Sugar and Ice

        Hey, guys! It's Sunday again, and it's Christmas Eve! Because of that, I'll be reviewing a definitely wintry book for you guys, a book about maple trees in the winter, ice skating, and the cold. This book is called Sugar and Ice, by Kate Messner.

        Claire Boucher's life revolves around skating. Maple sugar and skating, that is. Some kids have a passion for art. Some have a passion for baseball. Claire's passion is for skating on her cow pond and in the Maple Show. It's just a passion, until one Olympic gold-medalist Andrei Groshev comes to town. He spots Claire's skating and offers a scholarship to the exclusive and very expensive training sessions he runs in Lake Placid. 
       Claire accepts, but her life is turned upside down. Her parents have to change their schedules at their pancake diner to drive her at the 2-hour-away, almost-daily sessions. She doesn't have time for schoolwork, helping out at the diner, her friends, or anything else. Everything is all skating, skating, skating. And it's not all good in the sessions either. She's never seen anything as intense as these courses. Everything is highly competitive, and it's almost like one mistake could cost you the scholarship. Some of the girls are jealous of Claire's talent. Worst of all, someone is vandalizing Claire's skating equipment and costumes. Will she be able to survive this mess?

       I like this book because of the great description in the writing. You really see what's around. You really feel Claire's feelings. I have to admit, the very end was a bit disappointing and confusing, but that's really the only major flaw. There's also a HUGE plot twist at the end, one that I, personally, didn't see coming, and it changes everything. (It deals with a problem I mentioned above, see if you can guess which one it is!) Kate Messner is one of my favorite authors, honestly. She doesn't write super dark books, just lighthearted, fun, but not too much (I find that makes a book too much like a picture book). It's a really good book by a really great author.

I'm really sorry for not being here for the past week (or was it two weeks?). I'm working on a huge thing for you guys, and it'll be released sometime in January as a blog post. Until then, please excuse my absences, and stay tuned for more posts when they come!