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A review by maddyhavranek
Icebreaker by Hannah Grace
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-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
3.0
I wanted to like this book more. I had heard great things about it, but it didn’t overall wow me. The good: The plot was really believable and made me flash back to college. Nothing that happened seemed out of the range of possibilities, and I think this was a really fun nostalgic read for me that reminded me of the wild things that can happen in the college environment. I thought the relationship between Stassie and Nate was very healthy and I appreciated that. No red flags observed outwardly that took me out of the story.
But that gets me to the bad: I just didn’t quite get it. I will say I started this on audio, which I have a harder time paying attention to so I may have missed it, but the tension leading up to their relationship didn’t make sense to me. It didn’t seem that their “enemies” relationship was built up enough, so the catharsis I experienced when they finally got together was a bit of a let-down. They also didn’t really struggle after that; I feel like once they hooked up, it was pretty much a done deal. For an enemies to lovers book I didn’t feel like there was enough of the enemies part. I really also wasn’t ready for the sex scenes. Could be this is one of the only books I’ve read that is quite so graphic, but also quite so realistic (compared to ACOTAR), and I think it freaked me out a little. The dialog during these scenes was also not my favorite and kind of took me out.
I also did not love the treatment of the ED in this book. It was just not subtle enough — as soon as they mentioned the meal plan and Aaron’s gripes with Stassie’s weight I knew exactly where the plot was going to take me and I just didn’t need it. I think it was enough for him to be emotionally manipulating her, especially since it was positioned that he didn’t do it on purpose.
Overall, this book was fine. I got a kick out of reading it, but it had some pitfalls for me so it didn’t reach 4 stars.
But that gets me to the bad: I just didn’t quite get it. I will say I started this on audio, which I have a harder time paying attention to so I may have missed it, but the tension leading up to their relationship didn’t make sense to me. It didn’t seem that their “enemies” relationship was built up enough, so the catharsis I experienced when they finally got together was a bit of a let-down. They also didn’t really struggle after that; I feel like once they hooked up, it was pretty much a done deal. For an enemies to lovers book I didn’t feel like there was enough of the enemies part. I really also wasn’t ready for the sex scenes. Could be this is one of the only books I’ve read that is quite so graphic, but also quite so realistic (compared to ACOTAR), and I think it freaked me out a little. The dialog during these scenes was also not my favorite and kind of took me out.
I also did not love the treatment of the ED in this book. It was just not subtle enough — as soon as they mentioned the meal plan and Aaron’s gripes with Stassie’s weight I knew exactly where the plot was going to take me and I just didn’t need it. I think it was enough for him to be emotionally manipulating her, especially since it was positioned that he didn’t do it on purpose.
Overall, this book was fine. I got a kick out of reading it, but it had some pitfalls for me so it didn’t reach 4 stars.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Vomit
Moderate: Eating disorder and Alcohol