A review by joy_s
Icebreaker by Hannah Grace

lighthearted fast-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

2.75

Not bad, but I’ll be so real, I was bored a lot of the time, especially in the last third. I wanted to have a fun maybe even jokey time (with how bad I thought this might be), but it wasn’t bad, it was just meh. Not awful, but not at all the content I expected. I appreciated how non-toxic they both were as people though. By the last quarter of the book their relationship becomes pretty healthy, and they work through the remaining jealousy and ego issues in the last few chapters in a way I appreciated!

But this book was too long for me, the tropes were thrown in left and right and in some places hindered the flow of the story/relationship. Sometimes they were fun, sometimes they were a buzzkill.
To be honest, I was a bit bored, and would’ve actually appreciated more sexual scenes given the length of the book and the amount of time they spent as unofficial boyfriend/girlfriend.

Not much to say about the characters though, they were all overall well rounded, and I identified with Anastasia frequently and really enjoyed her distinct personality.

My only real complaint is the shit with Aaron went on waaayyyyy too long. We already got that he’s a piece of shit, and proving it over and over again starts to back up Nathan’s ego-fed narrative rather than Anastasia’s personal, well thought out decisions; starting to prove her wrong for her willingness to work with him as a skate partner only, and making her whole clinical and healthy approach to things feel pointless. Yes, technically her actions were fruitless in the long run, but showing that over and over again, even while Nate’s friends made very good points about his state of mind about the whole thing, still make it feel like Nate’s protective paranoia comes out on top of Anastasia’s maturity. Choosing to have Aaron be the only real conflict the book has, especially by the end, didn’t really make me happy.
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