Reader
Icebreaker by Hannah Grace:
Review
Hockey is a very popular sport when it comes to romance books. So when a romance between a hockey player and figure skater starts to bloom, it instantly became a favorite amongst the book community.
With hockey romances being a personal favorite of mine, I had to get my hands on this book when everyone started to buzz about it in the book community, saying how it was so different from a classic hockey romance since both main characters were on the ice this time! What I didn't know, was how much I'd enjoy this book and how many important topics this book discusses.
Summary
When an incident on campus happens, leading the hocky team and the skating team to share a rink together, Anastasia doesn't want for nor her or her teammates to get distracted by some jocks. Anastasia has a goal and she will reach it. When on a full-time scholarship, she has no other choice. When she ends up without a partner, she has no choice to accept the help of Nate, the captain of the hockey team, to be her temporary partner. To many this is a romance waiting to happen, but Anastasia despises hockey players, so she has nothing to worry about.
The Plot
As much as I love this book, I have to say, the plot of it was a bit messy for my liking. The main plot (Anastasia and Nate pairing up) didn't happen until maybe 60% of the book so the first 60% of the book was them drooling at each other but doing absolutely nothing about it. When the plot line picked up, the book was amazing. Not only did this plot show character development but it also showed deeper situations like the struggles with being an athlete and all the judgement that one receives whilst it being hidden as criticism. I also can't forget that this book had some immaculate tropes like Enemies to Lovers, College Romance, Hockey Romance, Reverse Grumpy Sunshine and Forced Proximity. All of these tropes are individually amazing , but together they were just *chefs kiss*
The Characters
Anastasia Allen
Anastasia is definitely the fiercest character in the entire book. She's really opiniated and isn't afraid to speak her mind. In the book, we see how much happiness figure skating gives to her but, we also see how much pain and suffering she had to go through every single day. There was a representation of eating disorders with her character but, I personally felt that this shows how much work a figure skater puts to get close to perfection something which Anastasia craved. I loved how Anastasia went from hating every single hockey player to absolutely loving some of them and forming an amazing friendship with them.
Nathan Hawkins
At this point I don't know if the authors just wrote them incredibly well or if they're just hockey player but what I'm trying to say is... I simply love him. This man is the literal meaning of a golden retriever boy. He's all light and fun but no one can mess with Anastasia and I absolutely ate that up! This man is the kindest character I have seen in a really long time. Needless to say many readers are now identifying as his wife.
The way the relationship developed and the way we saw that he was the one to fall first was absolutely HEART WRENCHNG
The author Hannah Grace, has announced that Icebreaker was the first book in a college hockey series called Maple Hills. The second book which has been announced to be released on the 3rd of October 2023 is Wildfire. So far no third book has been confirmed.
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