Unlike Any Sports Love Story You’ve Ever Read
4.5 out of 5 stars
I’m unsure where Rachel was from, but she based this book in Buffalo – a place I’m very familiar with. I wasn’t sure how she was going to do, but I thought she was able to get it without being too stereotypical. She nailed the “chicken wing” vs “buffalo wing” argument and took a stance on who has the best wings (from the original places). She didn’t try too hard to name specific places outside of super familiar ones either. The Buffalo Curling Club is a real place and I have friends who actually curl there. I’ve gone curling myself and it is not as easy as it looks on TV – so she also nails that.
The story itself was cute. Max was one of those not-so-likable at the start sort of characters that grows on you over time. While Callie, in typical Buffalo fashion, was kinda and likable from the start. Their feelings started from a place of anger and grew into so much more. The growth of Max throughout was really fun to read and I liked that she was able to grow both with the help of Callie and her team but also on her own. Having someone “fix” you doesn’t always work in the long run, so it started that way but ended up being herself as well.
Fire & Ice also nails the curling aspect. It’s not an easy sport to talk about and probably even harder to write an entire story around, but I’m glad it was done. As soon as I saw the Kindle edition of this I was hoping that an audiobook was coming. I just knew that Spangler was going to do it justice and I was right.
Overall, a cute story with some great moments in it. A sports story but not like any you’ve ever read before.
Book Description:
Will the heat building between a disgraced reporter and a rising curling star melt the already thin ice they each are on?
Max Lauren made a mistake that shattered her pride, heart, and career in one fell swoop. Relegated to covering the lowly game of curling – she already resents the so-called “sport” – she steps onto the ice, where things get infinitely worse. She’s been knocked down before, and she’s always gotten back up, but a frosty resolve goes only so far in a world of people who thrive on ice.
Callie Mulligan is the amiable skipper of America’s second place curling team. Upbeat, optimistic, and with a fiery passion for an icy sport, she has both the mental and physical skills to become Team USA’s top contender. What she doesn’t have is the fame or the funding. Coverage from a journalist of Max’s caliber could be the answer to both problems, if only Max wasn’t so cold to the idea. As Callie tries to warm her to the sport, a little bit of heat grows into a fire neither of them can contain.
Passion, competition, ambition, redemption, and raw need collide as the bright lights of success and celebrity grow hotter, but can the fire between Max and Callie be sustained when it’s put on ice?
Fire & Ice by Rachel Spangler
Narrator: Ann Etter
Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins
Published by Self Published on February 27th 2020
Genres: LesFic/Sapphic Fiction, LGBTQ+, Romance
Format: Audiobook
Also by this author: Thrust
