A charming story where a tragic event connects Nick and Sam. It’s a sweet slow-burn romance about a lack of confidence, a transformed self-image, and the person who helps you blossom in the right light.
I volunteered to review an ARC of this book for NetGalley.

While I loved the premise, the bookshop, the very appealing hockey player, and the overall theme of discovering what you want, the "cheeping eggs" threw me off slightly.

I'm the same age as the heroine of this book, and that had a negative impact on my overall enjoyment.

However, I adored the will-they-won't-they, slow-burn storyline and that Sam always stood her ground with Nick and was her unique and oddly endearing self.

Star Rating: 4/5
Spicy Level: 3.5/5

Breaking the Ice is my first read by Amy Andrews and I found it to be so delightful. Nick Hawke and Samantha Evans seem to have known each other forever, in passing. Nick is the grandson of the owner of Sam's favorite bookstore, a small local store focused primarily on romance novels. Sam has a stressful, high stakes job which takes up most of her time and only after seeing an ex-boyfriend engaged and with a baby on the way does Sam start to question her decision not to have children.

I have to admit, the constant references to her "eggs" does get a bit annoying. We get it, you want kids. But I love the chemistry between Nick and Sam. I love how Nick reaffirms that she is beautiful and his interest never wavers. Despite that their own personal goals ultimately don't align with each other, they are always supportive of each other's journey to acquire what they are reaching for. I really started to root for them as individuals and as a couple. I will definitely be reading more books by Andrews.

I knew I would like this book when I read the note to readers at the beginning: Amy Andrews told all the curvy queens "I see you, I get you, I love you." She puts "fat shamers" and "body shamers" to shame in this book!

Successful, career-driven Samantha quits her dream job, realizes she has lousy taste in men and yet her eggs are calling her. How can she start a family if she can't even keep a guy? Let alone find a great guy? Big sister, Bec, is full of wisdom, tips, and tricks and isn't ashamed to pull out all the stops with her baby sister.

Nick's grandmother Bertie passed away and the family decided he would be the one to keep her second hand romance bookstore open until they decided its future. Since Nick is recovering from surgery on his ACL (and sidelined from NHL for a few months) he takes on the task eagerly, much to Samantha's chagrin.

Breaking the Ice is the story of Samantha and Nick as they navigate their career twists and their growing attraction for each other. This is an easy, fun read with a few little twists and a lot of spice! BTW, Nick loves Samantha's curviness!

Breaking the ice was an interesting book to say the least. While I enjoyed the banter between the MCs, that was about the only thing I enjoyed. I had some major problems with the continued focus on Sam's age and ability to have children. It started to feel a little unnecessary and ridiculous to constantly hear about "cheeping eggs." I also understood her body issues and loved that Nick kept trying to reassure her that he found her beautiful, but this seemed negated everytime he mentioned he was on some type of date and the date was nothing like Sam. I think this book had a lot of potential especially with the setting but some of the plot points made it fizzle.

This is an entertaining, fun read. Nick and Sam are interesting, complex, intriguing, relatable, complicated, strong, entertaining characters. I enjoyed their romance and the path it took to get to their HEA. These two are fun to spend time with. The secondary characters added to the fabric of the story and my enjoyment. The story is easy to read and get into.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Hmmmmm. Gosh. I don’t know. I have to be 100% honest though. I wasn’t a fan. Let’s talk about it.

Let’s talk about what I enjoyed.

The bookshop setting. Of course I did. I loved how Nick and Sam got to work together in his late grandmothers bookshop.

The plus size representation. I felt like it was well done. It’s a fine line for me and I think Amy Andrews did it justice.

Now for the flaws (in my opinion)

The pacing was one. It felt very disjointed. It was a real start and go in a I’m learning to drive a stick kind of way.

The fact that he was a hockey player was unbelievable. I think she just kinda said. Okay sports romance, I pick hockey.

I didn’t feel the chemistry. It’s just wasn’t there for me.

At the end of the day, I finished it. The book itself was quick enough. I’m going to stick with 2 stars. I needed to feel them in love to ignore the rest!

This story centers on Nick, an NHL player nearing retirement, and Samantha (Sam), a career-driven woman with a history of unsuccessful relationships. They reconnect at Nick’s grandmother’s funeral, sparking old feelings Sam has kept hidden due to Nick’s fame and romantic past. Now, after turning 30 and contemplating her future, Sam finds herself open to love in ways she hadn’t expected.

As Nick recovers from an injury and inherits his grandmother’s bookstore, he’s forced to re-evaluate his path. When Sam steps in to help with the shop, their friendship grows, evolving naturally into something deeper. Both characters are relatable and layered, with strengths and flaws that make their journey engaging.

An underlying message resonates throughout: success and wealth don’t guarantee happiness, and life’s unexpected twists can lead to surprising joys if you’re open to them.

I'm not really a fan of the "career woman suddenly wanting babies" plot but I thought I would give this a shot since it's a sports romance. But then it wasn't really a sports romance. Yes, the MMC is recovering from a hockey injury, but that's the only way that the sport even comes into this. If neither of these things bother you, and you're just wanting something quick and mindless, I guess you could enjoy this.

A funny, cute and great quick read romance!

Sam is a hardworking, career focused modern woman (we love to see it) and has a string of bad relationships behind her. Things that she felt were not a goal of hers to have, are now unwillingly becoming things she may be interested in after all. Nick is an injured NHL star having some recovery time, with his retirement being imminent, and his Nan passing away leaving him a book shop, his life has taken a turn to say the least. When his acquaintance Sam agrees to work in the bookshop, a friendship blossoms, and its grows into something neither of them saw coming.

This book was so easy to follow, both main characters were likeable, each had such beautiful aspects to their personality, as well as some realistic faults.

I felt an underlying message that showed no matter how successful you are, no matter how much money you have, this doesn’t guarantee happiness. Life has a funny way of mixing things up and taking you by surprise, sometimes it’s good to go with the flow.

I read this book in just over 3 hours! It was moreish, sweet and a brilliant pallette cleanser romance!

Thank you to the author and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC to review!

A fun take on the popular "hockey romance" trend that is going around. I loved that the female lead was a very driven and successful woman in her own right. I wanted to shake her and tell her to have more confidence! But I appreciated her insecurities.

The banter was cute. I loved the meddling sister (def can't relate to that LOL). I appreciated that they came together in a way that didn't seem forced.. and there was the right amount of steam (for me) in this book.

Thank you to NetGalley, Boldwood Books, and Amy Andrews for the ARC of Breaking the Ice. I genuinely enjoyed reading this light, simple romance novel. It was an easy read and felt quite short.

The story follows Nick, an NHL hockey player, and Samantha (Sam), who works in the corporate world. They reconnect at the funeral of Nick’s grandmother, where Sam has always had a bit of a crush on him. However, given his popularity and his history with women, she has always felt insecure about revealing her feelings. Now, after her 30th birthday, Sam is thinking about finding a partner for family reasons—her "eggs" are on her mind, so to speak.

Overall, this was a one-time-read kind of novel. The repeated use of the term "eggs" to express Sam’s desire for motherhood was a bit overdone and, at times, frustrating. The characters and storyline were just okay—not particularly deep but enjoyable enough. This is a straightforward, uncomplicated novel for romance fans looking for a quick read.

This was a fun romance novel! I really enjoyed the setting; as a reader, I always love bookshop books, and I found the characters compelling and endearing. They have excellent chemistry, and I liked how Andrews set them up in an impossible situation rather than having them break up due to miscommunication (although, as almost always, lack of communication is an issue). I found the dialogue engaging and quick, and the action moved along well. The calls home to her sister were a little oddly-formatted, but it did not distract from the book, and overall, I enjoyed reading this!

Not as spicy as I expected but a great book non the less. Really solid sports romance that would make me look into more books from this author. reasons for 4 stars rather than 5 was the I found the ending slightly rush and the epilogue didn't really add to to much value, but other than that a really good book.
Lovely chemistry between the main characters and they really worked well togethers.

I didn’t hate this story, but I also didn’t love it. It felt a bit forced and like the author was trying to force trending/popular tropes and it just didn’t quite land. I found the characters a little unbelievable and hard to warm to, and despite it being marketed as a spicy book I found it really wasn’t very spicy at all!

I’d like to thank NetGalley and Amy Andrews for providing me with an ARC in returns for an honest review🫶

I have never read a book by Amy Andrews before so I didn’t know what to expect when I first started reading it, however, I am a sucker for hockey romances so I had a feeling I’d enjoy it! 🏒

This is a book you can devour in one sitting! Perfect for when you’re unwinding and getting cozy for the night! It’s funny, has the drama and has amazing romance with the sweetest MMC!

The only thing I would say is that the mention of the eggs got a little bit tiring with it being mention so often, however at times, it did provide lots of humour!

Overall, I would recommend this book to hockey romance lovers or just general romance lovers, especially if you’re looking for a nice, quick, easy read!!!💚⛸️

I hate to be that person, but Breaking the Ice is not worth your time.

The author took an old book from her backlist and reworked it to be a hockey romance. However, it's obvious that all she did was switch out the locations (AUS for USA) and sport (extreme sports for hockey) without taking the time, effort, and care to make any updates. The book is set in the US, yet there is so many phrases that are used in Australia. I wish she had taken more time to really update this rather than shoehorning hockey into the old book.

Additionally, it read like a collection of rom-com moments (albeit an awkward collection) rather than a cohesive story. And the repeated discussion of her eggs to the point that they practically rose to the level of characters was just off putting.

So…This is the story of Samantha,a girl with a hot career in finance, and Nick, a hockey player on a break. They spend some time together when she is “forced” to leave her job. It’s a slow burn romance.
By 10% I wanted to give up. She mentioned her eggs talking to her more times than should be allowed in the whole book, if at all. Every other page was about what her eggs dictated- it was bad, so bad.
But somehow, and by skipping through some pages, I made it till the end. I should have given up when I first intended to. The story was ok and it could have potential but Sam was intolerable.
Apart from the eggs thing, her decisions made no sense to me. She suddenly, out of nowhere, decided she wanted to have a kid because…. Then she quit her job, that she claimed she loved, without much thought. Then she realises she doesn’t love it that much. And the whole issue with her not feeling ok with her body got tiring as well. I don’t like heroines that lack confidence. Nick was cute but nothing memorable.
The writing style isn’t bad though.

-3rd person POV
-Spice: 🌶️.5

Overall: 2.5/5 ⭐️ for me.

One word: Eggs.

I struggled with BREAKING THE ICE by Amy Andrews for a few reasons and loved it for a few more.

Loved? Birdie's! Bec's meddling ways! The bookstore setting!

Loathed? Samantha's obsession with her eggs. Though billed as a hockey romance, there was very little hockey. Nick's inner thoughts in the beginning.

Unfortunately this one just didn't hit the mark with me, but check it out if you like friends to lovers and slow burns.

Thanks to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for the ARC! Opinions are my own

Bookstore romance!

Samantha Evans’ goal in her career was to get the corner office her plans changed when her boss asked her to take a leave of absence because she was talking about possible future children but instead she quit. But finding out her close friend Birdie Hawke who ran her favorite used book store passed away and her grandson New Brunswick Crabbers Nick Hawke was going to run the book store. So Samantha worked for Nick while she waited for her boss to ask her to come back to work because his nephew couldn’t do her job but what happens when they fall in love?

I normally love hockey romances but the running commentary about her cheeping eggs was a bit over the top and there was little hockey because Nick was rehabbing his knee back in Tetworth.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from the author and NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.