Finding Her Edge

by Jennifer Iacopelli

For fans of Emma Lord and Abbi Glines, Jennifer Iacopelli’s swoony, romantic new novel follows elite ice dancer Adriana Russo as she finds herself drawn to both her old dance partner and her new one.

Adriana Russo is figure skating royalty.

With gold-medalist parents, and her older sister headed to the Olympics, all she wants is to live up to the family name and stand atop the ice dance podium at the Junior World Championships. But fame doesn’t always mean fortune, and their legendary skating rink is struggling under the weight of her dad’s lavish lifestyle. The only thing keeping it afloat is a deal to host the rest of the Junior Worlds team before they leave for France.

That means training on the same ice as her first crush, Freddie, the partner she left when her growth spurt outpaced his. For the past two years, he’s barely acknowledged her existence, and she can’t even blame him for it.

When the family’s finances take another unexpected hit, losing the rink seems inevitable until her partner, Brayden, suggests they let the world believe what many have suspected: that their intense chemistry isn’t contained to the ice. Fans and sponsors alike take the bait, but keeping up the charade is harder than she ever imagined. And training alongside Freddie makes it worse, especially when pretending with Brayden starts to feel very real.

As the biggest competition of her life draws closer and her family’s legacy hangs in the balance, Adriana is caught between her past and present, between the golden future she’s worked so hard for, and the one she gave up long ago.

Genres: Romance, Young Adult, Sports, Contemporary, Sports Romance, Figure Skating, Fiction

304 pages, Hardcover

First published February 8, 2022

About the author

Jennifer Iacopelli writes about ambitious young women with big dreams and the guys who love them for it. Her novels include Game, Set., Match, Finding Her Edge and Break the Fall, along with a co-edited anthology, Out of Our League. Throughout her career her books have been published in over a dozen languages and Finding Her Edge has been adapted for television by Netflix. She lives in New York and invites you to follow her everywhere @jennifercarolyn or visit her website at jenniferiacopelli.com.

Reviews

[Hannah B. · Rating 1 out of 5]

✨HAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHHAHAHAHAAHAAHFUCKTHISBOOKAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHHA✨

This was ABSOLUTELY, HORRENDOUSLY, ATROCIOUSLY, DISGUSTINGLY, INEXCUSABLY, VOCIFEROUSLY WORST. CASE. SCENARIO. This book is expired sushi left in a hot car. This book is your least favorite book’s best friend. This book is walking on legos. This book is having something in your cart and then as soon as you go to checkout “out of stock please remove from cart” pops up. This book is a beautiful cover on a dumpster fire of a manuscript. This book is the cheese touch. This book is pain. Physical pain.


✨✨MAJOR SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT✨✨

I

Am

Unwell

To do fake dating SO DIRTY like that is actually causing me bodily discomfort. I want to exorcise the memory of this book from my being. I cannot believe she made the love interest a cardboard cutout of THE ACTUAL, SHOULD’VE BEEN love interest. We didn’t fucking meet this raspy ass, dry ass mouth breather motherfucker until halfway through the book??? She had like three conversations with the crouton. How dare she do Brayden like this. The ending???? Brayden’s been pining for YEARS and he just shakes it off? Even Taylor Swift would be cursing this book out. I literally cannot believe Freddie Krueger is the one we were supposed to love. How DARE this book describe Brayden with such detail and devotion.

This had to have been an editor’s choice. I simply refused to believe the book was originally meant to be this wishy washy and laughable. Nothing was solid. No emotions or endings or conclusions were earned or achieved. You cannot give us pages of Brayden and expect us to just be okay with French Fry???? His love letter gave pennies of what it would’ve taken for me to be okay with this arc. This cemented my glorious exorcism of love triangles from my life.

I was able to push aside her horrible family and the fact that this book made zero sense, for the romance. I’m corrupt like that but NEVER have I been so horrified at the clear impending doom of a book. I know nothing about Frozen Peas besides the fact that he’s a hhhhhhwhisp of a crusty ass character.

Subverting tropes is fun but for that to happen YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND WHY THE TROPES ARE POPULAR IN THE FIRST PLACE. The connection! The forced proximity! The rightness of something that seemed wrong! This book fumbled the pass so hard the other team scored while blindfolded and dizzy from spinning around a baseball bat 10 times.

I’m so sweaty.

⭐️/5

[Jennifer Iacopelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

An update I never dreamed of making: FINDING HER EDGE IS GOING TO BE ON NETFLIX!

Check out the announcement here!

And if you're reading Finding Her Edge for the very first time, FOR REASONS, you should probably ignore that epilogue. Just...put your hands over your eyes and pretend it does not exist.

[Karissa · Rating 1 out of 5]

having a fake dating trope where they don't fall for each other and the girl ends up with the guy she had 2 interactions with really sucks

[Erin Craig · Rating 5 out of 5]

So sweet and swoony… this was the perfect read for all those who were captivated by Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir!

[Carly [A Beauty & Her Books] · Rating 3 out of 5]

#braydendeservedbetter

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wenn man mich fragen würde ob dieses Buch besonders tiefgründig war, einen tollen Plot hatte oder mit nicht kindischen Charakteren überzeugen könnte dann müsste ich diese Fragen (leider) verneinen. Es war eine sehr flache Geschichte mit einem sehr vorhersehbaren Ende, sehr viel künstlich erzeugtem Drama und (aufgrund des Alters) wahnsinnig kindischen Reaktionen auf Dinge. Hab ich die Geschichte trotzdem absolut verschlungen, wollte immer weiterlesen und hab so etwas wie Spannung verspürt? Absolut! Zum Ende hin wurde es sogar richtig emotional, und ich hatte Gänsehaut bei den Dingen, die so passiert sind. Das Buch konnte mich also richtig richtig gut unterhalten, und da ich Storys über Eiskunstlaufen bzw. Jegliche Art von Sport Wettkämpfen in Büchern total gerne lese waren die oben benannten Punkte total irrelevant. Ich wollte sie euch trotzdem nicht vorenthalten, weil man einfach nicht mit einer großen Erwartung an das Buch gehen sollte. Wenn man diese allerdings runterschraubt und sich einfach ein wenig berieseln oder unterhalten lassen will: Go for it! Ich habe es tatsächlich sehr genossen!

[Rachel007 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely shipped the WRONG team, but nonetheless I could not put this book down! Jen is one of the best YA sports writers for girls. Her books are feminist and fun and they never pit the girls against each other, which I love! This one is a delightful retelling of my favorite Austen book PERSUASION, set against a backdrop of Boston & figure skaters headed to the Olympics. Complete with an adorkable letter. (But yeah I still rooted for the wrong ship bahaha!). Cannot wait to see what the final book is like!!!

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

LOL. Well, NOW I see this book is a Persuasion retelling. That might've helped! I didn't think the love story was very well done, but now at least I better understand what the book was going for.

I am probably going to like Olympic books and oh, I really enjoyed the passion and dedication these characters had for this sport. The main character was probably TOO good to be true (not in the skating sense--in the being the ultra responsible one in her family sense).

I was disappointed in the flashforward at the end. Why end it that way???

[Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was... fine? I think contemporary Persuasion retellings are hard, and translating that to YA is even harder. This kind of worked, but also kind of didn't. And really the romance of it all felt like a B or C plot in the grand scheme of things. The way all of it wrapped up kind of felt flat, and the big emotional moment of The Letter didn't pack the punch it should have. I don't know what I wanted from an epilogue, either, but... not that??

I also found the blending of this fake figure skating world and the actual sport to be a bit strange and didn't hit the right balance for me. There were also a few mistakes that I think should have been caught in editing by someone who has basic knowledge of the sport (or the ability to Google, for example, the differences between ice dance and pairs), and I admit those stood out for me.

One thing that was great for me here was the references to how Adriana cared for/dealt with her curly hair. Genuinely appreciated the handful of those references we got!

[Brandy Painter · Rating 1 out of 5]

Two Things About Me:
1. I LOVE Jane Austen. Teaching my unit on Austen to my students is one of my most favorite things to do as a teacher. Persuasion is in my top three of her novels, where it falls specifically depends on my mood.

2. I am a FAN™️ of Ice Dance-not just figure skating in general but specifically Ice Dance. The other three disciplines I watch casually during Nats, Worlds, and the Olympics (sometimes also Europeans and 4CC if time permits). Ice Dance I schedule into my weekend during every Grand Prix of the season and as much as I possibly can during Challenger and Junior comps.

This book was always going to be a love it or hate it for me. I did firmly tell myself that I would let inconsistencies about the skating that wouldn't be noticeable to casual fans slide as long as they weren't too egregious. While I have a major quibble with the skating, my bigger problem with this book is all the reasons it is a subpar Persuasion retelling.

Every novel Austen wrote has a dichotomy between a Bad Man and a Good Man. (Those two descriptors are bland and reductive, but I'm not currently writing that essay.) Every single one of her villains falls on the spectrum of sexual predator (some to more extremes than others). The villain in Persuasion is the mildest form this takes, but he is still very much not a good person who sees women as disposable in his quest for what he wants. Iacopelli made the mistake of turning the foil for her Wentworth character into an actual decent person she spent more time developing than she did Wentworth's counterpart in this book. I was not at all surprised to skim the reviews on this and discover that so many people were outraged about how the romance pans out. Freddie is mayonnaise on white bread with the crusts cut off. (Frederick Wentworth deserves so much better. UGH.) I think in many ways the author was leaning into this being a reworking of Persuasion to do the work for her in selling the Adriana/Freddie ship, but the problem there is her target audience is teenagers, and none of my students have ever walked into my English class having read Persuasion. If they have experience with Austen, it's Pride and Prejudice or Emma. And of course they would be outraged. Brayden is the one with the personality, charm, and evident care for Adriana. He is the other half of the fake dating scheme, and the first half of the book focuses on his relationship with Adriana. Zero surprise people are mad.

The family dynamic part of this succeeds in being both an excellent reflection of the dynamics in the source work AND an interesting look at the pressures and nepotism prevalent in skating overall. Too bad this book wasn't just about that. It could have been great.

Regarding the figures skating. Here's the thing that bothered me the most. Iacopelli grounded her FS world in real world skating by placing the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, the 2026 Olympics in Milan, AND name dropping Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron. I could have moved past the first two. Throwing real live people in the mix means we're now truly grounded in real life skating. If P/C exist in this world, then don't all the US Senior Ice Dance Teams, who Iacopelli had the audacity to say tanked in Beijing? (I know she was writing this before the Olympics actually arrived, but what does she have against H/D, C/B, and H/B that she would send those kind of vibes their way?) The US Olympic Team comes in 5th in the Beijing team event somehow in this book, and (here's where it got really annoying) the USFSA* is toying with the notion of sending Adriana/Braden to Senior Worlds because of how bad the Senior teams competed at the Olympics, which is RIDICULOUS. First, it's ridiculous because there is nothing FS audiences love more than a redemption narrative arc, so Olympic failure doesn't mean diddly squat when it comes to attending Worlds. Second, Worlds assignments are determined at Nationals. At the end of Nats weekend, USFSA chooses the teams that will compete at Worlds AND THEIR ALTERNATES. The US Senior Ice Dance bench is DEEP. For a team that had only ever competed as Juniors to be sent to Senior Worlds, all the Senior teams would have to be tragically blown up on a boat during a party a la Will Ferrell's Eurovision movie. Even then why would they bother when the required technical elements are not the same? They would need TWO new (or at the very least greatly reworked) programs. The most annoying part is this didn't need including to raise the stakes, and it just kept getting brought up for the last 1/4 of the novel, so I couldn't ignore it either.

Either your skating world needs to be made up out of whole cloth or grounded in reality. Don't straddle.

*Called something else in this book probably for trademark reasons. (Me giving the benefit of the doubt about author's research skills.)

[Beth · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don’t know much about the details of skating, so I didn’t catch the skating mistakes Grace did. I almost think the book would’ve been more interesting if I had.

This was… fine, I suppose. It was about competition and dedication to a sport and social media toxicity and difficult family dynamics, except it only touched on those topics glancingly (skated over the really rough patches, if you will) and so it ended up not saying much at all.

Eh.

[The Candid Cover (Olivia & Lori) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full Review on The Candid Cover

3.5 Stars

Finding Her Edge by Jennifer Iacopelli is a Persuasion retelling set in the world of figure skating. As a fan of pretty much any sports book, I enjoyed the strong main character and the accessible way the author works in details about skating. While I struggled with some of the character dynamics, I still found this to be a cute sports romance that demonstrates Jennifer Iacopelli’s strength in writing the sports genre.

For Adriana, the daughter of figure skating legends, winning gold is in her blood. However, despite her family’s fame, her father spends more than they can afford, leaving her family no choice but to host the Junior Worlds time at their own rink to make ends meet and forcing Adriana to train alongside her ex-partner who she still has feelings for. Just as Adriana’s family is about to lose their rink, Adriana is offered a sponsorship opportunity if she pretends to date her new partner–an opportunity to bring in some much-needed profit. Torn between a fake relationship and a real one as the Junior World Championships draw near, Adriana must decide what she wants and which future is right for her.

❀ STRONG MAIN CHARACTER

Adriana is an independent main character, and I admired her strength. She feels a lot of pressure from her legendary parents and her Olympics-bound sister, and she has a lot on her plate with her family drama, the fake dating scheme, and the upcoming competition. Despite this, Adriana handles every challenge realistically, and she remains focused on working toward her goals. In terms of character dynamics, I have to admit that some of the side characters could have been better developed, and I know some readers may not be satisfied with the way the love triangle turns out. However, even with this in mind, I admired Adriana’s maturity and her own personal growth.

❀ READABLE COMPETITION STORY

What I love about Jennifer Iacopelli’s books is the way she writes sports and competition. Similar to the gymnastics in Break the Fall, the figure skating aspects in this book feel well-researched but not overwhelming–we get descriptions of the characters’ skating but with minimum skating jargon, which keeps the story readable. I especially appreciate the way Iacopelli writes dynamics between competitors. Too often in books about women in sports, women are pitted against each other. In this one, and in the author’s other work, the characters are supportive of each other, and I loved reading about their genuine care for one other despite the competition.

❀ A PERSUASION RETELLING

Finding Her Edge by Jennifer Iacopelli is a Persuasion retelling about being torn between the past and the future. I enjoyed the main character’s perseverance, and the dynamics between competitors are especially well-written. Fans of books about figure skating will not want to miss this adorable romance.

[Booksneverdie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just finished reading Finding Her Edge! ✨

I absolutely flew through this book, stayed up until after midnight (something I haven’t done for quite some time) and the romance brought me back to my Wattpad days where I would devour romance after romance 🤌🏻💓 It had the fake dating trope, extremely cute love interest BUT also a love triangle which sadly didn’t end the way I wanted it to which extremely disappointed me. Why set readers up with such an amazing love interest (I was 100% invested y’all) when she’s just going to leave him hanging? And let me tell you, that guy was absolutely head over heels! I did not vibe with the other love interest at all and did not see this coming for a second. I even got to, like, despise the main character for her actions and stringing others along towards the end of the book.

Brayden is the absolute sweetest and deserved so so so much better!

But, because the first 70% of the book was really good, was extremely promising in the romance department and for the fact that the main character was actually likeable (which sadly couldn’t be said for the last 30%) I’ll still give this book 🌟🌟🌟 (3) stars.

[Samantha Pierskalla · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have a lot to say about this book. First you set up the perfect love interest Brayden and Adriana doesn’t even end up with him? They do the whole fake dating thing and nothing comes of it. I’m so confused why she chose for Adriana to end up with Freddie instead. It literally comes out of nowhere like 80% into the book. I get she used to have a crush on the guy. But they had like no chemistry. A majority of the book seemed to be setting up Adriana and Brayden ending up together but then a curve ball is thrown at you and they don’t. If Freddie had more time in the book and more interactions with Adriana then it would have made a little more sense for her to choose him. It’s like the writer had a whole book written in her head about Adriana and Freddie relationship but decided not to show more of it. I really hate leaving such a bad review but I had such high hopes for this book. I love the fake dating troupe so much and I was just let down because usually the two people who fake date end up together.

[elaine · Rating 1 out of 5]

unbelievably bad. i dislike nepotism athletes on principle, so i found the main character and her ~family legacy~ dilemma unbearably cringe. also, my face when the author started name-dropping actual figure skaters who are currently competing… girl what do papadakis and cizeron have anything to do with this

[kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

With high stakes, family drama, fierce women in sport, completion and an adorable romance, this had everything I love in a sporty romance. It’s fast paced, easy to read and totally addictive and has truly solidified Jennifer Iacopelli as an auto buy, go-to author for me. Loved it.

[Cara · Rating 4 out of 5]

“I’ve been in love with you since I was ten years old. I might not have known what to call it back then and up until a few days ago I would have denied it with my dying breath, but that’s the truth.

I love you.
I always have and I always will.

I tried to stay away from you. Tried to just ignore you and avoid you and I failed. I’ve never been happier to fail in my life because I think that maybe I’m not alone in this. That maybe everything I’m feeling, you’re feeling too.”



also I cant pick a side hahaha…

3.5 ⭐️

[gabb]

i think the silliest thing about this book is that you can tell an american wrote it

ALSO i think the most annoying thing is that we're just going to pretend, this ice dance team who has only ever competed in juniors, will be going to senior worlds with a month notice (they were told they were being considered for a worlds spot because the beijing ice dance teams flopped... as if worlds assignments weren't chosen after nats)??????? as if we don't need this junior team to get a new program and learn a whole new pattern?????

[Andi (Andi's ABCs) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was cute in parts, but I definitely shipped the wrong pair which made me sad. I do love a book that takes place in the figure skating world so all is not lost. In the end it was a quick read that made me want to watch The Cutting Edge again.

[Leah · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The only thing I plan to focus on is winning gold. Everything else is just noise.”

Finding Her Edge by Jennifer Iacopelli is a fun, young adult romance! Adriana’s sister is headed to the Winter Olympics in Beijing for the Ice Skating competition. Unfortunately, it will be four years before Adriana can compete in Ice dancing. In the meantime, she is competing in the Junior World Ice Skating Championship. Four years earlier, Adriana fell for her former ice dancing partner Freddie, but she grew taller than him. With the threat of potentially sitting out a season of Juniors, she made the decision to swap partners even though she carried a torch for her partner.

This is my first book by Jennifer, and I enjoyed her writing so much! Her writing flows so well and so easy. Not once did I need to look up the lingo or terminology in relation to ice skating or ice dancing. I sincerely appreciate that about this book, because I know nothing about skating. I have never visited a skating rink in my life. So, if you are not familiar with ice skating/dancing, do not be dismayed. The book is very well written!

Jennifer also does such a great job with the relationships in this book. While reading I felt transported to my young teenage days with cute crushes. Thank you for the warm, fuzzy memories, Jennifer! I will definitely read another book by this author.

Thank you so much to Penguin Random House, Razorbill, Jennifer Iacopelli, and Netgalley for a copy of this wonderful book in exchange for my honest opinion!

[Aly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I realize now that this is meant as a retelling of Persuasion, but I've never read it and so I was surprised at how the love triangle turned out. The story was pretty cute and I liked the ice dancing parts a lot. Usually books are about skating and tricks, but it was fun seeing the techniques used for dancing. I liked that it was pairs also, so the guys were included and not hockey players or something else.

I wanted Adrianna to choose the other guy and was disappointed with how it turned out. I understand the reasoning, but I just wanted it to go differently and it kind of made my enjoyment go down.

[Jennifer Comeaux · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm always so excited to see new figure skating-themed books, especially in the YA romance genre. As a diehard fan of the sport, I tend to read these books with a more critical eye than others because I want the sport to be represented accurately. The author did a good job for the most part, but there were some things that just wouldn't be possible like Adriana and Brayden competing at both the junior and senior levels at the same nationals. There were also some things that would never happen like the national skating federation dumping all their senior dance teams and sending junior teams to the World Championships instead. One other thing that bothered me throughout the book was the use of "routine" and "hitting the routine" to describe the skaters' programs. Those terms are used more in gymnastics and not much in skating.

I had the same feelings about the love triangle that many other readers did. I thought Adriana's relationship with Brayden was much better developed and he should have been endgame. There was hardly any interaction with Freddie aside from some looks across the room for most of the book.

It was a fun read overall. I found a few similarities to my own skating books (cover pose, love interest named Brayden, heroine with Italian heritage, setting in Boston, romantic outing in Paris).

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars, rounded down

I enjoyed this cute YA romance centered around an ultra-competitive ice skating family. It was interesting to hear Adriana's life in pairs ice dancing. Those pairings can get complicated for teenagers and one person being attracted while the other might not be. FINDING HER EDGE was a quick listen. I'm a skating fan, so that definitely helped to enjoy this YA book more.

Thanks to San Diego County Library for the digital audio version via Libby app.

[Audio: 9 hours, 17 minutes]

Time spent reading: 6 hours, 39 minutes

[Ashlyn Massey · Rating 5 out of 5]

You guys

I keep finding such amazing books


I have quite literally no words to describe this book and how good it is. Other people may not agree and thats ok.

But I loved this book and I have a feeling it’ll take me a long time to not be in love with this book.

Braedyn will always have a very special place in my heart bc he is so fricking adorable. And Freddie…this kid is so fricking poetic it makes my heart so happy.

Thank you Jennifer for writing such an amazing book and I can’t wait for it to come out on Netflix!!!!!!!!!!!

5 ⭐️

Gtg buy this book!!!!!!

[ramona · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was drier than my chemicals test and that is something.

[Nidhi Dhaneesh · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 stars
I started as Team Freddie and ended up on Team Brayden

[Sylvia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unlike Break the Fall, this was a predictable kissy book, but it had enough figure skating to bump it to a 3!

[Isabella (isabunchofbooks) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

I really like Jennifer Iacopelli, and I'm so glad there is a new figure skating novel out there - there are far too few of them :(. And I really appreciated that Jen got the technical elements of the sport that were inserted in here correct - it would have really bothered me if it wasn't!

[Ivelisse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love triangles suck because always one gets hurt. This one had my heart hurting for Brayden but also rooting for Freddie. I wanted them all to win. The whole lot was oblivious to how one felt for the other and story ended as expected.

[Taylor · Rating 2 out of 5]

13 year old figure skater me would’ve loved this, current me thinks she picked the wrong guy lol