The Price of Ice does a great job of encapsulating the devastation of an athlete with an injury. The accuracy of figure skating is immaculate and the story is fast-paced and fun. This is an easy read for most, but still fun to get your mind off things. The relationship is written with so much care and it feels like the reader could be friends with the characters. While some plotlines may seem redundant at times, the upbeat nature of the book keeps it interesting and fun. All and all, a great, easy read!

Kate Reddy is a 17 year old figure skater with a two year plan to reach the Olympics. Her regimented routine is disrupted when she meets hockey player Brice and an injury forces her to reevaluate her goals.

Things I liked:

⛸I’ve always loved watching figure skating and that’s what first caught my attention with this book. The author is a competitive skater herself and I think this really added to the story. I loved the insight into the hard work behind what we see at competitions.

⛸ I found Kate’s journey to figure out what her life might look like without skating. I think her struggle with defining who she is and figuring out what’s important to her is so relatable, especially for anyone who has experienced injury or illness that changes their life goals. As an occupational therapist it was really great to see that struggle with occupational identity.

⛸I enjoyed how the relationships in this book developed, not just Kate’s romance with Brice but also her friendships and relationship with her parents.

Things I didn’t love:

⛸I did think the storyline with Brice’s sister was a bit rushed and it made the pacing feel off towards the end of the book. I also thought there was a lot of telling rather than showing which made parts of the story a little less genuine. There were some religious sentiments expressed throughout the book which I am personally not a fan of as it really didn’t add anything to the story.

Overall I still liked this book and it was a quick, fun read. I love YA and sports romance books so I was expecting to enjoy this anyway but I was pleasantly surprised by how much depth Kate’s journey had.

Thanks to Netgalley and BookGoSocial for the opportunity to read this book.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving this ARC, but this doesn’t influence my review. This book was more for middle-high school aged readers, and the writing style was a bit immature for me. I did find it interesting how the plot was very different.

I am trying to read more books where sport is a major plot point and so I was excited to read and review this one and I found it enjoyable, the characters were by far my favourite part of this book and I loved the skating element.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc of "The Price of Ice" by Anita Saxena.

Kate Reddy has one goal in life and that is to go to the Olympics. Her two-year Olympic plan has three steps: 1 - skate every day like it is competition day, 2 - no boys, and 3 - no drama.. That is until she meets Brice and his ruts on the ice change her entire life plan when she tears her ACL. Kate learns that life is more than just ice skating and sometimes detours happen for a reason.

I didn't hate this book, but it wasn't all that great. It felt rushed, Kate was just annoying, and trying to mix religion and chemistry for characters that are just teenagers feels really strange. It is even said in the middle of the book that communication would fix almost everything but forget that actually happening. Plus the way that Kate treats Brice, more than once, makes me think he is the fool for going back to her time and time again.

The writing felt awkward at times, the pacing felt rushed, and overall while it was a good enough read (and short enough) that I finished it but premise could have been so much more than what it ended up being.

3 stars.

although i wanted to love this book, i think our tragic romance was doomed from the start.

"the price of ice" is a YA coming of-age about kate reddy, an up-and-coming ice skater as she copes with a life-altering injury and teenage drama....which is all i can come up with to describe this lackluster novel.

from the first chapter, we are thrown into kate's life without any introduction of her as a character. we go through a friendship breakup and a crush before we even know of her as a person. at the start of the book we are told that she is already a junior champion and throughout the book, her talent as a skater (and many other details of her life we should be aware of from the start) is simply said and not shown. then, we speedrun what is seemingly an attempt at an enemies-to-lovers plot rife with useless misunderstandings and unnecessary apologies. we hit the main plot of this book soon but due to the uninteresting writing it spirals and spirals into a jumble of boredom for me.

the love interest was fine ig...if not TOOO inst-lovey but the love story was hard to read purely because of the unnecessary issues their relationship is full of. if that is not enough, it is seemingly ALWAYS kate's fault and she ALWAYS has to apologize for things she doesn't even realize are supposedly wrong until brice (the love interest) gets upset. at first, i could undestand but when we got to past 2/3 of this book and kate was STILL apologizing for something that i saw as perfectly reasonable for her, i was just tired. not to mention how no one but kate goes through character development (if there even was character to develop) and everyone else is just there to be props in kate's journey, ESPECIALLY her best friend whom you know basically nothing of but how much she supports kate.

besides that, it was just a repeated mix of being told how great a skater she is, being told of how she's struggling with her issues, being told this, and being told that which again: leads to a very boring plot regardless of anything interesting that might have happened.

overall, there are so many little things that bothered me that i'm probably neglecting to say but the gist is that this felt like a rough draft that accidentally got published and im upset because a teenage iceskater (who's half indian at that!) seemed right up my alley of characters i would enjoy reading about.

Brilliant story of how to overcome life's hurdles and how to think about others.

Lovely MC, Kate is so determined and dedicated to her skating that when the worst happens she is forced to reevaluate her life. I loved how her relationship developed with her parents and their partners. Brice was the perfect love interest, simply perfect.

The premise of the book was so good and I enjoyed reading about the characters. Overall the story was fun to read but it felt pretty rushed.

Thank you for the opportunity of this arc.
The idea of this book felt good, I've been on a sprint of figure skaters and hockey books, and this seemed like another good one, but it left me wishing for more.
The romance of the main characters felt rushed, Kate went from not caring to caring too much about what others thought, even if the author was a professional- didn't she have personal thoughts? Her father whom she doesn't like appear out of nowhere and she goes with him? Are there no boundaries or sense of danger? What teenager would leave an unknown boy to sleep in her mansion of the first night of knowing him?
Also, the technical language of the doctors nedded to be adapted, I don't know of a doctor that would talk tecnhical terms to a "child" that already manifested not knowing the terms.
So, liked the overall of the book but it does need more developing of the characters and the story to be a good one.

Thanks to BooksGoSocial and NetGalley for an electronic advanced readers copy of this novel.

I'm a big Figure Skating fan as well as a sucker for YA novels, so I was excited to read The Price of Ice by Anita Saxena. Kate Reddy is a figure skater on the rise - she recently won the US National Junior Championship and has her sights set on making a splash at the World Junior Championship. She has a 2 year plan to get to the Olympics and nothing, her parents' divorce, her lack of a social life and her schooling, will get in her way. Felled by a freak accident on the ice while practicing, she blames the seemingly arrogant Brice, a hockey player who was practicing on the same ice at the time.

Kate is forced to examine her life and her focus on her skating to the detriment of everything else. It was a fun and quick read, but I wish that the author took the time to put in some more characterization and a less predictable plot. I did enjoy the amount of realism she had of setting up the figure skating world.

— 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 —

𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: The Price of Ice
𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬: N/A
𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫(𝐬): Anita Saxena
𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: YA Romance
𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝: 9th December 2022
𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: 1.75/5

”Life is a rollercoaster, but you’re one of those people who stand in the long line and when it’s your turn to climb in the car, you’re like, nah, and you step across to the other side and you wait with the soda cups, purses, and sunglasses. You watch everyone else ride it, so you don’t have to get butterflies in your stomach or scream your guts out.”

Damn, well it’s not the first time I’ve been reeled in by a pretty cover and left disappointed.

This has been marketed as a young adult romance, however I would be more inclined to call it teen rather than YA because I cannot see anyone 13+ relating to this. It’s got the shallow feel of an Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging book, but none of the humour. Plus then expectations can be lowered and the book can be enjoyed by a more suitable audience.

Described as enemies to lovers on ice, Kate and Brice, figure skater and hockey player, let the cold thaw between them to create a lukewarm romance that still had the unfortunate effect of leaving me with frostbite and a severe case of hypothermia. What it lacks is enjoyable writing which is made worse by hit-and-miss marketing.

The main character was downright unlikable. I mean I get that she is the ‘I’ve Princess’ who ices everyone out and is a clever character upon creation but with a poor execution. The book felt extremely rushed (the acknowledgements state that the book took ten years to make it into the hands of readers and I simply cannot fathom how something so underdeveloped took so long? There was a ton of editing needed (I do tend to overlook this in an ARC but not for one that is meant to release in a few weeks). And overall, I was really let down by this.

I did try to enjoy it, I promise. It was my first figure skating novel so I was really excited about this aspect although there was no real competitive playing at all so it lost that tension that it could have had like in other sports novels I’ve read (such as Beartown, another YA, and Carrie Soto is Back). But I liked that it explored Kate’s identity without her great love of competitive figure skating. I only wish it hadn’t made her so unlikable. Or wish for a better redemption arc. Or a story that felt more developed and a romance that had more depth and felt less random.

🧚🏻‍♀️

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘖𝘧 𝘐𝘤𝘦 follows Kate Reddy, a member of the national figure skating club, who's accidentally injured her knee bad enough that her strict self imposed regime to make it to the Olympics has been disrupted. But along the way of recovery lies a great gift she'll recognise in the form of her supportive friends and family.

- ~ -

It was interesting to read a narrative about a figure skating from the perspective of a professional one. It was evident the story was told through years of experience which well reflected in the story and enhanced the craft.

Kate, as a character was stubborn and determined - all good qualities until she took it a step too far to even recognise her own self and the love of those around her.

So the knee injury brought with itself some time for Kate to open herself back up to her group of people and also to Brice, the new hockey player who was intent on making her realise the boon of the situation and also making her feel some butterflies and adding more to resist for Kate on her Two Year Olympic Plan.

- ~ -

Overall: A well carved plot with great character development and a fluttery first love.

3.86 / 5✩

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴𝘎𝘰𝘚𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘐 𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 & 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘦𝘥. 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘸𝘯.

I have read the book The Price of Ice and will give the honest review in exchange for a copy of the book.
I must admit, I read the book in two days because I am also a figure skater and the book was very interesting for me. I liked the plot and could empathize with Kate and her inner battles regarding the Olympics.
However I feel like Kate and Brice just happened so fast and there was no time for them to actually get to know each other…
Also I would reslly like if Kare story was more developed, I wanted to know if she won the worlds, if she ever made it to the Olympics so yeah, a short epilogue would have sufficed I guess. But othervise the book was interesting and I got through it fast

I had such high hopes for this book, because I love figure skater X hockey player romances, but this book fell short for me

Kate and Brice were very boring and annoying characters to me.

This book explored everything there is about finding a balance in life - something that is particularly difficult when you have a set goal and are only 17!

As a massive fan of ice hockey romances, I feel like even though setting foot on the ice makes me nervous for my fingers, with each book I read I feel more and more emotional for the athlete. And whilst Kate is a figure skater and not a hockey player; the same emotions are there.

Saxena does a perfect job of putting you in Kates shoes (skates) and if even as a reader you can tell she’s being irrational, you can still be on her side.

This was more than just a romance novel between a boy and a girl - it was a novel about the love of a career, of family and ultimately a once in a lifetime passion only few are able to peruse; and what to do if it gets taken away.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

This book was not very well written. The main character was one dimensional and down right mean at times. There was no build up to the plot. Maybe I’m just too old for this, but some might love the ice skater x hockey player romance.

I appreciated this quick and easy read. I love figure skating and hockey, and this is a perfect mix of the two.

I would say though, that this is a book to be read quickly. No fault in that, but I wouldn't recommend if someone is looking for something really deep. Maybe I would've connected with it more if I was not 10 years older than the characters.

Thank you to the publisher.

Very enjoyable a good story for those who love good girl x hockey player! The character interaction was something I found myself enjoying with each page! A quick read but worth it.

This was a good read! The Price of Ice is a figure skating story written by Anita Saxena that follows Katie, whose goal is to be an Olympian. She has a plan, and that plan may or may not hit a bump in the road in the form of Brice, a hockey skater that is sharing Katie's ice. If you love a good girl x hockey player romance, especially figure skater x hockey romance, this is for you. A good, quick read overall! 3.5 stars.