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Loading... Podium Finish (edition 2013)by Beth Pond
Work InformationPodium Finish by Beth Pond None No current Talk conversations about this book.  l_manning | Jan 22, 2014 |  no reviews | add a review
With six months until the Olympic Games, seventeen-year-old Harper's life is pretty much perfect. She's fighting for the starting spot on Team USA Women's Hockey, and for the first time ever, she has a crush on a guy who likes her back. She feels like the luckiest girl in the world, until she runs a risky play at practice and breaks her knee, thereby sentencing herself to six weeks in a cast and possibly ending her Olympic dream before it even starts. For seventeen-year-old Alex, being anything less than the best is unacceptable. That's why, after a miserable debut season at the senior level, the former junior national singles champion switches to ice dance. Her skating partner, Ace, is an "all skating all the time" type of guy, which would be fine, if he'd stop keeping secrets about the real reason he and his former partner broke up. Now is not the time for second thoughts, but how can Alex skate her best if she can't trust her partner...or herself? As the pressure to make the Olympic team builds, the girls must rely on each other, because if there's one thing they both know, it's that the only thing harder than skating to the top is staying there. No library descriptions found. |
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I am a major Olympic fangirl, so I was super excited to read this book. It was definitely a fun read. Harper and Alex are very different characters, but you always feel that they would be friends. They help to draw out the best in each other, and you can see how each one drew from the other to help them with their problems. Harper has a fun romance with a short track speed skater, and Alex manages to navigate her sometimes silent ice dance partner. This book gives a real feel for the dedication and hard work that both sports require. I could almost feel my heart pounding as I was waiting for results with Alex or watching for the puck to enter the goal with Harper. To be able to bring these feelings through words takes real skill.
In interest of full disclosure, I am an adult figure skater, so I know a fair bit about that world. There were a few details of that storyline that kind of drew me out of the story, however unless you are very knowledgeable about figure skating it won't bother you. It was just stuff like wondering if Alex had been testing dance while she was testing freestyle because I'm not sure how you could do every dance test needed to compete senior international that quickly. See, not going to matter to most people. Overall though I really loved the book. It was a super quick read for me, and I didn't want to put it down. I really got into the spirit of it all, and now I'm just counting down the days until the opening ceremonies. If you love sports and friendship, check this book out!
Book provided for review. (