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Out on the Ice

Despite being Canadian, I’ve never gotten into hockey. (Don’t tell my government. I don’t want my citizenship revoked.) And yet, I’m excited every time I see a new f/f hockey romance announced. I enjoyed the first 60% or so of this one, but unfortunately it didn’t hold up after that point, leaving me disappointed.

Caro Cassidy is a retired professional hockey player in Chicago who’s been to a few Olympics. Now, she spends her days coaching girls at her rink. Caro isn’t closeted per se, but she keeps her work and personal lives totally separate, concerned that her business might fail if she were loudly and proudly out.

Amy Schwarzbach plays hockey professionally in Boston and she’s joining Caro as a summer camp coach. She’s bubbly, a bit of a scatterbrain, posts everything about her life on Instagram, and has lavender hair (I defy anyone to read this story without imagining Megan Rapinoe). Oh yeah, and she’s had a massive crush on Caro for ages.

When Caro offers to coach Amy so she can start her next season stronger than ever, Amy leaps at the chance. Despite having totally opposite attitudes and approaches to just about everything, they get along well and the crush soon becomes mutual. Both women know Amy is heading back to Boston at the end of the summer, so they agree to a fling. When neither can say goodbye at the end of the summer, they agree to a long distance relationship. But can they make that work, especially when Amy lives so publicly and Caro is afraid of what being visibly out might do to her business?

My most vivid memory of reading this book is hitting the point where they part at the end of the summer and wondering “Well, how’s it going to go from here?” Because there’s still around 40% or so and they already have strong feelings for each other. I figured it would be amazing or… not. And it was not amazing because that is where the pacing totally falls apart. I had to drag myself through the rest of the book because there’s no tension about whether they’d work things out. I was literally just waiting for them to figure out the logistics.

Before that, however? I had a mostly good time. I enjoyed the characters, especially seeing that Amy has more depth than she’s often given credit for. Caro helps Amy understand that dissonance between who she is and how she’s perceived, and encourages her to calm her mind so she can have more focus. Also, this book has some damn fine friendship writing, which we see in the scenes between Amy and her besties, and Caro’s found family with her best friend.

One note: there’s a lot of biphobia in this book, which is there to teach readers about what biphobia is and the harms it can cause. While it came across as preachy at times, I appreciated it as a bisexual reader. Sapphic romance has a history of bad bisexual rep full of stereotypes, which has been painful to read, so it was nice to see a narrative address the problem directly even if the approach was heavy handed.

If f/f hockey romances are your absolute jam, you might want to read Out on the Ice. However, because of the complete dissolution of tension for the last 40% and the degree to which I had to push myself to finish it, I can’t really recommend it and I won’t read it again.

– Tara Scott

Don’t miss this tender and funny contemporary romance from debut author Kelly Farmer.

Caro Cassidy used to be a legend.

During her career, Caro was one of the best defense players in women’s hockey. These days, she keeps to herself. Her all-girls hockey camp is her life, and she hopes it’ll be her legacy. Sure, her new summer hire is charming and magnetic, but Caro keeps her work and personal life strictly separate.

Amy Schwarzbach lives life out loud.

Amy’s as bright and cheerful as her lavender hair, and she uses her high-profile position in women’s hockey to advocate for the things she believes in. Ten weeks in Chicago coaching a girls’ training camp is the perfect opportunity to mentor the next generation before she goes back to Boston.

Letting love in means putting yourself out there.

When the reticent head coach offers to help Amy get in shape for next season, her starstruck crush on Caro quickly blossoms into real chemistry. As summer comes to an end, neither of them can quite let go of this fling—but Amy can’t afford a distraction, and Caro can’t risk her relationship becoming public and jeopardizing the one thing that’s really hers.