Fake Skating by Lynn Painter
Thank you to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for the ARC! 💕💕
Publication: September 30, 2025 by Simon Schuster
Length: 368 pages
As a huge Lynn Painter fan I was beyond excited to be granted a ARC for her new YA Romance coming out THIS SEPTEMBER! And it did not disappoint, dare I say it better than Better Than The Movies. The character dynamics were so lovely and I loved the sports aspect of the story. Bonus points because it was hockey!
Synopsis:
Dani and Alec used be childhood best friends and would spend their summers together every year, until Dani moved away and they suddenly grew apart. But now Dani is moving to Alec's town after Dani's parents got divorced. And Alec is not the cute nerdy boy she used to know, he's the popular star hockey player. And after they get caught in a awkward position in the boy's locker room one day after Alec's practice, they need to start fake dating to save face.
My Thoughts:
No one does YA romance like Lynn Painter. This book had all of my favourite tropes like fake dating, sports romance, they're childhood sweethearts, and the BANTER was top tier. I also really liked the family dynamics. In all of Lynn Painters young adult books there is a some sort of difficult family aspect, and this was no exception. I really like that they have these concepts of family dynamics because a lot of teenagers can relate to that.
I loved Alec and Dani together, they were so cute. And I will say Alec was the BOLDEST out of all of Lynn Painter's MMC. Dani is the shy, bookish girl and Alec is the schools star hockey player. And when I say he’s the star I don’t mean just popular, he’s literally dubbed “Zeus”. That’s how well known he is. And I love the trope of athletic popular boy and the shy, girl next door are dating. The book was super easy to read and it never got boring at any point in the story, I mean I finished the entire book in one sitting. Such a great romance book, great to get you out of a reading slump. Can't wait for you all to read it!
