Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Icebreaker by Hannah Grace

346 reviews

sara33bear's review

lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Eating disorder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Pregnancy

wondahwoman's review against another edition

funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

While I thoroughly enjoyed the romance between Anastasia and Nate, the main source of conflict throughout the story felt a bit forced to me.

Spoilers for the antagonist/conflict below:

Stassi’s skating partner, Aaron, is nothing short of emotionally abusive, and it seemed unrealistic to me that Stassi would forgive/excuse SO MANY of his actions. Even towards the end when she had become disillusioned by all of his manipulative behavior, she continued excusing awful things. I wish there’d been more development into why she was so deep under his spell after having only been his partner for two years.

I appreciate that the drama between the two love interests was very minimal (see also: no third act breakup!) but the conflict that was there made it hard to finish near the end. It was worth it for the romance, but I wish the antagonist had been more thought out. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship and Sexual content

Moderate: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Misogyny, Sexism, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, and Gaslighting

Minor: Death of parent and Pregnancy

jreshsingh26's review

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Body shaming

Minor: Vomit, Fatphobia, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, Pregnancy, Infidelity, Body shaming, Toxic relationship, Chronic illness, Death of parent, and Eating disorder

jeanettesreadingcorner's review

emotional lighthearted slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

What I liked: 

• Once I read past 200 or so pages, it’s like the author found the plot and the story actually began. I started to enjoy the characters the romance, and everything else more. Nate and Anastasia are really cute. I enjoyed how they supported each other and their character growth, together and as individuals. The hockey team guys are funny and sweet too. I loved their found family dynamics.

- Nate punching Aaron was really satisfying. 

• I’m curious to read Wildfire to see how it compares to this one and I liked the characters enough to continue reading in the Maple Hills book world. 
• The ending was astronomically better than the beginning of the book. Overall, I eventually liked Icebreaker and I could see why it’s popular. There are some aspects that bothered me about it though…

What I disliked: 
- Aaron The Asshole sucks and I hate him, especially the way he treated Anastasia. 

• the beginning is a mess. There’s no direction or storyline. The characters are just partying and having sex, talking about sex, or insinuating it. I don’t mind sex scenes and they don’t bother me. However, they don’t need to be so frequent and in every moment the main characters are together. It was just too much in one book. That’s something that I don’t like about adult romance books. 
• British phrases in a book set in the USA and the characters are American? So weird. I guess it could be the quirky thing that the author writes but it seemed so odd and out of place to me. 
• The book is written in dual pov, which I usually prefer and love, but it did feel repetitive at times in this one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Bullying, Death, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Vomit, Fatphobia, Body shaming, Infidelity, Medical content, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, and Grief

Moderate: Abandonment, Alcohol, and Cancer

jaemeappel's review

lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Eating disorder, Toxic friendship, Body shaming, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Sexual assault

Minor: Death of parent

lindsaymc74's review

lighthearted slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

I didn’t really see where the plot was going. Like it to me was just a figure skater and a hockey player having sex the whole book except for the last few chapters. But even then I thought it was dense and hard to have interest in

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Medical content, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Eating disorder, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, and Body shaming

Minor: Cancer and Death of parent

a_ford1's review

emotional funny inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Sexual content, Gaslighting, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death of parent, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Toxic friendship

lanza909's review

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

I felt like Anastasia’s stance on her partner prevented me from really getting behind her. I felt like she was treating Nate as if he was overreacting but her partner truly
Was terrible. Overall, a moderately and enjoyable book! 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Emotional abuse, Eating disorder, and Death of parent

tuckertl's review

emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Eating disorder

Minor: Death of parent

tgreene507's review

funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Fatphobia, Cursing, Death of parent, Abandonment, Misogyny, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Emotional abuse