As everyone that follows my reviews should know by now, I am a SUCKER for hockey. I’ve been a fan of the sport my entire life, followed my team for three quarters of my life, and it’s just my thing. So of course I love hockey romances – it combines all of my favorite things! Add in the angst of characters in their early twenties and it’s almost a guaranteed three star for me. As it was with Icebreaker by Hannah Grace. Honestly, I’d heard about this one since it came out but I just could never get that into it. It wasn’t until I joined a BuddyRead for it that I finally committed and gave it a shot. It wasn’t great, but it wasn’t bad either.
I wonder if I had read this when it first came out, if it would’ve hit me better. But considering I read this after the masterpiece that was Consider Me by Becka Mack, it fell flat. Female main character Anastasia just seemed boring and whiny to me. She felt flat and would’ve read more like a reader stand-in if she wasn’t so annoying. I honestly had no idea as I read this what attracted Nathan, or Aaron for that matter. I get that she has issues and appreciate the book showing her attending therapy and trying to work on herself. Still, she is absolutely the reason I couldn’t rate the novel above a 3.5.
Now Nathan, on the other hand, seemed like such a great character and male love interest. He is sweet, loyal, dedicated. He works hard and wants to do right. Nathan has family issues that he tries to power through but he never really lets it affect his relationships. He is the type of guy that will do anything to help anyone, regardless of how embarrassing it might be. Nathan is the reason this book got 3 stars.
If you’re running low on hockey romances to read, then I think you might enjoy Icebreaker by Hannah Grace. If you’re new to the hockey romance genre, or are trying to decide which one to try next, I don’t know that I’d really recommend this one too much.
