I LOVED THIS BOOK SO MUCH. i had to yell this into the universe. the enemies-to-fwb-to-lovers of it all! my favorite trope mashup of all time. add in the sports drama (and at a collegiate/professional level! we love to see it) and the perfectly crafted queer romance and the incredible mental health and depression rep, and the family dynamics, and the incredible cast of side characters, and i am a *g o n e r*. this book was made for me. i loved mickey and cauler so much, and their relationship development felt so realistic. and that ending! *chefs kiss* loved every bit of this so much. (plus, bonus endometriosis rep made me feel so seen!!!) i got an audio arc of this one, but i will absolutely be buying a copy for my library! not only a great book, but a genuinely great audio listen, i loved the narrator and the pace.

Mickey is seventeen, a freshman in college, and potentially going to enter the NHL soon. Needless to say that he has a lot going on even before he is dealing with his own mental health and his longtime hockey rival.

I can guarantee that you will like this book if you enjoyed reading Check, Please! It is a very similar story about playing hockey and romance, but all while dealing with the pressure of ‘the draft’ and trying to maintain one's mental health.

The two main characters are interesting and make for a very antagonistic couple, but supportive and caring in the end. The fact that Mickey was raised by other people after the age of ten brings his trauma about being abandoned to bare when he confronts himself as well as the fear of retribution for dating another guy. There are hints of homophobia, but as far as I can tell, nothing overt. The main cast is very supportive and loving.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book (I listened to the audiobook). It is a solid four in my book and can be a little heavy at times, but maintains an upbeat tone despite the underlying traumas and serious subjects discussed. Also, the narrator is easy to listen to and does an excellent job! I would definitely recommend it!

I really enjoyed seeing the mental health rep in this book. For a YA/NA book, I think it covered some of the more realistic elements of growing up, coming out, and coping with mental illness. I will say it started a little slow and took me a minute to get invested in the story, but overall, it was a very solid read.

4⭐

So the gist of the book is that Mickey and Jaysen are hockey rivals who are playing on the same team for a year before the drafts for NHL happen.

It's okay if you don't know these terms (I feel like I still don't 🤣) as it doesn't make the book any less enjoyable in my opinion.

It has really well done enemies-to-lovers trope (which I love), sports, bisexual MC and gay LI, other side queer characters, mental health rep (depression) and just a huge dose of cutesy feel-good romcom vibes!

I loved the plot, loved the characters, and just everything else except...that ending.
For a book that was so well written and well executed, the ending falls a bit flat and hence is very unsatisfying. Idk if it is because that's how it was meant to end or something in the Author's head but I just personally feel very...put out ig?
It wasn't bad, it wasn't even rushed but it could've been done better and executed with more depth.

Highly recommend if you need some cute feel-good, enemies-to-lovers books! 🥰

This is one of the most charming sports romance books I've ever read-- and I have read so, so many.
Graziadei went all-in on the enemies-to-lovers and grumpy/sunshine tropes, breathing originality into every aspect of each character and making it impossible not to root not only for Mickey and Jaysen to get together but for Mickey to find some peace and true happiness with every aspect of his life.
As someone whose knowledge of hockey comes only from what I've read in books, I can't really judge how well that element of the story is, but I can say that it made me almost feel like I was on the ice with them experiencing the highs and lows of the games. And as important an element as the game is to the plot, those moments take a back seat to the times when the characters are interacting and just being college students trying to figure themselves out. This novel is 100% character-driven and that's its greatest strength.
Deep props for managing to show how heavily Mickey's depression weighs on him and affects every aspect of his life without making it so that it drags the reader into the mindset with him. You get to see how it makes him feel but you don't end up as depressed as he is. It's a fine line that not many authors manage. I also appreciated how rationally everyone treats it and that we get to see how differently it affects and shows up in each individual. I would recommend it on the strength of how it deals with mental illness alone.
I listened to the audiobook narrated by Tom Picasso and he does a great job of infusing the right tone for each scene and character, so much so that I suspect a part of why I enjoyed this one so much was the great job he did in breathing life into Mickey.
Overall, it's a fun ride with both moments of deep introspection and youthful joy. I very highly recommend it.

Very happy thanks to NetGalley and RB Media for the excellent early read!

* desça a página para ler a resenha em inglês!

Obrigado à NetGalley e ao editor por me fornecerem um ARC digital em troca da minha opinião honesta.

Foi um livro complicado pra mim. Não consegui me conectar com o fato deles serem adolescentes ainda, quando li sobre como se passava na faculdade e todo o problema com a carreira eu imaginei que seriam mais velhos.
Ler sobre primeiros anos de faculdade é algo que gosto, são normalmente os passos de se descobrir, tomar decisões por si mesmo e tudo mais. Aqui fica ainda mais complicado: na verdade o personagem já vive sozinho há anos, ele já não é tão dependente de adultos como normalmente são nessa idade mas esse é o problema do livro pra mim: tudo ficou muito raso.

A gente não vê um crescimento, porque não tem grandes nem sequer pequenas decisões do dia dia onde seja possível a gente aproveitar o amadurecimento do personagem. Não temos detalhes do que acontece antes, como ele se virava e mesmo dentro da faculdade a gente mal vê nada.

Quando ele começa a mostrar as dúvidas sobre ficar os quatros anos porque está se conectando com o time, não funciona muito. Tanto porque a atração dele por outro personagem já está muito forte e presente quanto pelo fato de que ele nem sequer tem boas conexões com os outros colegas de time, não mostra coisas como treinos e ele conhecendo os outros jogadores. O único momento que ele tem com um colega ficou muito óbvio pra mim que usou só pra construir mais da jornada dele com a depressão.

Eu esperei o livro inteiro para ele conseguir ajuda, e quando ele consegue é resumido a medicamento. E claro que todo tratamento é válido, mas ele é auto diagnósticado durante o livro inteiro e toda menção a depressão vem seguido ou antes de menção dos pais dele, então me faz pensar.
Então a gente não vê a evolução da saúde mental dele, no final do livro em uma frase ele diz que muita coisa mudou depois da medicação e só.

Sobre a rivalidade e romance: O começo me deixou muito incomodada, mesmo que seja um esporte de contato o quão agressivo começou me preocupou de ser um bully romance, mas a evolução deles também não funcionou pra mim. Achei muito rápido, de como Jaysen foi de estar empurrando ele de um lado pro outro pra tá dando em cima dele e tal.
A rivalidade também não me moveu, acho que porque ambos estão no mesmo time e toda construção da batalha dos dois é só feita pela mídia que quem está o tempo todo passando pra gente é o próprio Mickey então não funcionou.

A questão de ficar muito na superfície se aplica a várias coisas: Como ele está sempre falando sobre machismo no esporte e como as irmãs dele são maravilhosas e não recebem o reconhecimento: mas em todo momento que isso vem a tona ele associa sempre as irmãs e a gente vê muito pouco da relação deles e mesmo que não fosse só pela relação, só tem uma cena onde a irmã está jogando e volta pra questão de pontos novamente.
Alguns momentos eram muito vergonha alheia até, de como ele olha para a riqueza dos pais e reclama, dizendo que daria para pagar isso e aquilo, como o pai dele é só "branco e rico" e não precisa de tanta segurança sendo que ele fala o tempo todo o quanto os pais dele são uma lenda no esporte. Sem contar o fato de ele usar uma bolsa de estudos, que cobriria toda universidade para um aluno que precisa, e eu não entendi o porquê dele fazer isso.

Eu amei a amizade entre o colega de quarto do Mickey e o outro jogador, foi a coisa que mais gostei do livro.

Eu acho importante como trouxe o recado que depressão acontece com qualquer pessoa, independente de trauma.
Pressão de escolhas sobre o futuro em adolescentes. Só acho que foi mal executado porque tentou deixar tudo leve com "muita" coisa acontecendo.

E aí ao invés de ir fazendo uma coisa lenta e bem executada, acumulou pro final e todos os problemas foram fechados de forma clichê e não resolvendo de forma boa os próprios problemas que foram trazidos.

/


Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

It was a complicated book for me. I couldn't connect with the fact that they were teenagers yet, when I read about how it was in college and the whole career problem I figured they would be older.
Reading about the early years of college is something I enjoy, it's usually the steps of discovering yourself, making decisions for yourself and all that. Here it gets even more complicated: in fact, the character has been living alone for years, he is no longer as dependent on adults as they normally are at this age, but that is the problem with the book for me: everything became too shallow.

We don't see growth, because there aren't big or even small day-to-day decisions where we can enjoy the character's maturation. We don't have details of what happened before, how he managed and even inside the college we barely see anything.

When he starts to show doubts about staying the four years because he's connecting with the team, it doesn't really work. Both because his attraction to another character is already very strong and present and the fact that he doesn't even have good connections with the other teammates, it doesn't show things like training and him getting to know the other players. The only moment he has with a colleague was very obvious to me that he used it just to build more on his journey with depression.

I've waited the entire book for him to get help, and when he does, it boils down to medication. Of course, every treatment is valid, but he's self-diagnosed throughout the entire book and every mention of depression comes before or after his parents' mention, so it makes me wonder.
So we don't see the evolution of his mental health, at the end of the book in one sentence he says that a lot has changed after the medication and that's it.

On rivalry and romance: The beginning made me very uncomfortable, even though it's a contact sport how aggressive it started worried me about being a bully romance, but their evolution didn't work for me either. I thought it was really quick, how Jaysen went from pushing him from one side to the other to hitting on him and stuff.
The rivalry didn't move me either, I think because both are on the same team and all the construction of the battle between the two is just done by the media that Mickey is the one who is passing on to us all the time, so it didn't work.

The issue of being too much on the surface applies to a lot of things: How he's always talking about machismo in sport and how his sisters are wonderful and they don't get the recognition: but whenever it comes up he always associates the sisters and we see very little of their relationship and even if it wasn't just for the relationship, there's only one scene where the sister is playing and comes back to the point again.
Some moments were a lot of embarrassment, even, of how he looks at his parents' wealth and complains, saying that he could pay for this and that, as his father is just "white and rich" and doesn't need so much security when he talks all the while how much of a legend his parents are in the sport. Not to mention the fact that he used a scholarship, which would cover the entire university for a student in need, and I didn't understand why he would do that.

I loved the friendship between Mickey's roommate and the other player, it was my favorite thing about the book.

I think it's important how  brought the message that depression happens to anyone, regardless of trauma.
Pressure of choices about the future in adolescents. I just think it was poorly executed because it tried to lighten up with "too much" going on.

And then instead of doing something slow and well executed, it accumulated towards the end and all the problems were closed in a cliché way and not solving in a good way the very problems that were brought.

Icebreaker is a book about hockey rivals who end up on the same college team. Mickey James III is a third generation hockey player from a family of athletes. We see him through his freshman year of college, making connections with his teammates, figuring out what he wants to do in the future, dealing with his mental health, and developing feelings for his rival.

I really loved this book! I listened to the audiobook and finished it within one day because I wanted to find out what happened. I thought the characters were really well rounded and I felt like I had an idea of their personalities by the end of the book. I loved seeing the character growth over the course of the novel and the team dynamic. Somehow I think this is the fourth book that I have read about hockey and I still know almost nothing about it, but that didn't impact me getting into the novel at all. The romance and friendships were amazing and gave me all of the warm and fuzzy feelings by the end.

I thought that this book did a good job with representation. Issues like sexuality, race, gender, and socioeconomic status were explored within the context of college and professional sports. This isn't really an area that I have encountered and I loved getting to see it. Mickey recognizes that his sisters are better athletes and deserve more recognition as him. Mickey is called out for not needing a scholarship for going to college and taking up space on a team that could be used by someone who needs it. Jason talks about being a Black athlete in a sport where being Black is uncommon. Mickey and his teammate deal with shame for having depression and struggling in college. These themes are extremely important and felt very natural within the context of the story.

I listened to the audiobook for this book and it was lovely! Tom Picasso did a great job and brought the characters to life. Definitely recommend listening to it!

While I really appreciate the mental health representation in this book, it is mentioned several times that depression is only determined by genetics and brain chemistry. This is not accurate as depression is only around 50% attributed to genes. I think that understanding it that way can discount the ways that we can treat depression by working on redirecting maladaptive cognitions and behaviors. I liked the way that Mickey moved forward with getting help for his depression including getting therapy and going on medication, but as a significant part of the book is the characters dealing with accepting the disorder, I would have liked to see a broader depiction of the nature of depression outside of genetics.

Icebreaker does not fall in to a lot of the genre tropes of queer YA books, but that made it a little confusing to me as I was waiting for large events to happen that definitely did not happen. When I realized that I had 40 minutes left of the recording I was like, "wait what?? How is this going to tie up?" I liked that this was unexpected and managed to avoid a lot of the nonsense that comes with such tropes, but it also made me feel like the resolution was a little rushed and I wanted more. This might just be a me problem, though!

Overall, I loved Icebreaker and recommend it to anyone who likes a good love story, sports story, or just wants to read a book about hockey. 4.55 stars rounded up to 5. Thank you to RB Media and NetGalley for the electronic advanced reader's copy of this audiobook!

I love coming of age stories and YA fiction. I was also intrigued by the diversity, mental illness and queer representation promised in the synopsis.

Icebreaker delivers a truly delightful enemies to lovers romance about two hockey players who are fighting for the #1 draft spot in the NHL. I feel this story was original in the various representations that don’t conform to societal norms. Mickey and Jay have a lovely story that is developed through quick and witty banter. The trope pace was well done and the friendships and siblings play in well to the story line.

I feel the mental illness story line is valid, but also feel that it was superficial in the grand scheme of the story. Mickey mentions it often and you see a glimpse of adults (parents and teachers) attempt to address it with him. He does get help once he discusses it with his mom, but how/when/where is missing. I would have liked to see more of that story line.

I was lucky enough to also get the audio version to go back and forth between mediums. I enjoyed the narration by Tom Picasso!

4 Stars

Thank you to @netgalley and @macmillanusa and RB Media for a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

‘Icebreaker’ has taken me by surprise. Even before I started I knew some of the basic details about this story, but somehow, I wasn’t expecting it to find a way into my heart so easily.

Mickey, Jaysen, and the rest of the characters make a solid cast for this story about hockey, mental health, the burden a legacy can be, and one of the best enemies to lovers that I've read lately (the banter is simply amazing).

I feel like A.L. Graziadei did a good job tackling themes like depression and anxiety. These things are complicated, messy and can affect your life in many different ways. Maybe Mickey's journey is not close to mine, but I feel like some of the conversations included in this book will stay with me forever.

All these points come to life in the possible way thanks to Tom Picasso's narration. His voice captures perfectly every emotion described on the pages of this book. Through his narration, Mickey's voice feel real and tangible, and that makes the book even better.

Overall, this is a story that I will totally recommend , and I can't wait to revisit it many times in the future.

In a Nutshell: This could have been excellent, but it didn’t click with me. Mine is an outlier opinion. Do check out other positive reviews to see if the book would work better for you.

Story:
Mickey James III comes from a long line of sporty achievers. His dad expects him to continue in the tradition and be drafted into the top NHL league. The only person who stands in between Mickey’s journey to the spot is his teammate and rival, Jaysen Caulfield. What irks Mickey even more is that he finds himself strongly attracted to Jaysen. He needs to decide his priorities in life, and take a call on whether he really wishes a career in hockey or is that just to satisfy his father. Adding further issues to the story is the fact that Mickey is a bisexual who is struggling to come out with his sexual identity.
The story comes to us from the first person perspective of Mickey.

Where the book worked for me:
😍 Considering that the author belongs to the LGBTQIA+ community, the representation in this book is excellent. They have clearly used their personal experience to show the insecurities and the social judgement faced by this community, regardless of whether they are famous or unknown.

😍 The author is also a sports fan as per their Goodreads bio, and this too shows well in the book. Their writing of the ice hockey games and the team rapport is pretty good. As I am not a sports fan--(and coming from a tropical country, ice hockey is just something I’ve watched in movies)--it is tough for me to enjoy sport-centred books unless they are handled well. This book passes that test.

😍 My favourite part of the book was how it showed that women’s sports doesn’t get the same level of media coverage nor do women players get the same level of praise/acceptance as their male counterparts.

😍 I snooped through some other 2 and 3 star reviews to see if their feelings echoed with mine. The biggest reason for their low rating was the ending which is kind of incomplete. Surprisingly, I loved the ending. It establishes that the competition that lasts throughout the book isn’t the main issue at all. The outcome was immaterial and it was all about self-acceptance. I loved the author’s choice of ending it this way.

😍 I adore the cover! It gives such striking vibes! If I were in a bookshop, this cover would definitely call out to me.

Where the book could have worked better for me:
😕 My biggest grouse: This book isn’t YA in any way except for the age of the protagonists!!! It is almost NA – New Adult – in its writing style. This is a genre I consciously avoid because I hate superfluous sex scenes in books. And this book has quite a few. I wish it had been tagged appropriately. It feels like it's written for hormonal teenagers, which might be partly valid, but it is not suitable for the younger members of the YA reader segment.

😕 Related to the above, which was a complaint about the incorrect genre, this is an issue about the steaminess, again my personal preference. There is only SO much of “cheeks flaming” and “heart thudding” and “lip licking” I can tolerate in books. Nothing against those who enjoy such content, but it’s not for me. All the more when I am hearing the audiobook and I don’t even have the option of flipping through those paragraphs!

😕 Considering that Mickey was the protagonist and narrates the story in first person, I should have liked him (or them?) to like the book. But he was too whiny and self-obsessed for me to feel any kind of connection with him. He is white, rich, and privileged in almost every way but his “depression” is used as an explanation for his grouchiness in almost every scene except the ones where he is feeling lustful for his teammate Jaysen. He made for a very weak mc. Jaysen would have been a much better protagonist as being a Black homosexual player with no family connections and still reaching the top of the sport would have been a far tougher journey to make.

😕 The book refers to Mickey’s depression but he didn’t act “depressed” in any way except when it came to bonding with his team. I don’t think the book represented Mickey’s mental health issues well. The story should have been much darker with a protagonist battling such issues.

😕 As is typical in a sports story, the characters are referred to by first names, last names and nicknames depending on who is calling them. This might work well in the book but in the audiobook, it becomes very confusing and took me ages to figure out who was who. (The problem isn’t made easy by the fact that there are so many characters with first/last/nick names beginning with C or J.) I gave up on my attempt to understand the identities of the characters and just went with the flow after the 20% mark.

😕 I was expecting a combination of “Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe” and “Beartown”, but this book turned out to be flat. The characters are quite unidimensional with hardly any complexity despite so much potential in the plot to introduce layers to their nature. Even within the uncommon representation lay a lot of clichéd thoughts. There’s no emotional intensity in the content despite the nature of the content.

The audiobook experience:
The audiobook clocks at 8.5 hours and narrated by the “chocolatey” Tom Picasso. (Chocolate-y not because of his accent or race but because of his voice that kept reminding me of chocolate – smooth, polished and rich. Yummmm!) I completed the audiobook only because of him. I loved his performance and he does his best to make whiny Mickey sound like a human.


Overall, strong mixed feelings about this one. I really wanted and tried to like it, more so because it is a debut novel, and it is an #OwnVoices story. But I expected a lot more maturity in the writing, which may come with more writing experience. Essentially, it was a typical enemy-to-lovers romance trope with the only difference being in the queer identities of the characters. I might also be the wrong audience for this because as I said, I hate the NA genre and would never have requested this had I known about how many physical-lust references there were in the content. (Something I would expect in romance books but definitely not in YA fiction.) Give me Aristotle and Dante any day!

My thanks to RB Media, Recorded Books, and NetGalley for the ALC of “Icebreaker”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the audiobook.

This book has a very familiar set up and dynamic between the main characters that I've seen may times in the sports genre, like Haikyuu!! or Fence, for example. While this story does pay some more attention to the home life and personal struggles with depression of the protagonist, Mickey, ultimately it doesn't bring anything new to the table. This isn't a bad thing, however it leaves me feeling wanting more. I enjoyed it but can't see myself rating it higher than 3 stars because I feel like there was a lot of untaped potential here to go beyond what's expected of this genre. For the fact the main romance could have been more fleshed out and nuanced. This is a romance-to-lovers, but I feel as though the lines that define the start of their relationship and the end are blurred. It is missing that big catalyst, that centerpiece moment where Mickey and Jayson realize their attraction to one another and start to love.
I am also surprised with how abruptly the ending and epilogue came to be. There is a lot left to be explored, unless the author is planning for a sequel? Then it is less of a gripe. But it makes it clear to me I was not the biggest fan of the pacing. This will not be anywhere close to my favorite read this year, but one that was enjoyable nonetheless.

Rep: bi/pan MC with depression, Black gay LI, lesbian SCs, poly SCs (FMM), bisexual SCs, Asian & Latino SCs, anxiety, depression, trichotillomania.

Mickey comes from a family of famous hockey players and has a lot of pressure to follow in their footsteps. Freshman year of college, he’s trying to prove himself to the NHL and hopefully be picked as the first draft by the end of the year. The only problem is that his biggest competition is on his team.

This is a slow burn enemies to lovers book. My favorite things were the mental health rep, the friendships and the queer rep.

I really loved the mental health. Mickey deals with depression throughout the book, as does one of his teammates. Although Mickey is very privileged as a successful, rich, white, cis man, he acknowledges his privilege. In some aspects maybe a bit too much, because he thinks that since he was so fortunate in life and didn’t struggle a lot, that he can’t possibly be depressed and denies it for a long time. It’s so important to see that anyone can deal with depression and anxiety, even if you’re very privileged and have a good support system. Depression is so stigmatized, and I think maybe even more in men. So seeing a male hockey player dealing with it was really important.

The friendships were another great part of the story. Mickey starts off being pretty closed off from his teammates. But slowly and surely they wiggle their way into befriending him and showing how much they care and support him. Him and his sisters also have a good friendship and are all supportive.

Mickey has dealt with a lot of pressure growing up to be the best of the best and follow in the footsteps of his dad and grandfather. He feels the pressure from his family, the media and fans, his teammates, as well as himself. Even though one of his sisters is doing very well in her league, the media never focuses on her, only on him.

The author did a great job of showing how problematic the NHL and the fans can be (racist, sexist and homophobic/queerphobia). He also did a great job with all the queer characters. The audiobook narrator did a good job as well.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an audio ARC of this book.

thank you to Netgalley and RB Media for a copy of the audiobook in exchange for review!

TW: depression/anxiety, alcohol use (including underage drinking), mentions of sexism, homophobia, and racism (in sports)

i think this one is a solid 4 star review for me!

i would say that this book isn't really a romance so much as (somewhat) of a coming-of-age for the MC, Mickey. the relationship between him and Jason was important, but it wasn't the only focus of the book. i really liked seeing him grow and change in his first semester as a college student.

i really enjoyed the different side characters in the book. even though Mickey is the main character, some of the side characters are really fleshed out, which i appreciated. i loved all of Mickey's sisters, and would totally read a sequel book about Delilah, 100%.

i think my main issue with the book was the ending. not including the epilogue, i feel like there were a lot of issues in Mickey's life that weren't addressed. i honestly would want to read a sequel set in the period between January-June, because it felt like so much happened in that timeline but we didn't get to see it. Mickey also exhibited some pretty bad alcohol reliance, and i personally wished that was addressed more outside of it being a reaction to his anti-depressants

(also, as someone who lives in Buffalo, i loved the small references in the book but i do wish there were more, especially since that's the town he grew up in. the fact that mickey doesn't once mention the Bills is a travesty. plus, it was really weird seeing a timeline where the Sabres were actually good? but i don't usually read books that have anything to do with Buffalo so it was very much appreciated).

the ending also made me kinda mad, since the number one rank was this THING that was the main conflict between the two characters, and then we never get to know how it ends. i kind of expected it though, so i'm not too mad about it.

anyways, enjoy! - lindsey

This was a decent ya romance but sadly I didn't find it all that memorable. This idea has been done over and over again and sadly Graziadei didn't ads anything to this genre. This felt just like every other sports romance I've ever read. If you are into this genre then you will probably really enjoy this book. It definitely hits every stereotype in the genre and the characters are good and very fun to read about. I actually found the side characters to be more memorable but otherwise this was a decent book and definitely one I would recommend to people who are into this sort of book.

*thank you netgalley for providing me with an audio book arc of this book*

well, I don’t know how I feel about this.

The audiobook was okay, the voice was maybe a little too.. I don’t know, without emotion for me? I had to speed it up to actually stay interested but overal it was good enough to keep listening to it, so I’d say that at least quite okay..

warning! there might be slight spoilers from now.

Now, there are three things I absolutely adored in this book. The relationships between Mickey and his sisters + the friendships / closeness of the hockey team.

but also the mental health representation; mainly Mickey his depression. It felt so honestly raw and relatable that it became one of the biggest reasons I kept reading.


Now one that may shock some people who did read the book, I have no idea how I feel about Jaysen and Mickey their relationship.

Don’t be fooled, even though they’re rivals, the two absolutely despise each-other at the start of the book, making this more ‘enemies to lovers’

I agree, they’re cute. Especially the last few chapters of the book where I feel like their relationship was the most healthy. BUT I have no idea at what point the two stopped hating each-other. Maybe I missed it, but for me the relationship felt extremely undeveloped (mainly the enemies -> friends part. The two basically start being attracted to each-other completely on the others looks. There was no prior friendship before the start of the attraction and sometimes they go from ‘he’s attractive’ to ‘I hate him’ in one chapter). Maybe it is because I have a small dislike for enemies to lovers, that I’m biased. But as cute as the relationship was, in the end, I missed something in their relationship.

Another thing was a very specific scene, the scene of their first kiss. And then I don’t mean the time they *almost* kissed, I mean their actual first kiss you will come across if you read the book. Something about the way it surfaced didn’t sit right with me, maybe some people find it attractive, the way it happend, but the only thing it did to me was make me uncomfortable.

There’s one other thing, the ending. I was genuinely caught off guard by that the Epilogue was already happening? I felt like we had only surfaced a slight part of Mickeys unresolved business, I wish it would’ve been either with more chapters, or more detailed.

Overal this book wasn’t the worst, there were certain points where I loved listening to it, but every time I enjoyed it, there was something that brought it down /for me/

I think it really depends on the person who’s reading this book if they’ll like it or not, but I just didn’t enjoy it enough to actively recommend it.

I want to preface this review by saying two things: I do not know anything about hockey and I do not usually care for romance or realistic fiction. With that out of the way, this was an absolutely wonderful novel.

I was a little worried this would be glorified fanfiction, but I think the author did an incredible job not centering on the romance itself and focusing on their character development. On the surface, this is a gay romance that centers on the enemies to lovers trope and hockey. Through Mickey's eyes, we enter into discussion on mental health -- ESPECIALLY mental health in professional sports -- and depression. Jaysen talking about how Black men interested in sports get nudged towards football or basketball was so relevant, and both boys struggling with being LGBTQ+ in men's professional sports was a huge part of this story.

Was this incredibly cheesy? Absolutely. Did I cringe a couple of times? Admittedly. But overall, I am so glad this book is about to exist in the world. It comes out tomorrow, and I am so excited to tell my school librarian friend about it so we can get it into student hands ASAP.

cw: underage drinking, alcohol abuse, depictions of depression and dissociation, trichotillomania

I've had Icebreaker on my tbr for a little while, so when the opportunity to listen to an audiobook ARC arose I couldn't miss it! Gay sports romance? Enemies-to-lovers? Slow-burn? All For The Game comparisons? I had to read it!

I'm usually quick to dislike the privileged, white, cis, athletically successful, rich mc. But Mickey, our mc, shows full awareness of his privilege and shows evidence of dismissing his depression because he has "nothing to be sad about". And this immediately cut deep.

I wasn't expecting the realism of depression to be where Icebreaker proves itself. The way Graziadei writes about dissociation, depression and anxiety is so genuine and almost uncomfortably graphic.
But they also write the importance of a good support system perfectly.

It's definitely a slow-burn and the balance between romance and sport is pretty on point and good for someone (me) who knows absolutely nothing about sport and is just here for the queer teen angst, but the author made sure to use research or knowledge to make the characters lives and careers realistic.

If you're in search of a character driven YA nearing on NA book filled with sports gays, angst and realistic mental illness rep that isn’t fixed by love? This is it and it's out tomorrow!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the audiobook ARC.

Icebreaker is a well written slow burn romance that deals with issues of hereditary depression. The story is told from one viewpoint but the characters are all distinct and interesting. The hockey aspects are informative but not overwhelming and provide nice world building for the romance. This is not a humorous book nor light and quirky but neither is it oppressive or difficult to to read. I listened to the audio version and the narrator was excellent and did the book justice.

Story: Mickey James is hockey royalty - a third generation hockey pro with a father and grandfather who were top draft picks. That he will secure the top pro pick in the upcoming draft is nearly guaranteed. teammate Jaysen Caulfield is his greatest rival - and also gunning for the top spot. Mickey knows Jaysen despises him for all the advantages and opportunities Mickey takes for granted; for Jaysen, without connections and being African American, it has always been an uphill battle to get where he is. But Jaysen does not know that Mickey has had a lifelong battle with depression and dealing with people. That Mickey is also dealing with abandonment issues from a family that pretty much put him in hockey boarding schools since his early teens. As the two battle it out over the ice for the top spot, fate will cause them to realize they have both underestimated and misunderstood each other - but how can reconciliation be possible when the top draft spot hangs in the balance?

The book takes place over a brief period leading up to the top draft pick. Jaysen starts out antagonistic and resentful of the 'your highness James III' and Mickey himself is unable and unwilling to make friends with a team he knows he will soon be leaving anyway (as he has had to do with all the people he met in the past as he moved from new team to new team). Mickey isn't sure any more what he wants in life (even hockey) and Jaysen picks up on that and resents him more for it.

As the book progresses, we learn more about why Mickey is so withdrawn and apathetic. The two boys (and teammates) get to know Mickey better as he eventually opens up, often with the help of his horde of older sisters. While there are no melodrama scenes that make your eyes roll, there are many scenes of pathos, nicely written. Although I would never believe either character was real, the author does manage to stay nicely grounded throughout the story. The hockey aspects are well written and add so much depth and context to the story.

The audio version of this book is very well done. The narrator did a great job of giving emotional resonance to many scenes that really required deft acting or they'd fall flat. He had a good voice and did a great job of making all the characters sound unique and distinct without needing to do crazy accents. I highly recommend the audio version for this reason.

In all, I enjoyed Icebreaker. I was worried that the depression aspect would be overplayed but the author did a good job of exploring the condition as well as the main character's response to it. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

It's so nice to find a new favourite book this early in the year.
If you know me, you probably also know that I love me some great audiobooks or audiodramas. There's nothing better to keep you company while cooking, cleaning, or running errands. And I absolutely ADORED this one.
I loved the narration, we could feel all the different emotions of the characters and the narrator tried and most often succeeded giving the characters their own voice. It definitely wasn't plain or dull, which was awesome because the narrator can definitely make or break even a great book.

And this book was awesome. We have Mickey James III and Jayson Caulfield projected to be the top two picks in the upcoming NHL draft. Mickey was bred for hockey success while Jayson stumbled upon the sport when he was nine and gave everything to be where he is now. They're the biggest rivals, on the same NCAA team. On the same damn line. That rivalry slowly gives way to reluctant friendship and then romance.

I myself am a hockey fan by proxy. I know a lot of things about the NHL, about the teams, about the sport itself but that's only due to my roommate and best friend. It's hard living with a Leafs fan. All that heartbreak. He's also the one who introduced me to hockey fiction and consequently made me fall in love with it.

I think it is safe to say that <i>Icebreaker</i> is the perfect mix of <i>Check, Please!</i> and the works of Taylor Fitzpatrick.
We have collegiate hockey, a hockey prodigy destined for success but who's struggling with depression and anxiety. Initial disagreement and animosity between the two main characters one of whom is a disaster bisexual - his words. An awesome crowd of supporting characters who sometimes voice the thoughts of the readers, sometimes offer comic relief, all the while being their own person, with their own problems and their own life.

I also heard people comparing this book to the <i>All For the Game</i> series and while I can see the resemblance, I think that's a bit of a stretch.

It was fun and entertaining, heart-warming but also heart-rending. I wanted nothing more than wrap these boys up in a fluffy blanket and give them some hot cocoa.

And I'm sorry, but can we please talk about THAT ENDING? ARGH. I completely understand why it had to end the way it did, there was literally no other option, but that doesn't mean I didn't mutter a "You little shit." when it ended.

Also, there was a prefect opportunity to use Gretzky's "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take." which would've been a nice little wink for those familiar with the hockey world and I was disappointed when it didn't come.

I am so immensely grateful for NetGalley and RB Media for the ARC - or I guess the ALC in this case, but that doesn't mean 'face' in Hungarian, so it's not that fun - and for giving me the chance to get to know Mickey and Jayson.

this reads like fanfiction, which would be okay if it was indeed fanfiction. i found the author's prose juvenile, the characters somewhat one-dimensional, and the ending abrupt.