What a timely request! Thanks to Monique for sending this one in:
In one of my Facebook readers groups, someone posted a picture of the ridiculously HOT team USA men’s bobsledding team. So my curiosity got the better of me and I deep dived into google to see if there were any bobsled romances. Sadly, I found nothing so I figured I should ask the pros of romance recommendations!
Secondly I was just wondering if there were any other Winter Olympics sport romance books or any books out there set during the Winter Olympics. I feel like curling, speed skating, biathlon would all be pretty interesting reads!
Amanda: I can’t think of any bobsledding romances, but I know we’ve reviewed a few romances set during the Winter Games.
I do know there’s a gay curling romance called The Magic Broom by Teegan Loy.
Elyse: Snow and Ice Games series by Tamsen Parker. I just gave Fire on the Ice an A-.
Sarah: Edge of Glory by Rachel Spangler ( A | BN | K | G | AB ), which was guest reviewed.
Amanda: Lacy Literacy just finished compiling an Olympic romance masterlist. Her organizational skills make me drool.
There’s also the Red Hot Russians series by Elizabeth Harmon ( A | BN | K | G | AB ), which is all about figure skating at the Winter Games. Redheadegirl loved the first one.
Which Winter Games romance would you recommend?
Yuri on Ice! It’s a hella queer figure skating rom com anime and while the olympics aren’t competed in they are discussed
Okay, I’m going to rec a fanfic series. It’s an MCU Alternate Universe where all the characters from the movies and TV series are ice hockey players, and it is many shades of awesome!
Get Ready For It
The one that’s an explicit romance is Part 7: We’ll Shine Together, and that one is set at the Winter Olympics (and features the women’s sports pay dispute, plus a USA vs CAN final in the women’s hockey!). However all the others still have romantic elements, and backstory that will really help you understand what’s going on in the Olympics one. Plus the stories are centred on the women, particularly Pepper, Natasha, Darcy, and Maria!
(I know fanfic gets a bad rap in formal publishing and editorials, but surely here of all places, people aren’t going to get hung up about published being “better”. It’s a well written, well characterised, entertaining series of stories, and I highly recommend them.)
I know I recommended Sarina Bowen’s SHOOTING FOR THE STARS, about a professional snowboarder, a while ago (iirc, for another Rec League request). I think the current Winter Olympic—especially Chloe Kim—have done so much to raise the profile of female snowboarders that some of Bowen’s book might seem a little anachronistic (how hard it is for women in a sport not traditionally associated with women, the difficulty of getting endorsements or money/places to train, etc.), but I thought Bowen did a good job of covering those things. In fact, the dullest part of the book, imho, was the romance itself which features the tired “cant get involved with my older brother’s best friend” trope.
Throwing Stones by Avery Cockburn – m/m curling romance novella, spin off of her Glasgow Lads series. Not set in the Olympics, but one of the heroes is a disgraced former Olympic level curler. Reading this book helped me understand curling and want to watch it in the Olympics (I grew up in SE Michigan in the 80s – we got one Canadian tv channel and there was a lot of curling shown and I never understood it). I enjoyed it. It works as a stand alone although characters from the other series show up (and there may be a couple minor spoilers for one of the earlier books in this one). The romance was almost secondary to the drama of the curling tournament. One of the h/h has ADHD and it felt like a respectful portrayal.
I heartily second the Edge of Glory recommendation – f/f romance between an uptight alpine skier and goofball snowboarder as they train for the Olympics. I was completely smitten by the women’s snowboarders at Sochi and the snowboarder heroine kind of cemented my Olympic snowboarder fantasy girlfriend thing.
The Magic Broom is a cute novella, but it has that problem a lot of novellas do (not enough development on the romance).
Mariana Zapata’s new book, From Lukov with Love, is all about a pairs figure skating team trying to make it to the Olympics. It’s an enemies-to-lovers and I’ve had to read it twice – once when it was published and a second time after Virture and Moir won because I just can’t get enough of love on the ice now. 🙂
I really loved the comedy aspect of THE MAGIC BROOM (let’s just say I really identified with Cody’s situation in multiple ways), and I like how it gives you a sampler of multiple sports before settling into the curling.
Skater Boy by A.E. Wasp has a former Olympic medal figure skater (male) falling for a Hockey Goalie.
I feel like I’m putting a HABO in the Rec League, but I KNOW I read a Summer Olympics romance about a woman fencer and a male wrestler/judo (?) competitor. It was serialized in the author’s newsletter, but I cannot for the life of me remember the author’s name, and it doesn’t look like I saved the emails.
Definitely set in Rio, she’s got a controlling coach/father who thinks the hero isn’t good enough for her, the leads meet when one of them stumbles into the other’s secret spot on the roof of the athlete’s lodging. I’m sorry I can’t remember more details and actually be helpful!
Oh, forgot that Keira Andrews just released THE WINNING EDGE, which combines her COLD WAR and HOLDING THE EDGE Olympic figure skating m/m novellas. They’re somewhat AU (as in, not tied to a particular Games), and I haven’t read HOLDING THE EDGE, but I remember finding COLD WAR compelling (and genuinely hot).
Another rec for Mariana Zapata’s, “From Lukov with Love”.
Figure skating, slow burn, enemies to lovers – lots of catnip here!
I went looking for Paralympics romances a while ago. I found one for summer games, none for winter, but I did find Ghost Dance, which has a sled hockey player, and I love sled hockey. (And there’s a brief mention of one of the players maybe playing for Team USA in a few years, so I guess it counts?)
A little off topic, but Kathleen Gilles Seidel’s “Summer’s End”, about a former Olympic figure skater. The book is set during summer, years after the heroine’s Olympic win, but it’s still my Winter Olympics go to.
Rachel Spangler is doing a whole blog post series on Winter Olympic sports and she also recommends Gravity by Julianne Rich, about ski jumping.
Jennifer Comeaux’s books are all about figure skating and the Olympics feature in several. I love them!
Not Olympic based, but another Sarina Bowen book, The Year We Fell Down, deals with 2 freshmen hockey players sidelined with injuries and their becoming friends and eventually lovers. Great book, part of a great series.