was no reason we should, either.' Huh.
She says Sean is too nice& that's why he has all the girls around him. He should be discriminate and be mean to a few to thin the pack. Wth.
They're leaving for the cabin on pg 327, and it hit me. This should have happened ages ago. Why were we reading of them in town when they could have been on the trip? That would have been much more exciting to read about.
I like that she said she didn't plan on sleeping with anyone until she was older.
Then Bear chases after them & they have to bring him back. Freaking leave already.
It took several more pages on their journey at the gas station. Which was unimportant.
They'd be going skiing, snowshoeing& hiking. I'd rather be reading about that.
She writes I luv u Conor in the snow& it ends the way their relationship was, with rude jokes.
He doesn't even say I love u.
They only kissed once. She kissed Sean more than she did Conor, the guy she ended up with.
I didn't enjoy this. Besides the humor in here, there was nothing.
Conor seemed so nice and sweet when he returned her hat, idk where he disappeared to. It was never brought up why he was so rude to her after. It seemed to be because she was rude to him. But he never said and he actually thought he'd been nice to her the whole time. So bizarre.
Conor actually acted like the bad boy, who you don't end up with. So to have him actually be the 'good guy' in the end just blows my mind. I literally don't understand why he was written so horrible. Then again, the MC is rude and uptight too, so maybe they deserve each other.
This could have ended a lot better. The most exciting part of the book--the weekend getaway--was saved for the very end and only lasted a few pages, while the entire book was full of mundane things. The last lines ended the way their entire relationship did; sort of rude. This just wasn’t good.
I had given this two stars from memory, and after rereading it, it was even worse than I remembered. This is actually one star. I don't think I enjoyed anything in here.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 18, 2018
Added May 31, 2012
I bought this in 2011 or 2012 and didn't like it, so much that I gave it 1 star and wanted to get rid of it. I never did and think I read it again to confirm it was that bad. Cut to 2018 and I still had it. I was in the mood for a winter story and wanted to give it a try. All I remembered was her sister and nephew and a really lame scene of going down the hill on a mattress.
The back really irritated me. I'm so sick of seeing lists and itemized things on the back cover of rom-coms. "St. Paul Skate. You'll LOVE our rink." What does that mean? Is that an advertisement for the skating rink? What does it say about the plot? It was redundant that #1 said survive the month at her sister's and then survive her nephew and sister. #2 "Learn to ice skate better. Or not fall down." Isn't that the same thing? "Or just a cuter skating outfit." Ugh. And then it got to the part that I just love. The part where the girl has to find a guy, because being single is akin to a death sentence. And I love it said "hockey-playing, winter-loving hottie." The word hottie is so stupid and why does she require the guy to play hockey? Because she plays hockey? Because she likes watching hockey? Because she's vain and thinks hockey players are hot? And "winter-loving?" Wow. I've never heard anyone require someone to love a season just to get with them. And don't even get me started on inviting a guy you just met to stay overnight while you're alone with other teens with no parental supervision. Like that would ever fly.
It was so cute when she fell down in the game Crack the Whip and took 2 guys down with her. The one she fell on turned red and redder the longer she stayed on him. That was so cute. And of course there was a smooth guy who picked her up by her waist and held onto her longer than necessary, then said a line about showing her how the game is done. Add that to her admiring his skating and thinking he was a great hockey player, and seeing the 2nd guy didn't skate as good, and he didn't stand a chance. YA girls never know a good thing when they got it.
It was so upsetting when she's all over Sean, the guy that got onto them, staring at him, assessing his hockey player skills, trying to make eye contact. Then the nice guy came and gave her hat back and told her how to play Crack the Whip, and she was so rude. She even asked herself why she acted like that.
I flip the page and she said he was obnoxious and hadn't been suave about it. How dare she turn it around on him! She was in the wrong. Emma said he brought her hat back because he liked her. Calm down there hormonal teenage girl. It's because he's nice. That's what anyone would do. So Kirsten thinks he doesn't like her anymore. Emma insisted he was looking for an excuse to talk to her and Kirsten came out with this gem: he was trying to harass her and if he liked her he wouldn't have made fun of her.
I had to put the book down then because that was so upsetting. First she thought it was her fault, then it's his fault. Make up your mind. You were rude, he was being nice and giving advice. Stupid Kirsten said he would've put the hat in Lost & Found if he liked her bcuz then he would've seen her again. Um, no. He brought your hat back to you...seeing you again....That had no logic. At least I had props to give to Kirsten when she said Jones was insane to think she could meet a guy and get to know him well enough to invite him for a weekend away in a month. Now that's some common sense.
I don't like embarrassing things that make you cringe and feel embarrassed for the character. I completely forgot that Sean shoveled her sister's driveway. I wanted it to be the other guy. The girl always has to go thru the jerk before she gets it right. She said her sister was always forgetting her bottle and that’s so lame. Esp when he picked it apart and asked how she knew that when she was the younger sister, and she had to explain herself. That was uncomfortable. Then going on and on about inviting him for coffee and to come inside, over-explaining about him not liking coffee or not being cold, he wasn't naked, and yadda yadda. Then her joke about wearing Care Bears last year flopped and she thanked him for the coffee that she made! And he pointed it out! Ugh, that was embarrassing.
I wished the embarrassment would stop. She ran into the guy who gave her hat back at the grocery store where he works, thought he was asking to help her to her car, but he was talking to someone else. That was bad enough, but she then offered to help the old lady he was talking to and she said she preferred Conor.
I was so sick of them acting like jerks. Conor also works at the bakery-of course!-and he said she looked familiar so she refreshed his memory and said "New Year's Eve day?" And he asked why she asked it like a question, wasn't she there? Ugh! If a guy talked to me like that I wouldn't give him a single chance.
She heard the rude grocery store lady call him Conor on pg. 68. But then on pg. 84 when a woman at the bakery called him Conor, Kirsten thought it was a nice name like she'd never heard it before.
He was being such a jerk to her and I was so glad when she finally got a strong comment out. He scoffed at her using IMs in her independent study project, said they weren't worth collecting, and she said maybe his aren't. Good comeback! It was such an unbelievable moment when she was writing about him to Jones in an email and he saw it and asked if it was going to make it into the book! Wow. But it was so irritatingly wrong that she said she thought he was following her. Why would the author write that? She would be the one following him; he works at these places...how stupid.
It was so obvious that Conor was Sean's brother. Sean said goalies are crazy and his brother is one, but he had just left for work. So obvious who it was going to be.
I resented her sister when she kept telling embarrassing stories when Sean came over. I resented that she was there on the couch and didn't leave them alone, that she insisted on saying Kirsten fell through the ice, then wiped out skiing and was twisted like a pretzel, with limbs too long for her. She forbid Kirsten from going skiing which would have been a nice change of scenery. They decided to go to the mall and Kirsten said she had to clear it with Gretchen and set Brett up with a movie. Talk about boring and annoying.
It rubbed me the wrong way that Sean told her to make 3 sandwiches for him, then turned on the TV to watch basketball and polished off a whole bag of chips. Pig.
I hated that I saw it coming and was irritated that the surprise was ruined. When she was going out to bring Sean hot chocolate I knew it would be Conor; I guess things like this are done so much that it's obvious. I didn't like that Conor would know she was so close to his brother, close enough to make him hot choc and cover his eyes from behind.
I laughed aloud as she pushed him and he almost fell in the bushes. I hoped for more between them but they were each still rude in places. Of course Conor took better care getting the ice off her driveway. When Kirsten mentioned her mall outing with Sean, Conor said he doesn't like malls, and neither does Kirsten. Sean is the star hockey player and Conor didn't make the team. Gretchen told her how jealous Conor was and that he picked fights with Sean. So I could not fathom why Kirsten would ask this question having just learned that. Conor and Sean drove by to tell her he couldn't go to the mall and she asked which was older-that was fine. But then she asked who was taller. And this is after she had seen for herself that Conor was shorter. If she already knew who was taller, and she knew the bad blood between them, why would she start up a topic that could hurt Conor even more? That was so tactless and mean.
I really don't see the appeal to getting with brothers. That's way too close for comfort and who dates brothers? If I was Conor I wouldn't want to be anywhere near someone that preferred my brother over me. I did not remember stupid Kirsten going so far with Sean and I was pissed that she did. A group of guys had a sled and she got on behind Sean and wrapped her arms around his waist and put her legs over his. If that wasn't bad enough she fell on top of him at the bottom and kissed him, not once but twice.
Of course Conor followed her to make sure she got home okay, while Sean stayed with his friends. Any more evidence she needs to see who's the right choice? But strangely, it's like Clark didn't know who she wanted to be the bad guy. Conor started out nice, then Kirsten ruined it and he was rude to her every time after that, taking shots at her project and implying she's too stupid to get into a good college. Sean seemed like the shallow good-looking guy hooking up with a bunch of girls. Kirsten even noticed his friends said hey to her like they'd done this before. He didn't get any of her jokes, but he taught her to skate and kept seeing her, wanting to hang out. Conor even told her Sean was selfish and only cared about himself.
I got really impatient as Kirsten saw a girl crawl onto Sean's lap, but then when he came over later she wanted to kiss his bruises (from the fight with Conor). And was wondering if she could invite him to the cabin. What an idiot. I was really fed up when after she saw the girl with Sean she was upset and ran into Conor, and he leaned down to wipe a tear off and she accused him of trying to kiss her. Wth is wrong with her?
It should've been a big deal when he insisted he didn't like the girl and said Kirsten was prettier than her. Clearly he was with her just because she was prettier than the last girl.
I actually had respect for her when he invited her to the mattress thing, which was the big dumb thing that stood out to me all these years, and she thought: "I couldn't even begin to think about how dumb that sounded. But then, a mattress race already sounded pretty stupid, on its own."
I lost all of that respect when the Snow White outfit turned out to be too short for her because she's so tall. Sean told her it might score more points with the judges and I thought she’d be so offended, but this idiot only wanted to score points with him. Wtf?! It's crap like this that ruins the whole book.
The whole thing was so trashy. She wore a mini skirt and a white blouse tied up under her breasts with red lipstick--and this is outside in the snow. How stupid. Her skirt was flipped up at the end and it only added to my irritation.
The embarrassment never stopped. That's what happens when you jump-start a relationship with someone you just met. She wanted to get dressed but Sean wanted to sled down the hill again. She went to kiss his cheek but he moved away and she kissed the air instead. Ugh...just the kind of character I don't like. After not being sure if he was seeing someone else, why would you kiss him in the first place? It ticked me off even more because Conor had kept her jacket. He started to give her his so it would cover her up more...Gosh why couldn't she see that Sean wasn't worth it?
Kirsten is so unlikable. The way she asked Conor if he and Sean really didn't get along or if it was an act and said she didn't get it. Their relationship is none of her business. When he said she didn't know what it's like to be compared to Sean she wasn't even sympathetic at all and made a lame joke about her being compared to Sean. How about you pull your head out of your desperate butt and try to empathize with another human being instead of it being all about you?
Why do authors insist on writing teenage girls like complete flighty, fickle airheads? Jones wanted to ask Conor to the getaway because Kirsten asked Sean. Come the freak on. She's never even met the guy and she wanted to bring him, just because he's the brother of the guy her friend is seeing. I've never heard such bullcrap in my life. Kirsten, who I can't stand, actually got upset and said Jones couldn't ask Conor. She wondered why she wanted to bring Conor instead of Sean, and didn't want anyone else to date Conor...are you freaking kidding me? She's been kissing Sean, snuggling with him, kissing the hot choc foam off each other's lips, and she all of a sudden thinks she likes Conor? Wtf is up with authors having stupid teenagers not know which guy they want? You get one person, period.
It really didn't help that Conor was always there, doing stuff for her. I didn't respect him for liking her, and that's bad. Why would a guy go after his brother's girl? She was walking home-in the wrong direction of course-after she went to see Sean's hockey game, and who should drive up and offer a ride but Conor?
The fighting thing between the brothers was overdone. It was like a tug of war match. Conor was checking her for a concussion after her fall on the ice and Sean burst in, mad about it. Sean wrapped his arm around her and Conor covered her up and I was just like what is happening here? Two brothers fighting over the same girl. What a bad story.
I didn't understand why the author would have Conor invite her to the Snow Ball, when he knows she's with Sean. Sean already invited her. I just hated all the back and forth.
I was so pissed off when Paula, the bakery worker, asked what Kirsten said to Conor, that he's acting like he's dying. She said he hasn't dated anyone in the whole year she's known him. And Kirsten thought that was like her. Now how nice would it have been if the 2 people who don’t date much got together and the dumb girl didn't get sidetracked repeatedly kissing and snuggling with his brother? I was pissed the freak off.
Finally alone with Conor and she had to bring Brett-complete with stroller. Future motherhood runs strong in YA novels! I didn't see why her sister couldn't watch her own kid for a few hours...Kirsten had been taking care of him the entire time. The least Kirsten deserved was one night without babysitting. The kid would have been okay at the house.
I didn't like when the pageant girls came to the Winter Carnival and Conor told one that he won a ribbon-the one he got from the snowman contest. He offered to take to their picture and Kirsten got a pick of him with the girls. I thought what the heck is going on here?
It was sweet tho that he asked the girls if Kirsten would wear a sash and then took a picture of her wearing it. He told her she'd always be Miss Midwest to him.
It was nice when Conor asked why she was going out with Sean when they had more in common and had more fun together. He asked why didn't she go to the Ball with him.
It was a bad situation all around. They ended up arguing, Conor wondering if it was serious between her and Sean and asking why she invited him here, if she was comparing both of them. A legitimate question. One she should stop and think about. The next day Conor delivered Brett's birthday cake and made a special choc cupcake because he knew it was her fav and said he'd see her at the ball. So this moron actually thought of canceling on Sean. The night before the dance. I was shaking my head in disbelief.
She vowed to go to the dance with Sean but break things off--because a dance is a good place to break up with someone--and say they couldn't go on the trip anymore. She was going to say that she fell for Conor--hah! What a joke! And tell Conor that she wanted to be with him. That would have been so much better if she hadn't been going so far with his brother.
She irritated me so badly on the car ride to the ball. The music was so loud she couldn't talk to Sean, so why would she even try to talk to him in a car full of 5 other people? How idiotic. And of course the music stopped so everyone heard her say they needed to talk in a loud voice. There were way too many klutzy moments that got on my last nerve.
The girl who had crawled on his lap made another appearance and even tho Kirsten said it didn't bother her now like it would have, I was bothered by Kirsten thinking she looked fantastic and had a sexy dress on. When she danced with Sean, Melissa kept bumping her hips against his. Come on.
It was so wrong of Conor to come up to her and feel her arm for how big it was--bcuz she's a softball player--and wipe coconut crumbs from the snowball off her mouth. But then the author has had Kirsten doing even worse than that the entire time so it was impossible not to be mad at both of them.
Of course 3 girls had to come and pull Conor onto the dance floor to add yet more jealousy. And if that wasn't enough, he danced with a girl, not the one she thought he came with and not one of the other 3. If Sean's the better-looking one then why did all these girls go after Conor? And the upset didn't stop. Kirsten said they were chick magnets and she didn't want to end up on the refrigerator...yeah, I don't think you're going to achieve that when you're seeing one brother and about to start on the other one. She's a victim of her own making.
It's pretty bad when you go to a party with one guy and end up kissing another guy in the same night. It shouldn't have taken so long for her to get with Conor. They went skating after she walked out on the party.
It ruined it to have Gretchen and Sean waiting for her at home. They’d been looking for her and were worried. Sean didn't deserve that. Esp when he asked if she walked home and she thought he should know that Conor was the only other person she knew and that's who she went home with, thought he was so clueless. Yeah, dump a guy for his brother and then have the nerve to say he's clueless when he doesn't figure it out. What a nice person she is.
Sean came over the morning of the trip and confessed that at first he just wanted to hang out with her but then he saw that Conor liked her and he wanted to go out with her instead of him. I didn't expect him to say that if it didn't work out with Conor to get back with him. It shouldn't have ended like that.
I remembered the book ending right as she arrived at the cabin for some reason, so I was happy to see that wasn't true. We got to hear a little about the trip, tho I wanted so much more like sleeping arrangements and plans for their futures, going to the same college, etc. I would have liked to read about them skiing and snowshoeing, more than a burnt pancake breakfast. It was so unbelievably soon for her to use the L word. She wrote in the snow that she loved him, and it was cute that she did that because of their ongoing message joke, (that she sees images and messages in things) and the fact that he teased her about abbreviations for her project, bcuz she wrote I <3 u Conor, and asked what school she went to, and she said it was a very good school, repeating one of their old convos. But I wanted him to say he loved her back. It should be reciprocated.
Characters weren't consistent. Sean was self-absorbed and didn't know big words she used, but he was so nice at the end. Conor was a jerk the entire time, making fun of her, but then ends up nice at the end. Which brother was the good one?? Or were they both supposed to be bad? Bad/good?
I’m glad I read this again and didn’t get rid of it. It isn’t bad enough to give away. I was being harsh to give it 1 star. I know what got on my nerves tho, the boy-crazy, boyfriend quest, and how bad that she spent almost the entire book with his brother. Hooking up with brothers is not okay. I can’t stand books where the girl spends almost the entire book with his brother. I can’t stand books where the girl spends almost the entire book with the wrong guy &goes further with him &gets with the right guy almost at the end. Not enough time together. There were bits of humor tho.
I bought this in 2011 or 2012 and didn't like it, so much that I gave it 1 star and wanted to get rid of it. I never did and think I read it again to confirm it was that bad. Cut to 2018 and I still had it. I was in the mood for a winter story and wanted to give it a try. All I remembered was her sister and nephew and a really lame scene of going down the hill on a mattress.
The back really irritated me. I'm so sick of seeing lists and itemized things on the back cover of rom-coms. "St. Paul Skate. You'll LOVE our rink." What does that mean? Is that an advertisement for the skating rink? What does it say about the plot? It was redundant that #1 said survive the month at her sister's and then survive her nephew and sister. #2 "Learn to ice skate better. Or not fall down." Isn't that the same thing? "Or just a cuter skating outfit." Ugh. And then it got to the part that I just love. The part where the girl has to find a guy, because being single is akin to a death sentence. And I love it said "hockey-playing, winter-loving hottie." The word hottie is so stupid and why does she require the guy to play hockey? Because she plays hockey? Because she likes watching hockey? Because she's vain and thinks hockey players are hot? And "winter-loving?" Wow. I've never heard anyone require someone to love a season just to get with them. And don't even get me started on inviting a guy you just met to stay overnight while you're alone with other teens with no parental supervision. Like that would ever fly.
It was so cute when she fell down in the game Crack the Whip and took 2 guys down with her. The one she fell on turned red and redder the longer she stayed on him. That was so cute. And of course there was a smooth guy who picked her up by her waist and held onto her longer than necessary, then said a line about showing her how the game is done. Add that to her admiring his skating and thinking he was a great hockey player, and seeing the 2nd guy didn't skate as good, and he didn't stand a chance. YA girls never know a good thing when they got it.
It was so upsetting when she's all over Sean, the guy that got onto them, staring at him, assessing his hockey player skills, trying to make eye contact. Then the nice guy came and gave her hat back and told her how to play Crack the Whip, and she was so rude. She even asked herself why she acted like that.
I flip the page and she said he was obnoxious and hadn't been suave about it. How dare she turn it around on him! She was in the wrong. Emma said he brought her hat back because he liked her. Calm down there hormonal teenage girl. It's because he's nice. That's what anyone would do. So Kirsten thinks he doesn't like her anymore. Emma insisted he was looking for an excuse to talk to her and Kirsten came out with this gem: he was trying to harass her and if he liked her he wouldn't have made fun of her.
I had to put the book down then because that was so upsetting. First she thought it was her fault, then it's his fault. Make up your mind. You were rude, he was being nice and giving advice. Stupid Kirsten said he would've put the hat in Lost & Found if he liked her bcuz then he would've seen her again. Um, no. He brought your hat back to you...seeing you again....That had no logic. At least I had props to give to Kirsten when she said Jones was insane to think she could meet a guy and get to know him well enough to invite him for a weekend away in a month. Now that's some common sense.
I don't like embarrassing things that make you cringe and feel embarrassed for the character. I completely forgot that Sean shoveled her sister's driveway. I wanted it to be the other guy. The girl always has to go thru the jerk before she gets it right. She said her sister was always forgetting her bottle and that’s so lame. Esp when he picked it apart and asked how she knew that when she was the younger sister, and she had to explain herself. That was uncomfortable. Then going on and on about inviting him for coffee and to come inside, over-explaining about him not liking coffee or not being cold, he wasn't naked, and yadda yadda. Then her joke about wearing Care Bears last year flopped and she thanked him for the coffee that she made! And he pointed it out! Ugh, that was embarrassing.
I wished the embarrassment would stop. She ran into the guy who gave her hat back at the grocery store where he works, thought he was asking to help her to her car, but he was talking to someone else. That was bad enough, but she then offered to help the old lady he was talking to and she said she preferred Conor.
I was so sick of them acting like jerks. Conor also works at the bakery-of course!-and he said she looked familiar so she refreshed his memory and said "New Year's Eve day?" And he asked why she asked it like a question, wasn't she there? Ugh! If a guy talked to me like that I wouldn't give him a single chance.
She heard the rude grocery store lady call him Conor on pg. 68. But then on pg. 84 when a woman at the bakery called him Conor, Kirsten thought it was a nice name like she'd never heard it before.
He was being such a jerk to her and I was so glad when she finally got a strong comment out. He scoffed at her using IMs in her independent study project, said they weren't worth collecting, and she said maybe his aren't. Good comeback! It was such an unbelievable moment when she was writing about him to Jones in an email and he saw it and asked if it was going to make it into the book! Wow. But it was so irritatingly wrong that she said she thought he was following her. Why would the author write that? She would be the one following him; he works at these places...how stupid.
It was so obvious that Conor was Sean's brother. Sean said goalies are crazy and his brother is one, but he had just left for work. So obvious who it was going to be.
I resented her sister when she kept telling embarrassing stories when Sean came over. I resented that she was there on the couch and didn't leave them alone, that she insisted on saying Kirsten fell through the ice, then wiped out skiing and was twisted like a pretzel, with limbs too long for her. She forbid Kirsten from going skiing which would have been a nice change of scenery. They decided to go to the mall and Kirsten said she had to clear it with Gretchen and set Brett up with a movie. Talk about boring and annoying.
It rubbed me the wrong way that Sean told her to make 3 sandwiches for him, then turned on the TV to watch basketball and polished off a whole bag of chips. Pig.
I hated that I saw it coming and was irritated that the surprise was ruined. When she was going out to bring Sean hot chocolate I knew it would be Conor; I guess things like this are done so much that it's obvious. I didn't like that Conor would know she was so close to his brother, close enough to make him hot choc and cover his eyes from behind.
I laughed aloud as she pushed him and he almost fell in the bushes. I hoped for more between them but they were each still rude in places. Of course Conor took better care getting the ice off her driveway. When Kirsten mentioned her mall outing with Sean, Conor said he doesn't like malls, and neither does Kirsten. Sean is the star hockey player and Conor didn't make the team. Gretchen told her how jealous Conor was and that he picked fights with Sean. So I could not fathom why Kirsten would ask this question having just learned that. Conor and Sean drove by to tell her he couldn't go to the mall and she asked which was older-that was fine. But then she asked who was taller. And this is after she had seen for herself that Conor was shorter. If she already knew who was taller, and she knew the bad blood between them, why would she start up a topic that could hurt Conor even more? That was so tactless and mean.
I really don't see the appeal to getting with brothers. That's way too close for comfort and who dates brothers? If I was Conor I wouldn't want to be anywhere near someone that preferred my brother over me. I did not remember stupid Kirsten going so far with Sean and I was pissed that she did. A group of guys had a sled and she got on behind Sean and wrapped her arms around his waist and put her legs over his. If that wasn't bad enough she fell on top of him at the bottom and kissed him, not once but twice.
Of course Conor followed her to make sure she got home okay, while Sean stayed with his friends. Any more evidence she needs to see who's the right choice? But strangely, it's like Clark didn't know who she wanted to be the bad guy. Conor started out nice, then Kirsten ruined it and he was rude to her every time after that, taking shots at her project and implying she's too stupid to get into a good college. Sean seemed like the shallow good-looking guy hooking up with a bunch of girls. Kirsten even noticed his friends said hey to her like they'd done this before. He didn't get any of her jokes, but he taught her to skate and kept seeing her, wanting to hang out. Conor even told her Sean was selfish and only cared about himself.
I got really impatient as Kirsten saw a girl crawl onto Sean's lap, but then when he came over later she wanted to kiss his bruises (from the fight with Conor). And was wondering if she could invite him to the cabin. What an idiot. I was really fed up when after she saw the girl with Sean she was upset and ran into Conor, and he leaned down to wipe a tear off and she accused him of trying to kiss her. Wth is wrong with her?
It should've been a big deal when he insisted he didn't like the girl and said Kirsten was prettier than her. Clearly he was with her just because she was prettier than the last girl.
I actually had respect for her when he invited her to the mattress thing, which was the big dumb thing that stood out to me all these years, and she thought: "I couldn't even begin to think about how dumb that sounded. But then, a mattress race already sounded pretty stupid, on its own."
I lost all of that respect when the Snow White outfit turned out to be too short for her because she's so tall. Sean told her it might score more points with the judges and I thought she’d be so offended, but this idiot only wanted to score points with him. Wtf?! It's crap like this that ruins the whole book.
The whole thing was so trashy. She wore a mini skirt and a white blouse tied up under her breasts with red lipstick--and this is outside in the snow. How stupid. Her skirt was flipped up at the end and it only added to my irritation.
The embarrassment never stopped. That's what happens when you jump-start a relationship with someone you just met. She wanted to get dressed but Sean wanted to sled down the hill again. She went to kiss his cheek but he moved away and she kissed the air instead. Ugh...just the kind of character I don't like. After not being sure if he was seeing someone else, why would you kiss him in the first place? It ticked me off even more because Conor had kept her jacket. He started to give her his so it would cover her up more...Gosh why couldn't she see that Sean wasn't worth it?
Kirsten is so unlikable. The way she asked Conor if he and Sean really didn't get along or if it was an act and said she didn't get it. Their relationship is none of her business. When he said she didn't know what it's like to be compared to Sean she wasn't even sympathetic at all and made a lame joke about her being compared to Sean. How about you pull your head out of your desperate butt and try to empathize with another human being instead of it being all about you?
Why do authors insist on writing teenage girls like complete flighty, fickle airheads? Jones wanted to ask Conor to the getaway because Kirsten asked Sean. Come the freak on. She's never even met the guy and she wanted to bring him, just because he's the brother of the guy her friend is seeing. I've never heard such bullcrap in my life. Kirsten, who I can't stand, actually got upset and said Jones couldn't ask Conor. She wondered why she wanted to bring Conor instead of Sean, and didn't want anyone else to date Conor...are you freaking kidding me? She's been kissing Sean, snuggling with him, kissing the hot choc foam off each other's lips, and she all of a sudden thinks she likes Conor? Wtf is up with authors having stupid teenagers not know which guy they want? You get one person, period.
It really didn't help that Conor was always there, doing stuff for her. I didn't respect him for liking her, and that's bad. Why would a guy go after his brother's girl? She was walking home-in the wrong direction of course-after she went to see Sean's hockey game, and who should drive up and offer a ride but Conor?
The fighting thing between the brothers was overdone. It was like a tug of war match. Conor was checking her for a concussion after her fall on the ice and Sean burst in, mad about it. Sean wrapped his arm around her and Conor covered her up and I was just like what is happening here? Two brothers fighting over the same girl. What a bad story.
I didn't understand why the author would have Conor invite her to the Snow Ball, when he knows she's with Sean. Sean already invited her. I just hated all the back and forth.
I was so pissed off when Paula, the bakery worker, asked what Kirsten said to Conor, that he's acting like he's dying. She said he hasn't dated anyone in the whole year she's known him. And Kirsten thought that was like her. Now how nice would it have been if the 2 people who don’t date much got together and the dumb girl didn't get sidetracked repeatedly kissing and snuggling with his brother? I was pissed the freak off.
Finally alone with Conor and she had to bring Brett-complete with stroller. Future motherhood runs strong in YA novels! I didn't see why her sister couldn't watch her own kid for a few hours...Kirsten had been taking care of him the entire time. The least Kirsten deserved was one night without babysitting. The kid would have been okay at the house.
I didn't like when the pageant girls came to the Winter Carnival and Conor told one that he won a ribbon-the one he got from the snowman contest. He offered to take to their picture and Kirsten got a pick of him with the girls. I thought what the heck is going on here?
It was sweet tho that he asked the girls if Kirsten would wear a sash and then took a picture of her wearing it. He told her she'd always be Miss Midwest to him.
It was nice when Conor asked why she was going out with Sean when they had more in common and had more fun together. He asked why didn't she go to the Ball with him.
It was a bad situation all around. They ended up arguing, Conor wondering if it was serious between her and Sean and asking why she invited him here, if she was comparing both of them. A legitimate question. One she should stop and think about. The next day Conor delivered Brett's birthday cake and made a special choc cupcake because he knew it was her fav and said he'd see her at the ball. So this moron actually thought of canceling on Sean. The night before the dance. I was shaking my head in disbelief.
She vowed to go to the dance with Sean but break things off--because a dance is a good place to break up with someone--and say they couldn't go on the trip anymore. She was going to say that she fell for Conor--hah! What a joke! And tell Conor that she wanted to be with him. That would have been so much better if she hadn't been going so far with his brother.
She irritated me so badly on the car ride to the ball. The music was so loud she couldn't talk to Sean, so why would she even try to talk to him in a car full of 5 other people? How idiotic. And of course the music stopped so everyone heard her say they needed to talk in a loud voice. There were way too many klutzy moments that got on my last nerve.
The girl who had crawled on his lap made another appearance and even tho Kirsten said it didn't bother her now like it would have, I was bothered by Kirsten thinking she looked fantastic and had a sexy dress on. When she danced with Sean, Melissa kept bumping her hips against his. Come on.
It was so wrong of Conor to come up to her and feel her arm for how big it was--bcuz she's a softball player--and wipe coconut crumbs from the snowball off her mouth. But then the author has had Kirsten doing even worse than that the entire time so it was impossible not to be mad at both of them.
Of course 3 girls had to come and pull Conor onto the dance floor to add yet more jealousy. And if that wasn't enough, he danced with a girl, not the one she thought he came with and not one of the other 3. If Sean's the better-looking one then why did all these girls go after Conor? And the upset didn't stop. Kirsten said they were chick magnets and she didn't want to end up on the refrigerator...yeah, I don't think you're going to achieve that when you're seeing one brother and about to start on the other one. She's a victim of her own making.
It's pretty bad when you go to a party with one guy and end up kissing another guy in the same night. It shouldn't have taken so long for her to get with Conor. They went skating after she walked out on the party.
It ruined it to have Gretchen and Sean waiting for her at home. They’d been looking for her and were worried. Sean didn't deserve that. Esp when he asked if she walked home and she thought he should know that Conor was the only other person she knew and that's who she went home with, thought he was so clueless. Yeah, dump a guy for his brother and then have the nerve to say he's clueless when he doesn't figure it out. What a nice person she is.
Sean came over the morning of the trip and confessed that at first he just wanted to hang out with her but then he saw that Conor liked her and he wanted to go out with her instead of him. I didn't expect him to say that if it didn't work out with Conor to get back with him. It shouldn't have ended like that.
I remembered the book ending right as she arrived at the cabin for some reason, so I was happy to see that wasn't true. We got to hear a little about the trip, tho I wanted so much more like sleeping arrangements and plans for their futures, going to the same college, etc. I would have liked to read about them skiing and snowshoeing, more than a burnt pancake breakfast. It was so unbelievably soon for her to use the L word. She wrote in the snow that she loved him, and it was cute that she did that because of their ongoing message joke, (that she sees images and messages in things) and the fact that he teased her about abbreviations for her project, bcuz she wrote I <3 u Conor, and asked what school she went to, and she said it was a very good school, repeating one of their old convos. But I wanted him to say he loved her back. It should be reciprocated.
Characters weren't consistent. Sean was self-absorbed and didn't know big words she used, but he was so nice at the end. Conor was a jerk the entire time, making fun of her, but then ends up nice at the end. Which brother was the good one?? Or were they both supposed to be bad? Bad/good?
I’m glad I read this again and didn’t get rid of it. It isn’t bad enough to give away. I was being harsh to give it 1 star. I know what got on my nerves tho, the boy-crazy, boyfriend quest, and how bad that she spent almost the entire book with his brother. Hooking up with brothers is not okay. I can’t stand books where the girl spends almost the entire book with his brother. I can’t stand books where the girl spends almost the entire book with the wrong guy &goes further with him &gets with the right guy almost at the end. Not enough time together. There were bits of humor tho.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 11, 2018
This was a cute story overall, but I did not like a lot of the characters. Kirsten’s friends were kind of annoying and to be honest, I didn’t find myself invested in them enough to really distinguish who was who. Gretchen was by far the most annoying character. It felt like every chance she got, she was trying to embarrass Kirsten or talk about how appearances matter. Also, she seemed like a disconnected mother to Brett. Kirsten had a better connection with him than Gretchen did. As far as Sean and Conor, the author made you like Sean a lot more in the beginning. I was rooting for him at first, especially after his and Kirsten’s first real conversation in the snow. Conor was made to seem like a rude jerk. But as the story continued on, I started liking him and how much he cared for Kirsten, despite him putting up a front that he didn’t.
It was also hard to figure out who the author was talking about in the beginning, Sean or Conor. The language used was kind of vague so I didn’t always no if Kirsten was referring to Sean or Conor until 25% of the way into the book.
The relationship between Kirsten and was the best part of the book, especially the banter they had going between them.
Good solid wintery read!
It was also hard to figure out who the author was talking about in the beginning, Sean or Conor. The language used was kind of vague so I didn’t always no if Kirsten was referring to Sean or Conor until 25% of the way into the book.
The relationship between Kirsten and was the best part of the book, especially the banter they had going between them.
Good solid wintery read!
October 1, 2017
I really enjoyed this book. It got me into the mood for cold weather. I really enjoyed the story and I could relate to the characters.
Kirsten goes to live with her sister to help with her nephew. Her sister also just broke her leg. Kirsten has a mission to find someone to go with her on groundhog day weekend for a cabin trip with her friends. She needs to find a guy to go with her. Kirsten runs into two guys at the ice rink. She then meets them shoveling her sister's driveway. Did I mention that they are brothers? She starts to hang out with one, Sean, and asks him to go with her. His condition is if she is his date to the snow ball. She agrees but then starts to realize that she is starting to have feelings for his brother, Conor. What does she do?
Kirsten goes to live with her sister to help with her nephew. Her sister also just broke her leg. Kirsten has a mission to find someone to go with her on groundhog day weekend for a cabin trip with her friends. She needs to find a guy to go with her. Kirsten runs into two guys at the ice rink. She then meets them shoveling her sister's driveway. Did I mention that they are brothers? She starts to hang out with one, Sean, and asks him to go with her. His condition is if she is his date to the snow ball. She agrees but then starts to realize that she is starting to have feelings for his brother, Conor. What does she do?
December 3, 2020
Cute hate to love trope taking place in Minnesota. I absolutely love living through the characters at different places in the city and the best part was camp snoopy because it will always be camp snoopy.
Read
October 18, 2023I have been trying to figure out the title of this book for YEARS. I read this in high school and I fully believe this was the start of my hockey romance obsession. I 100% bought it at Borders with my bff.
November 22, 2023
Honestly, the Minnesota girl in me is why I’m not rating this one lower. This felt like eating Wasa crackers: you know it’s the equivalent of edible cardboard, but it’s food and you’re hungry so you eat it anyway. The plot was dry and the forced awkward conversations were painful. But I take pride in my home state and it was nice to actually know all the places and things referenced. Minnesota is woefully underrepresented in media, but we kind of deserve better than this.
April 3, 2020
This was really cute and good! I love these books so much!
January 12, 2018
I didn’t think that just by bringing a guy along for a weekend trip with your pals is such a big deal. It reminds me of when you were a kid and have a boy/girl friend you’d automatically be king of the world or be constantly talked about; like those ‘did you hear, he’s got a girlfriend’ and others would go ‘whoaaaa’ as if it’s the greatest thing ever.
To me it seems as if Kirsten is on a quest to find this thing called ‘a boyfriend’ and if she doesn’t find one within a certain amount of time she’d be embarrassed and won’t have as much fun as her friends who do. It just bugs me how glorified it is to have a significant other. I just don’t like how Kirsten prioritizes this. But then she ends up finding someone who she really likes. So that’s a good thing.
I did however like the ‘twist’ even when it was pretty predictable.
To me it seems as if Kirsten is on a quest to find this thing called ‘a boyfriend’ and if she doesn’t find one within a certain amount of time she’d be embarrassed and won’t have as much fun as her friends who do. It just bugs me how glorified it is to have a significant other. I just don’t like how Kirsten prioritizes this. But then she ends up finding someone who she really likes. So that’s a good thing.
I did however like the ‘twist’ even when it was pretty predictable.
September 2, 2013
I think this book is amazing!! I've read before back in 7th grade, and decided to reread it. I think it's a very quick read, if you're into that romance-y stuff :)
Synopsis:
This book is about Kirsten, a senior in high school, who goes to live with her older sister, Gretchen, for a couple of months. Gretchen is a divorced 24 year old with a 3 year old son named Brett, so when she fell and broke her leg skiing someone had to come help with things around the house. Lucky for her, Kirsten was nice enough to come help out.
Now, there's two brothers who help out with shoveling snow outside Gretchen's house. One seems to hate Kirsten while the other is nice and is helping her out with learning how to ice skate better. Then things change and she likes both brothers. What's a girl to do?
Synopsis:
This book is about Kirsten, a senior in high school, who goes to live with her older sister, Gretchen, for a couple of months. Gretchen is a divorced 24 year old with a 3 year old son named Brett, so when she fell and broke her leg skiing someone had to come help with things around the house. Lucky for her, Kirsten was nice enough to come help out.
Now, there's two brothers who help out with shoveling snow outside Gretchen's house. One seems to hate Kirsten while the other is nice and is helping her out with learning how to ice skate better. Then things change and she likes both brothers. What's a girl to do?
January 20, 2014
Icing on the Lake was a cute little love story about a girl who was staying at her sister's house to help her out. Her sister is 7 years older then her, a single mother, who just broke her leg. Kirsten has time off school due to finishing early and working on a final project. She meets this boy and his brother. Then the story gets predictable and a little unrealistic. Girls likes boy, other boy like girls, girl gets confused. Figures out what boy she likes and get to know her sister better in the mean time. The book however made me miss the ice and snow more and made me think about exploring Minnesota.
November 24, 2014
This was pretty anti-climatic. I kept waiting for the turning point, waiting, waiting... And then the book was over. No real story between Conor and Kirsten, nothing. It was a quick read, but because of the writing style I don't think I would visit any other books from this author.
January 8, 2015
It was pretty lame, to be honest. I read a lot of cheesy romance novels. This wasn't the worst but it definitely wasn't the best either.
February 2, 2019
Going to live with your sister and find a date to Groundhog Getaway? Sounds easy, right?
Icing on the Lake by Catherine Clark is a cute romantic young adult novel. We follow Kirsten through New Year's Eve to Groundhog Day. Kirsten learns a lot about herself, her sister, and the guy she thinks she likes.
What I liked
It’s all in the first person. Usually, this is an iffy thing for me, but the way, Ms. Clark did it is different. We not only see Kirsten’s character development, but we see her sister’s, her nephew, and everyone else.
That the setting is around Groundhog’s Day, not a whole lot of people do this.
The conversations between Kirsten and Conor were hilarious.
The relationship she has with her nephew.
What I didn’t like
One of the things I dislike is that Sean and Conor’s have this whole competition thing, they compete over everything. Another thing that I didn’t like is that Sean didn't act like he was present for the conversations he was having with Kirsten. This is a great way to tell if that person is compatible with you and Sean wasn’t doing a great job. I dislike that Kirsten thought her sister wasn’t mature. Due to Kirsten's sister only remembers the way she was when they were growing up, and she was in high school. The last thing I dislike is the little love triangle between Sean, Conor, and Kirsten but in 2006 this was popular.
Five Stars
Icing on the Lake by Catherine Clark is a remarkable story about finding love in a few weeks. Kirsten, Sean, and Conor all grew in this story and definitely for the better. A perfect little winter love story for Groundhog’s Day. I highly recommend this book to those who love young adult romances.
Anyways until the next time enjoy this review brought to you by,
This review was originally posted on Baroness' Book Trove
Icing on the Lake by Catherine Clark is a cute romantic young adult novel. We follow Kirsten through New Year's Eve to Groundhog Day. Kirsten learns a lot about herself, her sister, and the guy she thinks she likes.
What I liked
It’s all in the first person. Usually, this is an iffy thing for me, but the way, Ms. Clark did it is different. We not only see Kirsten’s character development, but we see her sister’s, her nephew, and everyone else.
That the setting is around Groundhog’s Day, not a whole lot of people do this.
The conversations between Kirsten and Conor were hilarious.
The relationship she has with her nephew.
What I didn’t like
One of the things I dislike is that Sean and Conor’s have this whole competition thing, they compete over everything. Another thing that I didn’t like is that Sean didn't act like he was present for the conversations he was having with Kirsten. This is a great way to tell if that person is compatible with you and Sean wasn’t doing a great job. I dislike that Kirsten thought her sister wasn’t mature. Due to Kirsten's sister only remembers the way she was when they were growing up, and she was in high school. The last thing I dislike is the little love triangle between Sean, Conor, and Kirsten but in 2006 this was popular.
Five Stars Icing on the Lake by Catherine Clark is a remarkable story about finding love in a few weeks. Kirsten, Sean, and Conor all grew in this story and definitely for the better. A perfect little winter love story for Groundhog’s Day. I highly recommend this book to those who love young adult romances.
Anyways until the next time enjoy this review brought to you by,
This review was originally posted on Baroness' Book Trove
February 23, 2019
> easy to get into and cruise through, but not that great relationship-wise...
> classic case of choosing the wrong brother at first
> interesting relationship dynamics between family and friends
> pretty superficial most of the time - should have explored Kirsten's emotions and reasons for doing things more (she was 18, and read as much less mature than this age should be)
> Conor was super thoughtful and caring and interesting (where can I find someone like him??)
> weird views on dating and relationships that didn't mesh with my values, so that put me off a bit
> awesome descriptions of all the wintery things that made me less upset about all the coldness and snow currently outside my house
> classic case of choosing the wrong brother at first
> interesting relationship dynamics between family and friends
> pretty superficial most of the time - should have explored Kirsten's emotions and reasons for doing things more (she was 18, and read as much less mature than this age should be)
> Conor was super thoughtful and caring and interesting (where can I find someone like him??)
> weird views on dating and relationships that didn't mesh with my values, so that put me off a bit
> awesome descriptions of all the wintery things that made me less upset about all the coldness and snow currently outside my house
December 14, 2022
Whimsical Teenage Romance
“Icing on the Lake” is a young adult novel filled with ice skating, an awkward young girl trying to find her way and help her sister, cute brothers to fall for, a little nephew, a rambunctious dog, and a host of interesting adventures along the way. If I had read this as a teen, I would have read the story straight through in a night. It was a cute, easy read with all the magical elements to keep me invested in the story. Even as someone slightly out of the young adult demographic, I still read it in less than three days and would probably read it again. It’s a cute wintertime story worth checking out!
“Icing on the Lake” is a young adult novel filled with ice skating, an awkward young girl trying to find her way and help her sister, cute brothers to fall for, a little nephew, a rambunctious dog, and a host of interesting adventures along the way. If I had read this as a teen, I would have read the story straight through in a night. It was a cute, easy read with all the magical elements to keep me invested in the story. Even as someone slightly out of the young adult demographic, I still read it in less than three days and would probably read it again. It’s a cute wintertime story worth checking out!
September 27, 2024
Just a good book to read between some hard to read book. New author to me. Kristen is helping her sister as she is recovering from a broken leg and can't drive or take care of her son, not to mention the dog. Kristen meets Sean the first day. Later she meets Sean's brother, Connor. Her friends are planning a weekend in a cabin up north in Minnesota on Groundhog Day. Will she take Sean or Connor?
Enjoy
Enjoy
February 12, 2017
This was surprisingly adorable. I expected it to be uber cheesy and overly dramatic, but it had a nice balance balance of cheese and drama to create a wonderfully fluffy romance.
I also liked that the main character was older, which is something I haven't experienced much of in YA.
I also liked that the main character was older, which is something I haven't experienced much of in YA.
April 9, 2021
To be honest I did not really like this book. I didn’t like the love triangle. One guy was like not invested at all and she was dating him. And the other guy was interested but was kinda rude and I didn’t like his character that much.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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