Reviews

Icebreaker by Hannah Grace

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mollyyhansson's review against another edition

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lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

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

3.75

alexismeyer's review against another edition

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3.0

Perfect palate cleanser when you need to not think for a couple of days. Mucho spice, tons of ED talk (beware), and pretty much every trope ever, all in one book? You name it, it was in here. Would not recommend to anyone unless they needed a corny, unrealistic spicy ass romance. But did I eat it up like a 2am binge session of Keeping Up With the Kardashians? Yup.

julia_soltwedel's review against another edition

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challenging emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.0

emilyoneill's review against another edition

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5.0

I truly loved this book. I was submersed into the story and loved the enemy to lover trope that was created. I loved watching all the hockey players grow to love Stassie and become protective over her and supportive of her and Nate. I know there is a lot of love/hate for this book and I put it off for so long because I didn't want to give into the hype and be disappointed, but I truly truly loved this book. Was not expecting the amount of spice and steam involved in it either but it made the book all the more better.

maddys09's review against another edition

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2.0

I really tried to like it, I did but if I wasn't so stubborn I would've stopped reading it about 30% in. Every couple of chapters I would go check how far I had gotten and each time was shocked that there was so much of the book left. There was so much extra information, and plot points that I felt didn't contribute to the story at all. There were A LOT of characters and like when I'm reading I don't always want to have to keep a pen and paper around to keep up. I understand that this may have been setting them up for a series to explore the side characters life but girl, I'm tired. I'm not joking I'd read a name sometimes and had no idea where they came from. Then characters from the beginning were never mentioned again? Where is my boy Ryan? Olivia???

I think the plot touched on so many important aspects: disordered eating, toxic friendships and partnerships, difficult family relationships, anxiety, pressure to be perfect, the mental health of professional athletes, adoption etc. But none could really be explored as much as I'd have liked because there were just so many. I'd have liked the book to maybe focus on a couple of those topics in detail. I will say I love how therapy was normalized; props to my girl Hannah.

The romance aspect was sweet (i guess) and I could see that if romance was your genre how you'd like this book a lot. I appreciated that the spicy scenes included some sort of consent piece (love to see it). I'm also not super into the whole "I can be mean to you because I know you love me and I'll play mean pranks on you" woman character and I felt Stassie really was that which turned me off of her pretty immediately.

I will say that I am not a Nate stan, and I'm standing my ground on this. Was he sweet? yes. Was he kind? yes. But.... I always felt like his "concern" for Stassie was coming from a place of jealousy (ew) as opposed to genuine concern, but what do I know. He seemed so overbearing and like jealous of anyone who even existed in the same stratosphere as Stassie and I didn't like it. I just felt like their relationship was so icky... although I will say props for standing up for Stassie when that egghead kissed her without consent.... yikes.

and the epilogue....................................... I hated it, I hated it, I hated it and there is nothing anyone can say to convince me otherwise. It didn't need to happen, I didn't want it to happen. To be frank, it felt like it was there JUST because "thats what happens it romance novels" and like........ no.

Anyway, all that to pretty much say that I think this plot and storyline had so much potential but too many things were shoved into the book (with no real overarching plot, besides living their college life and like skating) making it challenging to read. I will say though, if theres a book about my besties Sabrina and Robbie........ i might be there.