Thank you to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley, for the opportunity to receive an ARC audio book in exchange for an honest review!

As you may know I am a sports sapphic romance goosey girlie, so when I got the opportunity to listen to a sapphic hockey romance, I was so excited!

I enjoyed getting to know Caro and Amy- Caro as she navigated running her skating facility and programs- Girls and Goals, while also confronting her identity as it relates personally and professionally to the life she wants to live. And Amy, who’s still in her pro hockey career and also working as a nutritionist- having fully embraced her sexual identity and dove into being an advocate and activist for queer athletes.

While Amy has embraced having personal relationships throughout her career, Caro has not, well, she’s had one, but it wasn’t a positive experience and paired with Caro’s family's homophobia Caro really holds a firm boundary between her work and personal life.

Amy has had a crush on Caro since the beginning- admiring her from afar throughout her hockey career. So when Amy has an opportunity to work at Caro’s training facility for the summer and work and learn alongside Caro it was more or less a dream! With no intention of acting on any romantic interest Amy was purely excited to be there!

But! The romance blossoms- I’ll refrain from spoilers except to say I haven’t read a closed door romance in a while and I kept expecting… wanting? More…. There was so much hype and build up in the beginning stages of their relationship so when we ended up not really seeing what happened it felt a bit like a drop off. Not to say that there weren’t other parts of the romance we weren’t a part of– but I think there could have been a bit more spice!

Caro’s family and homophobia was a tough read. Not because the content, though that is always a gut punch albeit the reality we face, but more so because it felt a bit like the early 2000’s and I can’t really put my finger on it.

In terms of Amy- her scatterbrain, people pleasing, doing everything all at once and trying not to let anything go, is relatable and I appreciated what I interpreted as neurodivergence rep- I also think she got more criticism than I saw fit though that could just be my own defensiveness in Amy’s behalf, lol.

Overall, I enjoyed Caro’s and Amy’s relationship and the ending felt like it tied much of the story together!
3.5 gooses
1 spicey honkin' pepper

This book follows former professional hockey player, Carolyn (Caro) Cassidy, who is now running an all-girls hockey camp, hires Amy Schwarzbach, a current pro hockey player, has a coach for her hockey camp. During the summer, Amy, who has had a long time crush one Caro and several fangirl moments meeting her role model, helps introvert Caro create her own found family. In the process, they become friends and then something more.

This was a cute and sweet sports romance with, SPOILER ALERT, no third act breakup, which made me so very happy. Amy and Caro had excellent communication and actually acted liked adults, which was very refreshing. There was tension and some conflict, but they didn't just break up and call it quits.

This is audiobook was narrated by Chelsea Stephens, and the first one that I have listened to by her. I enjoyed her narration. I am fairly new to audiobooks, but I have greatly enjoyed the freedom to listen to books while I am driving or doing chores around the house. I didn't have any trouble keeping track of which voice was for each character.

All in all, I enjoyed the story and the narration. Would recommend for fans of sport romances.

Thank you to NetGalley for an copy in exchange for an honest review.

4.25 ⭐
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***Trigger Warnings***
- brief mention to suicidal ideation
- instances of homophobia

An LGBTQIA+ Sports plus Workplace Romance? Give me 14 more of them right now!

Caro Cassidy, an Ice Hockey Legend, who keeps her business and personal life ( her sexuality) meets Amy Schwartzback, who is bright, colorful and completely out there — what could go wrong?

* I Listened to the Audiobook *

I had so much fun listening to this book. The storyline, plot, family drama (I could punch her mother and brother, to be honest) made those 10+ hours feel so short.
Amy is the definition of sunshine, while Caro was insufferable at first, but thank goodness for character development and standing up for yourself! Will definitely be continuing this series. *adds Kelly Farmer to my fav authors*

** Also, Chelsea Stephens has a stunning voice for narration, and she voiced/portrayed the different characters so well.

Thank you Spotify Audiobooks and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This was an okay book. There was nothing absolutely great about it but it was cute with just enough spice. I enjoyed it.

A lesbian with abandonment issues that struggles to be vulnerable and open up to people? Whew is this fucking play about us?

Love how delicately Caros mental illness and trauma with non accepting family was handled, and the development of that throughout. Also loved that her boundaries toward PDA and being a couple in public eye was handled.

This was a cute book about people growing together and had a lot of health communication as well as conflict that characters needed to work through.

I was really excited to read this sports romance and the audio version was wonderful. I was not familiar with the narrator and I enjoyed her performance, she definitely made an already good book even better and fun to listen to. I never had any issues following her characters and the audio qualify was great. I especially enjoyed the part where Amy, the queer flag waiving activist, is encouraging Caro to certify the sports center as queer friendly. I thought their discussion and Caro's internalized homophobia was well done.

This was a cute rom-com about hockey and two women who fall for each other. It’s also one of them coming out and having to navigate losing family because of who they are. I feel like this was written in a really good way and not just all spicy like so many are.

I was excited to read this book, but it didn’t resonate as much as I had hoped.

Out on the Ice tells the story of Caro, a retired professional hockey player and current hockey coach. Caro keeps to herself and doesn’t want her identity as a lesbian to become public. Amy is an out-and-proud bi woman, professional hockey player, and a coach at Caro’s training center for a summer program. Despite their differences, Caro and Amy are drawn together and want to see if they can make a long-distance relationship work.

I enjoyed the hockey focus and the emphasis on mentoring girls. Amy has cute, supportive parents, and Caro has an adorable rescue dog. I thought the narrator did a great job as well. The narration was easy to understand and not distracting, while also conveying personality and emotion. I loved seeing Amy’s pride in her bi identity and her dedication to advocating for the whole queer community.

However, there were a few things that didn’t work for me. First, this was a closed-door romance, and I don’t think that worked well for this particular story. A lot of Caro and Amy’s initial attraction seemed physical. There was a lot of buildup of sexual tension, so it was surprising (and not super satisfying) to realize it was a closed-door romance. Second, the book touches several heavy themes and references traumatic events (mostly around depression, internalized and societal homophobia, and familial estrangement). The discussion often felt superficial, and I would have liked to have seen those topics talked about with more nuance and depth. It seemed like we were being told how those events made characters feel rather than being shown. Finally, it seems like the author was trying to educate the reader by debunking stereotypes about bisexuality. To me, it felt like bi stereotypes were being presented so there would be an opportunity to educate the reader, rather than happening organically as part of the story.

Highlights:
- lesbian main character & bi love interest
- public coming out
- mental health rep: depression
- enjoyable narration
- hockey romance

Thanks to NetGalley for a free copy of this audiobook!

Two female hockey players fight their feelings for each other while one also has to prove her worthiness of identity to her family. The premise of this sapphic sports romance was great, but I am sorry to say I thought the execution fell a bit flat. I couldn’t relate to the stubbornness of Caro or how naive Amy was portrayed. I also wasn’t a fan of the narrator either, the voice she had for Amy was too young for the subject matter presented.

The narrator was amazing!! I absolutely loved this book! It was so cute and I can't wait to read more from this author in the future! Definitely one for the shelf 👏

I love Kelly Farmer books and I was so excited when I found out that her books were coming out on eaudiobooks. I listened to this book and can't wait to get the rest of the series to listen to. Hockey romances are so popular right now and I am here for it. I love that this story was about women because we don't get enough girls playing hockey stories. It also featured such a sweet, could actually happen in real life, romance. I love the representation and the sweet couples.

3.5 Stars, round to 4 Stars.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Thank you, to NetGalley as well as Spotify Audiobooks for the opportunity to read this book as an audio copy.

The narration for “Out on the Ice” was phenomenal. The narrator really did a great job at bringing these characters to life.

I love that the topic of “bi erasure” was brought up in the book and addressed. As someone who identifies as bisexual, this is something that I deal with on a daily basis so to see it being acknowledged and discussed in print media is encouraging because hopefully it will help remove some of these stereotypes and the need to decenter us from the community.

Important Details/Themes:
-Sapphic Romance
-Women’s Hockey
-Dual POV
-Mental Health Rep

Something very important to note here is there is blatant on page homophobia and this may be triggering for some. I was not aware of this before reading the book so hopefully this helps.

I would definitely read more books by this author. This was my first book by Kelly Farmer and it definitely will not be my last.

DNF @ 20%. I just could not get into this. There are too many books waiting on me to review. I wasn't connecting with either main character and I so wanted to love this.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ALC!

A cute and quirky, opposites attract love story that deals with tough topics such as internalized hemophobia, feelings of inadequacy, and societal pressure in a warm and gentle way. This was a delightful queer hockey romance that centered the relationship just as much as the game. I really appreciated the emphasis on mental health and the way the characters communicated with each other, even through struggle. I'm excited to read the rest of the series.

I mean overall this book was interesting. Like I liked women in hockey, and I wanted Caro to just be a tiny bit more confident with herself. I get she was navigating the homophobia in her family. I thought it was cute.

I got an alc of this book on NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Another great novel by Kelly Farmer. I thoroughly enjoyed the contrasting personalities of Caro and Amy as they got to know each other. One is battling trying to hide her sexuality while the other is openly bisexual and is an advocate for LGBT rights and safe locations open and supportive of everyone. Caro's struggles are family-related and throughout the story, you feel her tension as she tries to navigate the new relationship she develops with Amy and the contrast in personalities. Her fears of being openly out and what that may do to her business, which is one of the only things she can see as something she has accomplished. Amy, on the other hand, tries to follow what her girlfriend wants, to keep their relationship low-key and under the radar. Their relationship goes through a very rough patch at one point as Caro continues to struggle with her family and as Amy is in another city playing hockey.

The story was fantastic and was a true emotional ride. The narrator provided an excellent pace through the audiobook. Her differing voices provided enough contrast to tell the various characters. She added an extra level to the story with the emotion she provided to each character.

I highly recommend this story and look forward to more from the author in the future.

I enjoyed this one. I loved that they are both women's hockey players!

One of my favorite things about this book was the acknowledgement of bi erasure and how it can effect someone. There were a lot of strong and serious notes in this, which I thought were handled well especially with them being a little older.

There were still problems and a third act breakup (sorta) but it all worked well and was believable for their situation.

I definitely want to read more of Farmer's work in the future.

This book started off really cute. I liked the setting and the fact that it was slightly different to other romance books. Unfortunately, I didn’t find the characters compatible by the end of the book which made it quite hard to root for them. I also think the third act break up was pretty toxic which I wasn’t a fan of.

All in all I think it was a quick and easy listen but nothing too special unfortunately

This is a re-release of an older title with an updated cover and a new audio format. I hadn't heard of this book when it was only in print, and I'm very glad that the audiobook got on my radar. As a skater, I love the idea of the ~50,000 hockey romances out there, but they're mostly straight and it was great reading a queer one.

I liked the slowly-building romance, the fact that the protagonists were well-established adults in their 30s balancing romance and other life shit, and that there was both queer joy and a look at some of the pain and fear that can be associated with being fully-out, even as an adult.

Caro Cassidy is disciplined, driven, and married to her business of teaching young girls hockey. Her life is a well-oiled routine of work, eat, sleep that she is perfectly fine with. Perfectly. Fine. When she hires free-spirited Amy as an instructor at Girls and Goals- her life starts to get a little more unexpected and her nose-to-the-ground attitude and regimented life begin to feel stifling.

While I really like the writing style and storylines, the narrator's use of a infantilized voice for Amy really took me out of the story and made me feel weird about the steamy parts of the book.