This book had no right making me care about the characters so fast that I was already crying by 10%!!! and honestly that’s huge praise. The way this was written and the way the characters touched me really made me care for them and the story, and I adored it.
The way grief and childhood trauma was addressed was very well done (in an unprofessional opinion), the spice was mild but fun, and the story was fast paced! I cannot wait to read more books in this world, perhaps about two someone’s who popped out at the end!?

A cute spicy romance. Felt like things happened a bit quickly. The third act “breakup” was pretty realistic

Thank you to Dreamscape Media & NetGalley for an ARC of this book, in exchange for my honest opinion.

I was so excited to listen to this Audiobook that was a Sports Romance & RomCom. Sadly it missed the mark for me.

Not much of this book qualified as comedy, and was actually centered around more serious issues (PTSD, homelessness, childhood trauma, survivors guilt) that it felt strange the book was described as a RomCom.

The two main characters had SEVERAL and I mean several miscommunications, that towards the end of the book just had me wanting to give up listening. I can understand a couple times, but their entire “relationship” was a series of miscommunications. Which led to feeling like they did not belong together at all. They had no chemistry whatsoever, and it never felt like a relationship between them. It felt like two strangers interacting every conversation they had. The spicy scenes left me feeling uncomfortable because I felt like there was no build up, or connection between Nick & Alyssa. The ending and epilogue also, felt very rushed and abrupt.

I did enjoy the dual POV, and dual narration, and the supportive friends Nick had around him.

If you’re a fan of Hockey Romance, and you don’t mind the miscommunication trope you could enjoy this book. But it wasn’t for me.

I loved this love story! First things first— I had an audiobook. The narrators were fantastic! Great inflection, great at all speeds (I went from 1x to 3x to test it. I could understand at all speeds!) And they did a great job with the emotion and bringing the characters to life.

Firstly, it’s a heavy one, along the lines of an Abby Jimenez book. Not exactly heavy on the “com” in romcom… a bit of trauma they have to work through… but so enjoyable and definitely worth it to get to the “rom” part.

I LOVED the team, the way they were there to support Nick. They were great friends, and he was so cool— a hockey player/art lover?! Cmon! He couldn’t be more swoony!!

And Alyssa was sweet. I love the museum scenes, where she is following him and noting his likes! Ah! It was such a sweet time. And their undeniable attraction to each other was so satisfying. Not to mention the way he treated her and stood up to her terrible boss. It was so good 🥰

This was an easy 5 stars for me. I finished it in a day, I just love a good “he falls hard” and growth with mutual comfort? It’s just great.

TW/CW: a handful of explicit on page sex scenes; plane crash before book and trauma thereof;

This is my first book by this author. Nick Sorensen is a Hockey player who went through something very traumatic and he is trying his best to navigate a tremendous loss and being the only survivor. Physically Nick is ready to get back on the ice, but mentally he still not In the best place… His apartment is completely empty, apart from a single chair and a mattress on the floor. Alyssa Compton is a talented up-and-coming interior designer, She has a horrible boss and a dream to start her own business one day. Luckily Alyssa isn’t afraid of a challenge! The pair meet unexpectedly and with a push from Nicks coach he hires Alyssa to decorate his apartment. At first things are rocky but as they spend more time together, they start to really get to know each other and help each other heal. I really like how Nick stepped forward to help Alyssa out once he learned of her business she wanted to start. The characters are fun and I like the team work. Thanks to the author, Netgalley and the publisher.

ALL OF THIS WAS FREAKING WONDERFUL. I cried, I laughed, I loved. I wish it went deeper into his PTSD but I’m also kind of glad it didn’t. The journey to healing was just heartwarming, and heart wrenching at the same time. I wish there was more to it though, I would read another book for several about Nick and Alyssa.

The narration was beautifully done and I felt honored to have listened to this. 100/10

Over all I very much enjoyed this story. I thought the characters were well written and enjoyable. I shed a few tears for some of their trauma. I did feel the 3rd act miscommunication dragged on a bit long. Like if either of them was actually mad it would have made sense, there were some real potential hurts there but the other person didn’t even really KNOW about them.

Hearts on Thin Ice was a rollercoaster of emotions.
Being the sole survivor of a plane crash, Nick is dealing with the weight of his guilt while fighting to be back in shape to play this season with a new team. Meanwhile, Alyssa is dealing with her need to be professional and proper at all times as well as a dickhead boss.
When Nick hires Alyssa to design his space, the miscommunications begin and don't seem to end. Ultimately, they help each other through their own issues, even though they speak in art riddles that nobody seems to understands.
I will say, every interaction with Alyssa's boss or mother made me want to punch the book, Katie Kennedy writes awful people quite well!
Thanks for the ARC, NetGalley

I love me a good hockey romance, but this one just did not work for me. I did not feel the chemistry between the characters or felt like they had a real connection which made me disconnect from the story entirely. It also felt a little rush and left little to a meaningful conclusion in the end. It just did not work for me.

A decent rom com with lots of grief. I liked the story but felt like sometimes it got a little crazy. It was slow moving and I never felt hooked. The characters connection was strong and relatable.

I really loved this story and where it was going!

Alyssa is an interior decorator working towards gaining experience before opening her own business. Her passion for turning houses into homes clearly stems from her personal experience of homelessness as a child. She finds herself determined to create a space for a professional hockey player who is struggling to accept any sort of feelings beyond numbness after being the sole survivor of a place crash where all of his closest friends died, while also navigating overcoming his injuries and starting with a new team after being traded.

Nick is struggling with survivors guilt and likely some PTSD. But when Alyssa brings the hockey player/artist to the art museum to find his inspiration and joy again, he finds that he's learning to move forward whether he wants to or not.

We find both Nick and Alyssa trying to push one another until they both seemingly push too far. There is some true miscommunication - which I know many people don't love, but in this it works (at least for me). Once they sort out the communication blunder, they're such a great couple.

Sometimes when the end result of a book is the characters finally getting together officially, it feels like the book is unfinished to me. That was the case with Hearts on Thin Ice. These characters were loveable and I felt deeply impacted by each of their traumas, but it felt like their love story was only getting started and it left me wanting more. I also think their chemistry could be built on. It was there, but it felt like it was still developing and could have used more.

The narration by Scarlett Everdeen and Nick Mondelli was seamless. They both did a wonderful job embodying the characters and portraying even their deeper and more difficult emotions in a believable way.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the ALC.

2.5 Stars I love hockey romances and was excited to read this one, but sadly, it wasn't what I thought it would be. Based on the backgrounds of both the MCs, I expected more depth of emotion and more angst, and while it was sad at times as the MMC worked through grief, it wasn't pulling at my heartstrings. I also didn't understand the attraction between the MCs, Nick and Alyssa. It seemed like they had nothing in common, but then they found one thing in common and were suddenly in bed together. The thing that really made this a low rating was the miscommunication between the MCs. I don't get why they couldn't just talk about how they were feeling or ask the other instead of assuming. Alyssa especially was terrible as assuming that Nick was mad at her and declining him asking her out without giving an explanation.

I listened to the ALC while following along with the ARC. The stars are for the narrators, who did a great job with the dual POV narration.

This is a rough review for me to write. There were many parts that I liked, but I did feel like it was a bit too long. It also irks me that these two couldn't communicate with each other.

I like that this one had multiple layers of working through trauma. It was nice seeing Nick open up with the assistance of Alyssa and her design services.
I always enjoy the found family component of the hockey team.

The narration was adequate - nothing that really jumped out at me.

Nick, a hockey player, was in a plane crash that killed some of his teammates. Alyssa, an interior designer, can't seem to let her past go. Can Alyssa help Nick deal with his survivor's guilt by helping make his apartment more homely? Can Nick help Alyssa see that she can stop thinking about living in her car when she was younger?

I liked Nick. He was the typically hockey player in my mind. He is relatable. I can see where he would feel these emotions and why he would not want to move on. Alyssa on the other hand was kind of bothersome. I know she has a fear about being homeless again. But I think that it was taken a little too far. I feel like it was exaggerated a lot. It just made her unlikeable. She needed therapy, I think. I don't know that they totally work together. I mean opposites do attract. I think that Nick and Alyssa helped each other see that healing from their trauma wasn't so bad,
All around it was a fun, easy listen for me. I laughed and felt sad at times. But I liked it.

Hearts on Thin Ice
by Katie Kennedy
Narrated by Scarlett Everdeen; Nick Mondelli

I received an ARC of this audiobook from Netgalley.

He’s an NHL hockey player who survived a plane crash that killed 5 of his best friends that were also teammates. He has survivor’s guilt. He had surgery, rehab, a lot of PT, and he’s now on a different NHL team (because his team dropped him after his injury). The new team captain told him that he either needs to decorate his apartment or go to counseling.

She’s an interior decorator with a severe case of snobbery. She’s not a hoighty toighty snob that looks down on others for not wearing the season’s latest fashions. She’s a woman who spent a few years living out of a car. She’s been poor and malnourished. And, when she meets our emotionally broken hockey player she just goes right ahead and points her nose in the air and assumes his minimalist lifestyle includes ridiculously expensive furniture. She’s wrong about the furniture and she’s wrong about him.

This book is your typical romantic comedy with a dual point of view. The character development is phenomenal. There’s the typical mix-up or misunderstanding and the typical happily-ever-after ending.

For some people that makes for a boring book. For me, that makes this book the perfect one to sink my teeth into. I love knowing that no matter what hell our main characters get dragged through - they WILL have romance and that it will last. What could be better than a guaranteed good outcome?

The narration is superb!

I definitely recommend this book! I give it a solid 5 stars!

Thank you Dreamscape media and Katie Kennedy for this advanced copy of Hearts on Thin Ice’s audiobook.

This was a sweet/sad rom-com about a hockey player and an interior designer who cross paths after his teammate forces him to redo his place. He’s the lone survivor of a plane crash that killed his group of friends, and is dealing with severe survivors guilt. She’s an interior designer who is afraid to branch out after a rough childhood. Together they work to explore grief and childhood trauma, while falling in love.

I loved the narrators and most of the book. My main critique is I didn’t feel like the characters had truly finished dealing with their own personal issues by the end of the book. They also were not communicating well by the end. It has a lot of good parts, but the ending feels unsatisfying.

Overall: 3.5 Stars out 5

Workplace Romance, along with MMC from sports and the importance of good mental health, well this was enough to convince me pick up this book and k am glad that I did.
It was a well paced romance book with well penned down characters. The characters were amazing and each was given sufficient scope to contribute to the book that really made my reading experience more wonderful.

Very cute story. Some parts became redundant, like the miscommunications. But I honestly don’t understand everyone’s beef with this book. I thought it was a super cute story and the characters had interesting arcs. I think the character development could have been better, and instead of several miscommunications, maybe elaborated the story around one or two of those plot devices. I think what other readers is the back and forth emotions between the characters felt underdeveloped. But otherwise, I like it! And I thought the story was unique! I’d give it a super solid 3.4, rounded up because I love hockey and open door steam, which was well written.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the arc! 💌

This was good in theory but left so many loose ends unresolved in my opinion. There wasn't enough character growth for their conflicts to be believable or something I felt invested in. Even though the subject of grief was palpable and believable at times, I wasn't really feeling anything for either character. I did enjoy the FMC's personal issues and felt like that was the more developed and interesting part of the story. It felt real and complete in comparison to the plane crash survival which makes sense... we all have a bit more knowledge of poverty than airplane crashes typically. I also found the banter to be a little cringey and immature at times which usually turns me off from a book. All in all, it seemed a bit underdeveloped but I do think that this author has potential in novels to come!

I can appreciate what this author was trying to do here, entwining romance with multiple levels of grief & hardship, but overall the execution fell pretty flat for me. The writing style will definitely be appealing to some but for me, it was a bit clunky and took me out of the audio at times. I did enjoy having two narrators for the third-person POV book and thought the narration was really well done!

Overall, I wish this story was a bit more fleshed out and the characters were a bit more developed.