A review by josie1999
Icebreaker by Hannah Grace

emotional funny lighthearted relaxing medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

5.0

The best way I can describe this book is that it made me giddy. I laughed out loud and found myself kicking my feet squealing with glee throughout the book.

I did not expect to enjoy this book nearly as much as I did. I didn't even really expect to like this story. I had two main reservations about even picking up this book. 

1. As someone that grew up figure skating, I struggle reading books that have a figure skater as the main character. This is more of  me issue, and I'm not sure why I don't like books that deal with figure skating, I just generally don't. I also share Stassie distain for hockey players.

2. I was worried the book was being overhyped on TikTok. I find myself steering away from the immensely popular books that I find on BookTok. 

Fortunately, both of these concerns were quickly put to rest. With how much I enjoyed this book, I think this book is appropriately hyped and the figuring skating didn't feel like it could have been a stand-in for any other sport and was a very connective part of the story. When Nate steps in to assist Stassie, it felt reminiscent of "The Cutting Edge."

Now for some of the major highlights  for me:

1. The main conflict of the story is not driven by a miscommunication between Nate and Stassie. Instead, Aaron fills the role of the main point of contention as he is rude, manipulative, insulting, controlling, and overall just not a great person for Stassie to have to work with. We do see that Nate and Stassie struggle to come to the same conclusion about how to handle Aaron. Nate has a much more black and white perspective on the situation, whereas Stassie can see the shades of gray that exist with having to continue to work together.

2. Consent was a topic brought up time and time again. From Nate and Stassie's first hook up through the climax of the story, the topic of consent or lack thereof was very present. I appreciate that authors are making consent a more active part of their stories and I think Hannah Grace did it beautifully without making the dialogue stilted or unnatural. I enjoyed the scene when Stassie wakes up hungover and Nate recounts the evenings events ending with he brought to be to sleep. He specifically added that she was too drunk and he wouldn't do anything other than sleep. The author clearly showed that conversations about consent can be fun and playful and don't have to kill the mood.

3. The side characters added a lot of light and support when things were difficult for Nate or Stassie. I loved how the hockey guys after only knowing Stassie for a few months were just as protective of her as Nate was. However, there were a lot of side characters. This does set the stage for future books with each of these characters, but it is easy to get lost or confused about the characters as there are so many and some characters are referred by several names.

4. Nate's ability to recognize what Stassie needs rather than responding the way he really wants to was a huge highlight. In situations where the female main character is attacked/unsafe/etc. we can often see the male main character run forward to attack the perpetrator back and act with bravado to show that he has the ability to protect the person he loves. This was not the case with Nate. Through his inner thoughts, we see that he wants to jump in, solve Stassie's problems, knock Aaron senseless all to protect Stassie, but he recognizes that isn't what she needs. What she needs is for Nate to be there for her, to hold her, to comfort her and get her out of the situation not defend her honor. These were the moments when it was clear Nate was a man written by a woman.

5. Finally, this book is spicy. Going into it, I had seen people on BookTok describing it as smut but disguised as a fluffy romance. I didn't find the book to be overly sexual. Yes, there are frequent innuendos, but those just help keep the story light and fun. I felt like the explicit spicy scenes were well spaced and flowed well. I also enjoyed the dialogue. For me, one of the biggest buzzkills in a spicy scene is when the dialogue feels awkward and clunky. I did not have that problem with this book. Instead, I found myself pulled in further.

Overall, this book blew away my expectations and I left it wanting my own Nate Hawkins or at least a man written by a woman. 
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