Edge of the Past Release Party!

Emily's skating career and personal life have never been more golden. She and her partner Chris have won every competition they've entered this season, and she's found the man of her dreams in her coach Sergei. But when one of the biggest competitions of the year takes Emily and Sergei to Russia, Sergei's past explodes into the present and makes Emily doubt everything in their future.

It's time to celebrate the release of Edge of the Past! For those of you who read Life on the Edge, you'll be continuing on Emily and Sergei's journey with them as they deal with the ghosts from Sergei's past. If you haven't read Life on the Edge, you'll be introduced to Emily and Sergei and won't miss a beat. (But pick up the first book if you want to read the story of how they fell in love. It's currently on sale for $0.99!)

To celebrate, I'm giving away three prizes! You can enter through the Rafflecopter below. Lots of chances to win! The prizes are:

2 Life on the Edge prize packs

$20 Amazon or Barnes & Noble gift card

You can enter to win until Friday, Dec. 7. Good luck and thank you so much for celebrating with me!!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Music Monday

It's Edge of the Past release week! So, this week's Music Monday features two songs from the soundtrack. The first is "Fragile" by Delta Goodrem. The emotion of the song reminded me of what Emily feels during a large part of the story.

"Fragile" by Delta Goodrem

The second song is "I'll Be Seeing You" by Billie Holiday. This is one of my favorite songs on The Notebook soundtrack, and I used it in Edge of the Past at a moment when Emily is having a very hard time dealing with issues from Sergei's past in Russia.

"I'll Be Seeing You" by Billie Holiday

The release party will be later this week! There will be giveaways and lots of chances to enter to win!

2012 NHK Trophy FD Thoughts

More late night skating - wheeee!!!! We've had some between event entertainment of Domo and friends on skates and now we're ready for the free dance!

Xiaoyang Yu/Chen Wang - They shall always be remembered for their Cats free dance. Nothing from them has been quite as memorable since. The lifts all take a lot of time to develop. But the costumes are an improvement over past years!

Xingtong Huang/Xun Zheng - Buble'! And it's the "untied tie" look again that I harped on last week. Aww, the crowd is clapping along. Xun has a nice position in the camel spin. Boot slide! Have they been hanging out in Novi? They're stuck in the mud, as my friend Nordyica used to say, but it's a really cute program!

Penny Coomes/Nicholas Buckland - Twizzles out of sync. Very cool upside down lift. The program felt classical and now it's got a Broadway feel. Another neat upside down-position lift. They're rather adorable.

Cathy Reed/Chris Reed - A Mad Men program maybe? Oh, it's Kim and Brent's Beatles music! Interesting entry into their first lift with her putting her leg over his back. Chris's tie is tied - props to him! Wait, their last lift very closely resembles one of Kim and Brent's lifts. Hmm.... Quick side note and a look ahead to U.S. Nationals - Kristen Nardozzi and Nick Traxler will be doing a mash-up of Kim and Brent's Beatles FD and Meryl and Charlie's Eleanor Rigby.

Nicole Orford/Thomas Williams - Hello, bright green dress. They have good carriage and speed across the ice. Nicole's legs look long, but she gets in and out of the lifts more smoothly than some other leggy girls.

Elena Ilinykh/Nikita Katsalapov - The train wreck of a program that just keeps on giving! From Elena's sad sack dress to the awful voice overs to the gunshots.... I don't know how I'm going to sit in the stands at Worlds and not crack up. If this is what sleeping with the boss gets you, I'd rethink that strategy. But the judges are rewarding the crap for whatever ridiculous reason....

Maia Shibutani/Alex Shibutani - Great twizzles. Need to tighten up some of the holds in the circular footwork. Very crisp movements and a lot more spark than Rostelecom Cup, understandably. Glad they've gone with a more lyrical program this year.

Meryl Davis/Charlie White - Couldn't type notes while they were skating because I was too captivated by the amazingness of this program. The emotion from them was bursting through my television. Soooo freaking good! I love all the little changes they've made. Everything was right on every beat of the music, perfectly timed and soaring. Gorgeous times one hundred!

2012 NHK Pairs SP Thoughts

I love being able to watch events live! And this is a good field of pairs! Excited for Alexa Scimeca/Chris Knieram competing in their first Grand Prix event, and so nervous for Marissa Castelli/Simon Shnapir. Here we go!

Alexa Scimeca/Chris Knieram - Throw flip is HUGE. SBS spins a little slow. Nice SBS triple salchows. Overall need a bit more speed, but wonderful connection and Alexa's positions are lovely. We have ourselves another team in the mix for the podium at Nationals!

Lindsay Davis/Mark Ladwig - Mark spins out of the landing of the SBS triple salchows. Mark is traveling toward the boards on the SBS spins. Lindsay ekes out the throw loop. Love their music. Need to work more on their connection.

Anastasia Martiusheva/Alexei Rogonov - New team to me. She spins out of salchow landing a la Mark. Very nice throw flip. Huge triple twist. Bahhhh, commercial interruption. End of their footwork sequence looked nice! Not a fan of Alexei's tuxedo - looks like Sir Penguin.

Nicole della Monica/Matteo Guarise - Hair clips must go. Is this the guy Caitlin Y skated with for awhile? She's down on the SBS sals. Messy throw sal. They look like they're in slow motion. Whoa, I looked down to take notes and I think I missed a botch death spiral?

Marissa Castelli/Simon Shnapir - Huge triple twist nailed. SBS triple sals nailed. Throw jump nailed. YAYYYYYY!!!!! Sorry for the fangirl moment, but I love these two! And they rock this program like nobody's business. Those little hop twisty moves they do near the end are awesome. Marissa's sassy ponytail is the bomb. Okay, I'm done gushing :)

Kirsten Moore-Towers/Dylan Moscovitch - Cute costumes and neat choreography. Twist is very lateral.  Dylan's a little swingy on the SBS jumps. Dylan starts the lift from his knee (which I first saw done by Steven Pottenger). Nice program from them!

Vera Bazarova/Yuri Larionov - These two have been trying to break through forever it feels like. Eat a biscuit, Vera. Her throw jump landing reminds me of Elena Berezhnaya. Beautiful twist. Love Vera's dress. They're still kinda bland, but I'll take them over Kavaguti any day!

Free dance coming up next!

2012 NHK Trophy SD Thoughts

So sad that we've already reached the final event of the Grand Prix season :( But happy NHK Trophy is here because some of my favorite skaters are competing in Sendai! And I love how the time difference always works out for NHK because I can watch some of the events live. Stood up late last night and watched the short dance....

Cathy Reed/Chris Reed - Music sounds like a movie score. Their circular footwork pattern appears shallow - they need to push it out more. Noooo, not another overhead camera! They all need to die like the Smuckers Sky Cam. Wait, is this Seven Brides For Seven Brothers? That combined with the kiss at the end makes the program a little icky for a brother-sister team....

Nicole Orford/Thomas Williams - If they were going to use John Michael Montgomery, a nice choice for the slow section would've been "I Love the Way You Love Me" instead of the hundredth version of "Tennessee Waltz" we've heard this year. Would've made the music cuts a little less jarring perhaps.

Xioyang Wu/Chen Wang - It's Tanith's 2008 country OD clone! They look slow after the Canadians. Rough twizzles.

Xintong Huang/Xun Zheng - I think Xun's outfit might work well as a prince costume for Charlie White in his and Meryl's SD. This team brings the pretty. It seems like every team begins their circular footwork with the same step. I guess there are only so many options - thanks, CoP.

Penny Coomes/Nicholas Buckland - Commercial interruption wipes out most of the program. I get to see the kiss at the end. I should've been keeping a tally of how many kisses we've seen in the short dances this year. There've been a lot!

Elena Ilinykh/Nikita Katsalapov - The disco-loungey-middle eastern-folk music confuses me. Very messy twizzle from Nikita. Deductions all over the place. I'm looking forward to their free dance because it's pure unintentional comedy!

Maia Shibutani/Alex Shibutani - Alex lost the headband and is the Karate Kid no more. They have more attack than they did at Rostelecom Cup. Their hand movements are very sharp. Maia looks more comfortable in the Yankee Polka sequences than Alex. Anyone else think Oleg Epstein looks like Mr. Bean?

Meryl Davis/Charlie White - Sitting back and enjoying the gorgeousness of this program. They put on a master class and show the rest of the field how it's done. The lift at the end looks too long and too sticky (yep, they get an extended lift deduction). Glad Charlie stuck with the huntsman costume.

Yay that both the pairs short program and the free dance are at reasonable times tonight!

Edge of the Past Cover Reveal

I'm so excited to show you the cover for Edge of the Past! The wonderful Elaina Lee at For the Muse Designs created it. She did such an awesome job! 

Next week I'll be having a release party here with lots of giveaways. Hope you can join in the fun!!!!

Edge of the Past Sneak Peek!

We're less than a week away from the release of Edge of the Past!!!! So, I think a little sneak peek is in order. Here's a never-before-seen excerpt!

****

After I got comfortable in my pajamas, I climbed into bed with my laptop to check email but never made it to my inbox. Thinking back to the conversation at dinner, I pulled up a search engine and typed Sergei Petrov and Elena Gorshkova. With a click on the Images tab, I landed on a page of photos from Sergei and Elena’s competitive days.

I’d looked at the pictures before – Sergei and Elena with their World Junior Championship gold medals, action shots from their winning free skate, and their celebration in the kiss and cry when they received their scores. But now I studied them longer, knowing I’d soon be in the city where all the history had taken place.

Elena and I had the same petite build, perfect for pairs skating, but our other physical features differed greatly. Her raven hair, cut in a bob, contrasted with my long, dark blonde locks. And her eyes were brown, almost black – the total opposite of my blue ones.

Even though Sergei and I had a lifetime together ahead of us, a twinge of something – perhaps jealousy, perhaps curiosity – hit me as I stared at the photos. Elena had given birth to Sergei’s child. His first child. They’d always have that bond, no matter the time and distance between them. Going back to Russia would surely trigger old memories for Sergei, especially since his father was obsessed with past mistakes.

I shut my laptop and burrowed deeper under the blankets. The ghosts must finally be put to rest.

****

I hope to be able to show you the cover for Edge of the Past before release day. Stay tuned! Oh, and Life on the Edge is currently on sale for $0.99 on Amazon and Barnes & Noble, so please spread the word!

Music Monday

It's a happy Monday because it's a short work week! To celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday, I'm listening to a couple of bands for whom I'm very thankful. The first is Muse. I didn't discover their music until Sinead and John Kerr skated to "Ruled by Secrecy" in the 2008-2009 season. I loved that song and then soon found another favorite, "I Belong To You (Mon Coeur S'ouvre A Ta Voix)." This song had a couple of special uses - it was on the Twilight Saga: New Moon soundtrack, and it was also used by Lynn Kriengkrairut and Logan Giulietti-Schmitt for their free dance in the 2010-2011 season. Lynn and Logan are two of my favorite skaters - not just because they're awesome performers but because they're two of the nicest people around. For this Music Monday, you'll get a video with Lynn and Logan's performance of Muse's hit at 2010 Skate America!

"I Belong To You (Mon Coeur S'ouvre A Ta Voix)" by Muse

The second band for whom I'm thankful is Kings of Leon. Their song "Use Somebody" was played quite a bit on the radio, and I've become a big fan of their music since that song debuted. My beloved ice dance team of Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto skated to "Use Somebody" a few years ago for a show program, and it's one of my favorite programs they've ever done. I miss Tanith and Ben :( Here's their performance from the Shall We Dance show:

"Use Somebody" by Kings of Leon (with an acoustic version by Tyler Hilton)

Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

2012 Trophee Eric Bompard SD Thoughts

The roster of competitors at Trophee Eric Bompard is a little underwhelming this year. I'm already looking forward to NHK Trophy, which will have a crazy loaded field of men and a couple of my favorite pairs and dance teams. But we must get through Paris first! So, let's see how the Short Dance will play out....

Piper Gilles/Paul Poirier – Paul has a flying scarf a la Ian Lorello. Very cool and difficult-looking entrance into the twizzles. Glad the first part of the program is the instrumental version only (Mary Poppins). All the Mary Poppins programs should've stuck to instrumental and spared us the spoons full of sugar and supercalifragi-whatever. They look very fast on the Yankee Polka. Side thought - Paul/Islam didn't have a GP event this year? :( I really want to see P/I at Worlds.

Julia Zlobina/Alexei Sitnikov – Probably going to jinx everyone, but this year I’ve seen better twizzles from competitors than ever before. Voidy polka. It sounds like techno pop. I liked their FD last year. Not sold on this program, however. Wow they got a higher score than Gilles/Poirier.

Madison Hubbell/Zach Donohue – I’ve seen the “untied bowtie” look way too much this season. Another cool twizzle entry. I see they've gotten rid of the straight-leg twizzles (aka The Delaware Special) this year. Madi's skirt flaps around a lot. This isn't the actual jig music used in Titanic, is it? I really wish they hadn't included lyrics during the footwork sequence. It sounds too country. Nice dance overall, but they looked peeved at the score. Both Chock/Bates and Kriengkrairut/Giulietti-Schmitt scored higher at their GP events. Battle for the World Team at Nationals is going to be INTENSE.

Ekaterina Pushkash/Jonathan Guerreiro – Oh goodness, what is this mess? Only Nikolai could come up with these costumes. Oh, it’s Chock/Bates' polka music! I guess the costumes are supposed to be Cirque du Soleil then. Bad twizzles. I jinxed them.

Ekaterina Riazanova/Ilia Tkachenko – Here comes a superior Russian team to the previous one. They are very pink/lilac! They bring the pretty. Ekaterina is looking down at the ice during the Yankee Polka? Much improved speed over last year.

Pernelle Carron/Lloyd Jones – We can't go one week without lasso arms, can we? Still can’t get over the change in Lloyd Jones' appearance. From blah blond pup to brunette cutie. Sadly, the team's skating hasn’t made as drastic an improvement. Is Tennessee Waltz the ONLY country waltzy piece of music skaters know?! Look up some Tracy Lawrence! Some George Strait! There's hundreds more.

Anna Cappellini/Luca Lanotte – So stinkin’ cute these two. Little shaky on the twizzles. Bursting with personality. So happy to see them finally rising up and skating with supreme confidence.

Nathalie Pechalat/Fabian Bourzat – The slowed-down Can Can is just weird. All I can think of when I hear Can Can is The Cutting Edge. Whoa, is Nathalie wearing underwear and not a leotard under her skirt? I thought I saw some skin when she shook her skirt. Fabian is ticked at the score. Sorry, bud, you’re not going to score higher than Davis/White and Virtue/Moir. And better watch out behind you because you know Russia's going to push one of their teams for bronze in Sochi. They managed to get a crippled Max Shabalin a medal in Vancouver, so anything can happen.

In other notes, Ashley Wagner was divine in the ladies short program! I hadn't seen her Red Violin program yet this season, and I love it. From what I saw of the men, it was pretty ugly. I'm lighting candles that Brian Joubert can stay healthy and make it to Worlds so I can see him and all his porniness up close one last time.

Music Monday

Happy Monday! It's a big movie week with the premiere of Breaking Dawn Part 2 coming up this Friday. The first song I'm listening to this week, "Turning Page," was on the Breaking Dawn Part 1 soundtrack, but I didn't fall in love with it until I saw Kylie Duarte and Colin Grafton skate to it. It's such a romantic song, and I love these lines in particular - "I've waited a hundred years but I'd wait a million more for you. Nothing prepared me for what the privilege of being yours would do." Perfect for weddings!

"Turning Page" by Sleeping At Last

The second song I'm listening to this week is "Roslyn" from the New Moon soundtrack. The New Moon soundtrack is my favorite of the Twilight series. The score is fantastic and there are some great songs!

"Roslyn" by Bon Iver & St. Vincent

Are you going to see Breaking Dawn Part 2 this weekend? I'm going on Saturday and will be wearing my traditional Team Carlisle shirt! :)

Don't forget to stop by my Life on the Edge blog tour this month and enter to win a $25 Amazon gift card. All the stops are listed here! Final galleys for Edge of the Past have been proofed and are in production for the book's release in a few weeks!!!!

2012 Rostelecom Cup SD Thoughts

Hard to believe we're more than halfway through the Grand Prix season already! This week's dance event at the Rostelecom Cup should be interesting because we have a number of teams making their GP season debuts. Time to check out some new programs!

Nicole Orford/Thomas Williams - That's quite the belt buckle on Thomas. Oh my goodness, they're skating to "Sold," a John Michael Montgomery country song from my college days. It used to make my ears bleed back then and it's not any better now! Who wants to bet $1000 we'll see "lasso arms" as part of the choreography? Yep, there they are. Not once, not twice, but three times! The skating doesn't look half-bad, but the costumes and the music are overwhelming me.

Ksenia Monko/Kirill Khaliavin - I like them right off the bat. They look stylish and charismatic. Ksenia is a little hunchy and their Yankee Polka is sloppy in parts, but I like the overall package. 

Victoria Sinitsina/Ruslan Zhiganshin - I skipped them since I didn't feel like seeing another country program (and I just saw them last week at Cup of China). Just saw their score and am wondering if they made drastic improvements in one week?

Penny Coomes/Nicholas Buckland - The music is sorta country-ish, sorta Irish jig-ish? They've had some cute programs recently. Not loving this one because of the music. 

Nelli Zhiganshina/Alexander Gazsi - I think Nelli's new dress is an improvement over the gray and pink dress she wore at Skate America. I love the neon green under the skirt. This team's skating basics may not be the strongest, but I appreciate how they always stay fully in character and completely engaged in the program.

Elena Ilinykh/Nikita Katsalapov - Elena's costume is a little loud, to put it mildly. They look more prepared than they have the past couple of years when they came out like a sloppy mess. Not sure why Elena is wearing a sourpuss face upon seeing their score. What was she expecting - 70? In the current hierarchy of Russian ice dance, I'd like to see some other teams catapult past them. I'll even take Hunchy McHuncherson (aka Bobrova) over them.

Maia Shibutani/Alex Shibutani - Maia looks like she'll be skating to Firebird. Midline no-touching step sequence nicely executed and close together. Their lift is a repeat from last year (seems like a lot of teams are using repeat lifts in the SD). Would like to see something new. Some interesting choreography in spots, but overall I'm not sure this program has enough excitement.

Tessa Virtue/Scott Moir - Tessa's nightgown/slip must go. There's too much fabric swinging around. I think they could do more with their midline step sequence. The program doesn't leave a lasting impression on me. Similar to the Shibs, I feel like this needs more excitement. It's all very pretty but nothing to write home about.

A couple of thoughts on the other disciplines - I haven't been able to get into Patrick Chan's programs the past few years, but WOW WOW WOW - his short program this year is brilliant. I was a Jeff Buttle fangirl back when he competed, so I'm not surprised I adore his choreography. He's crafted the perfect program for Patrick.

So happy to see Agnes Zawadzki skating well. She has such a mature and powerful quality to her skating, and I'd love to see her gain some consistency!

Music Monday

I've missed a few Music Mondays now that the skating season has begun, but I'll try to get back on track! Today I'm featuring a couple of songs from my soundtrack to EDGE OF THE PAST. The first song is from one of my favorite TV shows of all time, Due South. It was a show in the 90's about a Canadian Mountie who partnered with a Chicago policeman. I don't usually watch cop dramas, but this show had a lot of humor, and I loved the banter between Fraser the Mountie and Ray the cop.

The song, "Victoria's Secret," is Emily and Chris's short program music in EDGE OF THE PAST. It was composed by Jay Semko.

The second song I'm featuring is "The Rain" from the soundtrack of Kikujiro. It was composed by Joe Hisaishi. This song is played during a very special part of EDGE OF THE PAST that I don't want to spoil ;-)

And now for some exciting news! In anticipation of the release of EDGE OF THE PAST, I'm doing a month-long blog tour for LIFE ON THE EDGE and will be giving away a $25 Amazon gift card! Listed below are all the stops on the tour. I hope you'll visit and enter to win!

November 5 - Reading Addiction Blog Tours

November 6 - My Devotional Thoughts 

November 7 - Becky's Barmy Book Blog 

November 8 - I'm a Reader, Not a Writer 

November 9 - What's on the Bookshelf 

November 9 - Pretty in Fiction 

November 10 - Moosubi Reviews 

November 11 - Book an Appointment with Wisdom Books 

November 12 - Rolling With the Moments 

November 13 - Reading under the Stars 

November 14 - The Other Shelf 

November 14 - Jenn Renee 

November 15 - Jersey Girl Book Reviews

November 16 - Addicted to YA Books 

November 17 - Journey With Books 

November 17 - Andi's YA Books 

November 18 - Shelfspace Needed 

November 19 - Reader Girls 

November 20 - Comfort Books 

November 21 - Kaisy Daisy's Blog 

November 22 - Berds Fly 

November 23 - Lov Liv Life Reviews 

November 24 - Cozie Corner 

November 25 - Taking it One Page at a Time 

November 26 - YA Book Addict 

November 27 - Above Average, Below Special  

November 28 - Cocktails and Books 

November 29 - In Between 

November 30 - Genuine Jenn 

2012 Cup of China FD Thoughts

After a busy Saturday, I'm finally catching up on all the Cup of China action. Let's see what kind of entertainment we'll get from the Free Dance!

Xiaoyang Yu/Chen Wang - Am I dreaming or did they wear these costumes last year but had different music? Were they the ones who did Howl's Moving Castle last year? Some of the choreography and lift entrances look Shpilband-esque.

Xintong Huang/Xun Zheng - Aww, they look really cute! No wacky costumes this year. Yellow and hot pink  wouldn't have been my first choice, but I like the design and the colorfulness. Nice selection of music with Michael Buble tunes and At Last. They look a little crisper than their country-mates. I'm starting to wish that certain ice dance lifts be retired or banned because I've seen them so many times by so many different teams.

Victoria Sinitsina/Ruslan Zhiganshin - I love Victoria's dress. The music not so much. They have a wild on-the-edge quality to their skating. I'm not quite sure what to make of them yet. I find Zhiganshin's sister (Nelli) and her partner much more entertaining.

Charlene Guignard/Marco Fabbri - I'm enjoying this program a lot! Hehe, they obviously went to Novi with Skary Babs over the summer because they have one of Meryl and Charlie's lifts from the tango and the Latin OD. And they also twizzle very nicely. I don't know if the video is distorted, but this team looks like they're flying across the ice. Love the music (Four Seasons by Vivaldi). I'm putting this pair on my radar.

Madison Chock/Evan Bates - They have great lifts in this program just like they did in their FD last year. Definitely one of their strengths. Madi's white dress looks more Dr. Zhivago-ish than the purple one she wore at the Senior B in SLC, but I thought the purple dress was gorgeous. They look confident and invested in the program. I thought Igor would wear a white tie to match the costumes, but he's tie-less today.

Kaitlyn Weaver/Andrew Poje - Kaitlyn's hair looks pretty down, but I thought the braid up-do she had at Skate America looked more "statuesque." I really love this program and the incredible flow of movement, but I'm still bothered by how open it feels. There seems to be a lot of parts where Kaitlyn and Andrew are skating independent of one another.

Ekaterina Bobrova/Dmitri Soloviev - Honestly, it's late and after seeing this program in practice numerous times at Skate America and during the competition, I don't feel like watching it again. I find my eyes glazing over during it. Moving along to the French....

Nathalie Pechalat/Fabian Bourzat - I'm not a Rolling Stones fan, so the music doesn't do anything for me. Nathalie and Fabian look super cute again, though. This is my first time seeing the program, and I'm not wowed by anything. There was one lift I thought was pretty cool. I think W/P definitely got the better free dance on Team DSC.

2012 Cup of China SD Thoughts

Cup of China always seems to have an entertaining dance event because there's always the question of what kind of crazy costumes the Chinese teams will wear. I'm watching the videos of the Short Dance on YouTube because Universal Sports had "technical difficulties" and hasn't posted the broadcast of the event yet. To whomever is responsible for shafting IceNetwork this year as far as live Grand Prix coverage goes, thanks for nothing! Universal Sports has been a big bust so far.

On to the Short Dance thoughts!

Xiaoyang Yu/Chen Wang - Cowboys! Yu is wearing what looks like a replica of Tanith Belbin's Western OD costume from the 2007-2008 season. She's rocking it and looks very perky! Noticeably slow on the Yankee Polka patterns. The lasso arm movements are too cliche for my taste. Oh, and a music transition to "Cotton-Eyed Joe" just like Tanith and Ben!

Xintong Huang/Xun Zheng - They look very elegant. I love Zheng's "princely" costume. Maybe they'll bring the costume craziness in the free dance? Also slow on the YP patterns and in the circular no-touching step sequence. Looks like Zheng had a little stumble there.

Victoria Sinitsina/Ruslan Zhiganshin - More country music :( Victoria's posture is a little Bobrova-ish (Hunchy McHuncherson). An oops moment at the end of the circular steps where it looks like Victoria almost runs into Ruslan. They do the YP to "Witch Doctor" ("Oo ee oo ah ah ting tang walla walla bing bang"). Not very pleasing to the ears. More lasso arms! This was kinda a hot mess to me. Score seems rather high....

Charlene Guignard/Marco Fabbri - First time I've seen this team. They're cute together. A bit far apart on the circular steps. Twizzles nicely done. Good performance with lots of energy. 

Madison Chock/Evan Bates - I'm one of the few people who likes Madi's costume. Love the colors and the cut of the collar fits the theme. Great job of keeping the character throughout the dance. Excellent twizzles - I can see definite improvement there from last year. I think this program with the playful theme suits them.

Ekaterina Bobrova/Dmitri Soloviev - She looks less "hunchy" in this program. I find the program rather snoozy overall. They have better speed than I remember them having last year. I think they could still use some work on their lifts. Not the most attractive. 

Kaitlyn Weaver/Andrew Poje - Kaitlyn's new costume looks even more like Maria's blue dress in the movie (The Sound of Music). She has a flower in her hair now and Andrew's lost the flower on his pocket. The music cuts still kill me. They look very smooth on the YP. Slight wobble by Andrew on the twizzles? 

Nathalie Pechalat/Fabian Bourzat - I don't like the music cut of doing the Can Can music at the front and back end of the program. Something felt disjointed. The slowed down version they use with the YP sequences also feels off, like it doesn't go with the pattern steps. They look really cute and on top of their game technically.

I'll try to post thoughts on the Free Dance tomorrow night!