Book Review: Icebreaker by Hannah Grace

Taking social media by storm, and featuring on both The Sunday Times and The New York Times bestsellers list, for a period of time, you couldn't escape coming across Icebreaker if you tried; so it's really no surprise it was on my hitlist.

BOOK SPECS:

Number of pages: 433

Format: Paperback

Genre: Contemporary Romance, Sports Romance, College Romance, New Adult

Tropes: Enemy to Lovers, Hockey Romance

SHORT REVIEW:

I have to admit that it took me a little while to really get into this book. That was mostly because the plot didn't really kick in until I'd gone past page one hundred. But boy... once it did, I was hooked!

HEART RATE:

SMUT SCORE:

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BLURB:

Anastasia Allen has worked her entire life for a shot at Team USA. It looks like everything is going according to plan when she gets a full scholarship to the University of California, Maple Hills, and lands a place on their competitive figure skating team.

Nothing will stand in her way, not even the captain of the hockey team, Nate Hawkins.

Nate’s focus as team captain is on keeping his team on the ice. Which is tricky when a facilities mishap means they are forced to share a rink with the figure skating team—including Anastasia, who clearly can’t stand him.

But when Anastasia’s skating partner faces an uncertain future, she may have to look to Nate to take her shot.

Sparks fly, but Anastasia isn’t worried . . . because she could never like a hockey player, right?

FULL REVIEW:

Plot

Nate and Stassie are college athletes. He's a hockey player, she a figure skater. At the beginning, they don't get on, but then the house sets on fire with all the heat and steam you would expect from two college students.

At the start, the novel is very character driven. And I'm not going to lie, the whole "I don't like you, but I'll sleep with you" didn't do much for me. Once the plot kicked in, though, and friendship dynamics—including toxic friendships, eating disorder, anxiety, sport injury, and family dynamics got thrown in the mix, the story really got me going.

Characters

There is a huge cast of characters in this novel. Coaches, teammates, friends, hookups. All lending it nicely to become a series, as Grace can pick and choose which characters she focuses on next without having to stay with the original pair.

And I absolutely loved the complex friendships. They are young, living it large on campus, but also finding themselves as people and trying to navigate relationships and understand each other. There is a big emphasis on being able to communicate, especially in between the main romantic pair, and this is when the book really gets interesting.

Romance & Smut Score

There is a lot of smut in this book. Not dark enough to rate it as dark romance, but enough to warrant a cold shower. So be warned. My favourite scene is the one where Stassie turns up to a party wearing another player's jersey and Nate has a jealousy fit. We love a healthily jealous man.

Writing

The story is told from a dual point of view—Anastasia's and Nathan's. And I did love Grace's writing. It's straight forward, direct, and witty. At places it had me howling with laughter, and there was no cliches. Well, apart from the whole size thing. But we know that in steamy novels like this the guy is always well endowed and he's only giving her half. 😉

OUT OF CURIOSITY:

In an era where as authors we are told to sell ourselves as personalities as well as our work, Hannah Grace is a bestseller who writers under a pen name, her socials have no talking heads, her books have no pictures of her either. It's refreshing to see that you can keep your private life and still be a bestseller.

Buy this book on Bookshop.org

Buy it on Amazon