Icebreaker by Hannah Grace
Maple Hills series #. College, new adult contemporary sports romance. HFN.
Anastasia Allen spends her time competitive figure skating under a scholarship at University of California, Maple Hills, hoping for a spot on Team USA.
Nate Hawkins is the captain of the hockey team. He will back and support every player on his team. When the school needs to blend two separate training schedules on the same ice rink, Nate and Anastasia have to bury the animosity and coordinate practice times. Sparks fly and competition heats up. Both on the ice and off.

Oh, those college days. Wild parties, excessive drinking, sex games, and late afternoon classes. It’s a rite of passage.
The twenty-something’s in this story also have competitive athletics that puts pressure on top of everything else.
Nate’s a stand-up guy fighting for Stasia’s best interests. Several times, he puts her first. It’s hot! He makes this super steamy romance swoon worthy. ( )

Representation: N/A
Trigger warnings: Near-death experience, physical assault, restrictive dieting, implied anorexia/bulimia
Score: Two out of ten.
Find this review on The StoryGraph.

Short review: Icebreaker was awful.

Long review: Icebreaker by Hannah Grace was the worst book I've read this year. I wanted to read it after seeing it in my recommendations, then I got it when it was ready at the library. I glanced at the blurb, which made it seem intriguing, but I lowered my expectations after seeing the ratings. When I closed the final page, I was disappointed.

It starts with Anastasia Allen and Nate Hawkins, each living separate lives, with Anastasia being part of the USA ice skating team for three years, and Nate being part of the ice hockey team. The opening pages are slow, and the pacing continues to be this way. A slow pace only works when I like the characters, but unfortunately, I found it hard to connect or relate with them. I didn't like them either. There's only one plot in Icebreaker: the relationship between Anastasia and Nate, but the author didn't write them well, so I didn't feel like they had any chemistry. I would've liked to see more of the side characters, but Icebreaker didn't dedicate any subplots or page time to them, and the narrative still managed to span more than 400 pages. Removing filler pages and adding more subplots would've improved the reading experience. There's no literary value or diversity either.

Icebreaker sent a worrying message of unhealthy eating when I saw Anastasia dieting, meaning she didn't eat as much as she should. Even worse, she gets away with it for most of the narrative, and her issues are only visible when she gets bruises more easily. Where are the support systems? There aren't any as far as I can see, much to my dismay. Ten chapters have spicy scenes, which I found hard to read, and I almost gave the work a DNF, and I should've. The jarring juxtapositions detracted from the storyline, as sometimes there can be discussions of serious topics, contrasting with the overall lighthearted tone. At least the climax is a high note, with Anastasia and Nate continuing their relationship. ( )

Great characters. I want more. ( )

I didn't hate this novel I just felt that it was strange. It felt like it was wrote by a teenager that thinks they know how adult relationships work. The main characters in the book mention sex every other sentence. The events in the book are also highly unrealistic. There isn't much to this book, and I felt myself struggling to finish this one. Spoiler the main character gets pregnant. Which isn't much of a spoiler because if you read the books they hint at it every other time they are talking or having sex. ( )

Recommended by a friend who truly enjoyed it. Don't want to rate because I found myself unable to finish. I think I've outgrown a certain type of book, which I take as evidence my depression is lifting.