Scan barcode
A review by jordynbixman
Icebreaker by Hannah Grace
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
this was honestly kinda hard to get through for me! i just wasn’t super interested at first. i definitely became more invested the further i got into it, but i just didn’t love it.
quick summary: Anastasia (Stas/Stassie) is a figure skater who’s incredibly hard on herself and thinks everything she does has to be scheduled and executed perfectly. Nathan is the captain of their college’s hockey team and of course he’s a trust fund baby. the figure skating team and hockey team end up having to share a rink and Stassie is ✨pissed✨ bc this is apparently going to ruin her very scheduled life. oh! forgot to mention! her skating partner (Aaron) sucks! just in general. like, as a person…which kinda makes the situation worse. anyway, Nate tries to win Stassie over since she’s so upset about the rink-sharing arrangement and of course it’s a frenemies to lovers situation. pretty predictable plot (in my opinion).
there is quite a lot of discussion regarding disordered eating (which i wasn’t aware of and really didn’t want to become a theme…but it did…so just be aware of that!).
honestly, there were so many names being thrown around that i couldn’t keep up. why do i need to know the name of every player on the hockey team? names were being brought up and i seriously had to sit and think for a hot sec about who this person was.
Nate is cute. very nice. considerate. entirely understand the appeal! he and Stassie are cute together.
Stassie made me want to rip my hair out at multiple points 🤠👍🏻 i just could not understand how she wasn’t seeing how horrible Aaron was and why no one prior to Nate pointed it out to her? but then, even when it was pointed out, she continued to try to make excuses for him? she really thinks he’s this amazing person deep down but…what has he done to actually prove that to you? in no way did we ever actually read about Aaron’s “good side” that she had allegedly experienced in their friendship.
side note: if we’re comparing this to The Deal, it’s 100x better. i thought i just didn’t like hockey romance, but this was a WAY better experience than the one i had with The Deal.
overall, this isn’t a horrible book. i didn’t love the epilogue and the beginning felt slow/boring, but the middle and end weren’t bad. this was a book i’d consider a “brain break” (something you read that doesn’t take really any brain power and doesn’t absolutely emotionally destroy you). i don’t expect “brain break” books to be incredible, i just expect them to be easy to get through and entertaining enough for me to want to continue. this pretty much meets those standards, so i’m not mad!
characters: 3.5⭐️
writing style: 3⭐️
reading experience: 3⭐️
total: 3.17⭐️ (rounded up to 3.25!)
quick summary: Anastasia (Stas/Stassie) is a figure skater who’s incredibly hard on herself and thinks everything she does has to be scheduled and executed perfectly. Nathan is the captain of their college’s hockey team and of course he’s a trust fund baby. the figure skating team and hockey team end up having to share a rink and Stassie is ✨pissed✨ bc this is apparently going to ruin her very scheduled life. oh! forgot to mention! her skating partner (Aaron) sucks! just in general. like, as a person…which kinda makes the situation worse. anyway, Nate tries to win Stassie over since she’s so upset about the rink-sharing arrangement and of course it’s a frenemies to lovers situation. pretty predictable plot (in my opinion).
there is quite a lot of discussion regarding disordered eating (which i wasn’t aware of and really didn’t want to become a theme…but it did…so just be aware of that!).
honestly, there were so many names being thrown around that i couldn’t keep up. why do i need to know the name of every player on the hockey team? names were being brought up and i seriously had to sit and think for a hot sec about who this person was.
Nate is cute. very nice. considerate. entirely understand the appeal! he and Stassie are cute together.
Stassie made me want to rip my hair out at multiple points 🤠👍🏻 i just could not understand how she wasn’t seeing how horrible Aaron was and why no one prior to Nate pointed it out to her? but then, even when it was pointed out, she continued to try to make excuses for him? she really thinks he’s this amazing person deep down but…what has he done to actually prove that to you? in no way did we ever actually read about Aaron’s “good side” that she had allegedly experienced in their friendship.
side note: if we’re comparing this to The Deal, it’s 100x better. i thought i just didn’t like hockey romance, but this was a WAY better experience than the one i had with The Deal.
overall, this isn’t a horrible book. i didn’t love the epilogue and the beginning felt slow/boring, but the middle and end weren’t bad. this was a book i’d consider a “brain break” (something you read that doesn’t take really any brain power and doesn’t absolutely emotionally destroy you). i don’t expect “brain break” books to be incredible, i just expect them to be easy to get through and entertaining enough for me to want to continue. this pretty much meets those standards, so i’m not mad!
characters: 3.5⭐️
writing style: 3⭐️
reading experience: 3⭐️
total: 3.17⭐️ (rounded up to 3.25!)
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body shaming and Eating disorder
Minor: Pregnancy and Gaslighting