As a figure skater myself, I was enthused to have the opportunity to read and review this ARC before it came out through Valentine PR (thanks, y’all!). I thought I was really going to resonate with Lennon, but I don’t understand how she could so easily give up her ice time the following semester to an asshole like Saint just to fake date him. Especially when she spends a majority of the introduction talking about how much skating means to her.
In fact, the whole fake dating terms in the book come across as forced and awkward. Considering this is a plot that has been done before in several popular books, I was hoping to read it in a different and exciting way, but this book reads as something that I’d find on Wattpad and not a published story. I was disappointed in the banter, and the nickname Saint had for Lennon “Golden Girl,” honestly made me cringe.
One of the major reasons Saint wants to date Lennon is because he hears she is saving herself for marriage and wants to “dirty” her up as revenge against her father. I feel like this view of virginity and purity is appallingly patriarchal, and it made me really uncomfortable to read. But just because it’s not for me, doesn’t mean it’s not a trope I’ve heard other people love.
Honestly, I considered DNFing this book numerous times in the beginning, and it was such a struggle to read. There were so many inconsistencies, and the prose was repetitive, lacking the depth and complexity of a compelling narrative.
There was one moment, 27% in the book, when Saint complains about wearing a “monkey suit” and Lennon informs him that it’s a two-thousand-dollar YSL. Either Lennon truly has no idea how much designer items cost because she really is a spoiled brat like Saint assumes, or absolutely no research was done for this book because you couldn’t even get half a YSL sports jacket for that price, let alone an entire suit, especially if it’s tailored.
This was just one of the many tidbits in the story that rocked my suspension of disbelief and prevented me from really immersing myself in the world of Orleans University. And I really wanted to love it because hockey romances are my fave, but this one disappointingly ended up falling flat.
DNFed at 35%.
Paging Kait 