Edge of Glory

I had terrible taste in literature as a child. Growing up, I absolutely devoured Clive Cussler (thanks to his Raise the Titanic novel in my Titanic period, which came before the movie, thank you very much!), Lee Child and, most of all, Tom Clancy. This, despite the fact that it was increasingly obvious to me how formulaic all of these books were. My favorite recurring theme was in Clancy's Net Force series, a series set slightly in the future about an FBI-equivalent of Net Feds.

In each book, the assistant director of said agency would pick up a new martial arts style. Clancy (or, more accurately, the ghost writer) would spend dozens of pages describing this martial art from a clinical, almost Wikpedia-like overview perspective (please note that I'm not accusing anyone of plagiarism, just "being a hack"). Even as a 13-year-old, I found these hours devoted to a constant succession of new martial arts by the deputy director of a national intelligence agency "unlikely."

All of this is to say, as I picked up another Rachel Spangler book to find out this time we were traveling up the mountain with in-depth looks at both alpine skiing and snowboarding, my warning lights went off. After all, the previous books from Spangler I had read were about curling (yes, really, and expect that recommendation up soon!) baseball and the violin. Though they hadn't twigged my "formulaic and inauthentic" alarm, the sheer diversity of topics had me wary.

But let me tell you, I never knew how badly I wanted a lesbian snowboarder/skiing story. She even managed to draw me in despite using the ice queen trope, which marks an absolute first time that's ever happened for me. So often the "haughty and closed-off meets gung-ho wild child" pairing tries to rely on some combination of "actually Ms. Prim and Proper is a big ol' softy" and "the loosey-goosey one has a Thing for authority." But Spangler actually leans into Elise's frostiness to provide a logical attractant for the surfer-vibe snowboarder Corey, and Corey can match her intensity without betraying her character.

Though this book is a bit emotionally rough, with all of the characters sporting plenty of unfinished edges to snag your heartsleeve on, it's tough love in a good way. Everyone changes, most of them grow, and they all stay true to themselves while providing plenty of wit and charm. Though this is the first Spangler book I'm posting, it certainly won't be the last.