Icebreaker

3.5 stars. Steamy and a fun read, but it was really, really long for a romance novel. I liked the community and dynamics of the hockey players and the “found family” aspect for both Stassi and Nate, since they were both a long way (distance or emotionally) from their real families. No lack of communication here, that was one thing that was done truly excellently - Stassi had been in therapy for a long time and was quite adept at telling people what she needed and what was what, without being preachy and while still having things she needed to work on herself.

Do I believe at all that hockey-player Nate could be a figure skating partner while Stassi's actual skating partner was injured? Absolutely not, but romance reasons. Their dynamic was cute, she was the grumpy one, a kinda-one-night-stand-turned-more.

It's not super super clear from the description, but also this is a book set in a college town and all the characters are college students, if that's not your thing.

CW: gaslighting, unwanted kissing, disordered eating, parental death (past), epilogue pregnancy