Cross-Country Love by Erin McLellan (Love on the Podium book 5)

The final book in the Love on the Podium series has dropped and brought us a cross-country skiing rivals to lovers story...

From the blurb:

Mara May is the princess of cross-country skiing. All she needs to finish her career on a high note is the gold medal she was denied four years before by firebrand, Kirby Bonham. And Kirby is still the only one standing in her way.

After upsetting the sport’s princess, Kirby milks her newfound fame for all it’s worth by becoming a reality-TV star. But now Kirby must prove her gold medal was more than a fluke.

Mara and Kirby have history. History of trash talk, upsets, and trading podiums. Their rivalry becomes the flashiest story in primetime when they can’t keep their contempt or chemistry to themselves. As Mara’s princess persona and Kirby’s carefree façade crumble under the pressure of the Games, rivalry warps into passion. But during the most important competition of their lives, there’s too much at stake to fall in love.

Cross-Country Love is part of the Love on the Podium shared queer romance series.

Heather's Review:

This book was a fast-paced read that gave us an opposites attract, rivals to lovers story that played out as Mara May starts to break free from a lot of her stresses and starts to take the world around her just a little less seriously.

I love how Kirby and Mara mirror each other, but also come from such different places and bring different strengths to this spicy story.  It was fun watching the rivalry turn into something more! 

I'm sad that we're at the end of this multi-author collab and I hope we'll see more of this team of authors... and that we don't have to wait four more years for their next series.