Review: It’s a Love / Skate Relationship
It's a Love/Skate Relationship
by Carli J. Corson
Harper (imprint of HarperCollins), 2025
Category: Young Adult
Reviewer: Sarah Blattner
Buy at Bookshop.org
When Charlie Porter, a D1 college hockey hopeful, is bested by her anger off ice at the annual Winthrop, Vermont Hockey Cup, a throwdown in fisticuffs and all-out brawl damages the ice rink and gets Charlie in big trouble. Charlie is suspended from her team and from the Cranford Preparatory School for six months, because she violated the terms of her athletic scholarship. In the meantime, Charlie will attend her hockey team’s rival high school, Winthrop, working off the rink damages. But this rough ice is zambonied by Coach Geri Goldstein, figure skating coach, Olympic bronze medalist, and mother to Alexa Goldstein, a pairs skater. Coach Geri makes a deal with Charlie and the rink management. Instead of rink duty, Charlie will train with her daughter Alexa in preparation for regionals, because Alexa’s skating partner broke his ankle in the brawl. In return, Coach Geri will provide at least three legit opportunities with D1 hockey scouts in the future.
Over the next three months, Charlie and Alexa’s icy disdain for one another melts into a friendship, eventually heating up into a slow-burning sapphic romance. As Charlie masters pairs skating lifts, jumps, and spins, she must also learn to stick by her friend, even when it’s easier to choose abandonment, like her mother did to her and her brother years ago when she was battling alcoholism. Eventually, Charlie will face her fear of letting Alexa down and her issues of abandonment when it counts most: in competition. Readers will root for Charlie and Alexa’s on and off-ice success, as the magnetic chemistry enhances Alexa’s skating and causes “bats to flutter” in Charlie’s stomach, leading up to a long-awaited, icy hot, first kiss.
It’s a Love/Skate Relationship is a queer rom-com with casual mentions of Jewish cultural connections. Alexa’s Jewish roots are first revealed when she presents Charlie with a Christmas present. When Charlie expresses regret for being unprepared to reciprocate the gift-giving, Alexa explains it’s not an issue because she doesn’t celebrate Christmas. The only other scene where there is a Jewish connection is when Alexa brings Charlie to a Boston family wedding, where Alexa explains the chuppa, the tradition of breaking a glass, followed by dancing the hora around the bride and groom at the reception. The novel leads up to a satisfying and page-turning climax with Charlie going all out for Alexa at Nationals, where the pairs qualifying rules in US Figure Skating are transformed by Coach Geri’s advocacy, ultimately removing gender as a rule in pairs competition. A satisfying queer romcom with casual Jewish content.
When Charlie Porter, a D1 college hockey hopeful, is bested by her anger off ice at the annual Winthrop, Vermont Hockey Cup, a throwdown in fisticuffs and all-out brawl damages the ice rink and gets Charlie in big trouble. Charlie is suspended from her team and from the Cranford Preparatory School for six months, because she violated the terms of her athletic scholarship. In the meantime, Charlie will attend her hockey team’s rival high school, Winthrop, working off the rink damages. But this rough ice is zambonied by Coach Geri Goldstein, figure skating coach, Olympic bronze medalist, and mother to Alexa Goldstein, a pairs skater. Coach Geri makes a deal with Charlie and the rink management. Instead of rink duty, Charlie will train with her daughter Alexa in preparation for regionals, because Alexa’s skating partner broke his ankle in the brawl. In return, Coach Geri will provide at least three legit opportunities with D1 hockey scouts in the future.
Over the next three months, Charlie and Alexa’s icy disdain for one another melts into a friendship, eventually heating up into a slow-burning sapphic romance. As Charlie masters pairs skating lifts, jumps, and spins, she must also learn to stick by her friend, even when it’s easier to choose abandonment, like her mother did to her and her brother years ago when she was battling alcoholism. Eventually, Charlie will face her fear of letting Alexa down and her issues of abandonment when it counts most: in competition. Readers will root for Charlie and Alexa’s on and off-ice success, as the magnetic chemistry enhances Alexa’s skating and causes “bats to flutter” in Charlie’s stomach, leading up to a long-awaited, icy hot, first kiss.
It’s a Love/Skate Relationship is a queer rom-com with casual mentions of Jewish cultural connections. Alexa’s Jewish roots are first revealed when she presents Charlie with a Christmas present. When Charlie expresses regret for being unprepared to reciprocate the gift-giving, Alexa explains it’s not an issue because she doesn’t celebrate Christmas. The only other scene where there is a Jewish connection is when Alexa brings Charlie to a Boston family wedding, where Alexa explains the chuppa, the tradition of breaking a glass, followed by dancing the hora around the bride and groom at the reception. The novel leads up to a satisfying and page-turning climax with Charlie going all out for Alexa at Nationals, where the pairs qualifying rules in US Figure Skating are transformed by Coach Geri’s advocacy, ultimately removing gender as a rule in pairs competition. A satisfying queer romcom with casual Jewish content.
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Reviewer Sarah Blattner is a high school language arts teacher in Portland, Oregon, and she has been in and around the middle and high school classrooms for over 25 years, both in Jewish Day Schools and public schools. She is also an aspiring young adult author, drawing inspiration from her joyful summers at Jewish sleepaway camp, leadership experiences in the B’nai B’rith Youth Organization, her artistic rollerskating childhood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and her clever students.
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