whitneydaniell

Summary

Dawn Sumner ran a tight ship at The Palace — a training facility for professional skaters in Echo, Colorado — so when thirteen-year-old Ana arrived, she had no choice but to fall in line.

The “orphans,” as they were called, were the skaters who lived at the facility full-time, whose parents were not there to watch over them, so they looked after each other. Ana Robbins, the youngest and newest of the orphans, was met by Jolene, Indy, and Kayla — all of whom had already been at The Palace and could show her the ropes. It took Ana some time to get over being alone and away from her family, especially after finding out about her mother’s illness, but after a few months, she found her stride.

Competitive skating consumed their days, with Dawn at the helm, her assistant coach Emile, and their on-site doctor, Dr. Westin, who made sure they were mentally ready to face their fears. But when the seriousness of competing took its toll on each girl, Ana was the last one standing at The Palace.

Now, fifteen years later, Ana — a lawyer who specializes in defending traumatized children — is back in Echo after the murder of assistant coach Emile Dresier. The alleged suspect? Jolene’s fifteen-year-old daughter, Grace.

The Assistant District Attorney gives Ana two days to come up with a compelling case to prove Grace did not commit the murder. Racing against time and an impending snowstorm, Ana begins digging into what really happened — uncovering long-buried memories she thought she’d healed from.

After years of therapy and unlearning, The Palace no longer gives Ana such angst — but as she looks closely into the case, repressed memories flood back. Everything that went on at The Palace wasn’t always aboveboard. Their main lesson under Dawn was to “fight the fear,” but now that Ana is an adult, what is there to fear?

Someone at The Palace knows exactly what happened and where all the bodies are buried — and Ana must put the pieces together to save Grace and all the orphans.

Character Summary

Ana Robbins was an Olympic-level skater in the making, leaving home at thirteen to train under renowned coach Dawn Sumner at The Palace, which churned out champions like an assembly line. At her parents’ insistence, she lived and trained there year-round — they didn’t want her at home watching her mother’s illness progress. After two years of abuse and trauma at The Palace, Ana left and vowed to turn her life around, refusing to let what happened define her.

Local Echo attorney Artis Frauhn is also working to clear Grace of the charges. Although he has no direct ties to Dawn or The Palace, he grew up in the area and was in eighth-grade science class with Ana. Artis has become somewhat of an “ambulance chaser” for kids training at The Palace these days, stepping in if they find themselves in trouble.

Indy Cunningham, Kayla Johnson, and Jolene Montgomery were the other three orphans — skaters left alone to train and compete away from their parents. Indy was a second-generation skater; her mother had competed against Dawn and the rivalry lingered. Kayla, from New York, was raised by her grandmother until she got a sponsorship to train at The Palace. Jolene’s parents preferred traveling the world, finding it easier to have her live at The Palace than to arrange childcare.

My Thoughts

Before finding out that Wendy Walker also trained in competitive figure skating at thirteen, I suspected as much — the writing and technical detail in this book are far beyond my sports knowledge. Color me ignorant, but outside of the Nancy Kerrigan assault, I never realized competitive figure skating was such a high-stakes, high-pressure sport.

This is my second Walker book, and I wasn’t disappointed — but it was… different. The heavy focus on skating technique lost me at times. Because I’m not familiar with the sport, most of it went over my head, and I found myself skipping ahead to the next paragraph. The writing is solid — no complaints there — but the content is so hyper-focused on skating that the “thrill” element fell flat.

Ana is a solid narrator and a strong female lead. She didn’t annoy me, but I did raise questions early on that I feel like she should have caught — and I’m not even a lawyer. Alongside Ana, there’s a cast of side characters and subplots that could have been distracting, but they didn’t completely derail the main story. However, I didn’t understand why the deposition transcripts were included; they didn’t seem to push the plot forward or add value.

My biggest gripe is the pacing. This book dragged. It’s not fast-paced, and there was nothing that made me eager to turn the page — other than wanting to finish it. The dual timeline offers glimpses into Ana’s past at The Palace and the present-day investigation to save Grace, but it just felt slow. I can’t pinpoint exactly what I’d have done differently — my unsolicited, unprofessional advice — but the premise is good; the execution missed the mark.

Final Verdict

It was just… okay.

Acknowledgement

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the advanced reader copy of Blade by Wendy Walker in exchange for an honest review.