Icebreaker Book Review

This story focuses on mental illness, building the right friendships, and not letting anyone walk all over you. Icebreaker speaks of love in a rare form, and gives you amazing characters to fall in love with.

As you read, you’ll dive into the crazy lives of Nathan and Anastasia (Stassie) and their surprising relationship.

First off, the spice throughout this book? HOT. That’s all I have to say about that. To prove my point, I will add a screenshot of one of my favorite spicy scenes that happened early on.

Spiciness aside, I would like to talk about my top three characters before I get into my least favorite (ifykyk).

Not to bash on the main characters at all, but Henry has to be my favorite character throughout. He is not only an amazing friend, but he had an energy throughout that I loved reading. The filter on him was nonexistent and it had me laughing out loud at moments, especially when it came to comments about Nathan and Anastasia's relationship. I also love that he was a character every other character had a lot of respect for.

Nathan comes in second, only lower than Henry because of Henry’s character being more understanding than Nate in instances. But, the way Nate changes when he knows what he wants is something I admired while reading. The fact that he proved you can have a bad parent without turning out like them made me happy. And sweet things he says? I could listen/read them all day, over and over, and never stop smiling. His protectiveness? I wish someone would protect me the he does with the people he cares about. He puts himself last in situations, which shows now selfless his character is and I loved that. I like that even though his character seems perfect, Hannah did an amazing with giving him imperfections.

My third favorite would be JJ. He has a certain thing about him that made me want to keep seeing him show up. I think it was more his joking nature and the way the liked to get under Nathan’s skin. Other than the joking, everyone loves a man who can cook. And I love the bond he creates with Stassie. It’s not as good of a bond she has with Henry, but still enough that it makes me happy.

Before I get into my least favorite, I would like to mention my favorite character arc. I haven’t mentioned Anastasia because she deserved this part of my review. Her character changes significantly from beginning to end, in a way that made me root for her throughout the story. Her storyline made me feel more comfortable with therapy and my own anxiety. She goes from letting things around her get to her, to being able to have her own voice and open her heart to things she usually wouldn't.

Now, to get into my least favorite characters.

Number one is definitely Aaron. Don’t get me wrong, his character was written well and I applaud Hannah for her creation… but he is such a narcissistic friend to Stassie and deserves this number one title. Not only was he like that with her, but he brought his own toxicity onto other people. The jealousy he had within himself was not something his character should’ve been proud of. Aside from how mean his character was though, I wish that his character would’ve went through some sort of change even if it was small.

Ian Hawkins takes my number two spot simply because of how he treats Nate, and even Sasha (Nate’s sister). It seems as though he wants to be supportive, but only if it’s something he approves of. I only saw it for one scene, but the way he treated Sasha made me angry until Anastasia entered the scene.

My third least favorite would be Lola, but it’s not a major dislike. In my opinion, she could’ve easily done her duty as Stassie’s best friend to protect her from Aaron more than one did. Other than that small issue, her character is one I would’ve liked to see more of. And by that I mean her personality, I didn’t see much of it throughout the book.

If there is anything I dislike it would be that there were missed opportunities with character arcs that would’ve made the story slightly better.

I recommend Icebreaker for anyone who enjoys a good spicy sports romance. This is a story for a mature reader, but not if you are easily triggered. Please make sure to check trigger warnings. Definitely a sweet, but equally hot, read that I would recommend.