Ice Dreams by Lisa Papademetriou

Rosa Hernandez is still adjusting to her family's move from Miami to Chicago. She's not looking forward to cold winters with lots of snow - but she is looking forward to more opportunities to develop her figure skating. In her new skating class she meets some really great friends...and one girl who's practically an Ice Queen! Jacqui Darcy is really competitive and not always that nice. Rosa would love to avoid her altogether, but Jacqui's brother Anton is really cute! There's a big competition coming up that's putting a lot of stress on the skaters. Can Rosa find new music to skate to, win over Jacqui, spend time with Anton, and land her jumps?

There's a lot of really great stuff in Ice Dreams. There's a strong female protagonist with a Hispanic background being raised by a single parent (and she loves and respects her family). She doesn't always make the best decisions but she learns from her mistakes and apologizes when she's wrong. She learns a lot about family, success, friendship, and honesty - but all of this comes out organically and it never tips over into preachy territory. Plus, there's lots of figure skating details (which is a big plus for me!). This book is a "Candy Apple Book," but I don't think that that means that it's in a series of related books. I read it without having read any other Candy Apple Books, and I could follow it just fine.

Find it at IndieBound.

Read it with:
Dream Big, Little Pig! by Kristi Yamaguchi
Sugar and Ice by Kate Messner
Babymouse: Skater Girl by Jennifer L. Holm