Reviews with content warning for Toxic relationship - Icebreaker

Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Icebreaker by Hannah Grace

61 reviews

inked_in_pages's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

GENRE: Romance, Sports-Romance
[TW: emotional abuse, disorder eating, loss of a parent]

What were my overall thoughts about this book?
I enjoyed this book for the most part. I think that Hannah Grace did a great job of representing the intense pressure that collegiate and professional athletes have to do it perfectly which can often lead to their own issues with mental health and physical health.

The chemistry between Nathan and Anastasia was off the charts and I was definitely invested in the "will they? Won't they?" trope.

Nathan is an absolute dreamboat. If you've gotten to know me, you know I am a huge hockey fan and am married to my very own burly hockey player (okay, old man beer league but who's keeping score?) and the relationship that Stassi made with Nathan's teammates made my heart so happy. Some of my very best friends are the guys that I have spent my weekends with during tournaments. #hockeywife

Was there anything you didn't like?
at about pg 250 I found myself wondering what else could possibly happen. It was 423 pages long, pretty nuts for this genre if you ask me! Sometimes I think that authors just do too much. I think she could have achieved the same end goal and have shortened the story by A LOT.

What were your major takeaways?
Sports-Romance is a new genre for me and I could definitely see myself picking another one up in the future. The pressure we put on athletes is pretty wild and I loved how that was addressed in this book.

Who would you recommend this to?
This is a great recommendation for anyone who is looking for spice with a balance of heaviness. This is not a romance to jump into thinking it'll be all rainbows and butterflies…some heavy stuff is addressed while also making you laugh.

Content Warnings

g_c_geeks's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

TLDR; I enjoyed it but it wasn’t anything special.

The first half of this book dragged so much for me, and the plot point of Nate helping Stas practice figure skating bc her partner was injured literally happened at the 50% mark, despite that being the main set up according to the blurb.
I did however like the second half, all the characters are very loveable, if a little unrealistic. I enjoyed seeing therapy talked about in a book, and I also enjoyed the communication between the characters in a romance novel for once haha.

really frickin bothered me that she got pregnant in the epilogue, despite saying she didn’t want to, and wanted to adopt instead. Also the fact that they’re both so young and have so much of their careers ahead of them??? Like Anastasia literally just won her first gold in her first olympics, and I assume just graduated?? I totally saw them having kids but why so young 😭 I was excited that she wanted to adopt one day, as that’s not a story line that we get so often, and then they fell pregnant so young.
I know this is just a personal gripe because I don’t necessarily want kids, but it does irk me that we are still setting ‘happily ever afters’ to mean one very heteronormative ending. Anyways whatever I’m happy they’re happy and in love I guess haha.

Content Warnings

anshika06's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Content Warnings

bialves's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark funny informative inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Content Warnings

hannahrosereading's review against another edition

Go to review page

medium-paced

3.0

Worst. Epilogue. Ever.

Content Warnings

emreadsromcom's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Love, love, love this book. Dual POV

Content Warnings

mattiedancer's review against another edition

Go to review page

lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Writing: 3.75⭐️/5

The writing was unremarkable. There were one or two lines that were quite well done, but mostly it was adequate and even, which made for a really fast reading experience. Also, much of the writing was VERY tell-y versus actually showing the audience. It wasn’t poorly done, necessarily; I just wish it had been finessed a bit more.

Characters: 4.5⭐️/5

The characters are uniquely lovable. I’m not sure how realistic they are, but they’re certainly quite fun to read about. I do wish we got a bit more understanding of the motives behind Aaron, our MC’s skating partner, as we aren’t fully let in to understand why he’s doing the things that he’s doing. Otherwise, the characters were very fun and vibrant.

Plot: 3.75⭐️/5

The plot was fun, but not extremely well-paced. Certain sections could have been sped up, while others were much too tell-y and not doing enough to show us what was happening. About three-quarters the way through the book I was confused as to how the story wasn’t over, but then the plot “re-thickened,” even though I kind of thought it was resolving. I really wish this was coalesced a bit better instead of feeling so segmented.

Post-Reading Rating: 3.25⭐️/5

Could have done without the epilogue honestly. Kind of ruined it for me.

Who Should Read This?