It’s the closest we get to spectacular heroics in peacetime, there’s feelings and emotions and suspense and drama. She’s an awesome storyteller, but also there are so many great stories in sports. And I’ve read many because, you know, it was kind of my job. Honestly (I know I’m biased but trust me), her feature article on Cathy Freeman at the Sydney Olympics is one of the best articles I’ve read.

She has a gift with both people and writing, and writing about people really was – and still is – her forte. My wife used to be a sportswriter and I loved her articles. Now, I never really cared about sports but I love sports stories. Corey’s take on life and training seems to be the polar opposite to hers and let’s be serious, Corey’s discipline – boardercross – is “a cross between BMX and a mountainside bar fight”, and what could she ever learn from it, and her? A lot, as it turns out. When her coach urges her to train with snowboard champion Corey LaCroix, Elise baulks.

Injuries, however, don’t discriminate, and after months of pain and hard work, Elise finally is in a position to hope for a spot on the Olympic ski team. As most of Spangler’s books have delighted me so far, I was very much looking forward to finally reading this one.Įlise Brandeis was born to win. Edge of Glory sounded like the perfect solution to my problem. And I realised when I read Modern English in February that there were quite a few books by Rachel Spangler I haven’t read, including most of their sports books. I don’t anymore – either excel or pretend. I used to excel under pressure, or at least pretend to. As counterintuitive as it may seem, putting these books aside for a day or two (or four, as it happened) felt like the best thing to do. My current list is long-ish, still manageable, but I felt like I was putting too much pressure on myself. I know it’s going to sound weird because it’s such a privilege to get to read and review books before they’re released but a few days ago, I needed a break from ARCs (advanced review copies).

Edge of glory by rachel spangler