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Fake Skating by Lynn Painter
Expected on September 2025
Book Spice: None - just kissing scenes

✨ Fake dating
✨ Sports Romance / Hockey
✨ Bantery
✨ Childhood friend
✨ Dual POV
✨ Friends to Enemies to Lovers

“Better than the Movies, childhood sweethearts reunite in a hockey-loving town where romance is about to heat up the ice. When one thing leads to another and Dani and Alec find themselves thrown together and playing the role of boyfriend and girlfriend, “complicated” becomes an understatement. In this Minnesota town, hockey may rule, but romance is about to take its place.” Oh this is decent for fans of Hannah Grace!

I found out she was doing a hockey book? Immediate yes. Another great YA romance from Lynn Painter. A lot was going on here, and I would have loved more details of certain plot lines to be honest.

Was there more salty language than I usually go for? Yes. Do I fully believe that high school hockey players sound exactly like this in real life? Also yes. So I rolled with it. But honestly, this is being marketed as a young adult, but it has LOTS of profanity and more descriptive kissing scenes, so I would prob not recommend it to a younger teenager!

If you’ve loved any of Painter’s other books, consider this one your next obsession. Add it to your Fall TBR and set an alarm for release day—because you’re going to want to read this one immediately.

Thank you to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing for providing me with an advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review!

#hockey #sports #romance #ya #youngadult #fakedating #fiction #romcom #netgalley #comingsoon #standalone #tbr #earc #winter #friendstolovers

Thank you to the publisher for the arc!

Fake Skating is a charming YA rom-com about childhood best friends Dani and Alec who reconnect in their senior year. A fake-dating arrangement rekindles old feelings, leading to real romance, emotional growth, and a deeper understanding of family and identity- all set in a cozy, hockey-loving small town.

I don’t know how Lynn does it every time. She is the queen of YA romances. This book had me giggling and kicking my feet the whole way through. The banter between Alec and Dani was perfection, and I loved watching Dani grow and come into her own.

I have not been let down by a Lynn Painter book yet. I love the simplicity of her YA covers and this story didn’t disappoint. Love the reconnecting aspect and coming of age. The HEA was a bonus!

Dani and Alec were inseparable as kids until her family moved. Years later when Dani moves back the scrawny and nerdy Alex she used to know is gone. He’s the star of the hockey team. In Minnesota that practically means your royalty. One thing leads to another which forces Alec and Dani into a fake relationship. To say it’s complicated would be an understatement.

My heart. This book gave me all the feels. Dani and Alec are incredible well written characters that come off very genuine and relatable. I’m so happy they got a HEA

This is quite similar to Nothing like the movies, I loved that one so I’m not mad about it. Two teens with a shared history that fall in love at the end of high school. Both books also feature some emotional moments involving the MCs parents.

The only thing I would change is to extend the ending a little. Mostly because I didn’t want it to end. I highly recommend this one.

Read this if you like
🩵Fake dating
⛸️Hockey romance
🫶🏼YA
✨Childhood friends to lovers

Alec & Dani are childhood best friends who spend every Summer together when Dani & her mom come to town. With Dani’s dad in the military, they are constantly moving and the remainder of the year their conversations were left up to silly postcards written in a code they had made up as kids.

Going into high school, they both hit hard times in their family lives. The Summer visits stop, the postcards cards stop and they both feel left behind by the other.

Until, Dani’s parents divorce and she is settling down back in her mom’s hometown for the remainder of her Senior Year. The clumsy boy that was always following Dani around, is now a hockey superstar and the outgoing, sassy girl is now soft spoken & reserved.

They find themselves in a classic fake dating scheme as they try to reconcile who they once were to who they are now. They fall in love with the new versions of each other while also bringing out the buried childhood versions of themselves that are still there beneath the surface. This book did not disappoint with Lynn Painter’s typical witty banter, captivating storyline & charming characters. I will forever read anything she writes and absolutely love it :)

I love Lynn Painters writing.

When I saw she had a new YA release, I immediately requested it!

I love the simplicity of her covers. I just would read this woman's grocery list!

This book was exceptional just like all the other ones I've read by her! I loved it.

This is a hockey romance with no spice!
Second chance - kind of
Friends to lovers
Miscommunication
Fake dating

In this one we follow two high school seniors, Dani and Alec. They grew up childhood friends but when Dani moved they split ways blaming one another. Dani moves into town and they end up being caught in a misunderstanding, so they make a deal to fake date to help each other out.

I read this book so fast. Lynn knows how to make me laugh with the banter that she brings into her books. She makes you feel all the feelings while reading her books.

I did pre order this and can't wait to add it to my shelf collection with all of her other books.

4.5 stars, rounded up

This book is so cute!

After her parents' divorce, Dani moves with her mom back to Minnesota, where she spent time as a little kid. Dani is nervous and excited to see her nerdy childhood best friend Alec; they fell out of touch and have a lot to catch up on, but it will be comforting to see a familiar face at school. When they finally meet again, Dani is shocked to discover that sweet and nerdy Alec is now a star hockey player, universally loved and crushed on by all the other girls. When Alec and Dani are accidentally caught in what looks like a compromising position in the locker room, they are forced to fake date to save both of their reputations.

Fake dating forces Alec and Dani to rehash what tore them apart years ago and confront all the things that stand in the way of making their relationship real.

I have lived in Minnesota and watched hockey all my life, including the high school state hockey tournament, which features prominently in this book. I appreciated all the true-to-life details of Minnesota South Metro life, high school rivalries, and hockey culture in MN! I read this one with a very critical eye towards all the details and I thought Lynn Painter represented Minnesota hockey culture very well!

I loved that even when the characters dealt with tough and serious issues, they had strong support systems and joyful relationships to help them through. I will absolutely be recommending this book to teens at the library where I work and to my online audience!

Thank you so much to Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing for the free ebook in exchange for my honest review!

I absolutely loved this! So cute and easy to fall into from the very beginning. The vibes reminded me of Better Than the Movies in such the best ways - it gave me that same fuzzy feeling of angst and slow-burn. The chemistry and banter hit just right!

Now for me to start counting down until I can get my hands on Maid for Each Other!!! So excited!

4 stars! This is a classic Lynn Painter YA romance. It brought me back to the feels that I felt when reading Better than the Movies, which I loved. Dani and Alec were both great. I liked how their relationship was slow moving. They slowly rebuild their friendship that then turned into more. I loved the side characters. Cassie, Alec's friends, as well as his parents were great. I also loved Grandpa Mick. He was a great part of the book. I wish they had a bit more communication, especially as to why they lost touch but at the same time I understand it may be realistic they didn't because of their age. There were also some things that I thought the book could have done without, such as Dani's mom backstory. I felt like moments like that were not necessary or we could have had a better conclusion to a few of the little things. Overall, this was a really good YA book that did not disappoint.

Thank you NetGalley, Lynn Painter and Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers for the free eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Many thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 ⭐️

Lynn Painter is such a great author, but it’s her YA work where her genius really shines! I couldn’t put it down and loved the plot, the characters, all the teenage angst, the banter, and the love story. Such a good read!

Friends to Enemies to Lovers, Fake Dating, Sports (hockey) Romance, dual POV

Loved the book, and did not want to put it down. It was sweet and funny. I felt the ending was a little abrupt, like I passed the page expecting to read another paragraph and bam, the soundtrack was there instead. Plus I felt that we didn't get the whole Benji story. But overall the pacing of the book and the writing was great.

Lynn did not disappoint. She does fake HS dating so well. Loved all the characters and side characters and the angst. Love grandpa Mic!! It's a closed door romance but lots of swearing not sure it's really YA, maybe new adult? But I'm so glad I read it and def going up in my Lynn Painter book collection.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Childre's Publishing for this electronic ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Lynn Painter does it again!! I am just so in love with the way she writes such a great young adult story.

In true Lynn Painter fashion this was the cutest. Her ya books always take me right back to feeling like I'm in high school. I loveeed the setting, a snowy ice hockey town.. take me there! This one had fake dating, childhood friends to lovers/second chance & some family depth/drama. I just didn't feel the magic and chemistry that I've felt before in her books. The male pov took me out of the story at times with the constant cursing and song lyrics. I am not the target audience for this book tho and I'm sure I would've loved this more as a teen! Grandpa Mick was my favorite 🫶🏻

Thank you so much Simon & Schuster for the arc!

Lynn Painter always does the most amazing work. So exciting to get to see two povs this time. I loved the premise and the pining. As always Lynn does an amazing job talking about common family issues for teens. Really enjoyed this one.

Lynn painter vs my reading slump, Lynn wins everytime!! I adore her writing and storytelling. The relationships, the challenges, the emotions feels very realistic and believable. In this book the insecurities and fears both Dani and Alec feel make sense for their age and family dynamic. The pressures they both feel to appease their parents felt very age appropriate. The forced proximity and fake dating was so natural and made sense. It wasn’t randomly fabricated. The second chance / childhood crush trope was also executed so well. I also loved the relationship with Dani and Mick! The sarcasm laced throughout was so fun! I could not stop reading, I loved this so much! The YA tension, banter, and romance was executed perfectly and the pacing was spot on.

I was struggling to get through this. Although I have read Lynn Painter's other YAs and loved them this one just did not do it for me. I found a lot of it very cringey and predictable as well as dragged out.

4.5 stars!
Thank you NetGalley for this e-arc! This is by far one of my favorite Lynn Painter books. It rivals Better than The Movies for me. Lynn Painter has done a great job of writing her books to be in between young adult and new adult! I feel like this would be suitable for ages 16 and up! Even in my late twenties, I felt that this book had a certain kind of magic and I couldn't put it down.

From the very first page, I was captivated by the story. Dani and Alec are childhood friends who have lost connection due to a misunderstanding over the years, until Dani moves back to their hometown. Dani is socially shy and awkward while Alec is confident and charming. Painter did a great job of turning a cliché trope into an entertaining story that felt completely than any other book. The setting makes for a cozy read perfect for a cold winter day.

I would recommend if you're looking for a closed door sports romance!!

Fake dating, childhood friends, miscommunication, hockey romance....say less.

Dani is an introvert that is prone to panic attacks. When her parents get a divorce, she moves to her mother's hometown, which is also the hometown of her childhood crush. The only problem is that he stopped writing her and completely ghosted her and she does not know why. Imagine her surprise when she shows up to school and he acts like he does not know her.

Alec is no longer the nerdy kid that Dani knew. He has also never forgotten that she let him down when he needed her the most. Now that she is back in town he is determined to stay as far away from her as possible.

When Dani needs a job as the hockey manger and Alec needs to keep his image clean, they decide to fake date.

I loved Dani and Alec. I enjoyed reading as Dani grew and started to come out of her shell with the help of Alec. The addition of the struggles that both of the main characters were facing made the story relatable. I love reading a story where everyone is not perfect and rich.

The side characters were also great. I thought the relationship between Dani and her grandfather was adorable. You could tell that he was really trying but not exactly sure how to relate to her.

There were only a couple of small things that I did not love. The cussing!!! Maybe I am old fashioned, but teenagers do not say the F word in front of their parents. It felt weird to hear them cussing when the parents were around. In all other aspects they seemed like respectful kids. I did not reduce my rating because I fear this is a me problem. The second thing was the miscommunication. I was not crazy about the resolution. I really wanted them to have a discussion. It just felt a little incomplete.

Thank you NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for this title. This is my very honest review.

I have been so scared to read Better Than the Movies' sequel, so it was SO great to receive the eARC of Fake Skating and get my Lynn Painter YA fix! It was exactly what I wanted and expected it to be. A fun, quick read that had really great characters and Lynn Painter's signature banter. I can always count on her to deliver a really good YA rom-com.

I would have loved to see a few more flashbacks (which is not my usual preference) of Alec and Dani as children and their relationship then, and a little bit deeper exploration of Dani's relationship with her mother which we sort of starting exploring but then didn't really go too far. If those are my only two hang-ups, I'm not complaining! It was a really easy breezy read that I'm sure I'll return to in the future.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers and NetGalley for the eARC!

In Lynn Painter’s newest YA romance novel, we follow childhood best friends, Dani and Alec, who reunite during their senior year of high school when Dani moves back to Minnesota and, in a moment of spontaneity, decide to fake date to uphold Alec’s hockey reputation.

Dani and Alec were by far my favorite main characters written by this author. Dani had the perfect balance of shyness and boldness and Alec was so understanding and loving. Their dynamic was so fun. Childhood friends to lovers is a favorite trope of mine and this book delivered it perfectly. Their past created so much tension in the present moments. I also loved how this book was written in dual POV. It made the story much deeper, when we got to hear about each of Dani and Alec’s struggles through both of their unique voices. The setting of the story was super atmospheric and would make this the perfect lighthearted read for a cozy winter night. What I didn’t enjoy so much was the amount of miscommunication. It played a pretty significant role in the story and was never fully resolved. I was also not a fan of the amount of swearing on every page, especially on Alec’s part.

This book followed the classic Painter recipe with an added touch of fake dating and hockey. Fans are of her previous works are sure to love this one as well.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing | Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers for providing an e-ARC.