Review: Finding Her Edge by Jennifer Iacopelli

Adriana Russo’s family is royalty in the figure skating world. Both her parents were Olympic Gold Medalists and now her family owns the prestigious Kellynch rink outside of Boston, Massachusetts. But life has been tough lately. Adriana’s dad is spending way more than he brings in, Junior World Championships is almost here and the fabulous Elisa Russo, Adriana’s older sister, is heading to Beijing for the 2022 Olympics.

To make things more stressful, the entire Team USA will be training at Kellynch before they leave for Paris for the championship. Normally, that wouldn’t be a problem. But Adriana doesn’t want to spend so much time with Freddie O’Connell, her ex-best friend and ex-skating partner. For two weeks, Adriana has to perfect her routines with her skating partner Brayden Elliot, avoid Freddie and somehow fix the financial chaos caused by her family.

All Adriana wants to do is focus on her skating, but everyone in her life is making that difficult. Luckily winning gold in Paris is worth the stress.

We wanted to read Finding Her Edge as soon as we finished Break the Fall. All we knew was that Iacopelli had a figure skating book releasing in 2022 and we knew we had to read it. We’re happy to say that it was so good that we wish we read it earlier. There’s something funny about reading an ice skating book while lounging by the pool.

We sympathized with Adriana right away. As the middle child, she tended to get overlooked, especially because of her super star sister with a huge ego. Adriana is also an ice dancer, which is different from regular pairs in figure skating. Her dad doesn’t think it’s “real figure skating,” which means she’s judged the harshest.

Adriana experienced significant character growth as she learned to take care of herself and separate herself from her family issues. I mean when your card gets declined because your sister used all the money you earned in the joint account to buy designer boots, it’s time to get a separate account. Adriana became confident enough to stand up for herself and her skating.

Now, for the romance, we were actually surprised with the direction it took. To get over Freddie, Adriana and Brayden start fake dating. Except, Brayden doesn’t know about Adriana’s feelings for Freddie. Sounds messy, right? It is. Surprisingly, we liked how it turned out, even if we didn’t expect who Adriana ended up with at first. Let’s just say a super romantic date in Paris is unbeatable.

Additionally, we liked the side characters a lot. They added the right amount of heart and humor to the story, especially Adriana’s friend Riley and the youngest Russo, Maria. There’s also a large cast of figure skaters. It could be a bit difficult to keep track of them all though.

Lastly, we thought the story ended on a good note. We do wish it felt more resolved though between Adriana and her family. They owed her many apologies. The epilogue skips forward over three years and while it was interesting to get a glimpse of the future, we wish Iacopelli focused on what happened after Paris.

Overall, Finding Her Edge is perfect for figure skating and winter romance fans. If you enjoyed the Cutting Edge movies, you’re bound to like this 2022 YA release.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5/⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐