Cross-Country Love Review — Is It Worth Reading?

Verdict: A fast, funny, very spicy rivals-to-lovers romance that makes the rivalry feel real, set at the Winter Olympics with genuine cross-country skiing on the page. A few readers found Kirby’s needling close to bullying and wanted more of her growth, but readers overwhelmingly loved it.

Best for: Readers who love banter, hate-to-love tension and Olympic stakes.

Heat level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️

Rating: ★★★★☆ (4.3/5 — a 4.35 Goodreads average across 68 ratings, 4.52 on StoryGraph from 29 reviews, and 4.7 stars across 32 Amazon ratings)

Tropes: Rivals to lovers, enemies to lovers, teammates, opposites attract, benefits to more, Olympic athletes.

Cross-Country Love is Erin McLellan’s 2026 contemporary lesbian sports romance in the shared Love on the Podium series. Mara May is the polished “princess” of cross-country skiing, needing only the gold medal she was denied four years ago. Kirby Bonham is the firebrand who beat her, then milked the upset into reality-TV fame. Now both are on the US team again, and Kirby has to prove her win wasn’t a fluke.

It holds a 4.35 average across 68 Goodreads ratings, with 90% of them four or five stars, 4.52 on StoryGraph from 29 reviews, and 4.7 stars across 32 Amazon ratings.

What Is Cross-Country Love About?

Years of trash talk, upsets and traded podiums make their rivalry the flashiest story in primetime — especially when they can’t hide their contempt, or their chemistry.

As Mara’s princess persona and Kirby’s carefree façade crack under the pressure of the Games, rivalry turns into passion at the worst possible time.

What Works in This Book

The rivalry: Readers say it is rare to find rivals-to-lovers where the rivalry feels real — this one does.
Banter and chemistry: Reviews are full of praise for the snark, the burns and the tension.
Real sport: Readers learned about cross-country skiing and liked that the sport is actually present.
Soft moments: Several readers loved the rare tender beats, and the light-touch treatment of mental health and panic attacks.

Book Synopsis

The sport’s princess and its bad girl, teammates and bitter rivals, head to the Olympics with one gold medal between them.

There is too much at stake to fall in love. They do anyway.

My Review

McLellan delivers exactly what the premise promises: an ice queen and a loudmouth pushing each other’s buttons until the heat boils over, then slowly learning to be soft. Readers call it fast, snappy and hard to put down.

The reservations are minor and few. One reader found Kirby’s behaviour in interviews borderline bullying; another felt the characterisation didn’t ring true and wished Kirby got as much growth as Mara. One took a while to get into it, and several simply wanted it longer.

My honest note: A top pick if you want rivals who actually act like rivals.

Element	In Cross-Country Love
Central relationship	Mara May & Kirby Bonham, US cross-country skiers
Core tropes	Rivals to lovers, teammates, opposites attract
Setting	The Winter Olympics in Italy
Heat level	🌶️🌶️🌶️
Length	240 pages (Kindle)
Series	Love on the Podium (shared series) — standalone
Content notes	Panic attacks, mental illness, explicit sex

How Spicy Is Cross-Country Love?

Very. Readers describe spicy, smutty scenes, hate sex and toys; one rates it 3 out of 5 peppers.

StoryGraph users flag mental illness; readers mention Kirby’s panic attacks.

Who Should Read This Book?

You’ll likely love it if: you want a sapphic Olympic rivals-to-lovers with real heat. It is on our sapphic sports romance list.

You may want to skip it if: mean-spirited banter between leads puts you off.

In short: Gold-medal rivalry, gold-medal heat.

What Readers Are Actually Saying (September 2026)

On Goodreads the split is 45% five stars, 45% four, 7% three, 1% two and no one-star ratings. On StoryGraph, every reader who answered tagged it emotional and called the characters loveable. Many read it during the 2026 Games.

Why readers love it (according to the discourse): The rivalry first. Second, the banter. Third, the heat. Fourth, the skiing.

What readers argue about and complain about: Kirby’s meanness, above everything. Second, uneven character growth. Third, length.

The comparison worth making first: Fire on the Ice, another Winter Games romance with even more heat and less romance.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Cross-Country Love part of a series?

It belongs to Love on the Podium, a shared queer romance series by different authors, and readers say it stands alone.

How spicy is Cross-Country Love?

Spicy. Readers mention hate sex, toys and plenty of heat; one rates it three peppers out of five.

Is it a real rivals-to-lovers romance?

Yes — that is its biggest selling point. Several readers say the rivalry actually feels like one, and some compare it to a sapphic Heated Rivalry.

Is there much skiing?

Yes. Readers appreciated that the sport is on the page and well researched, building to the women’s 50km mass start.

Is Cross-Country Love on Kindle Unlimited?

Not when we checked; the Kindle edition was listed at $4.99.

If You Loved Cross-Country Love, Read These Next

Try Home Court Advantage for more rivals-to-lovers, or Fire on the Ice. For more, browse our sapphic sports romance list or the full Book Reviews archive.

The Bottom Line

Cross-Country Love sets out to deliver a true rivals-to-lovers at the Olympics, and it does. What holds it back is very little. Highly recommended. Check Cross-Country Love on Amazon →