Fire on Ice is a sweet and sexy romance between Blaze and Maisy. Both are great characters and I really enjoyed this story.

*3.5 stars*

Maisy likes to take the back seat and not call much attention to herself unlike Blaze who seemed to me like a firecracker that shines and we all notice. Blaze's decision making gets her into some hot water and due to Maisy being one to not want the attention, it creates problems for them. Blaze & Maisy know how to melt the ice-pun intended but their different views on issues had them bumping heads many times. I wasn't sure if Maisy would be able to accept Blaze with her hot headedness and live happily- you'll have to click and find out for yourself. And if you haven't guessed it, yes this is an f/f read and the chemistry they had was sizzling.

3.5 stars — I will admit I was a bit concerned when our MCs jumped right into bed, and what followed were a lot of very descriptive and hot sex scenes, with only sprinklings of emotions (mostly leftover from their previous encounter). I guess I was expecting a steamy romance, and really got more an erotica with romance. The thing that saved it for me was that I *did* get some emotions and hints of depth in that first half, and when we got over the lust hump, there was a lot of interesting stuff to unpack. But if you’re not down for immediate (and gratuitous) sex scenes, you might want to try a different F/F.

So, outside of ALL the sex (some of which were uber steamy, some of which were just long), we have two very flawed and broken MCs who deal with their brokenness in vastly different ways. Blaze takes all the shaming coming her way and gives the world a big FU, whilst still internalizing some of the hurts (because, you know, human). And Maisy keeps herself all bottled up and private, allowing the shaming to become voices that she has to try to work around. It was kind of heart breaking actually. Despite all that, it was a pretty sex positive book. Both characters weren’t themselves ashamed of who they were…they were just shouldering the burdens of shame heaped upon them. It made for some passionate, aggressive, and without apologies sex scenes, and I appreciated that. I loved the dichotomy of recognizing slut shaming, being freaking pissed about it, but still having it affect you, no matter how strong you are. It was very realistic and human.

Once we got to more than just sex, I really appreciated the little ways we got to see them start to care for one another, and the way their chemistry extended beyond the bedroom. There were a lot of sweet moments and silly moments that I loved. I also really appreciated the way they handled obstacles, and mistakes, and forgiveness. There were some great genuine apologies and epiphanies to be had.

The book also gave us an interesting look into what it might mean to be polyamorous. I appreciated that it wasn’t sensationalized, and that we got to see how it might play out. I’m fascinated by it from a “not for me” perspective, and I still can’t wrap my head around the emotions/trust involved.

And as with all the books in this series, the sport was freaking ON!! I love the Olympics, love winter sports, love both of these sports, and I loved the time and attention that the author showcased to BOTH of them, and the athleticism of both women. This is not one of those sports romances where the sport is token, it was part of the plot. I loved that. It’s probably my favourite part of the series.

So yeah. I can see this book not being for everyone, but I enjoyed what it brought me. Just go in expecting erotica, and you’ll have better expectations I think.

An honest review from NetGalley. The connection between the two characters was very well written. Though I wanted more to the story, it felt like it was entirely about sex. The non sex scenes felt forced and lost my interest. The premise of two athletes from different countries could go so far but I felt as if it was limited to just the bedroom, which had me quickly loose interest.

Fire on Ice is about Blaze who is a speed skater and is more open about her sexuality. She has confidence, bold and knows what she wants.

Maisy is a figure skater and very quiet. She likes to keep her personal life quiet and doesn’t like to draw attention to herself.

In Fire on Ice there is a lot of F/F sex but it does lack a little bit of a story line. Don’t get me wrong I did enjoy most of the story. If your looking for a hot F/F story this book is for you.

*~~*ARC kindly provided to me for an honest review *~~*

- Review to come

Review originally posted on my blog with added content on Mikku-chan / A world full of words

I was excited to read this book in the Snow and Ice Games series more than any of the other Winter Olympics themed books. For one, it was about ice skaters, and I love watching ice skating. I also was glad for an f/f book in a mixed orientation series. (This series has 3 m/f books, one m/m and one f/f.) But I was especially excited for this high heat f/f romance because it was by Tamsen Parker, who is one of my go-to authors for high heat and BDSM romance. It’s difficult to find high-heat f/f romance that’s done well, and especially difficult to find f/f romance with BDSM, and this book is both. For that alone, I am glad it exists in the world.

This book really delivers on the high heat, and I don’t say that lightly. The sexual chemistry is intense, the sex scenes are full of spark and emotion and creativity, and are seriously hot. There’s a lovely D/s dynamic between the MCs, where Maisy, the smaller more petite rather quiet and reserved solo figure skater MC is dominant and Blaze, the brash, tough, taller, muscular speed skater MC is submissive. There’s strap on sex, and fisting, and sexual domination that is just delicious. All three of those things are incredibly rare in f/f romance, and I want as much of them as I can get, when they are written well. And the writing here was glorious. I was very happy with this aspect of the story.

The majority of the sex scenes occur in the first half of the book. This sets up the story to feel like it will be an intense erotic romance. The arc then takes a sudden shift. First, there is a big misunderstanding which leads to Maisy dumping some bi antagonism and slut shaming stuff on Blaze (who is both bi and polyamorous, but in a monogamous arrangement with Maisy for the duration of the winter games). Blaze challenges her on it, which I appreciated, but its clear that her feelings about it linger. It felt like this big arrow pointing to a fundamental incompatibility between them around polyamory as well as a long term issue in terms of all the bullshit that Maisy has internalized, and the way both those things are triggering for Blaze, because she has gotten so much shit already for being who she is. So, for me, they went from looking like a great opposites attract couple to one that was on shaky ground.

Then Blaze (who was always a bit too self-focused for me, and a bit too certain that she knew what Maisy needed) decides to out Maisy in public via the media without her permission. A flawed MC is great, and her cockiness goes with her personality. But in a queer romance, for an MC to make this choice mostly to serve her own ego and need to be front and center in the press…it tanked the romance arc for me. I went from shaky ground to feeling like they weren’t good for each other. I wasn’t able to root for them as a couple anymore. Which was sad, because they had such great chemistry, and there was real potential here.

The rest of the book didn’t change my mind about them as a couple, unfortunately. I did like all the detail about ice skating. There’s an arc around Maisy’s skating that I wish she had arrived at on her own, it would have been so much more satisfying if she had. It still was pretty great, though.

Overall, I have mixed feelings about this book. It has deep characterization, great chemistry, wonderful sex scenes and lovely sports details, but I wasn’t on board with them as a couple; it felt like they each let something go that was actually a big important issue, which never got resolved in a way that worked for me as a reader.

While it is not my favorite in the series it was still a good read I am not a huge fan of FF romances but I had really enjoyed the previous books in the series and decided to give it a go and I am glad I did it was well written with good characters and a decent plot. Well worth a read if you liked the rest of the series

Blaze is a very outspoken, flamboyant skater. Maisy is a shy, soft spoken figure skater. Blaze and Maisy together make a incredible couple. Maisy is very shy to the world, but behind closed doors she has a very dominant, controlling personality and Blaze loves it. They have a few issues to work through, but in the end love always prevails.

Less story and a lot of frolicking in this one. It seemed to go on and on. I enjoyed the two leads and the different aspects of their sports though. But i skipped through most of the book since I wasnt in the mood for it.

Very interesting Olympic, lesbian romance story. In the beginning I thought this was just connected sex scenes but the emotional story is there it just develops slowly. Not my cup of tea but it was well written.

As a reader almost exclusively of MM romance I've been keeping my eyes open for an FF story to try. I know the author and thought the premise of the story was a great one, so I thought this might be the book for me.

Well, safe to say FF is never going to be my genre of choice and the erotic scenes (many and creative) didn't add anything to the story for me. I did end up skimming them and thinking, 'wow, two world class athletes, preparing for medal events, they sure have a lot of energy to burn off'. Heh, heh. So if you're a fan of FF sex then this is the book for you!

The descriptions of the sport were pretty good. They're alternating pov's and they comment on both their own sports and the other MC's as well and I enjoyed that.

The author also puts a very interesting spin into the story with Blaze's sexuality. She's polyamorous and is upfront in explaining her needs and desires; likewise, Maizy also is truthful about how she feels so these two mature, confident women work it out - and I liked that.

There's a whole other element going on about each athlete and issues in their sport and performance, so that adds depth to the story as well.

Honestly, it was well written and there were parts I definitely liked about it - if you're a fan of explicit female/female sex with a decent little story thrown in, then this is the book for you.

this is a mess

so this book is a two povs alternating about blaze and maisy who are two athletes competing in snow & ice games which are basically olympics. so they met once and had a spark and now they meet again and have sex. and have sex. and have sex. literally 11 chapters of this book is porn. like porn with a little plot. i dont mind sex in general but honestly, it was too much for me.
but this is not the biggest problem of this book.
maisy specifically asked blaze not to pull her into her games. what does blaze do? she outs maisy before the whole world because she [blaze] needs a scandal and "maisy doesn't know what's good for her career". this is a bad conflict, imo. outing people without their consent is an absolute no-no and a shitty thing to do and it wasn't even explored here properly.

also i absolutely didn't like the writing, it was very dry and both heroines sounded absolutely the same, no distinction whatsoever.
1.5 stars.

When I first saw that this was a F/F book, I questioned whether I wanted to read this or not. I typically do not get into F/F books, but I have loved the Snow and Ice Games series, so I decided to give it a try.

There were things that I enjoyed about the book and others not so much. Mostly I wanted to know more about the characters themselves. We do glean some knowledge along the way, but I felt no real connection to them. There was a lot of sex happening and that is common amongst participants of the Snow and Ice Games. Unfortunately, there was nothing that made me want to say, gosh they need to be together.

I did enjoy the second half of the book more than the first, as the girls were actually competing in their respective sports. I like learning about the events themselves and the idiosyncrasies. The rest just didn't have that zing I was looking for. The story wasn't bad overall, it just didn't appeal to me. Even if F/F books are not my thing, I think Fire on the Ice is helping this genre to find its footing. Maybe more authors will, in turn, take a chance, and write more F/F books.
3.5 Stars

You guys know how much I love all things sports romances. I was excited to read these books because they were set at a Winter Olympics-type sporting event, so we got to see different sports, some that you don't really see in romance. I will say that I enjoyed all of them very much, and pretty much finished them in one sitting, though I was left wanting more.



[★★★1/2]

Love on the Tracks' heroine, Rowan is a luger with a massive crush on heartthrob Zane Rivera. I liked this story quite a bit even though I'm not entirely into books with rockstars. There's the fake-relationship trope here and it was well-written. Both characters are quite likable too. I liked all the insides of luge, which isn't a sport that I've thought too much about, so that was interesting. Who I didn't like in this book was Rowan's dad. He does some shitty things and ugh, I was ready to punch the guy! I will say that the romance between Rowan and Zane developed quite fast here, but I expected that with the short length of this book.



[★★★★]



Seduction on the Slopes was quite possibly my favorite in this series. This one features skiers and an age-gap romance. And it's an M/M romance. I thought this one was so much fun, and I loved the dynamics between Crash and Miles especially. This was definitely on the sexier side, but we see the two begin to fall in love over the course of the sexy times. I would have loved for this book to be a bit longer because I loved these two different personalities and how well they clicked together.



[★★★1/2]



On the Edge of Scandal features the romance of a female hockey player and her coach. It has the unrequited love storyline and ahhh! I don't think I've screamed enough about how much I love this trope! At the start of the book, Bronwyn has a jerk boyfriend, and Ash watches from the sideline as he pushes her around. I didn't particularly care for the scenes of the jerk boyfriend, but once he was dumped, I was pretty happy with this book. There were interesting conversations here about the power dynamic at play, and I liked how there was clear consent given on both Bronwyn and Ash's sides before they dove into a relationship. Their romance is sexy and sweet. Of course, I loved all the hockey elements as well. A good read!



[★★★]



Fire on the Ice is the F/F romance between two skaters competing for different teams. This installment read very differently from the others to me because of how much focus was on the sex, especially in the first half. This was one of my first F/F adult romances, so I was very much scandalized by some of the sex scenes - haha! *blushes just thinking of the book*

I did wish we would have seen Maisy and Blaze connect on a more emotional level in this book instead of just them banging like bunnies. They were both interesting personalities, especially with how different they were from each other. Blaze is more no-bullshit and Maisy is quiet and shy. So, I would have liked to see why exactly these two contrasting people connected so deeply and I didn't feel like we saw that here.



[★★★]



On the Brink of Passion was my least favorite book in this series. It made me a little uncomfortable if I'm being honest. I was excited to read it because it has a figure skating couple, but oh gosh. I'm a romance reader who doesn't always like reading about tougher situations, and here, there were some seriously awkward sex scenes with discussions about verbal and non-verbal consent. It was all important talk of course, but because I wasn't expecting it, it took me aback. I did end up liking it towards the end, especially because the hero, Beckett, was a sweetheart, and the heroine, Jubilee started to open up more emotionally.



Overall, I liked this series a lot though there were both ups and downs. I would definitely read more from Tamsen Parker in the future!

Fire on the Ice, on the other hand, is like taking a bite of what you thought was a caper and learning it’s a pepper, one of the absurdly hot monster kind, and it got where it was today by beating up all the lesser peppers until it absorbed all the capsaicin the entire pepper universe could produce. Which is to say: it’s flaming hot, and agonizing, and definitely an experience you want to talk about with others. Short-track speedskater Blaze Bellamy is a fire-haired, libidinous bruiser who lives to be in the spotlight. Figure skater Maisey Harper is known as the Canadian Ice Princess: cold and aloof and outwardly prim. Inwardly and in-bed-wardly she’s bossy and creative and strong and more than a match for the other woman. The two have hooked up before, so it’s not surprising that the sex is quick to get really, really filthy (in the best way)—but this is a romance, so even amazing sex isn’t what’s going to get us to the end. No, this is the story about two people getting their feelings all tangled up; it’s about fear and vulnerability and hope and betrayal. My only objection is that it felt like there were one or two scenes missing—say, a moment where Blaze overhears a voicemail from Maisey’s parents and confronts how emotionally cruel they’ve been to her, or a moment where Maisey meets someone, anyone else in Blaze’s life. (Blaze doesn’t appear to have friends on the page, which is an odd thing now I come to think of it.) Sometimes the end of a romance feels like less like a conclusion and more like the beginning of a new book, one which the characters are starting to write together. This is definitely one of those.

This is not going to be a kind review. This book is a clusterfuck that infuriated me so much, I’m not feeling disposed to be nice, especially given that Tamsen Parker is a writer that I’ve heard only good things about, thus I actually had expectations going in. The blurb seemed interesting, the writer a known one. What could go wrong? A lot, it turns out.

My first issue was that this book isn’t a romance, but erotica. While I’ve read erotica that I enjoyed, this was definitely not one of them. This story is a proof that there is such a thing as ‘too much sex’, given how nothing else happens. The characters don’t even talk until around 30-40% into the book, which for someone like me who loves banter and is uninterested in sex, is insufferable. If the sex was at least interesting, I could enjoy that, but no. It’s boring. It’s so, so boring. It feels like the characters going through a list of sex acts they should perform for the reader’s enjoyment. There’s no chemistry between the characters! How do you expect me to be emotionally invested in two characters fisting if they talked to each other once! I ended up skipping pages on regular, audibly groaning.

There is barely any character development. Hell, there’s barely any personality to these characters. The first-person pov is jarring, especially since these two characters, that are supposed to be so very different, sound exactly the same. They didn’t talk about any of their issues or expectations maybe until the last few chapters of the book. We are never any reasons why Maisy and Blaze even want to be a couple, since apart from the sex, they seem to be completely incompatible.

Maisy is the only one who goes through at least a bit of character development. She starts off by being judgmental about Blaze’s bisexuality and seems ignorant as to what polyamory is, but after Blaze’s explanation (which reads more like the author preaching at the reader), she shifts her views and all is good. Then she learns to be more confident by having Blaze trample all over her boundaries. That’s pretty much it.

It’s Blaze who I have most issues with. Frankly said, Blaze is a dick. She’s a dick who doesn’t respect Maisy, does something absolutely horrible to her, never apologizes, never even tries putting herself into Maisy’s shoes, and then acts like she’s the victim, gaslighting Maisy. And then the book continues as if nothing happened.

Here’s a spoiler version of what Blaze does. Since she’s afraid she won’t score a medal in the games and she’s desperate for any kind of attention, she sets up a public meeting with Maisy where she kisses her, with a paparazzi nearby to take photos and publish them. That would put Blaze in the news, since as far as the world knows, Maisy is straight. Maisy, who is closeted. Maisy, who has emotionally abusive parents who force her to ‘keep that thing private’. Maisy, working in figure skating, a famously homophobic sport. Blaze publicly outs Maisy to the whole world, only because she needs attention and is willing to get it any way. Blaze spends the whole book talking about how trust is important between partners and then she does this? I refuse to accept that from a supposed romance heroine. It’s absolutely disgusting.

Maisy calls her out on outing her, and then leaves, having a very bad panic attack. The entire time Blaze is angry, because in her twisted way of thinking, Maisy being angry about being forcibly outed to the whole world means that she’s just ashamed of being seen with her and that she must think Blaze is a slut. She also argues to herself that Maisy should be out because ‘Canada isn’t’ homophobic’. I’m sorry but what? WHAT? In what kind of universe is that okay? We already have proof in text that yes, there are homophobic Canadians, such as Maisy’s parents! How can Blaze, an American, argue that being out in these countries is absolutely safe? Hell, I’m from Czech Republic and while it’s one of the better countries when it comes to gay rights, I still don’t feel safe being out? What kind of goddamn argument is this?

So Blaze forcibly outs her, which is absolutely never okay, then gaslights her by arguing Maisy is just ashamed of her because she’s slut-shaming, Maisy has a horrible panic attack. And then what happens? It’s all forgotten. We end the chapter with the panic attack and start the next one with Maisy pretty much over it, watching Blaze skate, everything mostly forgotten. The author has this awful, traumatic thing happen and then it’s as if nothing happened? How do you use something this bad as a plot point for some ‘drama’ to happen, and then ignore all the repercussions it would have for the character? How can you have Maisy ever trust Blaze again? At this point, I only finished the book because I hoped Maisy would drop-kick Blaze into the garbage where she belongs. That didn’t happen, even though I strongly feel that it should’ve.

It’s not often that I read a romance book and don’t want the characters anywhere near each other. Even with books I end up hating, I’m still usually okay with the characters staying together. Not with this one. A couple where one of them shows such contempt for the boundaries and safety of their partner is not one I could ever cheer for.

Fire On The Ice was a hot mess!

Fire On The Ice is told from the POV of Maisy, a figure skater competing at the SIGS and Blaze, a speed skater. One night together leaves them agreeing to spend the rest of the SIGs with each other.

That’s exactly what they do. For 11 chapters. They do nothing but have sex. Over and over. Friends I don’t mind smutty scenes but this took the cake. On top of that, the plot was non existent, the world building was terrible and the characters sucked! I can’t say I liked much about this book.

Normally if a book is dragging or the plot is lacking I can get by with the characters. The characters make a novel for me. However these two didn’t. Maisy was irritating. She thought she knew what was best for Blaze without even communicating. She constantly judges her while denying she isn’t.

“It’s funny because the women isn’t likely to medal, but gets treated like royalty anyhow. Anything, anything to get attention, and all attention is equal- because all attention is good.”-Fire On The Ice by Tamsen Parker.

I don’t even know we’re to begin with Blaze. I liked her at first. However what happens in the second half ruined her character for me. She’s selfish and thinks only of herself. Throughout the whole book she. Does. Not. Change, like at all. This girl needed some change. She doesn’t confined in Maisy. She does what she has to do for attention without thinking of Maisy’s feelings or even communicating with her.

“Can I promise? I want to. But Maisy….Well, Maisy doesn’t know what’s good for her career. “- Fire on The Ice by Tamsen Parker.

I can tell you honestly : The only thing I enjoyed about this book was the three chapters near the end on figure skating and speed skating. It was clear the author did her research and it’s the only reason this isn’t one star.

Overall this book was ridiculous. Too much sex and not enough… everything else. I had such high hopes for Fire On The Ice and I can’t say I’m not disappointed. I don’t think the representation was well done. I can’t speak personally for the polyamory rep but it made me uncomfortable every time Maisy made an untold for judgement. I didn’t like the lesbian rep and it was very clear that this book wasn’t ownvoices. I appreciate the fact that this popular author added a f/f romance to her series but it was choppy and I for one didn’t like the ending.

I couldn't connect with the characters. This was a total miss for me.

Well I requested this as part of a quest for Winter Olympic themed romances and didn't really read the description. And it turns out this is a lot more explicit than I was expecting. And a lot of that comes at the expense of character depth and development. I haven't read a lot of f/F romances, but this didn't seem to quite do what it was setting out to do. Some of its messages about acceptance got messed up by its own writing and depictions of the characters actions - Blaze in particular does something completely reprehensible and never apologises for it or even seems to get wrong. Hey ho.