Figure skating Olympic medalist Adam Rippon delivers a gold medal-worthy memoir that is both laugh-out-loud funny and inspiring. Rippon's sassy, outspoken personality and his skating skills made him a star of the 2018 Winter Olympics. At age 28, he was a decade older than his teammates. He had missed out on two previous Olympics and had broken his foot a year before he finally made the team. But he was also skating at his best. "I think people really connected with all that," he writes. "And I was doing Invisalign, so my teeth were straight and perfect."
At age five, Rippon begged his parents to take him ice skating after he saw an image on a popcorn tin of people skating. He was really more interested in getting a white muff like one held by a female skater in the illustration. Over the next decade, Rippon began competing and winning medals at local, national and international skating competitions. Despite fears that it might keep him off an Olympic team, Rippon publicly came out as gay a year before he finally made the team. He became the first openly gay U.S. athlete to win a medal at any Winter Olympics. Months after his win, his popularity exploded when he attended the Academy Awards wearing a leather harness, began training for Stars on Ice, and signed on for a season of Dancing with the Stars (and won).
Rippon's winning personality shines through on every page. Jaunty and thoughtful, Beautiful on the Outside is the feel-good memoir of the season. --Kevin Howell, independent reviewer and marketing consultant