Icebreaker by Hannah Grace Book Review

“My eyebrow raises. ‘Since when was she ‘Stas’?’

‘We’re friends now. Icebreaker sh** worked; I like her.’

Oh great.”

(pg. 68)

About

Author: Hannah Grace

Genre: New Adult Romance

Series: Maple Hills Book 1

Click to buy book

Click to read other book reviews

Other Maple Hills Book Reviews

Wildfire

Daydream

Synopsis

Anastasia Allen has worked her entire life for a shot at Team USA.

A competitive figure skater since she was five years old, a full college scholarship thanks to her place on the Maple Hills skating team, and a schedule that would make even the most driven person weep, Stassie comes to win.

No exceptions.

Nathan Hawkins has never had a problem he couldn’t solve. As captain of the Maple Hills Titans, he knows the responsibility of keeping the hockey team on the ice rests on his shoulders.

When a misunderstanding results in the two teams sharing a rink, and Anastasia’s partner gets hurt in the aftermath, Nate finds himself swapping his stick for tights, and one scary coach for an even scarier one.

The pair find themselves stuck together in more ways than one, but it’s fine, because Anastasia doesn’t even like hockey players…right?

Review

Spoilers Contained Below

To all my hockey queens,

Excuse me while I warm up my typing fingers because it feels like five-ever since I have wrote a book review and I am sooooo hyped to be writing this right now. Honestly, I am just so happy to write my feelings about a book because I miss blogging and sharing all my giddy little thoughts about what I read.

I need a theme song. Low-key, should make a podcast but I think we all secretly detest the sound of our voice in tape unless your name is Morgan Freeman 🙈.

Anyway, let’s get into Icebreaker shall we because you didn’t come to this review just to read about how excited I am.

I thought Icebreaker was a solid new adult romance with drama, tropes, and lots of spice. I thought the enemies-to-lovers trope was done well, and that’s saying a lot as someone who is not a big fan of enemies-to-lovers. I don’t think Stassie and Nate were really enemies who hated each other as much as some enemies-to-lovers go, but I enjoyed the tension they had in the beginning. I know that Icebreaker was originally self-published and then got picked up by a traditional publishing company once Icebreaker blew up on socials. Knowing that Icebreaker was self-published before getting traditionally published makes me admire for Hannah Grace for sharing her words with the world when many people might have not believed in her work as first. I don’t know as someone who tried to go through the traditional publishing world, it’s difficult and sometimes that rejection feels like no one believes in the stories you have to tell, but I liked how Hannah published her story on her own terms because well . . . it became one of the bestselling books of the last few years 😊. That’s so cool.

I will say there were things about the plot that I think could have been stronger/tighter because at times I felt like there were too many things happening in the plot. I do this too where Is like to write every good idea or scene I would enjoy, and I didn’t mind all the extra scenes and moments because I liked the characters and storyline, but I felt like there were some moments or plot lines that didn’t need to be fleshed out as much.

The plot being stronger would be my only feedback about Icebreaker, but the rest, I loved 💙.

I will never tire of a strong female character with so much sass and confidence. I mean sass was literally in Anastasia/Stassie’s name 😂.

I loved how determined, passionate, brazen, and organized Stassie was.

Stassie was adopted by two loving people when she was younger. However, being adopted always made her feel like she had to live up to a certain expectation or to make her parents proud in fear of them not changing their mind about loving her. I loved how Stassie had depth to her character and real insecurities that she battled because her insecurities made me admire just how hard-working and kindhearted she was. I just wanted to hug Stassie and reassure her that her stepparents loved her no matter what and that she should take all this pressure off her shoulders that they would give her back if she “wasn’t good enough.” They chose her and I wish she knew that people do not choose you unless they want to; they do not have to choose you. But her stepparents chose her because they saw something in Stassie worthy of love, and I wish she knew just how much they loved her. But that’s so hard when she was adopted, you know? To feel unwanted and to always be on the precipice of wondering if someone loves you or wants you the same way. I could understand what she was thinking or feeling.

I loved how her stepparents helped her get help through therapy ever since she was young. I thought that was such a thoughtful move for them to do because they probably were thinking, “hey, this girl might have some unresolved feelings with her real parents that maybe she needs to talk to someone about her big feelings.” And if someone supporting you through your therapy journey, isn’t love, then I don’t know what is?

I have never been to therapy, but getting glimpses of Stassie’s therapy sessions and lessons felt very wholesome. I felt like I was healing alongside her 💙. I also liked how her therapist made her feel comfortable enough to share what was going on in her current life when things were hard because Stassie really needed someone to talk to. There was this moment when Stassie spoke to her therapist about her troubles with her figure skating partner, Aaron, and then her fears with someone she was starting to love. The therapist asked Stassie questions that made her think about her fear of rejection and how she was scared of being honest about how she felt in case someone rejected her or didn’t want her like her real parents did or how she feared her stepparents would. I loved how her therapist really validated Stassie through her feelings while also speaking about how she should lead with her heart and honesty. I liked how her therapist asked Stassie her takeaways after their session to recap everything she learned or would try differently. I don’t know, just hearing a character who has actively worked on herself with someone’s help was beautiful to me because I know it’s difficult for me to ask for help when I need it. To be quite honest, I should have been in therapy when I was a kid for all the familial issues I had. I wish I had been because maybe I would have been at a stronger place of understanding and grace with myself like Stassie was with herself. I truly admire her doing the work for herself.

Because of therapy, Stas had this planner that made her feel more I control of her life.

I don’t judge anyone using planner because I use one everyday. I do think planning your day to the hour can be a bit tedious, though, but I understand those who are busy and need to do so. There was this vulnerable scene later in the book where Stas opened up about why she had such a detailed planner. Having a planner started as a therapy activity for her where she would separate her day into three parts of what she had to do, what she’d like to do for herself if she had time , and what she was going to do for herself that wasn’t related to school or skating. I loved how she had these three categories that provided her balance between what she had to do and what she wanted to do for herself because gosh knows I can get up in only doing things I have to do and never having things for myself. Maybe I need to try separate my days into those categories. Her planner evolved into the schedule she had today, which gave her structure. But you know, sometimes you can never plan for what happens and when something happens. I know I feel easily frustrated when a plan changes because my day feels weird or off after having an idea of what I thought my day would be or would will happen.

Underneath Stassie’s bubbly and bold personality, there is someone who is afraid—fragile.

I kind of loved her relationship with Ryan 🙈. I mean, Ryan Rothwell was such a gem.

A friends-with-benefits relationship is absolutely a disaster waiting to happen, but I loved how Stas and Ryan never caught feelings for each other and their relationship was purely for benefits. I liked how they supported each other when they started catching feelings for other people because usually people in this situation would get protective or jealous because they liked the other person. Ryan liked Stas like a best friend. I would have said sister, but that would have been more than weird 😅. But genuinely, he treated Stas with chivalry and civility to not make their hook ups weird, and he would actually check on her after their hook-ups to make sure she was okay. I mean, what a sweetie 🥺. Also, the way Ryan would just be there for Stas whenever she was sad or needed someone, was soooooo cute. They just had an oddly cute non-relationship, which was so weird of me to say.

Having a friends-with-benefits was more convenient for Stas and her busy schedule, but also she feared that attachment—being close enough to someone that they could reject her.

When we fear rejection, we ultimately fear that hurt that comes with it.

After all she had been through, I don’t blame her.

But with fearing rejection, she really didn’t give people the chance to love her the way she deserved because heck knows she was such a great woman that anyone would be lucky to date.

I mean, sis was a-going-to-the-Olympics figure skater 👏🏼 👏🏼👏🏼!!!!!!

Not going to lie, I am a sucker for anything with figure skating.

I was OBSESSED with figure skating as a kid even though, for the life of me, I couldn’t—and cannot—skate. I mean, Ice Princess and Go Figure were BOPS 💅🏼.

So you best know when I found out Stassie was a figure skater, I freaked out!

I mean, a figure skater and a hockey player??????? ICE GOALS 👏🏼💙 A match made on the ice indeed.

Speaking of ice, I like how Stassie and our main man were seemingly forced to interact because of a said skating rink “prank.” What kind of prank involves breaking a whole a** skating rink 🤪?? I wanted to hug Russ, he didn’t mean for anything to happen and was honestly put in the middle of a shizzy situation. But can I just say, I loved the loyalty and gentleness that Nate handled the whole situation with his hockey team—what a true leader.

Captain Nate Hawkins 💙😏.

” . . . letting me trail my fingers across the smooth, warm planes of his stomach, all the way down to his sweatpants.

Gray obviously, because Nathan Hawkins is a man who was most definitely written by a woman.”

(pg. 397)

I have read my fair share of hockey main leads, and Nate Hawkins is definitely one of my new favorite hockey bros. I mean, a tall, burly, built man with a heart of gold with so much compassion, tenderness, honesty, care, and love. I love a guy in a book who you think might be a cocky loser, but turns out to be the sweetest person in the room who just wants to do right. I loved how everyone and their mother would endorse how good a guy Nate was. Like honestly, that says a lot about a person if everyone will tell you that you are a good person. The fact that everyone, including Ryan, told Stas that Nate was a good guy was equally hilarious and sweet to me.

He was a good guy, and I loved how he was so humble about how he acted as a person and captain. He could have been this big stud who had all the ladies on him—not that he hasn’t slept with a lot of ladies—but he never felt like he bragged about it in a serious way. I loved that.

When the rink broke, Coach Faulkner blamed the whole team, but Nate knew his guys and Russ looked super guilty. Instead of chewing Russ out for being a dumb a** for getting the rink destroyed, he asked Russ what happened and he never made Russ feel remorseful about the situation. Instead, Nate protected Russ because he knew Russ was a good guy in a tough situation at school and at home. I liked how he took care of the people around him.

And gosh, did I love the hockey bros. Honestly, I would like to do research for “science” to know if hockey guys are nice and funny. You know, for science 😂.

I mean, I would THRIVE to be friends with JJ, Henry, Russ, Robbie, and Nate. I honestly would vibe with JJ in our sarcastic humor, but also I would much more associate with Henry and Russ for their sweet nature. Their dynamic and interactions was just so hilarious and wholesome—a true found family. Can I just go on a tangent for a moment about how much I love how authors write strong male relationships because oftentimes men are depicted as not having honest conversations or relationships with other men, especially heterosexual male relationships. I know this is fiction, but it’s nice that there is an outlet that highlights how men can have a camaraderie and close bond without that bond being weird.

Because the second rink broke, the hockey bros now had to share a rink with the figure skaters. Sharing rinks meant even tighter schedules to keep, and that made Stas PEEZED.

As a planner, I would understand her frustration at having done nothing wrong but feeling punished to share her rink time with a bunch of big meatheads. Not saying the Titans were meatheads, but in Stas’s eyes, I think that was how she felt at first. She was training for the freaking Olympics, and having less skating time or a messed up schedule would suck.

Nate was not on her good side, but I love how he ardently tried to show Stas time and time again that he was a good guy—-that he just wanted this situation to work amicably between them.

Stas was so determined to hate him though because she hated the situation. Nate took her backlash with poise in never fully hating her. Honestly, I couldn’t fathom how Stas didn’t think that Nate would take her words the way she intended when it literally came out of her mouth. I mean, what else is a man supposed to think if you say, “The only time I want to see a grown man on his knees is if he’s between my legs.” UMMMMMM, sis, that is an invitation 👏🏼. That is an innuendo, heck not even an innuendo, that is an order 👏🏼. Of course, Nate was going to take her words for what they meant.

On a drunken night, Stas asked Nate to sleep with her, and Nate respectfully rejected her because he didn’t want to sleep with her if she was drunk—-you know, a respectful king. I understood why Stas would feel embarrassed or upset with Nate because being rejected is never fun, and rejection feels very personal. However, she was drunk and she had to understand that Nate wasn’t going to take advantage of her even if he really did like her. I freaking laughed and gushed with how sweet Henry was in having a room full of girlie products for his lady friends who stayed over 🥺. What a man that Henry. I also loved how Nate’s hockey friends tried to make Nate mad when Stas tried to leave, but instead stayed in Henry’s room 😂. Not Nate literally storming into Henry’s room because his passcode was 0000. Jealous much.

There were a lot of spicy moments that built their realtionship like how they were doing it in the back of an Uber, which I must say how in the world did they do it in the back of an Uber that they were sharing with their friends??? Unless there was one of those screen things that go up from the front and the back of the car, I don’t know the logistics in that. I freaking CACKLED with how Stas and JJ bonded over screwing with Nate with the whole goose chase they sent Nate on. Stas teamed up with JJ to plan a party at the hockey house, but Nate didn’t know that. So Nate went on a whole goose chase the whole night looking for Stas because she said if he could find her by midnight, they would “do things.” Nate had his mind only on those spicy things and went everywhere, but then Stas called Nate a few minutes before midnight and he saw that Stas was in his room 😂. I mean, clever plan to really make Nate peezed and work for her. I was kind of shocked when he reversed Uno her and made Stas jealous when he stopped to talk to an old crush.

“Captain of the hockey team and I can’t keep up with a five-foot-four figure skater—I’m never going to live this down.”

(pg. 125)

As much as this book brings you the kind of spice that has you feeling sacrilegious to read the story in public, I really enjoyed all the cute moments where we saw their relationship really form.

I liked when Stas hit her head when she was spinning on the ice and Nate was there to nurse her back to care. I mean, we love a pretend doctor moment—-the let-me-clean-up-this-injury-for-you moment 😉.

I thought Nate always being there for Stas without any expectation or obligation; Nate didn’t need to be there for her, but he wanted to. Honestly, “if he wanted to, he would” is a truth. When Stas had a particularly awful training day with her skating partner, Aaron, (the one where Aaron dropped her) I loved how the first person Stas called was Nate and how he dropped everything to go to her. I loved how he just held her while she cried and promised that they could pretend the outside world didn’t exist for a little while. Honestly, sometimes you just need that one person who you can cry on without feeling like they are trying to fix you, but just be there to support you. I loved now Nate was there for Stas 🥺.

“I want to look after her and I feel grateful she wants me to.”

(pg. 201)

I loved how he washed her hair and slept together—the snuggling kind. He was just so gentle and tender to focus on how she might be hurting to be there for her.

“‘You have no idea, do you? The lengths I’d go if you’d let me. What’d I’d do to make you happy.’

My heart did a weird thing I’ve only read about. A mix between a thud and a flatter, the kind that made me equation whether it would continue to function properly.”

(pg. 203)

UGGGGGGHHHHHHH, this was the moment where I was like, “ma’am, if you don’t put a ring on it, I will!!!!” 😩💙

What a gem!!!!

A person who just wanted to make her happy.

Heck yea, she has heart palpitations, gosh< I have heart palpitations for her.

“‘You freaking love bossing me around. Think about how good i’s going to be teaching me how to figure skate. Please say yes.’

. . . ‘Blowing out an exhausted, tension-riddled sigh, I nod. ‘Okay. Let’s be partners. Yes.'”

(pg. 212)

My heart really wanted to melt with how Nate also stepped up to being her skating partner when Aaron “broke his arm.” I knew it in my gut that the minute Nate was benched, that he would become Stas’s figure skating partner because 1) he had nothing better to do 2) skating with her would allow him to continue skating and 3) Nate would do anything for Stas even if it meant putting on some skinny a** tights and twirling around.

He did everything for her 🥺💙.

Also, let’s go hockey guy turned figure skater plot!!!!!!

I LOVED the idea of a figure skater and hockey player falling in love, but the idea of a hockey player turned figure skater to skate with his figure skating girlfriend is ICONIC 👏🏼.

Except where a sparkly costume. But I thought it was soooo cute when Nate and Stas went tights shopping and Stas teased Nate about getting some animal print tights to skate in. I CACKLED on that first day of practice where Nate wore the figure skating tights and was embarrassed to come out and was like, “I can’t do this, I can’t come out.” And Stas was like, “Yes, we all get it, you’ve got a big d***.” FULL BODY LAUGH 😂. Then Nate came out and Coach Brady (Stas’s figure skating coach) was like, “no, no, no we are not going to have a productive practice like this” and told him to put some shorts over his tights 😂. This whole scene reminded me of The Game Plan where the Rock had to wear itty bitty tights to play a fairy in the ballet recital. I mean, he had a leaf outfit covering everything, but same energy of a big man fitting into something itty-bitty.

I loved how Nate and Stas had a new level of intimacy and understanding when they became figure skating partners. I liked how so in-synch they were with their routines and lives, and how Nate slowly learned how to be a good partner for Stas on the ice. I have respect for any athlete because gosh knows playing a sport takes a lot of discipline and patience, but I loved how Nate never felt intimidated by Stas because she was an incredible figure skater. He also never patronized Stas for figure skating when some people would think that figure skating is a “frilly-girly” hobby. Nate admired Stas for her determination and grace, and he respected Stas even more when he realized the difficulty of figure skating in the balance of precision, grace, and effortlessness.

I also liked how Nate helped Stas find a healthier relationship with food.

If you been reading my blog posts for a while, you would know that I had a complex relationship with eating and food a while ago. I am in a much healthier place with eating and food, but I can only imagine what someone’s relationship with eating and food must be for an athlete. I know some athletes have certain diets to help them retain muscle or keep in shape. I don’t think there is a problem with a certain diet if a person does it the correct and healthy way—mentally and physically.

Stas wasn’t, and that was to blame because of Aaron, which I will go into a whole rant about him later. As to the diet thing, Aaron created Stas’s diet plan and Stas trusted him with what he thought was best for her. Honestly unless your friend has a nutritionist degree attached to their name, I don’t think you should be taking their ideas of your diet to heart. Because he didn’t know what was best for Stas’s body, and she shouldn’t have trusted his word for it.

I have been someone who didn’t eat enough even though I was hardcore running everyday sometimes at 7 mph intervals. I would only eat one thing here and there and binge out on dinner. That wasn’t a healthy way to eat. I ate this way because I thought the less I ate and the more I worked out, the more weight I could lose. That wasn’t a healthy way to think. I don’t think that eating less means that you are healthy or doing what is best for you. If you are an athlete or exercise a lot, you do have to eat a certain way to maintain the muscle you worked to build or to regain energy again. Depriving yourself of food just because you think that that food is unhealthy or it will make you gain weight is such an unhealthy path to go down. I would know. So knowing Stas was underrating as an athlete made me really angry because of how there’s this narrative that the less you eat, the better, when that’s not true. I wish someone told me that growing up. Eating and food is all about what is right for your body and lifestyle, and Stas needed to eat.

So I really loved how Nate was angry with me, and he created a plan that supported Stas’s lifestyle. I loved how Hannah Grace detailed how difficult it was for Stas to allow herself to eat and enjoy food again. When you have such a negative relationship with food, it almost feels wrong to eat other foods after being conditioned to not eat a certain way. But I loved how Nate made Stas feel like she could trust him and trust herself to eat foods that made her happy. I liked how Stas also found a healthier relationship with food by finding a love of cooking. I loved how JJ and Stas worked together to cook because cooking with someone probably made Stas feel less alone in letting herself explore other foods than just a slab of chicken and some vegetables. I was really happy when Stas spoke up for herself later on about how she did gain weight, but that weight was muscle and she felt better about where she was mentally—her energy levels were definitely better.

One of my other favorite things about Nate being Stas’s figure skating partner for the time being was how he made her love skating again. Skating with Aaron really stressed Stas out and made her feel awful about herself. I think the people around you do influence how you feel about something, and Aaron, for lack of a better way to put this, sucked the life out of figure skating for Stas. But Nate revived the smile and passion of skating when he made Stas feel strong and supported.

“I’ve been totally and utterly unhinged by a man. I’m disgusted with myself, for being distracted, for knowingly letting every sliver of feminism shrivel up and die over dimples and stick thighs.”

(pg. 224-5)

After the moment Aaron dropped Stas from a lift, Stas had been terrified of being lifted.

When Nate took Stas to a pool to practice lifting her, I wanted to SOB 💙😭.

Just the utter way that Nate wanted to show Stas that she could trust him to not let her fall and get hurt was such a beautiful moment between them—-honestly, the ultimate trust fall. I loved how he kept reassuring her that he would never let her fall or drown, and he never did. And that helped Stas feel more comfortable trusting someone again to lift her, and to overcome this fear that she had.

“‘You could call me that. . . or your boyfriend. Or whatever you want, whatever makes you little commitmentphobe heart feel comfortable.”

(pg. 285)

Honestly, knowing their enemies-to-lovers relationship, I was thinking they were going to get mad at each other and then one of them was going to scream I love you in a hateful way, but I thought the way they got to the I love yous was very sweet.

Stas had taken Nate home for the holidays to meet her parents, which was a big deal for two people; I think meeting the parents is a big deal for a new relationship. I loved how before going to see her parents, Stas had a conversation with her therapist about how Stas should set a boundary of not taking about figure skating with her parents because Stas always felt like that’s the only thing her and her parents talked about. Stas didn’t want to feel the pressure of being good enough for them when she saw them because that’s why she always stayed away. I liked how Stas was honest about not talking about figure skating with her parents, and her parents were supportive of anything she wanted. Stas’s parents were honest to gosh gems, and I think sometimes we get inside our own head so much that we think other people put this pressure on us when really it is our own pressure. I don’t blame Stas, I’m the same way, but it’s hard when the only person who’s telling you that you are not good enough is yourself.

I also thought Nate and Stas’s cute mansion getaway was fun.

Nate took Stas to his dad’s house because his sister, Daisy, and his dad went on a trip for the holidays, so they just chilled in the mansion. What a homely scene they were with watching movies and snuggling. I loved the sweet moment when Stas and Nate skated together on the ice in the backyard and how Nate taught her some hockey. I loved how Nate gave Stas the pajamas that he had a field day deciding which one to get her; I loved the holiday pajama shopping scene with JJ, Robbie, and Henry 😂. Nate’s going to win boyfriend of the century with how thoughtful and unreal his gift was. He got Stas an iPad because she does her therapy on her iPad and he thought Stas could use a digital planner app instead of a real planner, which was soooooooo sweet 🥺.

“I can’t imagine there are many men, college men, that look at the ugliest parts of you and want you anyway.”

(pg. 318)

I FREAKING LAUGHED MY HEAD OFF when Stas was going to do something freaky with Nate on the kitchen island and the sister walked in on Nate being naked and Stas about to do something 😂. Way to meet the sister 🤪.

I really liked Daisy. I hope we get to see more of her in the future because she has an interesting depth to her of having all this ski pressure from her dad, but also not wanting her dad to be so hard on them. I think I have met wood that is less rigid than Nate’s dad. I don’t know how Nate turned out to be such a great guy when the dad acts like a self-entitled prick. I mean, I didn’t like when he stood up for Stas at the restaurant when one of Nate’s exes blatantly ignored Stas and eye-goggled Nate, but other than that, I didn’t quite like Nate’s dad. I wish we got more with Nate and his father with their relationship.

You know what I didn’t laugh my head off?

When Stas almost became a freaking Popsicle.

When Nate was going to get Stas’s gift of the iPad, he left her home alone for a while to do what she wanted, and this sis decided to skate on the ice pond in the backyard and skate near the woods 🙃.

The minute she heard a noise and then the phone went off, I was like, she’s fell through!!!! Gosh, I’ve seen the movies, and when the ice starts to crack and then break, there’s that split second when you plunge into the freezing water below. Honestly, what nightmares are made of, for real. That’s terrifying because you might get hypothermia and freeze or you might drown and know one could hear you. THANK FREAK Nate just got home when she took the plunge. My heart was racing for him!!!!!

I live for the drama, but my gosh, when he pulled her out and then gave her CPR, I felt like he took a breath when she took a breath. Stas told Nate she loved him in that moment because as much as she feared commitment because of rejection and she didn’t twang to confront her feelings, she didn’t want another second to go by knowing that she could have lost her life and Nate would have never known how she felt abbot him. I mean, that’s not how I thought their I love yous was going to go—-it hit different for sure 🥺.

Nate was so cute to be there with Stas every step of the way of getting her warm in the shower, then taking her to the hospital. I loved how he slept in her hospital bed because he couldn’t stand the thought of not being near her. I love love 💙.

I just thought the build up of Nate and Stas’s relationship was beautiful and they had many funny, cute, and meaningful moments that really made me feel the connection they had together.

I DID NOT LOVE FREAKING LOSER AARON ✌🏼.

I put off talking about this loser for the entirety of the blog post because if I was going to go off, I was gong to GO OFF 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼!!!

I’m sorry to all the Aaron’s in the world because this fictional Aaron is a disgrace to your name 😂.

First things first, I didn’t like how Aaron would make patronizing comments about Stas as a figure skater and about her weight. I didn’t like how he always talked down to Stas and made her feel like she wasn’t good enough when gosh knows she was probably a better skater than him. I mean, if someone is trying to make you feel less than it’s because they know you are better. I wanted to scream in his face for making absolutely unnecessary and DISRESPECTFUL comments about Stas’s weight!!!!!! Like, “Oh, you are heavier” or “I can’t carry you.”

Oh, here’s a bright idea, why don’t you lift more at the gym or not be a partner’s figure skater if you cannot lift your partner 😡. Like literally. Why be a partner if you cannot support your partner????

Second, I didn’t like how he judged who Stas hung out with.

I’m sorry, I didn’t see the memo of where that was his business??????? 🙃

So Stas slept with Ryan and then Nate, Aaron WISHES he could have slept with a hot hockey plater. Facts. 🤪

OOOOOOH, don’t even get me STARTED on this next one.

Third, he “pretended” to break his arm and blamed the hockey players on it 🤬. BOILS MY CRABS.

I just could not. I just didn’t believe that this lying loser would all of a sudden coincidentally have a broken arm the night after one of the hockey players parties where he got kicked out because he was being a di** to Stas. Oh yea, I broke my arm. Aaron WISHES 👏🏼.

Nate took the fall for Aaron “breaking his arm” because it was either own up to the stupidity of this claim or the whole team couldn’t play hockey. As the captain and an honorable man, Nate fessed up to breaking Aaron’s arm, which he did not do. Aaron knew Nate would own up to breaking his arm because Aaron wanted Nate out of the picture because Aaron didn’t want Stas distracted from figure skating.

Because Nate “broke” Aaron’s arm, Aaron was benched from hockey until Aaron could skate again. So it was only a little while that Natet couldn’t skate, which I found that Nate took the whole benching thing in stride. I think most people would be more disappointed or furious—furious enough to actually break an arm. But no. High key wanted Nate to break Aaron’s chicken arms.

Part of me wondered if Aaron liked liked Stas and that’s why he was so manipulative with her diet and who she hung out with. I mean, Aaron being jealous made sense if he wanted Nate out of the picture to have Stas to himself. I think Aaron wanted Stas to need him, when she didn’t need him at all.

When Aaron could skate again, he dropped Stas in a lift, the infamous lift I discussed earlier—the lift that benched Nate again. I really thought Aaron lied about his broken arm. I guess once a chicken arm, always a chicken arm 😂. OOOOh, not Aaron making Stas feel bad that he dropped her. I’m sorry, that’s on him and his trust in their partnership, she did nothing wrong. NADA.

And you can best bet my absolute SHOCK and disgust when Nate found out how Aaron really broke his arm!!!! Nate saw one of the UCLA’s hockey players who told him he knew Aaron and they were playing football together on Halloween. Some guy tacked Aaron and Aaron landed on his arm. So not only did Aaron lie about how he broke his arm, he truly did intentionally wanted to blame his stupidity on the hockey players.

WHAT TRASH 😂.

What made Aaron think he could ever play football?????? LOSER.

Fourth, the audacity he had to lash out at Stas.

When Stas called him about the meal plan he made for her, he lashed out. I hated the vulgar way that he turned the conversation around to make Stas feel like a slut for sleeping with Nate when she just wanted to ask about the meal plan. When he wanted to try “fix things” with Stas, I DETESTED the way that Aaron tried to make Nate the enemy/the problem with their partnership when Aaron was the problem. I didn’t like how Aaron told Stas she was being “so dramatic” and that her not eating was her fault. Um, yea, it partially was. He had so much control over her and when he didn’t he tried to play Mr. Nice Guy.

WHAT A JOKE 🤡.

I genuinely didn’t give a flying flip if Aaron had good moments or was a good skater if he treated Anastasia like SHIZ.

I know Stas would constantly defend Aaron because she needed a good partner if she wanted to go to the Olympics. Aaron was the only partner she trained with and was in-sync with (besides Nate), but I felt like all her defenses were excuses. I just didn’t like the way he treated her time and time again, and if nothing changed, sis, walk away. Who cares if Aaron is not your partner??? But I also understood that going to the Olympics was her dream and she couldn’t do it without a partner. So she couldn’t just leave him.

The whole situation sucked because Aaron sucked. What a drama queen of a character.

I also understood Aaron had a difficult upbringing and was battling his own anger at his parents who never really cared for him. But that didn’t mean he got to take out his anger at the people around him. That meant he should get help or admit that he wasn’t in a good space and needed someone’s support. I just could not when he pulled the “I needed a friend/support” card much later. I mean, I DETESTED how he blamed Stas for not being a good friend to him when he was going through something. But how could she have been there for him if he didn’t tell her that he needed a friend or what the problem was for her to be there for her???? It’s okay to say you need a friend and say that you were not there for me, IF you told someone that you needed them and they still were not there for you. If you didn’t tell them, that’s not on them, that’s on you for not telling them what you are going through so they can be there for you. So he shouldn’t have been going around pointing fingers at Stas for abandoning him when she didn’t know.

WAS I THE HAPPIEST LITTLE BEAM when Henry, oh my sweet Henry, PUNCHED AARON in Stas’s honor 😁.

Honestly, I wish Henry hit Aaron harder 🙈!!!! Punch Aaron like you mean it, Henry!

Aaron deserved it.

Aaron said something absolutely nasty about Stas’s character and how “no one will ever be able to love [Stas] because how could they when [her] own parents couldn’t, and the ones who bought you only want to fill up their trophy cabinet.’

Can someone punch someone’s mouth off their face because Aaron doesn’t deserve a mouth!!!! Like the absolute ugliness that spit from his stupid mouth to say behind Stas’s back that no one will ever love her because her real parents gave her up and that her current parents only love her because she brings home trophies . . . or that anyone woudl ever love her because of her trophies. I’m sorry , if that’s not a punchable reason, I don’t know what is. I wanted Nate to go back and punch Aaron again because how dare he not only manipulate Stas, make vile comments about her weight, basically starve her, and now be a backstabbing loser.

I wanted to FREAKING SCREAM when Stas somehow found it in her heart to work through her difficult partnership with Aaron by going to relationship therapy.

Sis, Aaron deserved nothing. I truly don’t care if he was going through it, she didn’t need him 👏🏼!!! No partner or no Olympics is worth skating with someone he constantly mistreats you and blatantly talks shiz about you behind your back. Truly nothing. If I were Stassie, I would have dropped Aaron out of my life and found myself a new partner. I just didn’t think mending their partnership was worth it when Stassie did absolutely nothign wrong and the only problem was the way Aaron treated her.

And yes, gosh darn right for Nate being apprehensive about Stassie going to therapy with Aaron. Dude had a bad gut feeling about Aaron and he should trust that. I wanted to scream at Stas to listen to Nate because he’s not just being an overprotective boyfriend, heck, Nate’s a very confident boyfriend grounded in his relationship. I mean, I love how Nate was never jealous of Ryan, especially when Ryan was the one who gave Nate a flying endorsement.

I absolutely disliked how Aaron unintentionally caused issues between Nate and Stas. Nate didn’t like that Stas was giving Aaron a chance. Stas was upset with Nate for not trusting Stas that she could handle her partnership with Aaron because she knew that Aaron wasn’t really her friend anymore, but a means to an ends to get her to the Olympics. She wasn’t about to give up all her hard work or her dreams because of one little drama queen of a partner. I respected Stas’s unwavering strength in knowing her limits with Aaron, but also I wanted her to respect herself to know when to end a relationship that was not healthy for her. I also understood her dilemma with knowing her goals of going to the Olympics, and that’s really hard because that was her dream—-she should live her dream.

I liked how when Nate had a conversation with his hockey bros, her realized how Stas just wanted to feel supported in her decision and not feel like Nate was trying to coddle her. I loved how they basically told Nate to put his ego aside and be there fo this girl instead of bien jealous that Stas might need Aaron and not him. Even with things a bit strained, I liked how they were able to put their differences or feelings aside to just be there for each other at the end of the day.

I wish I could have someone to call and make everything magically better by seeing them. It genuinely felt like magic when Stas called Nate because she missed him and the smell of him on his shirt, so he dropped everything and went to be with her. They snuggled before her competition day, and the moment was just so cute 🥺💙.

Is this my sixth reason I detested Aaron? I think it’s my sixth reason.

THE WAY HE SEXUALLY HARASSED STAS IN PUBLIC!!!!!!

Good thing he did it on camera because there is proof.

Stas had a great competition performance, but this LOSER had to go and ruin it by planting one right on Stas’s lips. And sis tried to pull away from the kiss but he held her face.

If she didn’t take his a** to court, I would 👏🏼!!!

Nate was halfway to punching Aaron for finding out about the football thing, but when Aaron kissed his girl unwillingly, OOOOOOH Nate was going to go to JAIL 🤪. Nate really would break his arm.

Not going to lie, I cheered when Nate FINALLY hit this loser. Not me writing in my notes, “Please Nate, hit Aaron for all of us!!!” I cackled with how Stas’s dad supported Nate whooping Aaron’s butt 😂. I would like to third the motion of Aaron getting his butt handed to him.

“‘Winning is absolutely worthless when it comes at the cost of having to hate myself when I am with you.'”

(pg. 412)

I felt sucky for Stas.

Stas and Aaron got first place for their paired performance, but I could only imagine the revulsion and hurt she felt and openly choosing to work on this partnership with this person only for him to take advantage of her again, now in more ways than one. I think she might have felt like an idiot for trusting that she could trust Aaron again. I also wanted to hug Stas because being harassed in public is honestly disgusting because you feel violated and embarrassed that so many people saw what happened. She was revulsed and that feeling overpowered the joy she should have felt from winning. Stas deserved her celebratory moment and it broke my heart that Aaron took that from her.

I was so glad that the minute they returned to Maple Hills, Lola and Stas moved out of the apartment they shared with Aaron. I know I barely talked about Lola in this post, but I did love Lola as Stas’s supportive and spunky best friend. I would have liked to see more intimate conversations or best-friend moments between Lola and Stas, but they were a good match as friends. I also hope to see Stas in the future with maybe a Lola and Robbie book.

I enjoyed the time jump from both Nate and Stas’s perspective.

Stas and Lola now lived with Nate and the hockey boys for the moment. Given how Stas practically lived with Nate for the entirety of the book, it was natural for her to actually have a place in the house. I loved how much the hockey guys loved having Stas (and Lola) there. They were there own true found family, and I am a sucker for a found family. I love how Stas has a rhythm with cooking with JJ and then they all eat together. I also loved how in Nate’s perspective we saw how his name was cleared from taking the fall of “breaking” Aaron’s arm. Glad to know Aaron truly could not show his face again and moved schools. I really hoped Stas sued him for harassment or put a restraining order on Aaron because that final move at their completion crossed a whole lot of borders—unforgiveable.

I LOVED how in the future Stas won the women’s singles Olympics and she was this celebrity in comparison to Nate who played NHL in Canada—she was more famous then him. I loved the glimpse of the little life they were starting to build with their Golden Retriever and moving to Washington to be closer to each other after Nate graduated.

I will always be a sucker for a proposal and a low-key baby announcement in an epilogue. It’s just the right way to end a romcom these days. We love the aromatic dinner with the rose petals on the beach. I love how we know that they have a baby girl on the way, a girl named Mila. I think at the end of the day, we all just want our favorite characters to be okay and to know that their happiness continues long after happily ever after.

I was glad that they found their happiness together and their growing family 💙.

I would have loved more details about what exactly happened after the competition with Aaron and what Stas did to become a singles Olympic skater. That must have been hard to have trained her whole life for something and to pivot because of a moment. I also wanted to know more about Nate moving to Canada to play with the NHL. I wondered how Nate and Stas made the distance work when they didn’t live in Washington together and she was finishing school. I also wanted more of Nate’s family relationship, and, as mentioned previously, more Lola and hockey boy moments. I just loved all their dynamics and the humor they brought to the table.

Overall, there was a beautiful sense of intrigue, drama, humor, heart, and happiness.

“‘Oh my [gosh]. You re so cringe. I hate hockey, would you believe?’

‘I could make you fall in love with hockey, Anastasia ,’ he whispered.”

(pg. 205)

If you read this book, what was your favorite part? Least favorite part? Woudl you rather be a figure skater or hockey player? Honestly, a figure skater because I have always wanted to look like an elegant swan gliding across the ice instead of a duck taking its first steps. 😂. Let me know below in the comments as I love hearing from you all 💕

I hope you have a beautiful day whenever and wherever you might be reading this 😊.

And as always, with love,

Rating

4. 87 Full Bloom Flowers

Characters: Nate Hawkins is definitely a man written by a woman (obviously) in just how perfectly sweet and caring he was. I love how Anastasia was such a strong character and how she never wavered in what she trusted and what she experienced.

Plot: I thought there were too many things going on all in one book, but not in a bad way. Because I enjoyed the characters, I didn’t mind that there was a lot more scenes and details, but I do think here could have been a stronger plot/direction of the story. But such a great read 💙

Writing: Hannah Grace writes with the heart of a romance reader and the mind of a hopeful romantic 🥰

Romance: I loved this enemies-to-lovers and sort of slow-burn romance with all its cute moments. I mean, there were many spicy scenes, but the scene I liked the most were all the in-between moments of Nate and Stas spending time together.