Icebreaker: A Novel (The Maple Hills Series) Paperback – February 7, 2023

This is NOT for children. If this were a movie, it would be NC-17. While I enjoyed the book, I made the mistake of letting the Easter Bunny leave it in my 6th grader’s Easter Basket. I had no idea until a friend told me about the spiciness of the book. Unfortunately, that was after my child read it. We had to have a long talk. I do appreciate the concepts around consent, healthy relationships, how to spot unhealthy relationships, and a woman’s view on food. However, if I had known, I would not have let my middle schooler read this.

So for a year, I heard lots of praise for this book and also how bad this book was. And since then I have read a lot of hockey romances and some I loved and some were not so good. So I decided to give it a chance when the audio became available on Libby.And I thought it was good. I thought there was plenty of plot to go along with the spice. (Trust me I have read ones with no plot) I'm sure Anastasia and Nate weren't perfect, but thw fact that they are in college and could have real conversation about how they were feeling was really good. I always like the team dynamic, when they come together to protect one of their own. I am looking forward to reading therest of this series.

I loved it from start to finish. Highly recommend listening to the audiobook while also reading (available on Audible & Spotify premium)

I only gave it a three because I wanted a bit more going on. It wasn’t bad. It just didn’t bring the “need to keep reading to see what happens next,” I prefer in a book.

I love this book! It was my first sports romance and I just love these characters! This edition is also so beautiful! Was delivered in great condition!

Tropes/Key Points:✨Sports/College Romance✨Enemies to Lovers✨Warped Love Triangleish✨Dual POV3.5⭐️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️Blurb:Anastasia is a junior in college on track to be an Olympic Figure Skater. It’s all that she has worked towards since she was five years old. She managed to get a full scholarship, but her pairs partner wasn’t interested in furthering his career. So, as a freshman she was paired up with Aaron who was in the same boat.Stasis comes to win and nothing will get in her way. She has a meticulous schedule, regime and diet that will not be put off track for anybody or anything. Until she gets summoned along with the entire sporting department for a mandatory meeting that disrupts her day. This disruption continues when they are informed that Rink Two, the Hockey Teams Ice, is out for the count and they all have to share one ice rink.Nathan is the captain of the schools hockey team. He has never met a problem he couldn’t solve, that is until his ice rink is flooded and they have to share with the figure skating team. He sees Anastasia arguing with her coach after the meeting, and his attempt to smooth things over backfires in his face.Anastasia’s partner gets injured so Nathan steps in to fill the role. Swapping out a puck for a toe pick, the pair find themselves stuck together and closer than ever.Review:I don’t even know where to fully start here.The premise is amazing and reminded me of the movie “The Cutting Edge”. It’s a semi-accurate comparison but only in certain spots. I give this author credit though as she made it her own and it didn’t feel like a rip off of a timeless classic. I’m not even mad at the execution of the story, as it kept me hooked.One complaint though is the spice level. It comes out of the gate swinging and while it does calm down after chapter two until a bit later in the book, this was just too much for my personal preference. Not to mention that the first sexual encounter between Anastasia and Nate left much to be desired. She just used the bathroom dude and you knelt…. Well. You get it. 🤮My second complaint is the epilogue. It just wasn’t needed. I got to the last chapter of the book and thought I was done only for there to be a very predictable epilogue. I think the epilogue actually ruins the story and rushes achievements for the Main Couple. It felt out of place from what we learned through the book, like the author wanted it so it happened. The lady chapter would have been the perfect ending.One thing I absolutely loved about this story was the cast of characters. It wasn’t just about the main duo, it included such lovable hockey players on Nathan’s team and an amazing best friend for Anastasia. The author managed to flush out these characters and give them their own personalities and problems. It really felt like I could be in a room with a group of friends.Banter is also my weakness. Coming in strong with not only enjoyable back and forth between Ana and Nate, the way the hockey team comes together and ribs on each other was so perfect. There were multiple spots outside of the main couple that had me laughing. The team even accepted Ana and Lola into their group and they joined in on the fun of driving Nate crazy.I have to say that the way the author really delved outside of the romance to introduce complex backstories and emotions for these characters was really well done. Anastasia is in therapy and we see how her anxiety and obsessive planning became established. We see how it affects her daily life and even those around her. It wasn’t just a throwaway plot point, the author actually disperses it throughout the story in a great way.We also get to see some healing in regards to how Ana looks at food. This is such a delicate subject and I think it was handled so well. Of course, I’m coming at this from someone who has (luckily — but no shame to anyone who hasn’t been so lucky — I support you) never experienced trauma with food. I hope that the author truly did portray it in a healthy way and if not, can someone please educate me?The climax of the story was pristine but there were some moments that had me rolling my eyes. Development that we worked through only for it to be torn down to further the plot. But, that’s the way the stories are written so what can you do?Overall there were some really great moments through the book but it wasn’t enough to overpower the ending. The ending really ruined it for me and unfortunately that’s a big ding taking away from the rating.

Inloveeeeeee with this book I read it twice 😅it was very intense and I love how everything ended

This was such a cute story. Nate an Stassie meeting and her trying to make things casual. Nate did everything to win her over. He won her heart. I loved seeing stassie finally have her self realization moments over Aaron and just everything in therapy. It was fun to see the charge development and the found family she had in the hockey team. I really hope we get a book for Henry because we saw so much but not enough of him. Loved the ending. This was such a fun book and definitely what I needed to break up some of the darker reading.