Review: Diviak’s sports romance balances deep, emotional topics with heart fluttering moments. 

 

“The Signature Move” follows Logan Beckett and Averie “Ava” Laurier, two athletes who are forced to share a rink. Both are determined to ignore each other, but Waybrook isn’t a big enough town to stop their paths from colliding. When the captain of the Waybrook Winter Wolves hockey team and the world champion skater clash, it’s only a matter of time before anger harbored over divvied rink time melts into passion. 

 

This book has everything I love in a romance: dual pov, rivals to lovers, small town, and slow romantic development. When I say this is a slow burn, it is a slowwww burn. The beginning took a little bit to pick up, but once Logan and Ava finally gave in to their attraction, I could not get enough of their dynamic as a couple. They are characterized so differently with Ava being the sweetest, sunshine girl and Logan being more guarded and stoic. Their opposite personalities compliment each other and make their rivals-to-lovers romance more satisfying. 

 

I really appreciated the emphasis on found family in this book. Both characters experience abuse at the hand of a parent that causes anxiety and in Ava’s case, an eating disorder. Throughout the novel, Logan and Ava build a family of their own with each other and the friends/coaches/teammates they forge meaningful connections with in their close knit town. One qualm I had with this book is that not all the side characters are fleshed out—therefore I wasn’t as invested in them and their own plot lines—but I did like the roles they played in Logan and Ava’s story.