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dexlud's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I quite enjoyed Icebreaker, but the fact I had to skim between page 350 and 380 really wasn’t fun. I enjoyed the downfall of the c**t, and the epilogue was very cute.
R.I.P Anastasia’spussy.
R.I.P Anastasia’s
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Sexual harassment and Sexual assault
Minor: Abortion
llandprosper's review
emotional
funny
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? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Eating disorder
Minor: Sexual assault
angreadseverything's review against another edition
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Pregnancy, Blood, Body shaming, Cursing, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Sexual assault
Minor: Vomit
aniki512's review
emotional
funny
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
Graphic: Alcohol, Toxic friendship, Fatphobia, and Body shaming
Moderate: Eating disorder
Minor: Vomit, Sexual assault, and Pregnancy
emmadilemma01's review
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
slow-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? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Eating disorder
Minor: Sexual assault
ob_liv_ious's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Eating disorder, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Sexual assault
alexajhp's review
challenging
emotional
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? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder
Moderate: Sexual assault
Minor: Gaslighting
cinderrunner's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
fast-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
2.75
The book was cute. The relationship was cute. There were some genuinely precious moments that gave me butterflies. I would have rated it higher if not for two things. 1) Aaron was ABUSIVE and that is never properly tackled. The behavior he exhibits is incredibly dangerous. He sexually assualts Anastasia. But it is never called that. He is never held accountable, he never faces consequences, and even when Anastasia does cut him off the gravity of what he did is underplayed in the plot. I believe everything he did was premeditated, i cannot accept that he didnt know he was underfeeding Anastasia (especially given how she calls him out for lifting well over her body weight. Why would he make such a fuss about her weight if he could lift it unless he was trying to exert power over her and manipulate her relationship to food to keep her dependent on him? Which would fall under emotional abuse btw). , and given that he intentionally lied about how he broke his arm (again in order to try to manipulate her) it only stands to reason that he knew damn well what he was doing the whole time. The characters are constantly trying to either excuse his behavior, justify it, or questioning what his motives could possibly be. But nobody (even Anastasia with all her therapy) ever points out the obvious of him being an abuser and him wanting control over his victim. Seriously, Aaron was textbook red flag abuser. The way it is downplayed in this book truly disgusts me. If you ever meet someone like Aaron, RUN. 2) i HATE a pregnancy trope and that epilogue pissed me off.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, Sexual content, Alcohol, Cursing, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Body shaming, and Misogyny
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Emotional abuse
amelianotthepilot's review against another edition
3.0
It wasn't bad but it wasn't good and I certainly don't understand the hype. I also think this author has never seen hockey before.
It follows Anastasia, a partner figure skater headed to the Olympics, and Nate, the captain of the hockey team headed for the NLS. They of course are enemies to lovers forced to use the same icerink after the hockey teams' rink is destroyed by vandals. I didn't love how Anastasia was that classic female trope who is an uptight, A-type, rule-following girl who is 'fixed' by her chill, go-with-the-flow boyfriend. Anastasia deals with an eating disorder, an overbearing controlling skating partner, and commitment issues all while trying to make it to the Olympics.
I would gladly completely rip out the 2 years later epilogue it gave me such ick.
My main critique comes with the first two chapters that intro our main characters. The main male's chapter starts with him waking up next to a naked woman, having blacked out. It never addresses this as rape and largely ignores men being taken advantage of but does highlight that being drunk=no consent.
Tropes: reader girl/jock boy, dainty itty bitty tiny girl/massive man, man fixes the girl, forced proximity, enemies to lovers, falling in an ice cold lake
It follows Anastasia, a partner figure skater headed to the Olympics, and Nate, the captain of the hockey team headed for the NLS. They of course are enemies to lovers forced to use the same icerink after the hockey teams' rink is destroyed by vandals. I didn't love how Anastasia was that classic female trope who is an uptight, A-type, rule-following girl who is 'fixed' by her chill, go-with-the-flow boyfriend. Anastasia deals with an eating disorder, an overbearing controlling skating partner, and commitment issues all while trying to make it to the Olympics.
I would gladly completely rip out the 2 years later epilogue it gave me such ick.
My main critique comes with the first two chapters that intro our main characters. The main male's chapter starts with him waking up next to a naked woman, having blacked out. It never addresses this as rape and largely ignores men being taken advantage of but does highlight that being drunk=no consent.
Tropes: reader girl/jock boy, dainty itty bitty tiny girl/massive man, man fixes the girl, forced proximity, enemies to lovers, falling in an ice cold lake
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual harassment, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Toxic friendship
laurenandradee's review against another edition
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
0.25
There is a lot I want to say about this book.
This is not a positive review and is a fairly long rant so if you are looking for reasons to read this book, please keep scrolling. If you also hated it, lets go.
What was this book. I honestly do not understand why this book is so popular. Are the sex scenes really enough to make up for the complete lack of character development ? The weak as piss plot and the "I'm so woke. I'm so diverse" overtones this book rams down your throat at every available opportunity. Honestly this book could have been a quarter of the pages and it might have been okay but the literal CONSTANT gushing and "shes so pretty" "hes so pretty" is exhausting and frankly boring and just. kept. going. on. and. on. I have never been SO bored while reading a book. The main characters are boring. The side characters are boring. And the random characters that pop in every once in a while which your expected to remember - boring. like literally who are russ and bobby? None of the humor landed and it was weak at best. The whole "would you still love me if I had crab hands" inside joke sucked. Who is laughing at that? Literally any "joke" made wasn't remotely funny.
The plot - I have no words for how slowly it progressed, so much was written, literally there were so many words while absolutely nothing was actually happening and nothing of importance was being said. It was just the same monologue recycled from the previous chapter or really just earlier on in the chapter. I have never actually highlighted multiple paragraphs and huge chunks in a chapter and noted "this was pointless, why was it included" and I cannot even count how many times I did that in this book. SO many things were said that were pointless to the plot or gave no character development (which was non-existent anyway) Like I LOVE a filler episode in a tv show for the character development - plot isn't everything and I love both a character and a plot driven book - this was just reiterating the same point over and over and over and over again while boring events were happening and the overall plot was so lost. If this book was severely condensed, you wouldn't lose any plot or character development and it may actually have decent pacing.
Nate Hawkins. He could not be more one-dimensional. Like we get it. Hes perfect. Hes the perfect boyfriend. With perfect hair and perfect biceps and a perfect penis and hes ALSO the most perfect communicator and he perfectly supports her and he perfectly listens and perfectly validates her and he is perfectly obsessed with her. HES PERFECT. We. Fucking. Get. It. Like all his inner monologues about how much he loves her and how he just wants to support her and be the best man for her and how she deserves the world and he wants to be better for her and he just loves her so fucking much. literally shut the fuck up. Its genuinely boring and became mind-numbing at the end. He is the ULTIMATE mary sue. He is maybe normal like once - when his ego is hurt and he is feeling insecure - and that was the most interesting his character got. He's just boring. His whole schtick is just loving Anastasia. All he thinks about is her. All he cares about is her. All his character is, is just loving her. sounds lovely right? NO. ALL his character is loving her. ALL. he has no personality. he likes hockey? he has some family issues ? and that's LITERALLY it for his character. No word of a lie. AND lets not talk about how he DETESTS his father but is still happy to live in the house his father pays for, drive the car his father bought for him and use his fathers credit card to pay for dinner with Anastasia's parents?!!?!?! wtf. you cant have your cake and eat it too. He literally funds Nates life so Nate just sounds like a whiny trust fund baby whenever he is talking about how his dad SUCKs but then - MONEY PLEASE. like shut the fuck up shut the fuck up shutthefuckup. If you had any integrity, you would get a job. pay your own rent. and your own tuition. not live off daddys credit card, who you talk shit about constantly.
Speaking about who should shut the fuck up. Anastasia. She's honestly SO unlikeable. Shes mean to everyone ?? Which is explained away as her having an ED but in the beginning when shes meeting everyone - why WHY WHY WHY do the boys like her so much. Why does Nate like her so much. Why does Henry and JJ and Russ (who) and Bobby (who) and any of the other nameless boys in the hockey team who supposedly fall at her feet - like her so much. She has literally no redeeming qualities. She isn't nice. She isn't funny. She isn't cute. She is just annoying and when she's not being annoying she's boring or plain rude. And for no reason at all hates nate for the first part of this book and for the STUPIDEST reason just so the author could include enemies to lovers as one of the MANY tropes in this book. In the second half of this book her inner monologues are centred on Nate and how hot he is and how perfect he is and...you get it. And that, coming from both POV's, in every single chapter, at every single opportunity and sometimes where there was no opportunity but it was put in anyway. Its boring man. Its actually boring. I have NEVER and I mean NEVER skipped ahead without reading - usually I at least skim or listen to the audiobook at 2x speed. I was skipping over whole parts where they were just gushing and gushing and I missed nothing of importance. its not endearing. it is exhausting.
Also all the pop-psychology quotes and buzz-words that were plainly ripped off of pop-psyche instagram like "hurt people, hurt people" and "weaponizing our emotions" and "I realize, for all his faults, no one can loathe him more than he loathes himself." and "You don’t need to apologize to me, Nathan. You’re allowed to withdraw consent at any time. I’d never, ever be mad at your for changing your mind." and "Worrying about Aaron is something I’m used to, but you can only properly help someone who tells you what’s wrong with them.". Its so stilted, so incredible unnatural and not how people think or talk in real life conversations. This book is so incredibly forced in its diversity - you can tell the author just wanted points for writing a "modern romance where everyone is represented". Its not seamlessly interwoven - its ham-fisted and your CONSTANTLY reminded of how woke this book in throughout this very long book. Its okay. We get it. You don't have to constantly remind me of how woke and healthily communicative the characters are and how diverse the cast is and how look! mental health awareness and therapytherapytherapytherapytherapytherapy. It reads like a netflix original - which is not a compliment. I love a diverse cast, I love healthy communication, I LOVE mental health awareness but when its just like "HEY LOOK HERE HES PAN, OH WAIT LOOK OVER HERE HE HAS A WHEELCHAIR, WAITWAITWAIT MUSLIM!!!" like shut up. its okay to seamlessly incorporate - a simple "JJ was too busy checking out our waiter all dinner!" "What! he was hot" and then just have him making out with a chick at a party- like thats plenty, we now know he's bi/pan. You don't have to literally say "His parents always visit in June so they can join the rest of us at LA Pride with JJ, proudly wearing their pansexual flag ally pins". It just really pulls you out of the scene and is SO unnatural.
The sex scenes were decent. Sometimes. There is a lot of them but there are better eroticas out there if that is the only reason you want to read this book. And it should be the only reason you want to read this book.
I wish I DNF this but I read it in a bookclub and we were determined to finish it and were hopeful it would pick up since its so popular. We ended up just skim reading this last quarter together just so we could be finished. Don't make the same mistake I did and if you did...I am so sorry.
This is not a positive review and is a fairly long rant so if you are looking for reasons to read this book, please keep scrolling. If you also hated it, lets go.
What was this book. I honestly do not understand why this book is so popular. Are the sex scenes really enough to make up for the complete lack of character development ? The weak as piss plot and the "I'm so woke. I'm so diverse" overtones this book rams down your throat at every available opportunity. Honestly this book could have been a quarter of the pages and it might have been okay but the literal CONSTANT gushing and "shes so pretty" "hes so pretty" is exhausting and frankly boring and just. kept. going. on. and. on. I have never been SO bored while reading a book. The main characters are boring. The side characters are boring. And the random characters that pop in every once in a while which your expected to remember - boring. like literally who are russ and bobby? None of the humor landed and it was weak at best. The whole "would you still love me if I had crab hands" inside joke sucked. Who is laughing at that? Literally any "joke" made wasn't remotely funny.
The plot - I have no words for how slowly it progressed, so much was written, literally there were so many words while absolutely nothing was actually happening and nothing of importance was being said. It was just the same monologue recycled from the previous chapter or really just earlier on in the chapter. I have never actually highlighted multiple paragraphs and huge chunks in a chapter and noted "this was pointless, why was it included" and I cannot even count how many times I did that in this book. SO many things were said that were pointless to the plot or gave no character development (which was non-existent anyway) Like I LOVE a filler episode in a tv show for the character development - plot isn't everything and I love both a character and a plot driven book - this was just reiterating the same point over and over and over and over again while boring events were happening and the overall plot was so lost. If this book was severely condensed, you wouldn't lose any plot or character development and it may actually have decent pacing.
Nate Hawkins. He could not be more one-dimensional. Like we get it. Hes perfect. Hes the perfect boyfriend. With perfect hair and perfect biceps and a perfect penis and hes ALSO the most perfect communicator and he perfectly supports her and he perfectly listens and perfectly validates her and he is perfectly obsessed with her. HES PERFECT. We. Fucking. Get. It. Like all his inner monologues about how much he loves her and how he just wants to support her and be the best man for her and how she deserves the world and he wants to be better for her and he just loves her so fucking much. literally shut the fuck up. Its genuinely boring and became mind-numbing at the end. He is the ULTIMATE mary sue. He is maybe normal like once - when his ego is hurt and he is feeling insecure - and that was the most interesting his character got. He's just boring. His whole schtick is just loving Anastasia. All he thinks about is her. All he cares about is her. All his character is, is just loving her. sounds lovely right? NO. ALL his character is loving her. ALL. he has no personality. he likes hockey? he has some family issues ? and that's LITERALLY it for his character. No word of a lie. AND lets not talk about how he DETESTS his father but is still happy to live in the house his father pays for, drive the car his father bought for him and use his fathers credit card to pay for dinner with Anastasia's parents?!!?!?! wtf. you cant have your cake and eat it too. He literally funds Nates life so Nate just sounds like a whiny trust fund baby whenever he is talking about how his dad SUCKs but then - MONEY PLEASE. like shut the fuck up shut the fuck up shutthefuckup. If you had any integrity, you would get a job. pay your own rent. and your own tuition. not live off daddys credit card, who you talk shit about constantly.
Speaking about who should shut the fuck up. Anastasia. She's honestly SO unlikeable. Shes mean to everyone ?? Which is explained away as her having an ED but in the beginning when shes meeting everyone - why WHY WHY WHY do the boys like her so much. Why does Nate like her so much. Why does Henry and JJ and Russ (who) and Bobby (who) and any of the other nameless boys in the hockey team who supposedly fall at her feet - like her so much. She has literally no redeeming qualities. She isn't nice. She isn't funny. She isn't cute. She is just annoying and when she's not being annoying she's boring or plain rude. And for no reason at all hates nate for the first part of this book and for the STUPIDEST reason just so the author could include enemies to lovers as one of the MANY tropes in this book. In the second half of this book her inner monologues are centred on Nate and how hot he is and how perfect he is and...you get it. And that, coming from both POV's, in every single chapter, at every single opportunity and sometimes where there was no opportunity but it was put in anyway. Its boring man. Its actually boring. I have NEVER and I mean NEVER skipped ahead without reading - usually I at least skim or listen to the audiobook at 2x speed. I was skipping over whole parts where they were just gushing and gushing and I missed nothing of importance. its not endearing. it is exhausting.
Also all the pop-psychology quotes and buzz-words that were plainly ripped off of pop-psyche instagram like "hurt people, hurt people" and "weaponizing our emotions" and "I realize, for all his faults, no one can loathe him more than he loathes himself." and "You don’t need to apologize to me, Nathan. You’re allowed to withdraw consent at any time. I’d never, ever be mad at your for changing your mind." and "Worrying about Aaron is something I’m used to, but you can only properly help someone who tells you what’s wrong with them.". Its so stilted, so incredible unnatural and not how people think or talk in real life conversations. This book is so incredibly forced in its diversity - you can tell the author just wanted points for writing a "modern romance where everyone is represented". Its not seamlessly interwoven - its ham-fisted and your CONSTANTLY reminded of how woke this book in throughout this very long book. Its okay. We get it. You don't have to constantly remind me of how woke and healthily communicative the characters are and how diverse the cast is and how look! mental health awareness and therapytherapytherapytherapytherapytherapy. It reads like a netflix original - which is not a compliment. I love a diverse cast, I love healthy communication, I LOVE mental health awareness but when its just like "HEY LOOK HERE HES PAN, OH WAIT LOOK OVER HERE HE HAS A WHEELCHAIR, WAITWAITWAIT MUSLIM!!!" like shut up. its okay to seamlessly incorporate - a simple "JJ was too busy checking out our waiter all dinner!" "What! he was hot" and then just have him making out with a chick at a party- like thats plenty, we now know he's bi/pan. You don't have to literally say "His parents always visit in June so they can join the rest of us at LA Pride with JJ, proudly wearing their pansexual flag ally pins". It just really pulls you out of the scene and is SO unnatural.
The sex scenes were decent. Sometimes. There is a lot of them but there are better eroticas out there if that is the only reason you want to read this book. And it should be the only reason you want to read this book.
I wish I DNF this but I read it in a bookclub and we were determined to finish it and were hopeful it would pick up since its so popular. We ended up just skim reading this last quarter together just so we could be finished. Don't make the same mistake I did and if you did...I am so sorry.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Minor: Sexual assault