The Boy Next Door

by Katie Van Ark

Overview

In this figure skating spin on a classic romance, childhood friends dance the edge between love and tragedy.

As six-year-old neighbors, Maddy and Gabe held mittened hands and stepped onto the ice for the first time. As high school seniors, they’re poised to become world class figure skaters, on the path to the Olympic podium. Maddy has been in love from the start, watching from the sidelines as girl after girl falls for her gorgeous partner. When the coach picks Romeo & Juliet for their theme, it’s Maddy’s chance to be more than just friends.

Gabe never dates a girl for more than two weeks, and he relies on Maddy too much to risk it. His friends would mock them, her dad would kill him, and long-term romance is a world of problems. Better to think of Maddy as a sister, when anything more can only end in tragedy.

Lies and secrecy. Attraction and temptation. Family turmoil and shifting identities. In Katie Van Ark’s sizzling debut, heated determination faces cold resistance in a competition for more than gold.

The Boy Next Door is perfect for readers who are fans of:

• Good Girl x Bad Boy

• Forced Proximity

• Figure Skating

• Friends-To-Lovers

• Lynn Painter books

• Hannah Grace books

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250419859
Publisher:	Square Fish
Publication date:	12/02/2025
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	12 - 18 Years

About the Author

Katie Van Ark is a member of SCBWI and RWA and a student at Vermont College of Fine Arts. She enjoys reading, writing, and of course figure skating. She lives in Michigan with two daughters, two cats, and one very patient husband, who was also her high school sweetheart. The Boy Next Door is her debut novel.

Read an Excerpt

"You got this, Mad," I whisper to her. "Do it again."

She nods, and her face reminds me of her dad, the way he looks on his campaign billboards. Eyes focused, chin set. A look that says you can trust him to get whatever job needs doing done. Mad takes her crossovers. She pushes. She jumps. One-two-three and there's the extra half rotation and on the landing, her knee's bent so low she's almost doing a backward shoot-the-duck but by some miracle of anything and everything holy–

She. Stands. Up.

I have officially lost the triple Axel contest. I will never live this down, but I'm so psyched for Mad that I don't give even a bucket of Zamboni sludge. Mad's screaming and I'm screaming and Kate and Chris have forgotten whatever the hell they were fighting about this time. Mad throws her arms around me and I hug her back. Over her shoulder I see Igor watching, smiling, as our club mates pile on us in a massive group hug. Mad's landed her triple Axel. I am not worthy to tie her skates, but for some reason she's still my partner.

No, not some random, unknown reason. In the middle of the celebratory huddle with Mad, her body pressed full frontal against mine with her arms around me and her face buried in my neck, I know the reason she's still my partner. And I also know that whatever I do, I can't lose Mad.

Editorial Reviews

"Fans of ice-skating and romance will fall in love with this debut novel." —School Library Journal

"Van Ark's story of two skating partners is hot enough to melt the ice." —Romantic Times

From the Publisher