Reviews with content warning for Toxic friendship - Icebreaker

Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Icebreaker by Hannah Grace

862 reviews

alex_bousquet's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

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whynterdesaina's review against another edition

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funny tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

It was my first ,,romance" book, I have been a thriller/crimi reader, mostly a fan of author Stephen King. I found the book's plot appealing, however the execution was.. not really it. The whole book is a spiral over the FMC and how she deals with... boys and her sex life while trying to be the best skater. The only reasons why this book gets 3 star from me is because:
1. It got me into different genres and to be more open about book genres
2. The writing was not at all as bad as in some other books i've read
3. It tried to focus on some modern-day mental health problems that our FMC was dealing with, however it was a fail.

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stngkimi's review against another edition

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

0.5

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nova_lilias's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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siobhankeira's review against another edition

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emotional funny inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I was hesitant to read Icebreaker because of the hype around it.

So I went into this book with low expectations and kind of expecting it to be not as good as people on social media have said.

Now, the first thing I’ll say is, no I can’t answer if it lives up to the hype. I think overhyped anything holds it to higher than normal standards, which isn’t honest to me.

That being said, I was surprised by this book. It was deeper than I thought it would be, and made me smile at some of the things characters said and did. Other times my chest ached for them, because the vulnerability the characters were able to show in different ways really impressed me.

To be honest, the way I can tell if I really like a book is if I put off reading it, because I don’t want it to end…and I did that with Icebreaker.
Things weren’t easy and perfect, there was growth needed between all characters, some did grow and some did not.

However, one of my greatest appreciations in reading people’s stories is when the characters feel real enough. To where I can relate, understand how they came to that conclusion or mindset. They have “good” traits as well as “bad” traits.
They are complex, not simply just bad or just good. Those are the characters in stories I crave the most and I definitely saw two sides to each character, they had depth to me.

End of spoiler free review tldr; I was surprised by how much I liked this book, the characters, and the complex issues the characters dealt with, the different kinds of relationships, etc. The characters are unique in their own ways, for worse or for better, but they are believable, and honestly the humour got me too. Maybe roll your eyes with a smile on your face, but I loved it.

I would recommend this to readers who like enemies to lovers, sports romances, each main character (and side characters) that have their good and bad moments, and
If you are able to quiet the high expectations placed on any popular source of media, I think most will like this book, and I, for one am excited to read the next in the series. :)

SPOILERS AHEAD:

One thing that made me really like this book is the FMC of this story, Anastasia/Stessie. I saw myself in her in a lot of ways, and I also try to see the best in people, even if it hurts. I give others the benefit of the doubt, my understanding, even after being burned over and over again. Having Stessie open up was like looking in a mirror for me a bit. Having to be strong and assertive all the time, placing high expectations of yourself, puts a person in high stress without all the additional things.

Her character showed how much a toxic person can poison your life overtime, even if you also have had good memories of them too. I admired her for seeing that there was more to Aaron than just the cruelty, but like her therapist pointed out, she needs to be able to be safe mentally too.

Seeing her open up and allowing others to care for her, love her, and appreciate her for just existing, was beautiful to see and I think most of us crave that, need that.

Nate by no means was a perfect book boyfriend, he had his faults and I’m sure things we all got irritated by, but it honestly made me like him more. I don’t like perfect characters, because I don’t connect to them.

I loved how much the hockey team embraced and loved Stassie, I always love that kind of big brother dynamic. It warms my heart.

As for the things I want too much a fan of, one I’ll start off with which is minor and completely up to preference - and it’s taking the epilogues, 2-3yrs later, and it focuses more on pregnancy or children than what the characters had been working towards the entire book.
I’m not saying at all that that having a family is lackluster, I just wish if it was included into the epilogue, it wasn’t overshadowing the facts that like Anastasia was an Olympic medalist? It was like mentioned once and seemed odd considering the entire book was about her figure skating.
It would be more believable to me if it was 5-7yrs later. But again, just my personal preferences.

The other thing that did bother me in the book was that despite Stessie having her best friend Lola, whom she’s lived with before all of the story happens, it doesn’t feel like she is much of the story even as she is present in the scenes.

I feel like JJ, Henry and even Russ had more conversations than Lola. Maybe I’m misremembering a part in the book, I’m not sure. I just feel like she was more in the background than most, and I mean, they didn’t really even discuss Nate? No little gossip sesh or anything really, which was disappointing imo.
I would’ve liked to see more of the girls friendship throughout the book, and not just brief appearances when they literally were living in the same apartment, then home. They had conversations, but most of them happened offscreen.

Plus, what the hell happened to Ryan? He was present for a good quarter of the first half of the book at the very least - encourages Stessie & Nate to be together in whatever capacity, we don’t hear from him until he shows up near the last bit of the book? And now he’s being handsy with Stessie? No conclusion to him and Olivia? Not saying that couldn’t happen, but it felt very unfinished to me and it’s like he just poofed from existence for a good chunk of the book.

I know this is the authors first book, (I think) and by no means am I wishing to be harsh. These things are only disappointments because I am interested in these characters and wish we got to learn about them more.
I haven’t read the next two books, so hopefully we will get some answers or hints there.

Overall, I really enjoyed the book, and definitely need a Nate in my life for my inner Anastasia <3

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tyras_bookshelf's review against another edition

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emotional funny inspiring tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

I liked it for a figure skater/hockey romance. It was a little long and drawn out in places but not overbearing about it. I'm also new to Hannah Grace's style and felt pretty critical of the writing at times.

Anastasia was in pretty deep when it came to Aaron. She trusted him and was a little naive but also manipulated into letting her goals and anxieties drive her rather than her own common sense.

I hate that she only breaks away from one man with the help of another but her and Nate were very cute. Nate was in his toxic man bag a time or two but finally gets his head out his butt to realize that Anastasia grown and can think for herself.

Decent book but some of the chapters felt so random.

Like sister literally almost drowned at one point and like nothing happened with that. It forced a love confession (realization of her love) so there’s that but just seemed random to me.

Also kinda random was Nate’s immediate interest in Ana to begin with. So it’s forced proximity because of plot/conflict but while he is the hockey captain (vested interest in peace) she’s not the only figure skater nor the perceived leader of the skaters. It didn’t make sense why he singled her out other than I guess she seemed the most of upset and he wanted to be helpful. Really its because she’s hot and the main character but that’s too easy.

It was actually very upsetting to read about Aaron — he’s a narcissistic, manipulative, leech of a man. Sure, hurt people hurt people and he definitely needed therapy or (another) punch to the face but I think he was super aware of his actions and doing it all on purpose because he lacks power in his family life and could exercise power over Ana.

I’ve got mixed feelings on how the conflict was resolved and that bothers me.

I feel like Ana “won” —no longer on his grasp and fully in control of what she wants— but it also felt like she got that closure/victory at the expense of her dreams.

Idk she wins gold in the Olympics in the epilogue so what do I know I guess?

Cute HEA at the end and I feel like most of the important threads were tried up along the way so I’m good with it.

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tyates865's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

Loved the storyline on this one. Was a quick read for me as I was hooked.

There is explicit sexual scenes throughout the book but I didn’t feel as if the story was only about sex. There was a good story line and the character development is *chef’s kiss*

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chainsawheartbooks's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

I’m not one for romance novels, and although this is a fucking spicy-ass book, the romance is the sweetest thing! I squealed more times than I can count, and like it’s not the best written, think YA, but that doesn’t detract from how wonderful the romance is.

It’s cheesy enough, very 00s romcom, that it’s a nice change of pace from how heavy and dark some of what I’ve read this year has been, and the two main characters are so adorable together.

It feels like the warming tipsy feeling you get after a couple of glasses of wine.

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justreads93's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

This book felt like reading fanfiction again. Which at first was kinda charming but as the book went on it got more and more cringe.

The 🌶️ scenes started to become tedious and down right dull. Especially when there were seemingly more interesting plot threads that could have been explored but were instead introduced and then wrapped up off page.

Also this book did NOT need to be over 400 pages. I think editing it down to around 300 could have helped it be a much more enjoyable and entertaining book

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s_panfil's review against another edition

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2.0

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