Fated Skates by Victoria Schade: ARC Review
“I. Am. Here. No matter what color dog winds up sleeping on your chest, I need you to know that I will be right beside you trying to evict it. You decide to bed rot for a week or two? I’ll be sprouting mold one pillow over. You stop showering and brushing your teeth? I’ll plug my nose. You refuse to answer your phone? I’ll become your social secretary. But the one thing I won’t do is leave. Got it? I will be there for all the dark shit that you think is going to drag you under, because guess what?”
“What?” Ben asked warily.
“I’m your motherfucking life preserver.”
I love the Olympics. I credit this to being an 8-year-old living in Salt Lake during the 2002 Winter Games, where team USA had the most iconic berets as a part of their ensemble. So Fated Skates seemed like a great read to help get me pumped for the upcoming Winter Games in Italy. I expected some drama and some smut and an all-around good time. I didn’t expect to be touched by Bennett and Quinn’s loving support of each other in such a strong way.
We begin the story with Quinn, who is working to make her Olympic comeback after heartbreak in the last games. She has spent the last 4 years healing emotionally, and a bit physically, from where she was at due to the pressures put on her by her coach and parents. She now has a healthy support system and feels ready to show the world this stronger and healthier version of herself.
Quinn is given the opportunity to be featured on The Score, a streaming show centered on athletes, but the problem is that she isn’t a fan of Bennett Martino, who will be interviewing her, after the two of them seemed to have a connection at the last Olympics in Switzerland only for him to ghost her afterwords and end up in the tabloids on his partying rampage. She agrees though, knowing that this coverage will do her good, but with some of her own boundaries in place to protect her hard earned mental peace.
Well, it turns out that Bennett isn’t as bad as he has seemed in Quinn’s mind for the past 3 years and while Quinn was suffering mentally after Switzerland because of her “failure”, Bennett was suffering mentally in the wake of his gold medal success. Once they can see each other’s sides they are able to help each other through the struggles they face, providing support from another who has been in a similar situation, which can be hard to find when you are talking about Olympic gold medals!
The mental health rep and support was my love and takeaway from this book. I loved getting Quinn and Bennett reconnected. I will say that the romantic liberties did detract from the serious of the sport for me at times. I am not typically one to nit-pick realism in books, but Quinn was not going to be learning to speed skate and going sledding in the weeks before her chance to redeem herself on the world stage. The risk of injury had me screaming internally. GIRL! DON’T RISK IT FOR THE CHANCE TO GIVE BENNETT GOOGLY EYES you will never forgive yourself, I will never forgive you.
To recap: come to get pumped up for Team USA in Milan 2026, stay for the warm hug of two people getting the support they need and deserve.