Don’t be fooled by this book’s cover. I mistook it for a teen romance but I was quickly disabused of this notion by the warning on the title page: “Content warning: Icebreaker is intended for adult readers only”. This is due to lot of explicit sexual content.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed Icebreaker, which had a richly developed story, an array of endearing characters, twists, turns and unexpected conflicts.
Icebreaker tells the story of a figure skater, Anastassia, and ice-hockey captain, Nate, who are forced to share a rink due to a prank.
Anastassia dislikes hockey players but gradually develops friendships with their team. However, she keeps Nate at a distance, mostly because she is unnerved by her own attraction to him.
Nate, who is a player in more than just hockey, becomes increasingly intrigued by Anastassia because she is one of the few girls at the university who, it seems, is completely uninterested in him.
It is Aaron however, Anastassia’s spoiled and narcissistic skating partner who is subtly controlling her, that brings the relationships in the book, romantic or otherwise, to fruition. Nate intervenes when Aaron’s manipulations go nuclear.
The conflict continues to simmer until it boils over into Aaron squaring off against a team of protective hockey players.
Very different from the average romance novel, Icebreaker is engaging and enjoyable.