All the recommendations are correct, Icebreaker is a winner! I liked the characters, the storyline, and the swoon worthy moments!

Thank you to Netgalley, Atria Books, and Ms. Grace for the opportunity to read an ARC of this title. An honest review was requested but not required.

So apparently Icebreaker was a big hit on BookTok and is being re-released. I have to admit, I was unaware of this book (or this author) prior to reading Icebreaker.

This is definitely one of those books that’s setting up a whole series: there are a LOT of side characters which can be difficult to keep track of. The plot is also implausible and, as frequently happens in NA books featuring collegiate athletes, doesn’t portray collegiate athlete life in a way that seems authentic to me. (And NO: I was not a collegiate athlete, but I lived with four division one athletes for two years, tutored MANY college athletes, dated a couple, and married one. In my experience, none of the student athletes in this book spend anywhere close to enough time in the gym, in practice, or in class, let alone studying.)

There’s also Anastasia, whom -sorry, not sorry- I really didn’t like. She holds Nathan to IMPOSSIBLY high standards while completely excusing Aaron’s transparently awful behavior. I mean. This was obvious from practically page one to me. Nathan, meanwhile, is a literal saint amongst men and grovels abjectly every time he slips up, even when (especially when) it *isn’t his fault*. Anastasia cuts him very little slack when he stands up for his team and his teammates, and has to be persuaded by literally every single hockey team member, her friend with benefits, and her bestie that he’s actually a good guy. Ugh. As another reviewer pointed out, one would think that a woman with “hundreds of hours of therapy” under her belt would be better at recognizing abuse. Sigh.

On the plus side, the writing was very well done, with very little cringey unrealistic dialogue. The text exchanges were hilarious (and, I will say, the boys’ Puck Bunnies group chat felt super authentic to a group of guys). Nathan, as I mentioned, is pretty much a saint and I would happily take him home. I just wish Anastasia was a little more likable. I appreciated that mental health and therapy were portrayed so positively. And of course, the sex scenes were HOT. The one in the Uber was… *fans self*. Whew. I’ll be looking into other books by Ms. Grace and frankly I am very much looking forward to Nathan’s sister Sasha, should she make an appearance in a future book.

⭐⭐⭐1/2

This was so fun and steamy. Love the enthusiastic consent!

It was a bit on the younger side, but I guess that makes sense considering it's a college romance.

On the negative side, some of the food stuff and calorie counting was difficult to read. I'm sure it's realistic for a figure skater, but it was just unpleasant.

This was my first hockey romance and it did not disappoint!
Don't let the cutesy cover of this book fool you, there is some steam amongst it's pages. Really loved the character growth of Anastasia, she was hard to like in the beginning , but man was I rooting for her in the end. Thank you Hannah Grace for NOT giving us the third act breakup with our couple, was so nice to read how Stassie and Nate worked through their problems while staying together (once that finally happened) versus running away!
All the hockey guys were great supporting characters, as well as Stassie's bestie Lola. Loved the honest diagloue about disordered eating, therapy, pressures of making parents proud though that was done very well. Excited to see where this series goes.

Critiques for this book would be wish got a couple chapters before the epilogue post Nate graduating college and Hannah still being at UCMH getting some more content of Nate being in the NHL and Stassie's work up to getting that gold medal. Would have liked a check in with Lola and Robbie in the epilogue. Also wanted to know what happened once Aaron went to UCLA. Def didn't want him and the girls to be friends again, but wanted to know what happened to the slimeball.

A steamy romance about an ice skater and a hockey player. The best parts of this book are watching Anastasia learn to speak up for herself, and Nate learn to listen to her. They both grow a lot throughout their relationship. Is it entirely realistic? No, but it is fun with a cast of supporting characters who are hilarious hockey players. TW for those who have been in or experienced abusive relationships. Stasia takes a long time to extricate herself from the one that she has with her skating partner, and Nate has a hard time dealing with it. In the end, the two of them work things out, and you can see how much they love each other. So, if you're into ice sports, college dynamics, and want some sexy scenes, this is the book for you.

Thank you NetGalley for the digital ARC of this book.

This is great and absolutely entertaining, witty, addictive young adult/ college sports romance for the fans of Elle Kennedy sport/ romance series with Mariana Zapata’s From Lukov with Love.

There’s so many things I enjoyed about this book overweighted the negative parts. Firstly, I want to talk about why I liked this book:

-It’s fresh, sex positive book with so likable MCs: finally we are introduced a badass, determined, strong, smart, talented heroine: let’s make some noise for Anastasia, quick correction: Stassie!

Let’s not forget caring, patient, sarcastic, charismatic, great boyfriend Nate who is into Stassie since the first time he set his eyes on her.

-Chemistry between the characters is perfect, palpable, sizzling, hot as hell.

-This book is also best of the best kind of supporting character: ladies and gentlemen, may I announce you Henry: the sweetest boy who deserve his own sequel! I even thought to give this book five stars for my love of Henry!

-This book has also a great, most hatable, punchable, narcissistic douche/ villain named Aaron: unfortunately he’s skating partner of Anastasia and, I hate the guts of him since he tries to discredit my poor Nate at the first chapters.

-This is realistic, moving sports romance discussing important and sensitive issues including diversity, sexuality critical sports injuries.

-As for the last: even though I liked the steamy parts between Stassie and Nate are pant- melting but I also loved to read their honest connection, healthy bounding, the evolving and self growth of their characters.

Now I have to admit there are parts that hold me back to give five stars;

-The book advertises as Nate and Anastasia will find themselves as sharing partners but it takes only a few pages in this book and this is not the real plot line!

-I also found the book a little long, some parts are repetitive that makes the pace slower. Some parts in the middle made me bored.

-I found the epilogue a little exaggerated. The last chapter seems like better ending option. At least that’s how I felt.

Overall: this is absolutely fun, enjoyable, smart, realistic sports romance. Definitely I recommend to the genre fans!

A very special thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts.

I’m not into aggression sex. The characters flip between overly possessive to angry and irrational and I can’t get into their romance. The spice is there if you’re into the dominating hate sex thing. Just not my trope. Fun personalities on the hockey team though, just get ready for all the stereotypes.

This book has all the vibes of the movie The Cutting Edge, which I love! Enemies to lovers involving a figure skater and a hockey player, that alone had me completely sold on this book! I also liked the plot points of the book, having to share a rink, the tension between Stassie and her skater partner, as well as, between her skating partner and Nate. All around this was an incredibly fun read and I can't wait to see what Hannah Grace writes next.

This was a bookstagram phenomenon that seemed to be everywhere I turned, and my FOMO wouldn't let me pass it up.

Truth be told: I don't like romance. It always feels super forced, or cliche, or cringe. BUT this was a refreshing change of pace. I think the college setting made the escapes much more believable, especially in terms of language and events. Are there some far-fetched ideas? Sure. But that's why we read, isn't it?

This is also a unique read in that the cast of characters (Robbie, Henry, JJ, Lola) was engaging. I liked the group scenes because they brought so much to the table.

My biggest downfall--undoubtedly--the length. There was just so reason for this to be 400+ pages. The tediousness of the story constantly continuing knocked my enjoyment down a peg.

Overall: 4 stars

I'll tell my students about: language, sex, trauma, physical and mental abuse, violence, drugs, alcohol, language, mature sex scenes

**Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the free ARC prior to publication. All opinions expressed are my own.**

Highlights:
- sports romance
- enemies to lovers
- found family

Triggers:
- Emotional abuse
- physical and emotional manipulation

Anastasia is a highly motivated, highly organized, highly competitive college figure skater. Nathan is a laid back, but highly driven, college hockey player. When pranks gone wrong throw the two of them together, Nathan spends a lot of time trying to get Anastasia to stop hating him for his team's mistakes. The pair go through so many different phases in their relationship, but my favorite by far is Nathan's support of healthier lifestyle choices for Anastasia. Instead of judging her for not realizing what her skating partner (my most disliked character) is putting her through both mentally and physically, he chooses to help her see the value in healthier choices and supports her through an extremely rough year. Both characters have traits that I relate to, but Stassie's anxiety is the most relatable. I appreciate how therapy is normalized and even supported by her friends and family and that therapy is layered at one point. I will definitely recommend this one for any fans of sports romances, but especially those of Elle Kennedy and her Off Campus series.

I have had my eyes on this book for a long time and I am so glad I had the opportunity to read it. I have always been into sports romance books. I really enjoyed this one because the characters were so relatable. Anastasia as a character reminded me so much of myself. I too love lists and planning (part of the reason I became an educator). I enjoyed the college romance between Nathan and Anastasia too. Nathan is a great boyfriend and the hockey player, figure skater romance was too good.

2.5 ⭐

If you are in your twenties and like 🌶️🌶️🌶️🔥 romance, you might enjoy this fun sports romance.

I was SO excited to read this, and I did really enjoy parts of it, but it missed the mark for me. I look forward to seeing what else Hannah Grace writes, and I would try another book by this author.

Let's talk about what the book had going for it...
-loved the cover, so cute!
-the initial tension between the MCs is 🔥
-the 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ is VERY spicy
-loved the sports aspect of the book

What didn't work for me:
-the book was about twice as long as it needed to be, there wasn't a ton going on and it went on...and on...and on ...
-there were a lot of characters so we didn't get to know them that well (would have loved more from Lola and Robbie and less from the other players that we vaguely get to know)
-Anastasia is kind of annoying and I wanted to love her but also ended up not liking her much
-I felt like I would have enjoyed this more if I was in my early twenties, that's more of an issue with me, not the book, but the book is very heavy on the college scene.

Overall, if you like a lot of 🔥🌶️, hockey and figure skating, and are college aged, give it a try. Just not for me.

Thanks to netgalley for an eARC to review.

I loved this book! At first I thought it would be a silly romcom, but I was so wrong. It was so much more than a cheesy love story. I really liked the change and growth of Anastasia’s mental health. I loved watching her become stable and strong. The only thing I left wondering about was Nate’s dad. I’m surprised the book ended without any repairs to their relationship. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read this book!

This was super cute and sweet. I loved Henry. I will have to try to refrain from aging myself by mentioning The Cutting Edge while handselling it, but I think Hannah and her team have been really smart in promoting this and I wish them continued success.

Well developed characters and a good story. It was a bit long/repetitive, which is why I only awarded 3 stars.

Icebreaker is such a fun (and spicy 🥵) read!

When the university figure skaters and the hockey team have to share a rink, our protagonists try to focus on their own goals despite the chemistry that draws them together. Our protagonists' struggles don't come from a lack of communication but rather from having fully developed backstories and problems like real human beings. Not only that, but the secondary characters are full of depth and enhance the story. The ending wasn't quite what I expected, but it was still satisfying as an end (and beginning 👀).

Stasis and Nate were perfect. I loved their whole relationship, from the rocky start to their HEA. Perfect. The whole cast of characters in this book were amazing and I really hope Henry gets his own book! The way the author handled some tough real life situations was wonderful, the way therapy is talked about and how open Stassie and Nate were with each other, it so nice to see this type of dialogue in a book.

This book was the perfect romance book. Hannah Grace delivered a sexy and fun romance book that gave me everything I could ask for. It was as hot but also cute and fun. Nate and Anastasia’s relationship was so fun to read and the only issue I have is that when the book was over I was sad I couldn’t read more about them. What I loved about this book was that Hannah Grace not only delivered an amazing love story, but she also gave insight on mental health and specifically sports anxiety. As a former athlete, I could really connect with Anastasia’s struggles with sports anxiety and it was interesting to see how she improved throughout the course of the story but it was still something she struggled with. I also enjoyed Nate’s character. He was everything you would want in a romance male lead but he also had his own struggles that were inspiring to read. I would definitely recommend this book to any lover of romance books and to anyone in general who wants a fun and inspiring read!

Ultimately, I really enjoyed this book. The characters were funny and relatable and the overarching plot was easy to follow and fun to read. However, I do feel that this book is written more similarly to a YA romance as opposed to your normal adult fiction romance, despite some of the more explicit scenes. This is most likely due to the age of the characters and how some of their conversations are written. I do feel like this reads like a Colleen Hoover book. Which is great because it will most likely become really popular among those who enjoy a similar writing style. As a young woman myself, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it made me feel a variety of emotions that allowed me to truly empathize with each character. I would recommend this book to any young woman who asked for my opinion on it.

Thanks so much for the arc of Icebreaker!

Woo! What a steamy read!! A fun take on the “one bed” trope- these two college athletes have “one ice rink” to share. Anastasia is an ice skater and Nate is the captain of the college hockey team. When one rink gets vandalized (due to hockey pranks) the two sports are forced to share rink time. Anastasia is determined, feisty and not to be messed with. Nate has this protective big brother quality. He tries his hardest to get Anastasia to get along with him.

Slowly but surely they can not resist each other. Anastasia’s skating partner is a total jerk and causes a lot of drama throughout this book. It also keeps you wondering what he’s up to and what’s really going on with him. Nate will do absolutely anything for Anastasia. He is a total dream guy. The hardest part to believe was his maturity level as a college athlete (or purely just a college aged guy.)

I was slightly obsessed with Nate and what’d he’d do or say next. This book was so steamy- even early on. I wasn’t expecting that! It almost worked backwards as we didn’t have to wait long for the chemistry but the friendship and admiration.

What a great first romance novel!! I can only hope Hannah Grace writes more!!