Reviews with content warning for Fatphobia - Icebreaker

I could not get past the fact that the main character acted and sounded like a young teenage girl and kept having to remind myself that they were, in fact, in college. Kinda gave me the ick. Some of the sentence structure had me re-reading a couple times to understand what was being said. Not a plot line in sight. Just stuff happening and Aaron being a complete narcissistic and manipulative prick. Also, it reminds me to take TikTok book recommendations with a very tiny grain of salt. I imagine the vast demographic aimed for this book is for a younger crowd embarking on a spicy reading journey. It certainly is, and how it begins comes quite literally out of *nowhere*

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cjetty's review against another edition

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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

2.75

I love quick spicy book, and this was a quick spicy book. I think this one was over recommended and my expectations were too high.

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cutepatzie's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective 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

5.0

This is nice and light book to read. I like that it is a book to really good shows how manipulation can look like not only in relationships between friends like also coworkers. I am really happy that many of the inappropriate situations was addressed and no one made victims look bad. And I like good character development. And I can see how many of the characters have been through it. And it was nice to read that. My only complaint was sometimes the time skips to fast and tha was not enough for me plesurble to read but this is something that came maybe pist me of so will not change my grade. A good book to read.

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meganpbennett's review against another edition

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emotional funny medium-paced

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

1.0

If this book had been about a hundred and fifty pages shorter, I might have liked it. I still would have found it completely overhyped, but I would have been far less disappointed.

The biggest issue is that there is basically no plot, and when the plot does finally kick in - 40% of the way through the book - it's somehow sidelined. Don't promise me something in the summary and then make me wait 210 pages for it. Because of this, the book dragged on. I found that it had far too much filler and not enough plot. It needed more hockey, more skating, and far less drinking and college students hooking up. On top of that, I found Anastasia to be a whiny and unlikable character. She didn't act like a college senior with Olympic aspirations, but a middle school girl. The book has a perfect set-up for a slow burn, not-quite enemies to lovers, and blew it by having no plot.

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abidavisf's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted fast-paced

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

3.0

I was prepared to fall head over heels in love with Icebreaker and it did capture my attention, but I found myself feeling like, for such a long book, a lot of scenes were rushed.

I’d heard a lot about Icebreaker: that it’s spicy (I would say it’s spice adjacent), that’s its emotional (I would say it could have been had the more serious scenes been broken down more), and that it’s addictive (I have been thinking about it a lot but more in a ‘why did it play out like that?’ kind of way).

Icebreaker is an easy read if that is what you are looking for. It touches on some really important and hard topics and handles them well. It also has a diverse cast of characters which is refreshing. I would say, however, that it lacks depth and you may find yourself wanting to know more than you are being given.

I’m definitely interested to read Wildfire so stay tuned for my thoughts on that. I’ve heard it’s a lot more thorough.

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