2 stars

I actually thought based on an athlete and a career woman working in a romance bookshop together, ok this is for me! But unfortunately that wasn’t the case.

Right off the bat I had a couple of issues
1. This company seems to be huge so where is the HR department? Samantha’s boss is a lawsuit waiting to happen. Also, she talks about how they can’t legally discriminate based on her age when she was hired at 25 but age discrimination laws are for over 40. The fact that’s she openly told her boss she didn’t want kids to be hired and then he asks her to take a leave the instant she mentions future possible children IS THE ILLEGAL PART! And the blatant nepotism and sexual harassment is just insane to me. Why would she ever even consider returning?? They don’t deserve you!
2. One of the first actual conversations between Sam and Nick is about her body which does NOTHING for the “a woman’s worth is how she looks” society this book seems to want to dismantle since Sam is bigger/curvy (though that cover illustration does not convey her being any where near that). And making that your first talking point with a woman is a huge red flag. “Oh let me hire you so men can come look” is not the compliment he seems to think it is.
3. Constantly referring to her eggs and the sudden desire to have kids isn’t something I can relate to as a 35 year old woman who actively chose not to have children. Not saying that doesn’t happen though, it’s just not my experience whatsoever.
4. I saw some reviews complain about an FMC not being confident but that’s a bit true to life so I had no issues there. I’m fairly confident myself but I still have days where I get down on myself/my body solely because I grew up in the days of ultra low rise jeans and severe diets where girls in my dance classes were drinking slimfast in middle school. This was probably the most realistic part of the FMC.
5. This felt like an uninformed man writing a woman. Like all that matters when she hits 30 is having a baby and being controlled by her motherly desires. I have never once heard any woman talking about their eggs cheeping(?!?) and sighing and every other emotion they had in this book. I wish I counted the references to her eggs because…dear god it was too many.
6. Her sister has multiple children but it felt like Samantha never asked about Bec’s life at all.
7. Sometimes the overuse of the thesaurus made me want to scream.

I didn’t particularly love either character. He was a bit of a skeeze, she was judgmental. As a childfree woman in her 30s, I wasn’t worried about connecting to a FMC wanting children as I have people in my life with children or wanting them, but if anyone talked that much about wanting a baby, I’d have to limit my interactions. And both of them to suddenly want kids out of nowhere either due to age or falling in love just didn’t feel realistic to me. It’s a lot of work to just decide to want on a whim!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC

Charming, low angst, low drama romance set in a smallish town book shop. An easy read about career girl Sam taking a break from the corporate ladder. Her biological clock is suddenly screaming and her work is unsatisfying. Meantime Nick Hawke is taking a forced break from professional hockey after another knee injury. He takes over his late grandmother's bookshop and invites his gran's friend Sam to come work with him. There's some friend zoning, some pining, some crazy dates and lots of shenanigans between these two as they find their way to each other. It's a slow burn and a bit steamy as they get there. Also shout out to Sam's sneaky sister who saves the day!

I breezed through this friendly and tropey romance. Boldwood Books are re-releasing some of Amy's earlier works and this is such fun. Great for an afternoon's escapism. Enjoy!

Thank you Amy Andrews, Boldwood Books and NetGalley for the ARC. Opinions are my own.

This had the potential to be such a good book; it started out really strong but then seemed to fizzle out, it never really took off.

I tried, I really did. I DNF'd at 25%.

Is nobody going to talk about the INSANE overuse of italics on every single page? And they weren't even inflecting a part of the sentence that made sense. It drove me insane and is at the top of my list as to why I couldn't continue to read this.

Other issues:
-Her eggs were CHEEPING ???? 1. WTF does that even mean. 2. Girlfriend you're 30, chill out.
-Sam was described as Rubenesque way too many times for it to be part of casual thought and conversation. Her body image on a whole was brought up so frequently it was incredibly forced.
-There were plot holes and things spoken about that could have used more research from the author. It all jumped around, there was no continuity or real draw to either character and, as many other reviewers have also mentioned, it seems as if the author just tried to cherry pick trending tropes and topics (like this being a sports romance when he's just an injured professional hockey player so there's no actual sports).

I am a bit bummed because I actually really enjoyed Look What You Made Me Do.

One star for the cover art, but even that drawing doesn't come close to accurately representing Sam and her curves in the way she's described in the book.

I had high, high hopes for this one, but I really couldn't get behind it. The point-of-view was throwing me off and I felt as if I couldn't follow the storyline at all. I felt like the cover of the book was misleading. I was expecting more hockey/library, not what this book ended up being.

Overall, I felt like the author was hitting every popular trope at a 25% effort and it didn't pay off. I wish she chose one and really gave it her all because I could've really liked this book.

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!