Reviews with content warning for Misogyny - Icebreaker

the communication between nate and anastasia was so refreshing because a lot of contemporary romance books are rife with miscommunication. anastasia wasn’t annoying or called any girl nate slept with a puck bunny. nate himself wasn’t misogynistic. (the way he asks for consent😫) absolutely loved it but not 5 stars because

anastasia being pregnant isn’t a bad thing cuz she did want kids i just wish it was a bit more in the future

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bookswithvicky's review

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slow-paced

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

1.0

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jellyhavana's review

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Ugh what was this book. All smut no substance. I’m about 1/3 into the book and there is literally no plot. Barely any character development either. Actually no development. The spice is good. I like the diversity of the characters (apart from the main two who are stereotypically fit, white and hot) but apart from that… meh. Just didn’t keep me interested and I can’t be arsed to finish it.

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meeklovestoread's review

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emotional funny lighthearted reflective 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

Okay I would just like to say the synopsis in the back of the book doesn't effectively sum what the book is about. This book was not what I was expecting and I'm not sure if that's good or bad.

Pros:
- I like the relationship between Nathan and Anastasia, overall. It's so sweet and for the most part as realistic as it can get.

-They have great communication and didn't beat around the bush towards things that were bothering them; plus I like how heavily prioritized therapy and self-improvement is in this book.

- For the most part, Nathan is the ideal boyfriend. So attentive. So kind. Protective. Respect her, her feelings, and decisions. Is so caring of her and her needs. And makes it obvious how smitten he is with her. And he values consent (whenever she was inebriated he refused to engage in intercourse with her). This may be the bare minimum, but from what I've read I don't see this often in books, especially romances which a big probably.

- I liked the found family aspect of this book. The way all the hockey players would go to bat for Anastasia and Lola is sooo cute.

- I found Anastasia to be pretty relatable. She was one of the few characters that I've read about that resonated with me.

- I liked the writing. It felt just like how my friends and I would talk to each other and I'm glad it was set in college and not high school considering the content in this book.

- I liked how multi-faceted the two main characters are.

-Some people may not think so, but I feel like the way Anastasia handled her relationship with Aaron was pretty realistic.

- This may sound odd, but I also like how fairly represented the dynamic of friends w/ benefits was between Ryan and Anastasia.

- If I'm being honest I LOVED Ryan (yes, more than Nathan)! He was sooo sweet! I doubt he's going to get his own book, but I love the little we got from him!🥰

- Oh and Henry of course! Loved him! Hope he gets his own book! (And Russ too!)

- I also like how consistent the author was. Alot of their inside jokes from the beginning come back later and everything seem to wrap well.

Cons:
- Honestly the biggest con for me was the overwhelming and unnecessary amount of smut this book has. I'm not opposed to smut in books, but personally I can only handle so much. I kid you not about 70% of book was just straight up porn. It makes it seem like what they had was purely physical. There wasn't balance in my opinion. And I firmly believe this book would be alot shorter if half of the sex scenes were cut out. Some were literally so unnecessary.😒

- Nathan would give off some alpha male vibes that I wasn't really connecting with especially during their explicit scenes. It made me grimace sometimes.

-Similar to my first con, I think the emotional aspect of their relationship should've been fleshed out more. Like I stated there was no balance.

-I understand why people don't like the ending. It was a but anticlimactic

considering Anastasia get pregnant when she explicitly states in the book how she would much prefer to adopt. I just wish the author would've stuck with that. Personally I don't think they were too young to have a baby and get married because many people are college sweethearts, but I feel like their emotional connection needed to be flushed out more in order for more people to be on board.

- There are a few inconsistencies that are not explained. We never know why she "doesn't do hockey players". She never finds how why she's so commitment phobic. Certain characters like their exes appeared just to be gone in two seconds.

- Although I did like the found family aspect of this book I'm not gonna lie there was an overwhelming about of people to keep up with in this book.

- The way the author transitions into a new scene bothered me. I don't think she transitions into new scenes nicely. Alot of the time when we'd move to a new scene I'm like woah how did we get it here?

- Also, this is not necessarily a con, but the main plot of this book of him trading his hockey skates for ice skates was a pretty miniscule part of the book. And it doesn't even happen until around the half way mark. The book doesn't necessarily have a plot. We just follow these characters around through their date to date lives.

Conclusion - Although there were many aspects of this book that I liked. I'm not true if I'll read the future books in this series just due to how heavily sexual explicit this books was. And I can't begin to fathom why people never mention that we they review this book. I'm just not big into steamy books. (Edit: changed it from a 4 to a 3.75)

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storieswithbee's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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? No

5.0

TikTok (more specifically Booktok) has been pumping my TBR full of books for the last couple of years, so I decided that I needed to tackle a book that I've been curious about for a long time, and that book was 'Icebreaker' by Hannah Grace!

Plain and simple, I ADORED this book! It had the wit, the humour, the contemporary modernism that made you feel like you were reading about a real-life college romance, and some incredible representation. Going past that, this book has literally put me into the BIGGEST reading slump now that I've finished it. On one hand, that's kind of a nice thing because it means that I've taken a little bit to really engage in all my emotions and feelings towards the book. But on the other hand, I have been given far too many ARCs this month that I'm not able to neglect!

The characters were great. The romance was heartwarming. The spice was... *chef's kiss*. Even better again, I live in Australia, so our university system is vastly different to the American college system, but the book was so well written that I didn't feel so polarised as I have been with other college romances.

Lastly, it was a very classic romance genre HEA epilogue ending, which I think if you're looking for that in a read, then this book is great. At the same time, if you're not in the headspace for that, then this book can come across as a little predictable, and, dare I even say, eye-roll-inducing.

There are some trigger warnings in this book. It is definitely for 18+ readers, but there is also some themes that some reader may find very uncomfortable. These include sexual content, slut-shaming, sexual assault (on-page), food shaming, dieting & calorie-counting, disordered eating, death of a parent (mentioned), toxic friendship, swearing, pregnancy, etc. Please check if this is the right book for you.

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