Dani’s parents have gotten a divorce, and she and her mom are moving to Minnesota, moving back in with her grandfather. Although she has visited in the summer many times, it will be very different to live there, and in particular to move halfway through her senior year. She is brilliant and wants to go to Harvard. Her father is in the air force and her mom married him at age 18. Dani is not sure she wants to reconnect with her childhood friend Alec, because they wrote to each other for awhile but then he ghosted her.
Ony to find that Alec is now a high school hockey star and the kids all call him Zeus. She and Alec are accidentally caught in a compromising situation, so they agree to fake dating to save his reputation with the hockey scouts and her reputation at a new school and for college applications. Dani also becomes a manager of the hockey team, which is convenient because her grandfather was a star player in the NHL.
Lynn Painter is really the master of the YA romcom, I appreciate that they have good story content aside from the romance. They aren’t spicy but they do have realistic dialogue and funny banter. This was well paced and a fun setting. It reminded me of the couples in Better than the Movies and Nothing Like the Movies. I would have liked a little more from the side characters, as they were interesting and had good personalities of their own. It feels like most small towns and the culture of high school sports.
Thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for the ARC. Book to be published September 30, 2025.
Leave a Reply