Fake Skating

Fake Skating by Lynn Painter

Review From @ostomateforlife:
Fake Skating by Lynn Painter
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I saw this book on offer and as I’ve previously enjoyed Painter’s work, I thought I was onto a winner right? Wrong! This book was longer than it should have been and I’m not sure I liked anything about this book tbh!

Dani visits her grandparents in Minnesota every summer where she spends her time with her childhood best friend Alec. That’s until she moves to Germany for her Dad’s job and the visits stop.

After her parents divorce, she moves back to Minnesota with her Grandad with her mum. She’s used to being an army kid and always moving schools but this time she has the comfort of Alec, her sweet and nerdy best friend.

Except he’s not the boy she remembers. He’s now the school’s hockey god and is known as Zeus and he’s avoiding her.

My issue with this book firstly that the trope is fake dating. The reasons for them fake dating are so paper-thin that nothing else really holds up.
The misunderstanding about why they stopped writing postcards to each other, is resolved conveniently right at the end.

Then there’s the issue of Benji, Zeus’ arch nemesis and Dani’s next door neighbour. It’s never explained why Dani took him to hers and Alec’s ‘spot’ when she should have visited him when his dad was in hospital.

The dual perspective that Painter does in all her books felt jarring this time. All Alec thinks is “holy fuck Dani” this, “holy fuck Dani” that.
This read honestly felt so forced.

I don’t understand how this won a Goodreads choice award. Please pass. I wish I did.