Thank you the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC.

Unfortunately, this book didn't really work for me.

Samantha is a successful career-oriented woman who finds out her ex is engaged and his fiance is expecting and then talks about her eggs and having kids at work and gets put on leave before quitting.

Nick is a hockey player who was injured and is taking over his recently departed grandmother's bookshop until he heals from his injury.

For quite a bit of the book they work together at the bookshop and he sets her up on blind dates that don't work out. I did like the romance bookshop aspect and how both main characters read romance novels.

But Samantha is all of a sudden obsessed with her eggs and getting pregnant and having kids. Because she's 30?

Neither of the main characters made any relationship progress without the help of Samantha's sister. It made the romance a bit unbelievable. At every fight or disagreement are they going to need her sister to get them back together? And while I usually think dual POV is the best POV in books, the dual POV in this book didn't really help make the romance more believable for me.

Breaking the Ice by Amy Andrews 📚

A sports romance that takes place in a bookshop!? Sign me UP!

I loved this book. Y’all know that I adore a MMC that helps an FMC with body image issues and omg did Nick deliver. He was sweet and caring but a straight shooter about Sam.

Women writing books about men who want curvy women and want to help them with their body image stuff is so healing and I want more of it.

This was my first book by Amy and I’d definitely read more by her!

I received this e-ARC from Netgalley in exchange for a review. This review is my own.
Friends to lovers, check.
Funny banter, check.
A happy ever after, check.
These are some basic tropes, but this book is much much more than that.
When I started the story between Nick and Samantha I knew I was in for a wild ride. The chemistry between the 2 leads is evident from the get go, but to see their relationship grow into a heartwarming romance was the icing on the cake. The banter is both sweet and comical with the right amount of spice thrown in.
The story is beautifully written and offers both character POV’s throughout the book which helps with the flow of the plot line. But my favourite aspect of the whole novel is the fmc is curvy and beautiful. Reading a book with a character I can relate to made it hard to put it down.
Breaking the ice has everything I’m looking for in a rom-com and did not disappoint. It’s well worth the read!

A brilliant bookloving ode to modern romance

Amy Andrew's weaves a perfect chick flick, with a curvy girl protagonist and a slow build up of spice. Add in a second hand romance bookshop, leads with varied goals but undeniable attraction simmering and a swarm of supporting characters, you got yourself the perfect accompaniment to candle lit bubble bath read!! The initial hook with the funeral of beloved Hawke, and her role in MFCs life and what it meant will ring in with the lonely city gals..

This is a definite must read for fans of Emily Henry, offering a slice if life with a coming to midlife crisis undercurrent. The dialogs are crisp, especially the sibling interactions and we learn to love the MFC, despite her misgivings and her fear of straying too far (really resonated with me!). I am off to try the vodka and oreos to see what happens...

Thank you Boldwood Book Club and NetGalley for this wonderful opportunity!! Waiting to devour more scrumptious scribes from Amy Andrews!!

I am off to find something by Rita Sommers next...

[1.5] this feels like the author saw popular tropes that were trending and tried to make them fit her writing style, and unfortunately, it didn't work at all for me. our fmc was just weird (only wanting to date people so she could have children, her 'eggs' telling her this?) and i thought the mmc was really unlikeable and inappropriate at times (not wanting to date a girl because her boobs were too small (despite the book preaching body positivity) and offering to be a sperm donor for a potential lesbian couple, but only if he could watch??). i found they would often act without any reason and as a result, it really made them feel very 2-dimensional, and as though they were only having certain thoughts to move the plot along. also, not something that contributed to my rating, but the book is marketed as a sports romance and there is no hockey in it, as the mmc is out on an injury - he steps foot on the ice once and decides he's had enough 🤷🏼‍♀️.

thank you to netgalley and boldwood books for the advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review.

Easy to read and follow, I truly enjoyed this one! I loved the egg rep and this was just written very well. I laughed a ton and the chemistry was off the charts

I have read several books by this author. I found this one to be a cute, somewhat spicy sports rom-com. The topic of her "eggs", very weird. The relationship between Samantha and Nick was friends to lovers, was an obvious one. Thank you Boldwood books and NetGalley for the advanced copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

4 stars. A quick, fun read.

Samantha wants children and decides to start looking for a suitable man. Sam takes a sabbatical from her job for a while, and ends up working in a second-hand bookstore. Nick is a hockey player who, due to an injury, is temporarily running his late grandmother's bookstore. They become interested in each other, but their plans don't match - Sam's biggest wish is to have children, while Nick doesn't want children.

The chemistry between these two was great! Sam goes on dates a lot, and it's ridiculous - the dates don't really work out. And at the same time, Sam is most interested in Nick. I liked the characters, but Sam's obsession with her eggs was a bit over the top. It was kind of funny when the eggs were described, but in the end it got a little too repetitive.

The book was a quick read, it was entertaining and a bit steamy. I liked that the sex was depicted quite realistically - it doesn't always go like in Hollywood. The book got better towards the end and I liked how Sam and Nick realized what they really wanted. However, I would have liked an epilogue, the book ended too suddenly. I would have liked a little more description of what happens to Sam and Nick in the future.

WHAT TO EXPECT:

* Book about books
* Forced proximity
* Friends to lovers
* Hea
* Workplace romance
* Open doors
* Opposites attract
* Physically very different
* Point of view: dual 3rd person
* Slowburn
* Small town
* Sports romance: hockey (very little actual hockey as the MMC is injured)
* Steamy
* Third act: break up (it was not dramatic, more due to circumstances)

I really enjoyed this book!

I thought that the book has a great storyline and it was a pretty addictive read - well written and a really nice natural flow to the story.

The two main characters are very different people with jobs that are miles apart - it will never work, or that is what they believe but will love find a way... I loved following their story and how the circumstances for them change - I was cheering them on

It is a romantic and sexy story - it is 4 stars from me for this one - highly recommended!

3.5 stars.
An enjoyable story about friends discovering an unimaginable attraction and chemistry between them, “Breaking the Ice”, by Amy Andrews, features realistic, relatable characters that often defy expectations.
Samantha and Nick, both driven and successful in their fields, are also incredibly down-to-earth, authentic characters.
I loved the interaction and conversation as friendship turns into attraction and something deeper.
Samantha’s quest and the inner dialogue with the eggs are fun and there some moments that just made me laugh, even if it turned a bit too much later.
The way the hot, steady hero balances the frazzled heroine in a sabbatical and a special personal mission is sweet to watch.
I loved that the heroine’s body image and sex life aren’t perfect and that intimacy with the hero has a very rocky (and realistic) start. What an interesting perspective, just like real life!
Nick is such a great person and I really liked how he encouraged Samantha and saw the worth and attractiveness in her.
Samantha's forays into the dating scene seemed a bit far-fetched sometimes.

First of all thank you for approving my request!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! The authors writing style had me hooked throughout this book.

I didn't want it to end, a book I really couldn't put down.

This book was such a mess for me. I was so disappointed because I really like the author’s previous two books, but this felt like a big departure. Neither main character was likable and Samantha, the female main character was just one big, huge walking red flag. The thing that really put me off of this book was the constant mention of her “cheeping eggs” The story felt like she was just looking for someone to impregnate her and that’s it and yes, she happened to fall in love with Nick, but the constant mention of the eggs was such a turn off and made me dislike the characters. This whole story just felt super cringe. I’m really disappointed in this book.

Thank you Boldwood Books for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

This is a five-star read to suspend your reality and just enjoy. This was just a great story, there are parts that are a little off, but do you know what I didn’t care, its not real life, and we don’t always want the stories we read to be real, sometimes its nice to just enjoy the romance and the details like how to work the ancient coffee machine. The Egg chirping did get a little much, but then I know someone who would explain that as exactly how she felt until hers were finally cooked and served safely, she actually described it as a madness that took over and left her thinking craziness. Some people will get hung up on Sam being curvy, as she is only described as that, as I do not like that descriptive manner, but sometimes you do need to just relax and leave your imagination run, so I don’t know, I’m not a writer so I don’t get to describe the characters.

Another Amy Andrews sports romance story with a whole lot of passion & a little romantic swoon. Breaking The Ice by Amy Andrews is a fun story with a great message. Body shapes come in all sizes & you need to embrace your size with confidence. Samantha (the female lead) has struggled to love her curves for most of your life. Nick, the male lead, has the body & career of a professional hockey player, so when chemistry between him & Samantha starts to thicken, he has to help her love her body as much as he does.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book on #NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own, but please add this story & pretty much any other of Amy Andrews' novels to your TBR list, especially if you enjoy reading romances with a little heat .

Breaking the Ice is a fun quick read. It's not so much a sports romance which was a fun twist, he's a hockey player but hockey isn't the focus of the book. The working at a romance bookstore aspect made this so much fun.

I loved that Nick and Sam already knew eachother and had the connection of Birdie before the book starts. As much as I loved them I felt like there was more building in their friendship then there was in their relationship.

A few aspects of this book just seemed over done for me unfortunately. It feels like Sam's insecurities would have felt more meaningful if the topic of her being "curvy" hadn't been so overused. A key plot to this story is that Sam's biological clock started ticking but the amount of time the word eggs was used was a bit weird.

I loved that the majority of the story takes place in Birdie's (Who doesn't want to work in a romance bookstore?) The conversations with Bec were such a fun addition and you get to know her character even though she's not physically present for most of the book.

This sport romance was an enjoyable read, mainly set in a bookshop. The story follows Sam and Nick through their romantic escapades.

I loved the characters however I found Sam slightly annoying with the whole “eggs”. The overall read was enjoyable, but I cringed quite a lot and rolled my eyes many times. I loved the plus size representation, but it felt slightly off as the new cover has a female character who is not plus size. I also felt like the lesbian rep was just weird, it felt like the only reason it was in the story was to help with character growth, it felt stereotype and much like sexuality is a switch you turn off and on. The whole discussion of fertility and motherhood was frustrating, it would have been wonderful to have a deep thought through discussion around the social pressures when turning 30 of becoming a mother, but it felt like it wasn’t the reason it was add, it actually felt like that is how you should feel as a women.

The writing style and pacing was well done and made the read easy and enjoyable. I felt like the characters were telling us how they felt and not showing us but that did not affect my read.

I wouldn’t class this as a sport romance as it doesn’t really mention his NHL career enough, but it was still a nice romance. I would recommend if you just want a bingeable romance.

So I enjoyed this but there were also things that annoyed me about it.

Sam & Nick kind of already know eachother at the start of the book when Nick's grandmother, Birdie, dies. Nick takes over the running of the book shop she owned, which was Samantha's safe space. She was also friends with Birdie. Sam finds herself needing a break from corporate life and goes to work for Nick in the book shop, and that's where the fun begins.

Samantha is described as a curvy girl but it's never actually mentioned exactly how big she is. As a larger woman, I find this quite stressful as it is easy to relate to all the diet culture bull shit but I find it difficult when I don't know how "curvy" this woman is. However, it is always refreshing to read about curvy woman.

I will say that I liked the slow burn of this book and, despite Sam and Nick admitting their attraction to each other, it was a whie before they acted on it.

I have become convinced though, that Amy Andrews will become a sports romance legend - due to Nick having an injury, there wasn't really any actual "sports" but it was still a running theme throughout that Nick was a hockey god.

I recently read another Amy Andrews book and felt that it was not long enough, only 19 chapters. This was a full-length novel but I still felt that it was too short and would really have liked an epilogue.

Now, my biggest issue with this book was around Sam wanting children. So, Sam wants kids, her eggs are "cheeping" (there was far too much talk of Sam's eggs throughout) and Nick doesn't want kids. Towards the end of the book, Nick realises that it wasn't that he doesn't want kids because when you love someone, you want to see them reflected in a child. I feel this wa a bit of a swing and a miss. I get that it worked for this storyline but I feel that the line in particular implied that people in love will always want children together for this reason. Not all women want kids. Not all couples want kids. You can be in love and not want to have children together and still lead happy, fulfilled lives.

Other than that, I enjoyed this and really liked Sam and Nick individually and as a couple.

4 stars.

Tropes:
- NHL legend
- Forced proximity
- Friends to lovers
- Lifetsyle change

Thanks for the ARC.
3.5*
We all know that THE dream is to run a secondhand book store with a coffee nook, right? Right.
Samantha gets to live out all our dreams after ditching her corporate high paying job, though that's only temporary (till she can get her eggs fertilized). The manager of the bookshop (NHL superstar ofc) is helping her on their mission, but like in any good rom-com, they realize it was them all along.

SPOILER

Man giving up his NHL career... v unrealistic.

Sports romances are a guilty pleasure of mine and so when I saw this I had to give it a go.
This is my first book from this author but will definitely not be my last I’ll tell you that!!
This book was such an easy read I finished it in one sitting, I loved the banter between the two main characters and how easily the plot flowed.

This is my second book I have read by Amy and she has a very unique writing style.

I find that her stories are a bit all over the place, which I get, life is messy, not organized.

There was a lot of talk about the eggs, which was honestly really odd at times, then the whole surgeon situation with her cup size. Just very off topic and random.

I thought this would be a cute rom-com, but there wasn't much dynamic between Sam and Nick and it honestly made me indifferent on their journey through the book.

Thank you NetGalley and Boldwood Books for my EARC.