Finding Her Edge arrived on Netflix with a familiar premise and a noticeably different structure. Adapted from Jennifer Iacopelli’s 2022 novel, the series keeps the core of Adriana Russo’s journey intact while reworking the forces that shape it. The result is not a loose reinterpretation, but a deliberate rebalancing of motivation, conflict, and resolution.
Below is a clear breakdown of what changes between the book and the series, and what stays fundamentally the same.
Where the Story Actually Shifts
1. The Stakes: Personal Redemption vs. Institutional Survival
The biggest difference between the book and the series lies in what is at risk.
In the book:
Adriana’s story is driven by personal and professional reckoning. After ending her partnership with Freddie and a year away from competitive skating, she is fighting to prove she still belongs at the elite level. The pressure comes from legacy, expectation, and her own sense of unfinished business.
In the series:
Those internal stakes remain, but they are overshadowed by financial collapse. The Russo rink is on the brink of bankruptcy, and nearly every major decision is shaped by the need to keep the doors open. This shift turns Adriana’s comeback into a survival strategy rather than just a personal choice.
The series externalizes pressure that the book keeps largely internal.
2. Elise Russo: Competitive Sister vs. Active Saboteur
Elise exists in both versions, but her function in the story changes.
In the book:
Elise is demanding and deeply shaped by the family legacy, but she is not positioned as an antagonist. Her pressure on Adriana reflects internalized expectations rather than calculated harm. The tension between them is emotional and rooted in comparison, not betrayal.
In the series:
Elise is written as a destabilizing force. She actively undermines Adriana by leaking damaging information to the press and weaponizing her injury-induced insecurity. Her arc only stabilizes after she is forced off the ice and redirected into coaching.
This is not a personality flip, but an escalation. The series uses Elise to generate conflict that the book locates within Adriana herself.
3. Adriana and Brayden: Organic Partnership vs. Manufactured Brand
Both versions pair Adriana with Brayden Elliott, but they arrive there in very different ways.
In the book:
Their relationship develops gradually through training and mutual respect. There is no performative romance or external strategy behind their pairing. The connection grows from shared work and aligned ambition.
In the series:
Their partnership becomes a marketing tool. The viral #Braydriana storyline and the fake-dating pact are explicitly designed to attract sponsors and reshape Brayden’s public image. What begins as a professional calculation slowly blurs into something more complicated.
This is one of the series’s most visible departures from the book, and it reframes romance as a commodity rather than a byproduct.
4. The Central Conflict: Competition vs. Corporate Pressure
The book and series place their obstacles in different arenas.
In the book:
Conflict lives on the ice. Judges’ scores, technical execution, and Olympic qualification drive the narrative forward. The sport itself is the primary antagonist.
In the series:
A corporate presence enters the story through Voltage, the rival rink that ultimately acquires the Russo facility. This introduces a business hierarchy that does not exist in the novel and reframes skating as part of a larger economic ecosystem.
5. The Ending: Same Outcome, Different Route
The ending is often framed as a reversal, but that reading misses the actual distinction between the book and the series.
In the book:
Adriana ends the story emotionally reunited with Freddie, but her competitive path remains separate. While she reconnects with Freddie on a personal level, she continues skating professionally with Brayden. The novel draws a clear line between romantic resolution and athletic partnership, framing Adriana’s ending as one of balance rather than consolidation. She chooses emotional clarity without collapsing it into a single professional outcome.
In the series:
The destination is the same, but the path is extended. Adriana wins the World Championship, skating with Brayden, completing the professional arc that dominates the season. The romantic resolution arrives later, in the epilogue, where she reunites with Freddie as both her partner on the ice and in her personal life under Voltage’s management, while Brayden is paired with Riley.
Rather than altering the endpoint, the series adjusts the structure. Adriana’s World Championship win is achieved with Brayden, while her reunion with Freddie is established afterward. By separating athletic outcome from emotional resolution and leaving relationships still in flux, the finale leaves the narrative open-ended, supporting continuation beyond the first season.
