Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

Icebreaker by Hannah Grace

180 reviews

tyras_bookshelf's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring tense medium-paced

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

2.75

I liked it for a figure skater/hockey romance. It was a little long and drawn out in places but not overbearing about it. I'm also new to Hannah Grace's style and felt pretty critical of the writing at times. 

 

Anastasia was in pretty deep when it came to Aaron. She trusted him and was a little naive but also manipulated into letting her goals and anxieties drive her rather than her own common sense. 

 

I hate that she only breaks away from one man with the help of another but her and Nate were very cute. Nate was in his toxic man bag a time or two but finally gets his head out his butt to realize that Anastasia grown and can think for herself. 

 

Decent book but some of the chapters felt so random.

Like sister literally almost drowned at one point and like nothing happened with that. It forced a love confession (realization of her love) so there’s that but just seemed random to me.

 

Also kinda random was Nate’s immediate interest in Ana to begin with. So it’s forced proximity because of plot/conflict but while he is the hockey captain (vested interest in peace) she’s not the only figure skater nor the perceived leader of the skaters. It didn’t make sense why he singled her out other than I guess she seemed the most of upset and he wanted to be helpful. Really its because she’s hot and the main character but that’s too easy. 

 

It was actually very upsetting to read about Aaron — he’s a narcissistic, manipulative, leech of a man. Sure, hurt people hurt people and he definitely needed therapy or (another) punch to the face but I think he was super aware of his actions and doing it all on purpose because he lacks power in his family life and could exercise power over Ana. 

I’ve got mixed feelings on how the conflict was resolved and that bothers me. 

 

I feel like Ana “won” —no longer on his grasp and fully in control of what she wants— but it also felt like she got that closure/victory at the expense of her dreams. 

 

Idk she wins gold in the Olympics in the epilogue so what do I know I guess?

Cute HEA at the end and I feel like most of the important threads were tried up along the way so I’m good with it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

saretta02's review

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Eating disorder, Sexual content, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Infidelity, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual harassment

witcheep's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Gaslighting

Moderate: Body shaming, Cursing, Eating disorder, Violence, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Vomit and Pregnancy

kroosee's review against another edition

funny 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

4.0

The storyline was interesting and easy to follow. It just seems like the story was lost sometimes being covered up by very smutty parts. Overall, a good book, just wish the story got to shine more instead of the smutty parts. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing and Sexual content

Moderate: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Death of parent

lemonsneverlie's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

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

4.0

This novel is quite loght hearted and has a lovable cast of characters, although there are quite many spicy scenes it does not define the book as some people might say, and even though it is a big part of it there is a story about people growing and becoming better versions of themselfes along side those parts of it.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Eating disorder

Minor: Cursing, Emotional abuse, and Death of parent

emmadb766's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Sexual content, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Eating disorder, and Alcohol

Minor: Vomit and Pregnancy

galaxybbunny's review against another edition

emotional hopeful lighthearted sad tense 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, and Gaslighting

Minor: Cursing, Death of parent, and Alcohol

lovely_fantasy's review against another edition

funny lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.5

I liked the book and won’t think harder about it. Therapy speak was a bit much. The actual plot went a bit slow then warp speed at the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Cursing, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Injury/Injury detail

ceredonia's review against another edition

lighthearted medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Cursing, Eating disorder, Sexual content, and Toxic friendship

swamprat410's review

funny lighthearted slow-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

 TL;DR: Don't expect a beautifully constructed, insightful book that will change your life, and instead, take it for what it is: a light and spicy, contemporary college romance book with the emotional maturity of the 20-somethings it was written about. 

Storyline is full of tropes: grumpy girl boss and the sunny hockey captain (the lovable father figure of the found family/ragtag team of unruly hockey players) go from enemies-to-lovers who have to overcome limited resources and learn to share the ice. 
 
I read this book as an audiobook and honestly I wish that I'd had a physical book/ebook to read along with for the sole purpose of annotating/keeping notes to keep the sheer number of characters straight.

This book was like being in a college social circle -- in that there are so many people coming and going and at times you have no idea who is going to stick around/be relevant. There were times where I found myself thinking "why do I care/who the hell is this person?" at some of the anecdotal details, but then again, that's probably what builds the universe that the author is creating. 

At times I definitely struggled to get through the story. Anastasia is kind of annoying, there's tons of nicknames (like she has at least 3 I feel like), some of the writing is clunky, and the pacing is weird. Plus there's a lot of stuff that if it happened in real life in your friend group you'd be like uh wtf...

Like if I found out one of my friends was hooking up in an Uber that I was in at the same time as them I'd be pissed. Have some manners girl!! Put some underwear on, knock it off!

But I promised that I would tough it out, and I'm glad I did - Wildfire, the sequel, was much better. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Sexual content, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Body shaming, Cursing, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Gaslighting, and Alcohol