Icebreaker by Hannah Grace (Review by Caitlin Winkler)

Rating: 4.5/5

Just to begin, if you love steam and find the slow-burn romance to be often just too darn slow, then I promise this book will not disappoint and highly recommend reading it! I really loved how this book dove in headfirst on the romance, but also provided all the content that made you really like and care about the characters and their happiness.

Anastasia Allen is a planner, and nothing will deter her from getting the practice she needs to reach the Olympics in pairs figure skating. Not even the hockey team and their captain Nate Hawkins, who’s history of pranking has caught up to them and resulted in the figure skating team and hockey team having to share a rink. Nate is trying to keep his team together after this “mishap” that resulted in a rink having to close but that means working with Anastasia, who seems to loathe him upon sight. But when circumstances force them to spend more time together, and they get to know each other more, will this hatred lead to more of a fiery spark?

Where to begin-I LOVED this story and absolutely loved Anastasia and Nate-but more than that, I LOVED the secondary characters-if you can even call them secondary characters. I mean Henry alone come on-lol. I really fell into the plot and found myself rooting for characters rather quickly. I will be honest a lot happened in this book other than just steamy romance scenes-and some of the story lines are a bit harder and potentially triggering for some, but I think by adding in real issues it helped to make this novel truly great because it felt more genuine and realistic. The only reason why this book did not receive a full 5 stars from me is that I found it to be a bit longer than necessary. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely LOVED all the characters, but for a romance novel it just felt a bit longer than it needed to be. But back to why I loved it so much, it is also the start of a new series, so who doesn’t love that?! Highly recommend picking up this book and I cannot wait for the next in the UCMH series!!