Reviews with content warning for Gaslighting - Icebreaker

I'll fully admit that I went into this knowing it wasn't going to be for me. I really hate when an author doesn't know anything about the sport they are writing about. We really never saw any hockey, and with the ice skating, the quad jump, also the deal with nutrition would have been handled by the coach or another staff member.

Ok, the reason I really didn't like the book was the FMC Anastasia. She was an entitled brat, especially in the beginning. Her temper tantrums over having to share space with the hockey players. Other people's time matters, and so do other people's sports. When she got on the rink when they were still practicing, she could have injured other people. She was just so selfish. I also didn't like how she played games with Nathan. Once or twice was kind of funny, but then it consistently happened, and even like getting his friends involved to be against him. I know she's supposed to be 20/21, but it was so childish. Also, bros before hos.

I like Nate. He was a fine MMC. He was the perfect book boyfriend. He was just a little bland. I wish he had some other interest besides hockey and Anastasia. His personality, his sense or responsibility, and how he cared for others. All those parts of him were great. But I wanted him to like be a reader or a writer or photographer, or just have some other interest. He was a little boring.

I maintain my stance on romance books, that don't have some other plotline, should not be over 400 pages. I will use this book as more evidence. Because nothing happened. There was no plot, and I got so annoyed with the amount of sex they were having.I just wanted anything else to be happening.

There was a lot of repetition in the book. I felt like the author was acting almost like we're stupid. You would finish a chapter in the MMC POV, and the same information would be repeated at the start of the FMC POV chapter. Other things just got repeated a lot through the story. I don't need to be spoonfed a romance book, especially one so simple.

There were some positives. The book was very sex-positive. It brushed on serious topics, the eating disorder, the therapy, the issues with parents, the slut shaming, and it was handled pretty well. I liked her representation in the book. You got a wide variety of different types of people. I liked all of the side characters. Lola was a great best friend. I would love a Robbie/Lola novella or a JJ book. I loved all of the hockey boys. The reason I read this one was to the the background to read the next two books, which sounded interesting to me.

Content Warnings

witcheep's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

Content Warnings

kroosee's review against another edition

Go to review page

funny 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

4.0

The storyline was interesting and easy to follow. It just seems like the story was lost sometimes being covered up by very smutty parts. Overall, a good book, just wish the story got to shine more instead of the smutty parts.

Content Warnings

janchamp's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny 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

3.5

Content Warnings

jshirley's review against another edition

Go to review page

funny lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

reminiscences's review against another edition

Go to review page

slow-paced

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

2.5

Content Warnings

galaxybbunny's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful lighthearted sad tense 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? Yes

3.75

Content Warnings

snarkycrafter's review against another edition

Go to review page

lighthearted medium-paced

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

1.5

While I enjoyed parts of this book, I cannot, in good faith, give it a higher rating especially knowing that there are much better sports romances out there.

The writing is so-so, the story is so-so, the spicy-ness is so-so. Even the characters are so-so. 😒

Major trigger warning for disordered eating, body shaming, eating disorders, fat shaming, manipulative and toxic relationships.

The entire book I kept feeling that Anastasia is supposed to be perceived as a strong FMC…But she’s not. And for all of Nate’s green flags he has some red flags too. Anastasia has to walk these men through sharing their feelings and being their pseudo-therapist. And for all the therapy she’s been through, she puts up with Aaron’s abuse, manipulation, and fat/body shaming for 90% of the book before standing up to him. I mean, it took 54% of the book for ANYONE to even acknowledge her disordered eating and a little longer for her to start working through it. She’s also really bad a setting boundaries until much later in the book, again…SHE’S BEEN IN THERAPY HOW LONG?!

The toxicity of Aaron is just…too much. And she excuses his behavior for a majority of the book that it’s annoying.

The romance is cute but not great. I wouldn’t recommend it to my fellow romance readers or friends. I don’t understand the hype behind this book. Even the smutty scenes are…quite tame and not scandalous in the least. They’re…ok. Not even super detailed which is what I expected after so many people online calling this book “smut”…it’s not.

Finally, the epilogue. 😒🙄
A pregnancy…? Really? Why? What was the purpose? I would have rather read about her at the Olympics, then pursing their professional dreams together and supporting each other’s dreams. But no. We got a cliche pregnancy which makes no sense in the context of the rest of the book. I could not roll my eyes harder if I tried.

TLDR; it’s ok. I wouldn’t take the time to read this book when there are better ones out there.

Content Warnings

More...