Skating Through is a quick and heartwarming read about a high school athlete and his struggle to come out to both his family and his hockey teammates. 

Cosgrove's plot starts us off in the summer before the MC's senior year of high school and takes us into the start of the school year. Ben is one of the "good boys" - he's not a big party-er, is respectful to his parents, loving towards his grandma, and loyal to his best friend, Ryan. In fact, he kind of falls on the side of being anti-social. 

Ben's "bestie", Ryan, has been guarding Ben's secret for the past few years- Ben is gay and terrified of how the people around him- his family and teammates- will react.

The plot is very easy to follow, and the narration is pretty straightforward. I was a bit torn in what I wanted from it- the beginning is a little formulaic (this happened, then this, next this), but that smoothed out as the novel progressed. My biggest critique is that I felt like there could have been more development of the aftermath to Ben's coming out. There are mentions of people within his sports world being unsupportive (and downright *ssholes) but that's skimmed over more quickly than I would've thought, given how much of Ben's time is spent worrying about the consequences of revealing his secret. 

My favorite part about Skating Through were the characters; Cosgrove does a good job at making MCs and supporting characters who are fun and likable. Ben and Ryan have a picture-perfect bromance, and I thought it was sweet how the two of them both supported each other and also provided a push when it was needed. 

I liked that Cosgrove's main boys helped each other pick out outfits for dates, that they weren't afraid to giggle or laugh with each other. I think more male teen readers need to see that those types of friendships can exist between boys without it being something that's ridiculed or results in being bullied.

Marcus and Rachel, the other BFF extraordinaires, are a bit snarky but still as sincere as Ben and Ryan. Overall, I loved the supportive culture that's created by these two pairs in so many respects. 

Skating Through is a book that I would definitely recommend to teen readers. It's awesome to see more LGBT fiction that tells the story of a gay athlete; I think Skating Through is the kind of story that's needed for today's teens, imperfect or not.

ARC Review: Skating Through by Jennifer Cosgrove

Overall, Skating Through is a solid coming-out story complete with plenty of teen angst and understandable anxiety on Ben’s part. It makes a strong statement about what it is like for a male teen who plays a rough, aggressive sport such as hockey to come out as gay and feel okay doing so. I did struggle to read this story because I found Ben’s relationship with his best friend Ryan to be unrealistic, and, unfortunately, that relationship gets more page-time than any other in the book. The overprotectiveness Ryan feels towards Ben comes off as unusual and not something one teenage boy feels towards another. He seemed more like a big brother or even a dad. I felt that the dialogue exchanged between the two was more “adult support group” than something that teenagers would say to one another. I wished it had felt more real and rang more true. 

I definitely think this read is for the younger YA crowd.

I like this book a lot, but it didn't really throw any unexpected curves my way. Not the way that Cosgrove's last book, "A Boy Worth Knowing", tended to do.

This author definitely knows how to write extremely likeable MC's, and make you empathize with what they're going through. In this case, that translated to Ben's fear of coming out and Marcus' fear of being someone's closeted, dirty secret.

I especially enjoyed Ben and Marcus' best friends, Ryan and Rachel, who held both MC's feet to the fire and also added a bit of comic relief when things were getting a bit too serious.

Other than Ben fighting his own internal fears over coming out, the angst in this story is kept to an absolute minimum. Even Ben's hockey teammates were, for the most part, supportive once Ben finally got the courage to come out.

I was sort of happy to see that Ben got to come out completely on his own terms, in his own time, keeping the external conflict to a minimum. But I only say sort of because the story may have benefited with a bit less smooth sailing interest-wise.

In regards to steamy bits, other than a lot of kissing and a couple of aborted crotch grabs, this was your typical YA story, which tended to stay pretty PG-13, if not G-rated. So situated somewhere pleasantly between The Disney Channel and Skinemax. Ish.

The story ends with a very satisfying HFN, but neither of the boys discussed what would happen when the graduated that year and Ben left for Boston University to play hockey, like I'd hoped that would solidify details on. But I'm greedy like that. :- P

Overall, this was a pretty satisfying read and I'd rate it around 3.5 stars, so if you're looking for a fun, low-angst YA coming out tale, this might be a good choice for you.

3.5 

This was sweet and I liked it. Although the characters were written to be seniors in high school they seemed so much younger, so innocent. They certainly are not ruled by their hormones.  I’m not sure that the maturity and restraint displayed (in sexual situations) is actually realistic, though I’m sure most parents pray it is. 

I am not sure how much the author has been around teen boys?  I have a teenage boy and teach high school and it’s not been my experience that they have a friend over to critique their date outfit or go out for milkshakes on their “cheat days”, or break into giggling fits...  The voice and descriptions felt very feminine. This is not a gay/straight critique. I know the personality traits of both gay and straight teens run the gamut. It just seemed that the author had trouble voicing a male character...

That aside I think that if this is targeted to a younger audience it will be well received. It is a sweet and uplifting story. It doesn’t sugarcoat the fear of coming out even when you have a good family and friend(s). However it may be a bit unrealistic how well almost everyone took the news. I really wish that reaction would be the norm. Dealing with opposing teams’ barbs was glossed over a bit too much as it was thrown in at the 95% mark.

Cute story with cute characters. 
It was a quick read thankfully because I just wanted it to end. I don't know if it's the style of writing or the dialogue, but the story just didn't do it for me.

This book was short and sweet.  I read it in 2 hours.  Ben is so sweet and a great main character, along with his best friend Ryan who is the most supportive and wonderful best friend that he could have.  Ben, a star hockey player and captain of his team, is gay and hiding it from everyone except Ryan who has know for quite some time.  Rayn is sweetly overprotective of him but also is trying to push Ben a little bit into talking this guy he has had a crush on forever.  Slowly, Ben starts to get to know Marcus and they become friends.....which eventually becomes more.  Ben's coming out story is really positive, and although he and Marcus both hit some bumps along the way, they manage to forge a relationship accepted by all of their family, close friend and Ben's hockey teammates.  I definitely liked this book and loved the story of Ben and Marcus.  I would have loved it even more if it had been first person through Ben's eyes at least, if not Marcus's too.  Regardless, it is a super sweet quick summer read and if you like hockey, it's perfect!  THANKS NETGALLEY for the ARC!!!!