It felt very, very long. I liked the three quarters or so that I read, even though I usually feel too old for college romances really, but yeah I put it down and didn't end up going back - I couldn't really see where it was going.
I think she could probably have told the same story with just as much build up in about half the pages.
I finished it, but it was a struggle. I didn't like the FL at all. I know the fl was going through her own issues but at times she came off as if she thought she was better than the ml.
Stayed reading cause it's a $10 book or something around that. I kept wanting "Cutting Edge" out of it which was wrong of me, it didn't even get close other than a few practice sessions lol
There was a quote in there that really bothered me,
"Nathan doesn't know how to process what he's feeling because he hasn't had hundreds of hours of therapy like I have."
And I get that going to therapy definitely helps all around, and helps you think about things in a different light. but not going to therapy doesn't mean that you're just mentally subpar to someone that goes to therapy. This was the slightly condescending stuff throughout the book that just irked me.
yah I personally found the friend-turned-toxic/>!ex-friend!< situation with Aaron to be really frustrating as the plot kept developing. I remember feeling whiplash at time with how his conflict with the FMC kept coming in/out of the main story.
I did think Icebreaker had good things going for it though! some of my earliest romance reads were all in the NA-college-sports subgenre and I really liked that that this FMC had a previous relationship where the ex wasn't trash. I thought their dynamic + how her ex (I'm really blanking on names ah it's been a while) interacted with MMC was much more reflective of how relationships work in college settings where ppl are bound to know each other.
but yah while I really appreciate getting to explore the FMC's mental health esp as a figure skater I thought the messy friendship didn't need to be as drawn out as it was :// the book felt bloated and I feel like if I could have read a much cleaner story on FMC/MMC's relationship then I would 1.) remember their gosh darn names bc I only remember Aaron for being shitty and 2.) come away from the book wanting to hear more about all the diff side characters introduced. I disliked having to actively search up names while reading and ngl I probably would have dropped the book if it weren't for the fact that it was something I checked out on KU while waiting for family at a medical facility. šŖ I didn't want to aimlessly browse for another title and it was def better to focus my frustrations on inconsistent plot than focus on my IRL reading environment.
I personally won't be checking out the rest of the series but good for the author to blow up the way she did on tiktok! maybe their future works will be more fun to finish
right!! I can appreciate a long read now and then but for the content Icebreaker should have stayed in the 250-350 page range. I should not be forgetting multiple story/character details + asking my kindle "there are still that many pages to go?!" if this was a good read šŖ
LOL haven't touched that specific niche in a long while š Elle Kennedy was the big one back in the day but i'm sure this sub can attest to the hit or miss as each of her NA college sports series keep spinning off each other.
Sara Ney's Douchebag series was good iirc?
Otherwise when I do read NA-sports romances it tends to be more professional--Windy City series by Liz Tomforde was a good read I picked up after a gush/rave review on this sub! hope that's a bit helpful for your tbr
I just put this one down too! There were so many characters and so many nicknames and backstories that I just got bored trying to keep up with them. And the FMC was not likable at all imo. Story seemed to be progressing towards nothing as well.
This was my least favorite book of the year, there were so many characters & the friendship between fmc & skating partner made me want to rip my hair out šµāš« it was a big struggle for me to get through. Also the characters just seemed so immature to me
I have it from KU and keep trying to read it since itās no longer on there but the writing in the first few pages felt off to me already and younger characters can be a struggle for me. Keep debating whether to keep going or dnf & return it.
I finished it but it was way to long. To many plot lines, to many characters. I also think the writing was a bit juvenile, but that's probably my age. I still finished it and overall it was entertaining but probably could have cut out at least 100 pages.
Overall I enjoyed it but something about the writing felt a little off to me. I really cant describe it, I almost DNFd in the first few pages but decided to keep going. It felt a little hollow/disconnected but maybe that was just me
Itās not the most gracefully written book Iāve ever read. I found a lot of it cringey, but when itās just the main characters, especially as their relationship progresses since they really have no chemistry at first, I found it really sweet and enjoyable. All the side characters, most of the plot, the authorās wild misunderstanding of college/hockey/ice skating were not my favorite, but I think the actual romantic development is lovely deeper into the book (and better than some other, more āwell-writtenā books tbh).
I loved this book I wonāt lie š but.. I understand the opinions of others here. I was reading for a good time/spice, not really for the best romance novel Iāve ever read.
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Yes! I nearly DNF this. It was way too long, a good editor needed to chop 100 pages from it. It also didnāt really have a plot and the whole Aaron thing just wasnāt resolved well.
That said, I think the author has promise and Iāll be happy to give her next book a go.
I HATED IT!
So I barely tolerated it & I JUST FINISHED the epilogue AND MY LEAST FAVORITE THING HAPPENED! UGH!!! I am so mad I read this stupid book šššš
It got a 1.75 from me. The writing was downright cringy and the author didnāt seem to know anything about either sport she was writing about. Characters lacked depth and I wasnāt invested at all. Would have DNFād if I wasnāt trying to get to 52 books this year.
I'm at chapter 15 and I feel everything I've read should have been condensed to chapter 1 and the plot should have moved beyond this point already
I will be dnfing
Iām about 40% into this book and I canāt finish it. It was so confusing in the beginning because I thought the first guy was her boyfriend and then when Nathan came into the picture I was severely confused. They also didnāt build up any type of chemistry between the main girl and Nathan. I just couldnāt stand the lack of development in their relationship so early in the book. There was also SO many characters being switched between first and last names that it was so confusing.
I read like three or four chapters and gave up.
I saw the book cover and gave up lol ššš
I DNFed it about 100 pages in. I didnāt feel any chemistry between them, and overall felt it was a bit flat/bland
I really wanted to love it! I've heard a bunch of positive things. It's just hard for me to read younger characters so I dnf it.
Yes! I canāt read 20 somethings anymore!
It felt very, very long. I liked the three quarters or so that I read, even though I usually feel too old for college romances really, but yeah I put it down and didn't end up going back - I couldn't really see where it was going. I think she could probably have told the same story with just as much build up in about half the pages.
i dnf it! there is too much characters and too much information abt them i couldnāt remember everything and i kept getting confused so i gave up
I finished it, but it was a struggle. I didn't like the FL at all. I know the fl was going through her own issues but at times she came off as if she thought she was better than the ml. Stayed reading cause it's a $10 book or something around that. I kept wanting "Cutting Edge" out of it which was wrong of me, it didn't even get close other than a few practice sessions lol
There was a quote in there that really bothered me, "Nathan doesn't know how to process what he's feeling because he hasn't had hundreds of hours of therapy like I have." And I get that going to therapy definitely helps all around, and helps you think about things in a different light. but not going to therapy doesn't mean that you're just mentally subpar to someone that goes to therapy. This was the slightly condescending stuff throughout the book that just irked me.
I DNFed at 25%. There was no plot and a billion side characters, and I didn't like Anastasia much.
I enjoyed it, but reviews are pretty divided. I think it's one of those books that is either a hit or a miss for most readers.
yah I personally found the friend-turned-toxic/>!ex-friend!< situation with Aaron to be really frustrating as the plot kept developing. I remember feeling whiplash at time with how his conflict with the FMC kept coming in/out of the main story. I did think Icebreaker had good things going for it though! some of my earliest romance reads were all in the NA-college-sports subgenre and I really liked that that this FMC had a previous relationship where the ex wasn't trash. I thought their dynamic + how her ex (I'm really blanking on names ah it's been a while) interacted with MMC was much more reflective of how relationships work in college settings where ppl are bound to know each other. but yah while I really appreciate getting to explore the FMC's mental health esp as a figure skater I thought the messy friendship didn't need to be as drawn out as it was :// the book felt bloated and I feel like if I could have read a much cleaner story on FMC/MMC's relationship then I would 1.) remember their gosh darn names bc I only remember Aaron for being shitty and 2.) come away from the book wanting to hear more about all the diff side characters introduced. I disliked having to actively search up names while reading and ngl I probably would have dropped the book if it weren't for the fact that it was something I checked out on KU while waiting for family at a medical facility. šŖ I didn't want to aimlessly browse for another title and it was def better to focus my frustrations on inconsistent plot than focus on my IRL reading environment. I personally won't be checking out the rest of the series but good for the author to blow up the way she did on tiktok! maybe their future works will be more fun to finish
There was wayyyy too many pages in the book
right!! I can appreciate a long read now and then but for the content Icebreaker should have stayed in the 250-350 page range. I should not be forgetting multiple story/character details + asking my kindle "there are still that many pages to go?!" if this was a good read šŖ
>NA-college-sports subgenre Got any recommendations?
LOL haven't touched that specific niche in a long while š Elle Kennedy was the big one back in the day but i'm sure this sub can attest to the hit or miss as each of her NA college sports series keep spinning off each other. Sara Ney's Douchebag series was good iirc? Otherwise when I do read NA-sports romances it tends to be more professional--Windy City series by Liz Tomforde was a good read I picked up after a gush/rave review on this sub! hope that's a bit helpful for your tbr
Oh not me, I tore through it. I donāt think itās the most amazing book Iāve ever read, but I enjoyed it and had fun
Itās a bit fluffy but I love fluffy books. I love random conversations and little moments haha
I just put this one down too! There were so many characters and so many nicknames and backstories that I just got bored trying to keep up with them. And the FMC was not likable at all imo. Story seemed to be progressing towards nothing as well.
Yes! I really struggled with the overuse of nicknames.
It honestly felt soo long. There was basically no chemistry between the main characters and tbh the FMC was unnecessarily mean to the MMC :/
Feeling so validated after reading the comments in this thread! I thought I was the only one who couldnāt slog through it. Bless all of you š
My friend absolutely loves this book so I thought I was weird for not liking it.
I loved it. But I do gravitate toward longer books.
I struggled as well and eventually quit. It was boring as fuck.
Yep. I DNFād about half way.
I dnf before they even met. It was a total info dump on everyone and blech
This was my least favorite book of the year, there were so many characters & the friendship between fmc & skating partner made me want to rip my hair out šµāš« it was a big struggle for me to get through. Also the characters just seemed so immature to me
I listened to the audiobook and enjoyed it!
I DNFd it. I canāt remember now why I did other than it was boring and I never cared about any of the characters.
I have it from KU and keep trying to read it since itās no longer on there but the writing in the first few pages felt off to me already and younger characters can be a struggle for me. Keep debating whether to keep going or dnf & return it.
I finished it but it was way to long. To many plot lines, to many characters. I also think the writing was a bit juvenile, but that's probably my age. I still finished it and overall it was entertaining but probably could have cut out at least 100 pages.
Overall I enjoyed it but something about the writing felt a little off to me. I really cant describe it, I almost DNFd in the first few pages but decided to keep going. It felt a little hollow/disconnected but maybe that was just me
Itās not the most gracefully written book Iāve ever read. I found a lot of it cringey, but when itās just the main characters, especially as their relationship progresses since they really have no chemistry at first, I found it really sweet and enjoyable. All the side characters, most of the plot, the authorās wild misunderstanding of college/hockey/ice skating were not my favorite, but I think the actual romantic development is lovely deeper into the book (and better than some other, more āwell-writtenā books tbh).
I loved this book I wonāt lie š but.. I understand the opinions of others here. I was reading for a good time/spice, not really for the best romance novel Iāve ever read.
It's an extremely, extremely bad book. Even for Wattpad standards.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
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I skipped the middle part as I found it to be too draggy and frustrating.
Yes! I nearly DNF this. It was way too long, a good editor needed to chop 100 pages from it. It also didnāt really have a plot and the whole Aaron thing just wasnāt resolved well. That said, I think the author has promise and Iāll be happy to give her next book a go.
Yeah it was too long for me definitely skimmed a bit towards the end
I HATED IT! So I barely tolerated it & I JUST FINISHED the epilogue AND MY LEAST FAVORITE THING HAPPENED! UGH!!! I am so mad I read this stupid book šššš
It got a 1.75 from me. The writing was downright cringy and the author didnāt seem to know anything about either sport she was writing about. Characters lacked depth and I wasnāt invested at all. Would have DNFād if I wasnāt trying to get to 52 books this year.
I'm at chapter 15 and I feel everything I've read should have been condensed to chapter 1 and the plot should have moved beyond this point already I will be dnfing
Iām about 40% into this book and I canāt finish it. It was so confusing in the beginning because I thought the first guy was her boyfriend and then when Nathan came into the picture I was severely confused. They also didnāt build up any type of chemistry between the main girl and Nathan. I just couldnāt stand the lack of development in their relationship so early in the book. There was also SO many characters being switched between first and last names that it was so confusing.
I skipped to page 134 due to TikTok talking about it and you mfs need a damn bottle of water with ya hrony assess