Best friends to strangers to lovers will do it for me every time. Although I didn’t think I’d like it in a YA setting because I usually don’t gravitate towards YA Lynn Painter did it very well. You could tell it was YA by the writing style, but it didn’t feel extremely childish which I loved. Dani and Alec’s friendship was so cute and you could tell they really loved each other. Alec’s character was written so well. He was the perfect mix being attractive, popular, and funny but not too cocky all while being sweet and caring. I also really liked Dani’s character and how empathetic she was. I related to her in many ways — like her anxiety. I think they are the perfect mix together. The dynamic between Dani and her grandfather was one of my favorite parts. I liked seeing them rekindle their relationship. The music in this book was also another one of my favorite parts. I love how it was added throughout the book and how much Alec relates to music. I will say I wish the third act break up had to do with the reason why they stopped talking because I felt like we were building towards that. When the stuff that happened between them during their childhood came out it felt anticlimactic and it was very late into to the story. It happened after they were already together. It was still a very cute hockey romance and I really enjoyed it

I love Lynn Painters writing. Everything she writes, I kick my feet and giggle and this book was no different. I love a good friends to lovers and then you throw in friends to enemies to lovers, I just about keeled over. I loved everything about this book. It’s one of my favorite sports romances/YA romances.

I struggled with rating this one.

This was my first Lynn Painter novel, and I was sooo excited. YA romance is a risky genre for me to start off with, but I was eating it up in the first half.

But it almost felt like the second half was a totally different story. It felt repetitive, obvious, even the writing seemed younger.

I'm also no stickler for language, but there was a lot of swearing in this for a YA. I have no opinion on that - I was just surprised by the quantity considering the demographic. Or, maybe that's how teenagers are. I guess I don't know.

Overall, I mostly enjoyed myself. It was a cute hockey romance and a fun narrative. If YA romance is your thing, I'd recommend.

Lynn Painter remains the queen of YA romcoms! Gosh I loved the bitter second chance romance between Dani and Alec. Their tension was *CHEFS KISS* and watching them go from bitter ex-friends to admitting their love for each other was SO much fun. Like Better Than The Movies, I ATE this up in record time.

➳ GIVE ME A PART TWO ☆

<i>first and foremost, thank you, simon and schuster & netgalley for this ARC. as always, this will be an honest review.</i>

your honor, I LOVE THEM. if you have been keeping up with my updates, you would know how much fun this book was. i miss them so much, already. when the audio book comes out, trust me, i will be reading this again. <i>fake skating</i> is the perfect YA romance for everyone who misses that romcom feeling. i will be the first to say, i love alec & dani more than wes & liz. i didn't think lynn painter could out-do herself, but she cooked, served, and ate. i can't wait to see everyone's reaction to this book. i hope you guys love it as much as i did. this book comes out on <b>september 30th.</b>

☆ YA romance
★ dual point of view
✮ childhood best-friends to strangers to lovers
☆ fake dating
★ sports romance
✮ small-town
☆ yearning + angst + LOTS of miscommunication
★ shy, quiet girl + popular guy
✮ found family

the vibes of this book were immaculate. i love a good romance story that takes place over winter and lynn did not disappoint. from the jump, we see a little glimpse of our main characters when they were younger—to then how everything unfolded when dani comes back into alec's life in the present timeline. the romance and their romantic relationship was a solid 10/10 for me. this was by far the highlight of the book. since dani & alec are only high school seniors, their development together and individually made a lot of sense for this narrative. their love was ever present—a quiet but static love that never went away. in this book, one of the focal points that stood out for me, was the gradual shift in their relationship. they went from best-friends who had a crush on each other, to strangers, then best-friends again, to lovers. some parts were chessy, but it was so cute to read about.

꩜ ── <i>dani</i>
dani is such a real character. for once, a YA romance doesn't have the main characters doing backflips and fighting thanos. a lot of the setting from this book takes place at her home and at school. due to some tense relations with her family—and her newer reformed relationship with alec—we see many sides of dani that are different, but equally important. after she moved away to live with her parents, we find out that her and alec fell out, without ever knowing the why or how. this was a huge weight that dani carried throughout the book, and when it finally was revealed, it felt a little kooky. i would've liked a little more depth with that story-line, since a HUGE part of the plot was this miscommunication. i do feel like everything was resolved a little too quickly with no real repercussions for it to be such a signification implication.

꩜ ── <i>alec</i>
alec is the definition of pathetic. lynn knows how to write a good MMC. similar with dani, he is your typical popular jock and everyone loves and worships him. however, unlike a lot of arrogant hockey stars, alec is very guarded on the inside and also has layers that go deeper than his surface level facade. he also has a lot of weight on his shoulders at such a young age with hockey, his family, and his and dani's relationship. similar to what i mentioned before, i wish this book would've dived a little deeper for those aspects since there was such a looming presence. regardless, i loved everything about them and i need more. love, love, love.

i would LOVE to see another book about them—similar to better than the movies. there is so much potential here to reintroduce certain conflicts and allow them to learn and grow from that. a lot of this book is petty miscommunication which is why i can't give this a full 5 star rating. the romance is a 5/5, but i could've done without the lack of random disclosure at the end.

<i><b>4.25/5</b></i>

so so cute!!! lynn painter shines when she writes YA romance and i loved this one. finished in one sitting and just such a fun time

I wasn’t sure how I would like this after not reading any of this author’s books but I really enjoyed it! The premise felt realistic yet still exciting and I was turning the pages quickly to see what happened next!

Thank you to Simon and Schuster and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

If you’re a fan of Lynn Painter’s YA romances, this book will not disappoint!

Dani is a military brat who moves with her mom to her estranged grandfather’s house after her parents’ divorce. Alec is a high school hockey star with his sights on playing for the NHL, if he can save his reputation. They were childhood friends who lost touch, and are now back in each other’s lives - for better or for worse.

This dual POV fake dating novel is heavy on teenage angst, and the main characters have great chemistry. The third act conflict could have been easily avoided, but these are teenagers, so I’ll give them a pass.

I really enjoyed this book and think romance lovers will enjoy it as well, regardless of which end of the Young/Adult spectrum you’re on!

Lynn Painter is the queen of cute YA rom-coms and I found myself really enjoying her latest release. In ‘Fake Skating’, Dani Collins and Alec “Zeus” Barczewski are childhood friends that are reunited when Dani moves back in with her grandfather after her parents divorce. They start fake dating to improve Alec’s reputation after he gets into trouble and eventually real feelings develop. I really liked the representation and that it tackled divorce from the child’s POV. Dani’s anxiety also felt true to a military child who was forced to move around a lot. My biggest complaint is that the conflict between the main characters wasn’t addressed until the end of the book. I feel like this should’ve be resolved during the transition from fake dating to real dating and their childhood feelings felt glossed over. Overall, this was a book that’s easy to binge and if you liked Lynn Painter’s prior books you will probably enjoy this one as well!

4/5 stars

Gosh I just love Lynn Painter books. They’re so cute and just a good romance. Also very wow, young love. This is a friends to lovers romance, and also sports romance as he is a hockey player. When she moved away, they switched to pen pals but then stopped speaking. That hurt both of them, but there’s a misunderstanding on who stopped talking to who. Also some tragedies happened around that time which makes the loss feel more like a betrayal.
But a locker room situation leads to them having to fake date— the forced proximity leads them to start uncovering truths and feelings about each other and the fake starts to become real. It technically always was, but they had a wall between them thinking the other betrayed them.

Thank you NetGalley for the e-arc!

Genuinely - can Lynn do wrong???? I just loved this story so much. So basic, so simple, and so perfect. Typical enemies to lovers/ fake dating sprinkled in with some miscommunication but I’m sitting here giggling while I read because it just makes me happy.

Gosh I love a hockey obsessed town 🥹 this felt like better than the movies but add hockey and I ate it UP. Once I started I couldn’t put it down! The banter was so good and the fake dating was *chefs kiss*. Had me giggling and kicking my feet until 1am 👏

There were a couple things that made me roll my eyes, like Alec’s playlist lol you can just never convince me a high school hockey player is listening to Taylor swift and role model and Adele lol BUT. Honestly excellent song choices so I forgive him.

Thanks to NetGalley for the arc!

In this adorably sweet YA romantic comedy, childhood friends Alec and Dani are reunited as high school seniors after losing touch for years. However, each thinks the other has ghosted them. Alec is the star of the school’s hockey team, and hockey is a big deal in their Minnesota town. Dani is new to the school, and looking for ways to impress Harvard. They come up with a mutually beneficial fake dating plan that may work in both their favor- as long as they can stand to be around each other.

Lynn Painter is the best at writing rom coms- I adore her adult books, and this is the third YA rom com that I’ve devoured and loved from her as well. I love her sense of humor and banter and the sweet little moments she creates between her characters. Although this can’t take the place in my heart owned by Wes and Liz, Alec and Dani are cutie pies as well and their story is fun, sweet, and charming. The hockey storyline was great and Dani’s grandpa was such a heartwarming addition to the story- I loved him. I think this book is perfect for the young adult audience and has broad enough appeal that adults can enjoy it too.

Thank you so much to the one and only Lynn Painter and Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, if Lynn Painter writes it, I’m going to read it! Her books always put a smile on my face! I really enjoy her fun, funny, engaging style of storytelling. This book was no different. The book deals with some difficult topics related to moving and family dynamics, but it was told in a way I think young readers will be able to identify with.

This book is full of banter, jokes, and teenage antics. I felt so much nostalgia for my high school days while reading this book! Dani and Alec are cute and I enjoyed how their relationship developed. Who doesn’t love high school sweethearts?!

If you enjoy fun, sporty YA romances with lots of cute banter, then I recommend checking this book out.

Five Stars! Five beautiful heartfelt stars! I laughed, I cried, I swooned…I did it all while reading this phenomenal book. Best friends to enemies to lovers…yes please! You could feel the tension between these two all throughout this story. Pulled together like magnets, no matter the situation. Dani and Alec’s story will entertain you from beginning to end. I absolutely adored this book.

Highly recommended.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Childrens Publishing

I think this had cute moments but I just don’t understand the need to have the main character, who is in high school, drop the f bomb every other sentence! It wasn’t necessary to the story. I liked the characters and I loved how the mom came back to life after being gone. I would have liked to hear more from her perspective, more conversations between Dani and her mom.

This wasn't my favorite Lynn Painter novel, but by no means was it bad. It's a cute YA Rom-Com featuring Dani and Alec, two childhood best friends turned enemies (it kind of reminded of Better Than the Movies if i'm honest) but this time, Alec plays hockey. There is a lot for the couple to overcome both together and by themselves and as always, there is humor when it starts to get too heavy. Overall, 4/5!

This the first YA title of Painters that I’ve read, even though I’m a YA librarian and have purchased her extremely popular titles before. I really enjoyed the book. The leads were well developed and believable. The fake dating plot was a little forced instead of natural at times. Of course there had to be a misunderstanding, but it really seemed like it would have come out sooner than it did, which strained belief a bit. However, the story was very satisfying and enjoyable.

Oh how much I love a Lynn Painter book. She writes banter so well and Dani and Alec’s story of coming back together from being childhood best friends was so fun. I love a fake dating second chance vibe and this hit all the marks especially with the fun backdrop of hockey!! Perfect book going into the cozy months!

I received this novel as an advanced reader copy from net. Kelley in exchange for an honest review.. Every single book I read by Lynn Painter is wonderful Her characters are relatable in the romances are realistic. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys romance novels from young adults to regular adults!