Icebreaker by Hannah Grace

Bookstagram and Booktok have been going nuts over Icebreaker by Hannah Grace lately. I wrote it off at first and now I am seriously questioning my book senses. This book exceeded my expectations and has now joined my list of go-to romcoms!

Here's the 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?

Here we go with the proverbial meat and potatoes of this review!

Bookstagram romances have become notorious and synonymous in my mind with relatively unhealthy relationships between love interests. I am throwing no shade at this because the books are still good, but that's become my expectation with most of the romance recommendations from these platforms. This book made me flip this assumption on its head and I loved it! The unhealthy relationships can be a bit much after a while, hence my hesitance to read this book at first, but the relationship between Stassie and Nate in this book is fantastic!

This book is written as a narrative following Nate and Stassie's lives after their first unfortunate meeting. (Nate is setting the standard y'all!) The plot had enough conflict in the novel to keep me engaged (occasionally yelling and ranting) while not being over the top (meaning a gut-wrenching roller-coaster of emotions). Not to mention its capacity for spice in the romance department! I enjoyed this book immensely; it was a nice break between other, more emotionally wrecking series' (I'm looking at you two, Throne of Glass and Folk of the Air!). I would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a romance with a great cast of characters, hilarious character dynamics, and just the right amount of spice and conflict to keep the reader on their toes!

Happy Reading! Renee