Book Review

Pairing Off by Elizabeth Harmon

NB: Welcome to Flashback Friday! Since the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics are kicking off today, we want to revisit one our favorite winter sports-themed romances. That’s right, welcome to the world of figure skating romance! It’s also great for fans of the movie, The Cutting Edge. This review was originally published May 4, 2016. 

If you follow me on Twitter, at the end of March/beginning of April you may have seen me live tweeting some of the World Figure Skating Championships. (If you don’t think I didn’t punch the air at Javier Fernandez SHUTTING SHIT DOWN or cry at my girl Ashley Wagner GETTING SHIT DONE you are wrong because I did both of those thing.)

(Also I would LOVE to know how Irina Slutskaya and Surya Bonaly would do under the modern scoring system.) (ALSO ALSO the Tara Lipinski/Johnny Weir commentariot duo on NBC is amazing.)

During the Olympics, I care about most of the sports in existence. On off years I only care about gymnastics and figure skating (TOE PICK). There aren’t a lot of romances set in those worlds (and, tbh, the women that compete in gymnastics are so young that I really don’t want to see any), so when Elyse found Pairing Off (and Sarah found another skating romance by the same author), I jumped on it.

And possibly swung my ereader around in a circle like this:

Anton is a Russian pairs skater who’s been competing with the same partner most of his life. Carrie is an American pairs skater who gets disgraced out of the sport when it’s discovered that her partner has been fucking a skating judge, which calls their scores into doubt and results in their being stripped of their medals.

Carrie gets an offer to skate in Russia: they have a dude in need of a partner. Carrie is in need of something to occupy her time while she figures out what she’s going to do with her life. She cannot skate in the US, and the Russian Skating federation is willing to expedite her visa and citizenship so she can compete for Russia, so… why not?

Turns out their spare dude is Anton, whose partner dumped him, and just to complicate things, Anton and Carrie had a one night stand at the World Championships like 7 years ago. (She knows it was him, but he doesn’t realize it was her.) Somehow, they need to navigate making their skating styles compatible while Carrie adapts to Russian training, Russian food, Russia, and Russian mean girls.  (Plus a whole host of family issues.)

What really stands out is that it’s clear that Harmon is a skating fan, and either has skated or has put in the work to know what things are: she knows the names of the jumps and the mechanics and clearly understands the facets of training that aren’t just ice time. She isn’t just like, “Um, there’s skates right? And ice? You jump and spin and that’s all you know need to know, right? I’m good.”

I also liked how Carrie explored her fish-out-of-water-ness in Moscow. She’s attempting to learn Russian (and there’s a hilarious scene where she’s trying to tell Anton where she is over the phone, and she’s like “there’s this letter that looks like a spaceship?”) and learning about food and culture. She grew up as a pageant girl in Georgia, her father is in politics, and her home life is kind of shitty, but the reality is you don’t get to the high level in skating if you a) aren’t able to put the work in and b) smile through the pain. Add “dealing with pageant mean girls from the cradle” and you get a girl who has been through the shit. Russia is NOTHING.

I also liked how Carrie and Anton had both come from partnerships where they deferred to their former partners, and their joy at discovering that they were naturally compatible. I loved that. There was no TOE PICK moment, but hey, Anton already knew what the toe pick was for.

Russian Pair Skaters Fly High photo Russianpairskatersflyhigh.gif

I have also read Getting it Back, another book in Harmon’s Red Hot Russians series, and there’s a definite theme of terrible families. That’s legit, since you need good reasons for these heroines to decamp to Russia with their Red Hot Russians. Terrible families make me very sad, but I love seeing people triumph despite their terrible families.

This didn’t cause me to make Good Book Noise, but it was a very enjoyable book by a knowledgeable author about a sport I love to watch and cannot do. I never figured out how to skate before I decided that I Could Not Skate And That Was The End Of It, which was probably not true (I was 6), and now I am An Old.

I WANT MORE SKATING BOOKS.

(Also I am so ready for the Summer Olympics Holy Shit)

This book is available from:
  • Available at Amazon
  • Order this book from apple books

  • Order this book from Barnes & Noble
  • Order this book from Kobo
  • Order this book from Google Play

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
We also may use affiliate links in our posts, as well. Thanks!

Pairing Off by Elizabeth Harmon

View Book Info Page

Add Your Comment →

  1. library addict says:

    I’ve got this series in my TBR put have yet to start it. Because it’s a series, it suffers the same fate as numerous other series books in my digital TBR mountain in that I feel I need to find time to read all the books in the series instead of just the first. So I tend to skip over them. Which is just silly because I wouldn’t have purchased the books if I didn’t want to read them. Sigh…I have TBR issues.

    I was a big figure skating fan (still am, just not to the same degree as the late 80s/early 90s). My all time favorite pairs skaters are Elena Bechke & Denis Petrov. I also loved Jenni Meno & Todd Sand. I think they would have benefitted from the new scoring system. I could list a ton of other pairs as well as single skaters I’ve liked over the years, but I’ll behave.

  2. kitkat9000 says:

    @RHG: This sounds interesting for the same reasons you cited but I have one question prior to reading it (just curious): does she give up her U.S. citizenship or get dual?

    Haven’t read this and may get to the series as I’ll have lots of extra time to read this summer. However, I may also not get to it anytime soon as my TBR is so large it’s taking on a life of its own.

    I second your props to Lipinski/Weir regarding their commentary skills. When discussing skating they are excellent and offer greater perspective and understanding having been skaters themselves.

    I’ll be the first to admit that I was leary of them at first having suffered through the inanity they perpetrated during the Kentucky Derby in 2014 when they went into the horse barns. Gods, it was awful. So bad to me, in fact, that I actually changed the channel to HRTV and didn’t come back til post time. Enough people found this enjoyable to prompt NBC to bring them back as Fashion and Lifestyle consultants.

    I am not one of them.

    I still shudder every time I think about it (even writing this comment is giving me flashbacks). I managed to avoid them last year and will do the same this one.

  3. MirandaB says:

    I cheered for Ashley too. She tries so hard and when she’s on, she’s ON. Javier’s a great skater too. And has the best butt on the circuit! 😀

  4. Virginia E says:

    The age issue is a little better for the gymnasts since they now have to be at least 16 to compete in the Olympics. So we are seeing women in their twenties. One of the stories from London 2012 was that of Oksana Chusovitina, a vault specialist competing for Germany in her 6th Olympics. She has competed for the Soviet Union, Uzbekistan, and Germany. She married an Uzbekistani Olympic wrestler in 1997 and had a son in 1999. The family moved to Germany in 2002 so her son could be treated for leukemia. She placed 5th in the vault finals in 2012 and there are rumors that she may be trying for a spot in Rio, possibly for Uzbekistan. Keep an eye out for her.

  5. Lammie says:

    I never really liked Tara Lipinski or Johnny Weir as skating competitors, but they have really surprised me as commentators, in a positive way. They are entertaining and informative.

    If you only have seen figure skating on TV, go to see a competiion in person if you can. The speed of the skaters is really something you can only appreciate live. And, the pairs skating (my favorite) is truly awe inspiring – the height of the lifts and throws can be jaw dropping.

  6. SB Sarah says:

    @Lammie: Oh, me, too – their commentary is always interesting and I learn something about the skill of skating every time. There was one moment where Tara said something about how she’d never once tried or landed a quad jump, and asked Johnny if learning the quad throws off the triple. It was fascinating, and it would never have occurred to me, who knows crap all about skating, to think that. I want them to do everything, all the skating coverage.

  7. Alina says:

    @kitkat9000: I may be wrong, but I think only one of a pair needs to be eligible to skate for a country, so the heroine wouldn’t have to get Russian citizenship.

    A morbidly curious part of me wants to assault RHG with questions about the Russian bits, but I was just hit with surprise Russians in a book I was highly anticipating for months and I haven’t yet recovered. (Chekov’s accent was fake, fake, FAAAAAAAAKE *sobs*) Also, contemporary Russian attitudes towards relationships and gender roles are, how shall I put it, the opposite of sexy, so I don’t think I could ever buy into a Russian hero in a romance.

  8. Herberta says:

    As someone who studied Russian in school, fakey Russian fonts drive me bananas. That backwards R is a vowel, people! And where the heck did the ñ come from? I’d probably otherwise want to read the book, but I don’t know if I can get past the title font.

  9. Alina says:

    @Herberta, I’m pretty sure the Ñ is supposed to be Й. This reminds me of the year Borat the movie came out and I had to endure months of Bordt (they used Д to replace the A in the film title).

  10. MegS says:

    @Herberta: as someone who also studied Russian in school (for so many years I am still disappointed in myself for not jumping into an immersion program and developing full fluency), I’m always tense about the addition of Russian characters into a book. (Or a movie…Sean Connery’s accent in Hunt for Red October….oy.)

    That said, I was pretty pleased with the Russian in this author’s books! It was much better than the usual!

    And the book was good, too. 🙂

  11. Lynette says:

    I loved the World Figure Skating Championships! Such tension! Javier’s upset! Ashley Wagner’s beautiful long skate! The little mistakes made by Yuzuru Hanyu & Gracie Gold were so upsetting knowing that they can be better than that. The Shibutani siblings’ ice dancing routine was magic as was the French ice dancing team that got the gold.

    The only thing I don’t like is that it means it is the end of the season and less skating for me to watch. Boo 🙁

    Waiting for the Olympics it is!

  12. Sara says:

    Thanks for the review 🙂

    All I know about ice skating I learned from Ice Castles and a crappy pre-teen romance (I’m aging myself perhaps?)

    Anyhoodle, though I know little about the sport, I really want to read this.

    *sigh* I found this site a week ago and my funds have already started dwindling and my TBR pile has grown AND I’M LOVING IT.

  13. chacha1 says:

    I read this book and enjoyed it. The dual-citizenship proposition didn’t trouble me. The conflict between the protagonists was mostly rational, and the heroine’s reasons for not Using Her Words were also kind of rational (I can only imagine the breadth of that feeling of isolation, thank goodness, but I do imagine when you are really all alone, you really don’t want to do or say anything that could mess up your tiny toe-pick hold on balance).

    My issue with the book was that I felt one too many external conflicts was presented. I didn’t think the ex-partner needed to be a character in the story, at all. She should have just been background. There was enough to work with elsewhere. It got unnecessarily soapy (for my taste), like a wodge of lavender essential oil where I was hoping for clove.

  14. Katie Lynn says:

    I belong to a group on facebook (sports romance related) and a few weeks ago someone was asking for ice skating romance recommendations. I’ll just leave them here (full disclosure: I haven’t read any of them, just transcribing)

    Spiraling, Rachel Cross; Training Season, Leta Blake (MM); Ice Games, Jessica Clare; Summer’s End, Catherine Gilles Seidel; Overtime, Toni Aleo; Losing an Edge, Catherine Gayle.

  15. LauraS. says:

    I just read this book myself a week or two ago & had very similar feelings! I’ve watched The Cutting Edge so many times that I pretty much have it memorized. After reading this book I totally need to watch it another 5 or 10 times. Toe pick!!!!!!!!

  16. Linda says:

    Noooo I’m sure this is a great review, but I had to stop after you called Ashley Wagner your girl. MIRAI FOREVERRRRRRRRR. Can’t forgive Wagner for tacitly playing into the racist power structures that netted her an Olympic slot even though she fucked up during Nationals and then went to do poorly at the Olympics anyway. (hair flip emoji)

    Yeah I know that Wagner didn’t ask for it, but I think it is on her to respond in the morally correct way when their white privilege fucks over a minority woman because figure skating is still an incredibly racist sport. I’m never not going to be mad about this, tbh. But I guess that’s what happens when a sport you’ve participated in for a decade shows you just how they really feel about you.

    Also Wagner isn’t even that great of a skater, she just profited from a weak American playing field and even if USFSA will deny the excellence of asian figure skaters at home, at least Mao, YuNa and the rest will kick her ass to Mars and back every time.

  17. Linda says:

    Sorry I’m extra salty, it’s Asian Pacific Heritage Month right now.

  18. LML says:

    This is the first time I’ve ever read an interesting book review that left me wanting to watch Youtube ice skating videos instead of reading.

  19. shel says:

    There’s also a series (3 books?) by Jennifer Comeaux. First book is Life on the Edge. Can’t comment on it, as it’s still languishing in my TBR.

  20. Vicki says:

    I read this book, too, based on a recommendation from this site. Enjoyed it a lot. For some reason, I did not realize it was part of a series. I may need to go look for the others.

    BTW, I am with Meg S. I do not speak Russian but I know enough to know if my translator is saying what I want them to say and if subtitles are correct. In this case, I felt the Russian characters were realistic enough that I was definitely able to keep reading.

  21. Lora says:

    OMG You referenced Cutting Edge TAKE MY MONEY NOW

  22. Jacqui says:

    There is another figure skating book out – From Lukov with Love. Have you read it yet? I just bought it so I hope it’s good.

  23. Laura says:

    Just finished From Lukov with Love and thought it was great. looking forward to this now.

  24. Rhonda says:

    I’ll have to try this one – I was reading about the series and unsure.

    If you read m/m romance, Keira Andrews just released “The Winning Edge” which features two male pairs skaters – one Russian and one American. The fact that they were each part of a successful pairs partnership, who had competed against each other for years, added some interesting dynamics. Also a nice change from the figure skater-hockey player romance.

  25. Kareni says:

    I was also going to mention the new Mariana Zapata book — From Lukov with Love. Laura, I’m glad to hear that you enjoyed it.

  26. CelineB says:

    I have this one but have yet to read it. I need to bump it up in the tbr. Does anyone remember a YA series set in Lake Placid that followed a bunch of pair skaters? The one I remember the most had a skater who wanted to defect to the US and one of the US skaters was afraid she was trying to steal her partner.

  27. Sarah says:

    And apparently (just learned this yesterday) although citizenship is not required to compete for a country in international competition, it is required for the Olympics. During the pairs short program portion of the team figure skating competition (I still don’t totally have my head around that one), the commentators mentioned one of the skaters (Germany?) just had his citizenship come through a few days before leaving for Pyeongchang.

    I’m another who also just finished Mariana Zapata’s “From Lukov with Love” and found it highly enjoyable (with some quibbles – including some of the editing, definitely not getting her money’s worth).

  28. JenM says:

    I’m currently in the middle of On the Brink of Passion by Tamsen Parker, a skating romance in her Snow and Ice Games series. Unfortunately, I got my copy from Netgalley so it’s not widely available yet, but it is SO GOOD. It features a pairs couple composed of a female skater who lost her long-term partner 5 yrs previously, auditioned available male skaters and picked a guy who’d just been dumped by his female partner. He’s 4 years younger than she is and is sweet and easygoing (although just as driven on the ice as she is), while she’s the one with all of the power in the relationship (both financial and otherwise).

    I also read Love On the Tracks in this series which I really liked and which featured a female luger, a male pop star, and a fake relationship for publicity. There’s another other m/f skating romance in the series with a female hockey player and her coach, a m/m skiing romance, and a f/f speed skater/figure skater pairing. Definitely check it out.

  29. Kaz159 says:

    just finished From Lukov with Love & immediately jumped on YouTube to watch Vanessa James & Morgan Cipres (France) dance to Sounds of Silence by Disturbed – sends shivers up my spine!! Watching ice skating is also cooling when it’s 27C & 80% humidity here!

  30. Catherine says:

    @Linda, I was scrolling down to make the EXACT (except less eloquent) same comment re: Ashley Wagner. Okay, argue your way into the Olympics once, but try that sh*t two Olympics in a row, and I am side eyeing you HARD.

    On a book related note, I read this several months back and enjoyed it! The training and life in Russia aspects were very strong; the soapy interpersonal stuff less so. I mean competition at that level is inherently dramatic, you don’t need to add too much more.

  31. June says:

    @Sarah #27 – yes, you need citizenship to compete at the Olympics. Some skaters are left at home as a result: there’s a lovely ice dance team representing Denmark, but she’s Canadian and can’t get citizenship, so they’re out. Japan doesn’t allow dual citizenship past age 20 (I think?) so their top pair stayed home. The skater discussed was probably Bruno Massot, whose German citizenship came through in December. His partner, Aljona Savchenko, is in her 5th (!!!) Olympics, and is generally amazing.

    Also amazing, as Kaz159 noted: Vanessa James and Morgan Cipres. And they’ve decided to bring The Sound of Silence back for the Olympics! Really looking forward to that.

    Since Ashley Wagner has been mentioned: she’s not competing in Pyeongchang, because this time her international results were not strong enough to overcome a fourth place finish at Nationals. Adam Rippon’s were, so he’s on the team and Ross Miner is not.

    Figure skating can be *very* soapy. A lot of skaters are dating or hooking up with other skaters (or coaches), and there are some long-term relationships as well. It definitely makes sense as a romance setup!

  32. Ry says:

    Lukov with Love by Mariana Zapata is the best skating romance ever. The heroine is so grumpy and I like that. I still love Wall of Winnipeg best of her books, though.

  33. Ann says:

    I’ve had this book for a while, but I guess it was waiting for that perfect moment (this weekend). I am obsessed with it and it is ruining all my weekend plans because all I want to do is read. New favorite author. I went and bought the whole series (which are all on sale except the novella).

    I am quite amazed by the author who I think has never been to Russia, because she has done a good job of pretending she has. I have lived in Moscow and this book has made me so homesick for the familiar places she describes. Maybe because I’ve beem there, I can picture it so well. But I had to google the author because I was sure she must have lived there, My only criticism is the transliteration of the Russian language is terrible and some words I cannot figure out what they are saying, but I’d rather have the words usu8ng the regular Cyrillic alphabet because I find transliteration confusing anyway.

    I’d love more suggestions for Winter Olympic romance.

  34. Jennifer_B says:

    LauraS, I actually scrolled through the comments to see who else was thinking, “Toe pick!” lol

  35. Jennifer_B says:

    … aaaand now I’m embarrassed because I zoomed right past Redheadedgirl deploying TOE PICK with hilarious accuracy.

Add Your Comment

Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

*


This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

↑ Back to Top