About the Book- Icebreaker by Hannah Grace
Anastasia Allen has worked her entire life for a shot at Team USA. It looks like everything is going according to plan when she gets a full scholarship to the University of California, Maple Hills and lands a place on their competitive figure skating team.
Nothing will stand in her way, not even the captain of the hockey team, Nate Hawkins.
Nate’s focus as team captain is on keeping his team on the ice. Which is tricky when a facilities mishap means they are forced to share a rink with the figure skating team—including Anastasia, who clearly can’t stand him.
But when Anastasia’s skating partner faces an uncertain future, she may have to look to Nate to take her shot.
Sparks fly, but Anastasia isn’t worried…because she could never like a hockey player, right?
“We’re still individuals, but we’re individuals together, and I never knew relationships could be like this.”
Read on for our review of Icebreaker by Hannah Grace
Our Review of Icebreaker by Hannah Grace
Nope nope nope… Icebreaker was not for me. I had such a weird time with this book because from the get-go it was brushing me the wrong way. I picked this book because a) the cover. It’s a beauty and it was like a piece of art. b) Because this book was everywhere I looked. So I started this book on paperback and could barely contain my irks and wanting to get through it quickly I switched to audio and listened to the entire book in 2X speed. Now before jumping to conclusions, let me clarify that my issues with the book lie with the plot developments and core theme and yeah definitely the characters. But I will say that the author does have a skill in writing because the language and flow of the book in the bigger picture was good. The issue for me was with the plot and purpose of the book.
You can call me old-fashioned but honestly, I did not understand any of these characters. None of their decisions made any sense or added value to the core plot to begin with. Then again what was the core plot.. this was another issue I had. The book kept irritating me because it lacked a solid direction except for filling the book with SMUT after SMUT, which was not only forcefully inserted but ruined the narration and flow. Secondly, none of the characters made sense or the book didn’t explore those aspects much to give it importance or time to land.
I had recently read With Love from Lukov by Mariana Zapata which had a similar storyline and that was such a powerful book. Icebreaker looks like a spoof when you compare it with that because on the one hand, you portray a character that is passionate about her career, and on the other hand you are showing the character always in bed with her “boyfriend or not boyfriend” ( i don’t know what they call themselves).. yeah I know that was crass but that is exactly what is happening in the book. Page 1 – our girl is angry because things are cutting down her practice time for her figure skating routines…. page 2-to the end…our girl is “spending time” with her ” boyfriend/ ex/friend/roommate” ..Then you bring up the struggle with food and then leave such an important issue with footnotes and reference here and there… so in this way, there is a lot of things that work against it… The male character is just a wallflower to me … initially the guy was plain confusing for me and then he was just “there”. Then there were issues with each character’s family. Honestly, I still don’t see what was the issue with the girl’s family. The boy’s issue with the family on the other hand is mentioned and depicted through one scene. thats it.
I know I am trashing the book that is loved by so many (I don’t know why) but honestly, the book is nothing but a glorified erotica or rather a journal of two horny teenagers. There would be one tiny incident then it is followed by SMUT then some monologues about “issues” then SMUT then a brief plot development then SMUT… I was pulling out my hair in frustration in trying to find out where this book was headed.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I would say that if the book had picked up any one element- be it the career goals or the whole “Aaron” issue or even the female lead’s struggle with food or any of those vaguely attempted subplots and had focused on it more rather than the SMUT this book would have been so good. At least it would have had a purpose to it. Currently, this book lacks any purpose or path except indulging itself in SMUT fest. Not a good read for me at all.
Squirrel Rating
