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Reviewed in the United States on March 15, 2022
The book was really good and I definitely recommend it. The skating parts were good and it described figure skating parts very well. I really wanted to read the book in one sitting and it had me reading for hours. We give it 5 stars
Drebbles
Reviewed in the United States on August 27, 2020
After being badly burned in an accident when she was young, Katie Wilder wears a mask to hide her injured face from the world. The daughter of a once famous skating coach, she spends many hours skating – becoming one of the best skaters in the world even if nobody knows it. But when her father is able to return to coaching and starts coaching pair skaters who may qualify for the Olympics, Katie’s life begins to change. Will she find the courage to chase her own figure skating dreams or will she keep hiding behind her mask?Set in the real life world of competitive figure skating, “The Girl Without a Face” is an interesting, poignant novel that features real skating events (for example the Grand Prix Series, Nationals, and the Olympics) and real life places (the home rink Katie skates at really exists but is now sadly closed) mixed in with the fictional story of Katie. And Katie’s story is very well done – scarred both on the outside and inside, she grows to realize that she can not only have friends and realize her dreams but help people despite her disfigured face. She has a wicked sense of humor that had me chuckling more than once while reading the book. I loved reading as she grows as a character throughout the course of the book, discovering that she may have been wrong about a few things but willing to learn from her mistakes. And oh can she skate! As for the skating elements, I found they were nicely done with a good mixture of real and fictional characters including real-life skaters and a few real-life coaches. I am not a skater but a skating fan who watches as much skating as I can every year (not just in Olympic years) and I found the skating elements to be just right (as a non-skater I can’t speak to the minute scoring aspects). To be sure, there were a few times, especially towards the end of the book, when I was muttering “this would never happen in real life” but the book is fiction after all (and the authors freely admit they took some licenses with some skating aspects) and it does make for some thrilling moments towards the end of the book. Finally, I loved the final sentences of the book – what a perfect way to end the book!“The Girl Without a Face” is a nicely done novel.
Lisa G
Reviewed in the United States on August 15, 2020
This was a sweet little story with a good message. The authors have done their homework on the sport, and mostly get things right. It's interesting to think about the Ice Castle coming back to life. They got the part about how the judging process works completely wrong, which was surprising. I would have thought people in the sport would have read the book before publication (perhaps coaches don't know how judging/tech panel works?) Also curious how some real people like Tom Z became characters in this work of fiction. Overall, while the story was slow to get started, I enjoyed the book and it was a quick read.
Grey Lady
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 9, 2020
It's not often that you get novels about Figure skating (in fact books about figure skating, fiction or non fiction, are relatively rare). Of course there exists a detective series about murders related to the sport, but a genuine novel? And a novel which reflects so much of the Figure Skating World in real life - there's technical issues being discussed, the difficult scoring system gets noted, and some real Figure Skating stars are name dropped casually. It's rather unique. Furthermore, the authors manage to put themselves into a 15-year-old in a way that made me remember very well how I was at that age. Not that I had to cope with the issues this girl has to, but all the same the thought processes and feelings were very recognisable. The only negative - and this truly is nitpicking - would be that while current and recent single skaters were mentioned, current commentators and journalists were mentioned, in the pairs field no relatively recent real life examples came up. The Protopopovs were mentioned (and they were a great, great couple in the sport with two Olympic Golds to their credit), but no recent ones. But as a whole this is a really great novel, in fact it even made me cry because it moved me a lot. The basic message of the book is pretty clear, and you do take it away with you.
AlisonA
Reviewed in the United States on July 6, 2020
I bought this book at the recommendation of a friend. I didn’t get to it right away, but finally sat down on a Sunday after lunch to read just a few pages - or so I thought! I ended up reading straight through the afternoon and evening till I reached the end.This is a beautiful, heart-wrenching, and heart-warming story. Better yet, it has no graphic sex, no bad language, and no violence. Instead, the authors pull you in with believable characters, a good plot, and very good writing.I’ve already given a copy to one of our daughters because I want to share this with someone else who will talk about it with me. Honestly, this should be a movie already. It’s that good!
Day
Reviewed in the United States on July 30, 2020
Since others have already outlined the story, I will stick to the 6 things I liked best: 1) I loved that the protagonist with disfigurement caused by a fire was set free when she was ice skating; 2) Katie was strong, brave, and funny 3) The supporting characters were fleshed out and their stories added layers of interest to the story; 4) It was not a romance with a partner, but with life; 5) I learned soooo much about figure skating that I can't hardly wait to see it on television, and 6) I loved that a father and daughter wrote a warm and loving story about a daughter and father who had a warm and loving relationship. I recommend this book.
Tori
Reviewed in the United States on July 29, 2020
This book. I can’t explain it. It’s outside of my normal reading genre. And yet I loved every single second of it. Down to the tears that surfaced at the end. This book is something else. Something entirely different from what we see on shelves. It had such a strong message and really leaves an impression on the reader. I couldn’t put this book down, but I didn’t want it to end.Katie has so much sass and maturity to herself and it makes the book effortless to read, almost like a friend telling you her life story. While I am not a skater, I am one of those people who loves to watch it during the Winter Olympics so this book held a little extra something special for me. And while I didn’t understand all of the skating terminology, the book was so well written that it didn’t even matter.Overall, I recommend this book to everyone. For the person who needs a pick-me-up, the person who needs an escape, or the person who needs some leisure reading. Everyone can benefit from reading this book.
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