Icebreaker

3.5 rounded down.

I didn't mind the characters and the story was a typical sport college story, but it was a lot longer than it needed to be, with a lot of repetitive plots

The first half of this book is what I imagine the Olympic Village is like during competitions. The graphic descriptions constantly took me out of the book. I knew more about the characters' favorite sex positions before I got to know the characters themselves, so the sex felt hollow on the page.

The second half is when the book takes off with the real drama. I started to love the verbal sparring between all the characters in the second half, whereas the sniping in the first half felt unnecessarily cruel instead of engaging a lá Ms. Bennet and Mr. Darcy.

Page 292 had me rolling a tear when Stasie and Nate bared their souls. Very touching and genuine moment.

Stasie made me roll my eyes when she said the egotistical thing about having more therapy than Nate so she knew better. I thought he did go to therapy after all that stuff with his parents and that's why he was such a good communicator?

Anyway, in spite of all that and the typos throughout, the ending was satisfying. That is, until the epilogue ruined it. Why can't authors just let their leads enjoy themselves? Why do they always have to book-end a relationship with The Life Script ™️?

This book was a fun read, though. Now I'm going to rewatch The Cutting Edge (1992).

I really enjoyed this book. It's so sweet and a perfect example of what a man written by a woman looks like. I found it hilarious that Hannah Grace said the same thing in reference to her own characters. Nate's whole heart belongs to Anastasia, and hers to him. I'm really glad Aaron got punished for being disgusting. I initially thought he hurt himself to punish Anastasia or something so she couldn't compete, but he's too vain for that. This story is just full of sweet, warm, friendship vibes and it's a very enjoyable read.

I thought everything was pretty realistic with Anastasia's struggles and the psychology that went behind each character's motives. I loved how the characters weren't perfect but acknowledged their flaws and tried to adjust themselves to the best of their ability (except Aaron but that's not surprising because Aaron sucks).

I was so scared of a pregnancy trope and I'm go glad that didn't happen!

: https://www.frowl.org/worstbestsellers/episode-236-icebreaker/

I loved the first 75% of the book, but then it became a bit dull when things were just uneventful for a while. Overall, still enjoyed the story but expected more in the end.

How can a book be so steamy and so boring at the same time? It's honestly impressive. It should've been half as long or the author shouldn't have made them get together so soon. If the characters get together before we're halfway through the book, you better give me a good ass plot to keep me entertained.

I liked these Stassie and Nate. They're nice. I like their relationship. The spicy scenes are good. But the plot of this book is so paper thin and felt so inconsequential that I honestly fell asleep a few times reading the latter part of the book. I'm also sick an tired of bad enemies to lovers plots.

It does have redeeming qualities. There are fun elements to the book. I didn't hate it, but the hype is unwarranted.

When the hockey team's rink is trashed and they have to share the ice-skaters' rink for practice, Stassie is not happy, and the team's captain, Nate, becomes the target of her ire.  Their mutual attraction, which she is unwilling to admit to, does not make things easier. And the cherry on the top is when her skating partner is injured and he blames Nate for his accident.
I am glad I read Wildfire first because if I had started with this one it would have been over for this series. I thought the story was missing one more step to being more dramatic and meaningful. For example, Aaron put Stassie on a horribly strict diet that wasn't enough for her active lifestyle, but beyond it causing some quarreling between her and Nate, then confronting Aaron about, nothing happened. Or when Stassie fell into the frozen lake, there was a brief part in the hospital, and most of my friends who read the book forgot about it a week after they were done. Or later when Nate's dad comes back early during Christmas break. His conversation with Nate was very mellow. I didn't feel that Nate got closure out of it. I liked that the book included interactions with secondary characters. It made me invested in seeing them in future books. Henry was my favorite, with his blunt and unfiltered thoughts. As an antagonist, Aaron was quite bland. Nothing he ever did meant anything in the long run, and it doesn't sound like he suffered any repercussions for his actions.

If you took an Ali Hazelwood book and replaced STEM with sports, and communicative and professional twists and turns with violence and physical peril you'd probably get something like this. The typical romance novel three act structure ends around midway and the rest is notably less fun, often feeling like merely a vehicle to get us to the next sex scene which really started to drag imo. Pretty mid, I feel it could have done with a good editor.

1.5/5 stars
Og rating: 2.5 stars rounded up

I thought I was too nice the first time around so I decided to go with how I felt right after finishing. I have not read the bonus chapter because I am unsure if it even is worth it. Highly doubt it'll change my opinion on the book

I liked the side characters more than the main characters. Again Nate was ok but he felt too generic. As well as too delulu at times. Seemed like he wanted to marry any girl who didn't show an ounce of interest in him. To be honest he did the bare minimum.

Anastasia is the type of girl that would scare me. For multiple reasons. I did feel bad for her at times with the whole Aaron situation and having to deal with the stress of wanting to qualify. But overall her actions can make her an unlikeable character. She mentions therapy but isn't able to recognize how bad Aaron is (like have you ever mentioned this to your therapist). She makes it seem as if people around her are disposable including her friends at time.

I saw people saying the smut aspect was the best. Certain parts were good but others made me concerned. Anastasia always seems to go commando which seems convenient for the sex scenes.
But impractical with the outfits she wore. I am aware that there are people to go commando all the time but I can't wrap my head around it completely around the idea. I keep thinking about different scenarios where everything goes wrong. The Uber scene made me the most uncomfortable mainly because I kept thinking that they may ruin the drives car.

Overall don't recommend. If you overthink like me or get caught up in the smaller details you'll definitely hate this book

DNF 37%

DNF @ 9% because I just didn't vibe with the characters, they felt very basic to me

I gave this 4 stars because i really liked the book. I loved the figure skating part in the book and Nathan is really hot, but that's prob because my type are ice hockey players. Anyways I cannot wait to start Wildfire and enjoy it as much as I did with this one!

very sexi

3.5! Now I want to become a figure skater haha

I really liked Nate and Anna's relationship.I loved how they complimented each other in so many ways..Absolutely loathed Aaron though-Felt like he took advantage of what was happening back at his house to just be a terrible human being.Looking forward to Henry's story (loved that guy)

3.5

Muy disfrutón aunque la trama de Aaron me ha dado un poco de pereza.

Maybe if I re-read this I will do a full review but just know how unlikely that is, this book made me wanna KMS

Grumpy girl gets fcked by sunshine boy, so boring I took 6 months to read upto 25% not spending more timeeeeeeee on itt

sorry but I cringe... not the book but the spicy-heterosexual romance it's definitely not for me AT ALL
help my eyes are embarrassed

I read this as an audiobook, which might have contributed to my discomfort with the writing. It's one thing to read cringey immature characters in your head and another thing to have some voice actor whining in your ear. 

Sorry, that sounds harsh. I didn't hate this book. It's just too romance and no other plot for me. I also really struggled with the white boy hockey player names in the beginning. There were just so many of them and none of them stood out besides Nate himself. 

Might give it a try again as an e-book, but not motivated to do so anytime soon.

No✨

Nate. MFing. Hawkins.

Cute quick read a good PB&J ☺️. Definitely enjoyed the characters and light hearted vibes.

i'm terrified for our society if we think this is a good book.