From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Better Than the Movies Lynn Painter comes a heartfelt and banter-filled rom-com about childhood sweethearts whose icy reunion in their hockey-loving hometown unexpectedly thaws when they fake a romantic relationship.
Growing up, Dani couldn’t help but follow around the adorable son of her mom’s best friend. Funny, kind of nerdy, and a little soft, Alec was always down to hang with Dani when they were little. From play dates on the playground to sneaking into movie theaters, Dani and Alec were inseparable. Until Dani moved away. Alec promised they’d stay in touch—except, they didn’t.
Flash forward and Dani is back in Minnesota for her senior year, she and her mom living with her grandfather. Dealing with the fallout of her parents’ devastating divorce, Dani wouldn’t mind a nerd-out with the cozy and comforting Alec (and maybe a chance to confront him on his MIA status for all these years). But teenage Alec is nothing like the kid Dani remembers. He’s a hockey star in a town where hockey players are worshiped as gods. Dani’s place as his shadow has been taken up by drooling female fans…and he loves it.
Dani is resolved to ice out her former best friend until an unlikely series of events brings them together—and forces them to fake being a couple. Once forced together, the former childhood sweethearts begin to reconnect, unearth complicated family secrets, and face their true feelings towards each other…including the real reason Alec has been pushing Dani away all these years.
Title: Fake Skating
Author: Lynn Painter
Publisher: Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing
Expected Publication Date: September 30, 2025
Review:
Thank you to Simon and Schuster Children's Books and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this title to read and give an honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
There's just something about Lynn Painter and her YA books that makes me so happy. Even her adult books are fun. She's an auto-read author for me. I love her characters and the challenges they face. They are always super relatable and real.
Dani and Alex are childhood friends who haven't seen each other in a long time. They've grown into different people than they were when they were young. Plus they have some unresolved tension from a kiss they had before life tore them apart.
Dani is a great character. Her life challenges from having moved around from base to base with her Colonel father are real. She's never stayed in one place long enough to find real friends and put down roots. It's no wonder she has a hard time finding her groove when she moves back to her mother's home town. But her growth throughout the book and how she comes to understand herself is great. She makes real friends and figure out what it is to be appreciated for who she is. And her relationship with her grandfather, Mick is so realistic. She yearns to be family as much as he yearns to have her be that. I love how she finally sees her worth and why people would stick around to support her.
Alec is swoon worthy. Who doesn't like a chiseled hockey player? But he has his own ghosts to deal with. He worries about his family and their finances. He worries he needs to be good enough to take care of them. He carries the weight of his world on his shoulders. I enjoyed watching his friends support him and watching Dani give him what he needed to realize he didn't have to always be the one taking care of everyone else around him.
The fake dating scheme, while done many times, was fun to watch bloom. And of course it turns into more than that. There's a bit of miscommunication that happens, as well. But overall it was fun to watch these two fall head over heals with each other.
Painter always has fun plots and story lines that are fast paced and keep you interested from her first words to her last. While the plot line was predictable, it didn't detract from my enjoyment of the book.
I will always recommend Painter and her stories. They are fun and entertaining while tackling some serious subjects at the same time. I can't wait to see what she'll dream up next!
3.5 stars rounded to 4
Author:
Lynn Painter is the author of Better Than The Movies. She writes romantic comedies for tweens, teens, and adults, and when she isn't reading or writing, odds are good she’s guzzling energy drinks and watching rom-coms.
Obscure facts that might make her sound interesting (but probably don't):
*She can fit an entire cupcake in her mouth. BOOM.
*She threw up all over herself on the first day of 2nd grade.
*She once saw Kelsey Grammar hailing a taxi in Manhattan, so she's pretty much an NYC native who is best friends with celebrities.
*She has a one-inch vertical.
*Her love for spaghetti is brighter than the sun, stronger than The Rock.
*If you see her doing anything crafty, it isn't her; she has literally set things on fire with a hot glue gun and has the motor skills of a preschooler. No offense, preschoolers.
*Her 4th grade teacher moved her desk out into the hallway because she wouldn't shut up. Like, ever.
*She held the record at her elementary school for finding the most bats (vampire, not baseball) in a single year. The little dork located - and alerted authorities to - four potentially-rabid bats.*
So technically, if you think about it, she might've saved hundreds of lives with her nerditude. #hero
*She was the only one to ever find any bats because everyone else had better things to do at recess.
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