Maddy Spier has been in love with the boy next door forever. As his figure skating partner she spends time in his arms every day. But she’s also seen his arms around other girls—lots of other girls.

Gabe can’t imagine skating with anyone but Maddy, and together they have a real chance at winning some serious gold medals. So, he’s determined to keep thinking of her like a sister. After all, he’s never had a romantic relationship that lasted for more than two weeks.

But when their coach assigns a new romantic skating program, everything changes. Will this be the big break that Maddy’s been hoping for or the big breakup that Gabe has always feared?

Guys, I’m really excited for today’s post, from Katie Van Ark, the debut author of THE BOY NEXT DOOR. Everyone say hi! *waves to Katie*

When I heard that THE BOY NEXT DOOR was basically a YA The Cutting Edge, I got VERY excited, so I obviously couldn’t say no to a stop on the blog tour! (Thanks, Swoon Reads for including me!) I really wanted to know if all of the figure skating in the book was based on Katie’s own experience or if she had to do research on it. So I asked her! Here’s what she said:

I’ve spent over ten years now competing in figure skating and I drew heavily from my own training and competition experiences to create Maddy and Gabe’s story. I gave Maddy my absolute love of everything ice. I gave Gabe my own fear of jumping. I even took a pair test to help accurately convey the experience of skating as a pair.

The coolest thing about my own figure skating story, though, is that I didn’t start skating until I was an adult. Growing up, I always wanted to skate but my hometown didn’t have a rink. My father helped me build an outdoor rink one year in our backyard but with fickle lakeshore temperatures, it was a labor of love and we weren’t able to skate much on it. It was also pretty small – about ten steps and you were at the end of it.

After college, an old friend and I were at her New Year’s Eve party lamenting how out of shape we’d gotten since our swim team days and we made a New Year’s resolution to try a new sport together. We signed up for a skating class. I thought maybe I’d finally learn to do crossovers and stop without crashing into the boards. When our instructor taught us how to do a little two foot spin at the end of our first eight week session, we were hooked. When she told us that U.S. Figure Skating had an adult competition track with its own national competition, we had yet another resolution.

Like Maddy, my friend had a lot more natural talent – she kicked my butt at every jumping contest we ever had. But I was determined and dedicated and we both made it to several national competitions. Now that I have two little girls at home, I don’t get to train the way that I used to but I have a great group of ladies that I skate together with on a synchronized skating team.

January is National Skating Month and a lot of rinks celebrate with free skating sessions and sometimes even free lessons, so if you’ve ever wanted to experience Maddy and Gabe’s world in real life, check it out!

Thanks, Katie! 

Because the lovely folks at Swoon Reads are fabulous, and because THE BOY NEXT DOOR is really cute, they’re giving away a copy to one lucky winner! HUZZAH! Few rules: Must live in the US/Canada, be 13 or older, and respond to my “YAY, YOU WON!” email within 24 hours.

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Author Links/Info

• Learn more about The Boy Next Door.
• Learn more about Swoon Reads.
• Join in on social media with #BoyNextDoor (bonus points if you also tag @SwoonReads!)
• Add The Boy Next Door to your to-read list on Goodreads.

Visit Katie’s website, like her on Facebook, and follow her on Twitter.