Book 1,022: Kiss and Cry (Love on the Ice #2) – Keira Andrews

I’m pretty sure I stumbled across this one before I realized it was part of a “series” with Only One Bed and apparently a couple other books seem to have been retconned into the series (pretty sure those protagonists are definitely mentioned in this one. At the time I was looking for more diverse protagonists on the covers of the MM Romance novels and this one popped up and here we are months and months later.

Kiss and Tell is the story of the top two men’s figure skating competitors, Canadian Henry (Sam’s older brother from Only One Bed), who is technically proficient and seemingly standoffish and rigid, and American Theo, the party boy of skating who makes up for what he lacks in proficiency with emotions and crowd engagement. So of course this is an opposites attract, grumpy/sunshine, enemies to lovers romance and yup, still here for it.

Whereas Only One Bed was more of a novella, this one was a full novel, and we got a lot more character development and minor characters to engage with. There were of course the moments that led to Henry and Theo having to train with each other and the various moments that led to them ultimately becoming friends, then secret lovers, and then announcing their relationship to the world. What would the book be without that!?

Andrews also included other sexual orientations as Theo antagonized Henry, because he’s the loud obnoxious American who’s going to try and get what he wants, which at the time was Henry:

‘Oh, come on! We all have needs. Or are you ace? Not that ace people don’t have needs. But maybe you’re not into sex with other people, which is totally cool, obviously.’
‘Please stop talking.’
‘It’s not like I asked you about your fave rimming technique. Seriously, it’s okay if you’re not into sex. My sister Veronica identifies as gray ace.’
‘I’m not asexual. Stop.’
He turned up the music. Honestly, it was adorable. So easily scandalized! Okay, so he wasn’t ace. But for someone always so cool and in control, his reaction fascinated me. Was he super repressed in bed? Did he even make noise? Was he a virgin? (Loc. 43)

There were so many cute moments where Henry and Theo looked out of reach other and had each other’s backs. The first after Theo’s coach died and Henry was just there for him and the second when Henry said this:

After a few moments, I felt the itch of Henry’s intense gaze like a laser beam and looked over, taken aback by his intensity.
‘What?’
‘You are smart. Mispronouncing a word only means you probably learned it by reading it instead of hearing it aloud.’ (Loc. 116)

Or even when Theo did exactly what Henry asked him NOT to do, digging into his past connection with a skater that Henry froze up every time he saw him. They grew from the moment and the miscommunication.

I also have to give Andrews credit, as far as I recall she walks the walk when her characters talk the talk about being verse. There was a moment or two as we got to the end of the novel where I thought their internal thoughts and desires might not make it to the page, but they did, and it was worth the wait. She did a great job differentiating between the two and their positioning and how they responded.

He bit his lip endearingly. ‘We’re together, right? Exclusive?’
‘Mm.’
‘Cool.’ His face flushed, and he grinned.
‘That’s awesome. And I know we’re still young, but I love you, and I love being with you. I don’t want anyone else. I don’t miss partying. I want to be with you and Esmeralda—and do you think we should move in together? I think so. I practically already live with you, and when you know, you know. But I’m probably jumping the gun. It’s not like we’re married.’
Easing closer, I met his lips and said simply, ‘Not yet.’ (Loc. 237)

And don’t even get me started on the OMG squeal moments like the last two pull quotes, there were many more and a lot of them super subtle and mundane like a couple in the additional quotes section below. They were just perfectly dropped in at the right moment to make me sigh or grin.

Recommendation: This one leaves me with a warm fuzzy feeling, and I could definitely see going back to re-read it because it just had that warm hominess that I personally want in a relatively low-stakes MM Romance. Sure, there were moments of drama and intensity, but there wasn’t anything so intense or over the top as to make me not enjoy reading it. Andrews is slowly moving up my must read list.

Opening Line: “That saying about the exception proving the rule was true.”

Closing Line: “Alone on the ice, he did run-through after run-through, lost in his own world of edges, spins, and jumps to Ravel’s “Bolero.” If anyone could do that classic justice, it was my warm, wonderful Henry. We’d be home soon enough.” (Whited out to avoid spoilers, highlight to read.)

Additional Quotes from Kiss and Cry
“Henry ate slowly, clearly savoring every bite. It was probably the understatement of the century to say it was unlikely he allowed himself to indulge very often. That he was doing it with me—for me—was powerful in a way I couldn’t really explain.” (Loc. 106)

“He nodded and looked over his shoulder before changing lanes. He was so responsible. Since when had I found that unbearably sexy?” (Loc. 114)

“In the two weeks since Christmas, he had all but moved into my condo. We trained hard every day before cooking healthy meals and treating all our aches and pains together. Theo often propped his twinging knee over my lap as we watched TV on my love seat. My freezer was full of our ice packs and portioned lunches.” (Loc. 174)

“And sure, I’d love to top Henry if he wanted it, but he clearly didn’t at this point, so I hadn’t pushed for it. I was happy doing anything, but with him, I could really relax and trust that he’d fuck me as hard as I wanted without going too far.” (Loc. 184)