Cait’s Review of “Icebreaker” by Hannah Grace

By: Cait Marie

Blurb

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?

Review

It took me literally a year and a half to finish this book… but not because I didn’t like it. In fact, I loved it and gave it 5/5 stars.

Here’s the thing, I am an impatient person with zero chill. When I’m reading a book I am really enjoying, I have a horrible habit of skipping ahead and skim reading through the rest, which means I know what’s going to happen and how it’s going to end. And I always say I’ll go back and continue from where I was and actually read the rest word for word, but sometimes I don’t, or sometimes I just don’t for a while.

Well, I did that with this one. Plus, I haven’t been reading physical books at all. I work all day every day, and the only time I read is at night in bed from my phone, and I was DETERMINED to finish this paperback.

So, last month, I went on vacation and finished the last half of the book in the van before even reaching the hotel the first night. I officially broke out of my slump and read the rest of this book! And I loved it.

Anastasia and Nate are wonderful. The story was fun with a lot of tension. I love their dynamic; figure skater and hockey player is one of my favorite tropes. But what I really adored was them within his group of friends/teammates. My heart melted every time Nate and Stasie joked about playing house when she stayed with him. It was adorable, especially when they were still bantering so much.

Despite taking forever to finish this book, it was hard to put down. I didn’t want to stop. The only thing I wasn’t overly fond of was part of the ending. Something about it felt rushed, but I can’t really put my finger on why or how it could’ve been done differently. I think because the pacing throughout the rest was kind of slower, it just felt like it wrapped up very abruptly.

Regardless, it was wonderful. I can’t wait to continue with the series. I’ve had book two on my shelf waiting since it released.