Icebreaker by A.L. Graziadei (Review)

Thank you Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for sending me an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!

Two Second Review

★★★☆☆ // 3 s t a r s

In the most basic sense, Icebreaker is a gay-hockey-contemporary that will leave you squealing and reeling (especially with that ending).

The Book

Trigger Warnings: N/A

Release Date: January 18, 2022

Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.

Genre(s): Young Adult, Contemporary, LGBTQIA+, Romance

Series?: no

Page Count: 320

Premise:

Seventeen-year-old Mickey James III is a college freshman, a brother to five sisters, and a hockey legacy. With a father and a grandfather who have gone down in NHL history, Mickey is almost guaranteed the league's top draft spot.

The only person standing in his way is Jaysen Caulfield, a contender for the #1 spot and Mickey's infuriating (and infuriatingly attractive) teammate. When rivalry turns to something more, Mickey will have to decide what he really wants, and what he's willing to risk for it.

This is a story about falling in love, finding your team (on and off the ice), and choosing your own path.

Review

It—it can't be. A review. Unheard of! Yes, this is me back at it again, a new year with new reviews I suppose. Plus, I've got about 10 arcs just chilling in my NEED TO READ AND REVIEW ASAP folder so there's also that. Honestly though, I'm glad this is the first review of the year I'm posting because I actually have some tangible things to say, lo and behold.

Honestly, the Two Second Review gives all the info necessary to pick up this book. I don't even feel like it needs anything other than that. In and of itself, it was fabulous and was so close to doing no wrong. If we know me, we know that I never really give contemporary romances like these more than four stars, and even a four is rare. Most of the time I mark it as a four and then realize it should be dropped by the next day. And this book I never even marked it as a four in the first place. The reason for that? That ending *major eye roll*.

So, Icebreaker follows Mickey James III (I really disliked the name Mickey, everytime they called him Terzo, I was like yes that's good and be shocked every time they said Mickey cuz it sounded so wrong) and Jaysen Caulfield. Both in major competition for the number #1 spot for the NHL draft but also part of the same college hockey team. This, of course, begins with hatred directed towards each other, more from Jaysen than Mickey's end. However, after an icebreaker (ha, funny, except in the book I don't think they ever called the "game" they played an "icebreaker" which was a missed opportunity if I do say so myself), that tension dissipates almost completely. In what feels like insta-love, but isn't really because there was a few month long chapter/time skips that honestly made kind of no sense, there's that to justify that this wasn't insta-love necessarily even though it more or less read like it.

Obviously, as always, drama drama drama. Family issues. Blah blah blah. All expected. It was very predictable to say the least. Honestly, it was just the cuteness and the amount of Tom Holland and Spider-Man mentions in there that probably made me enjoy it so much. But that brings us to the real reason for star droppage. The ending.

Now, don't get me wrong. I love a good cliffhanger, unresolved conflict ending, as long as it's not huge and the whole book didn't depend on that little bit of resolution. And what did this book do? It robbed me of some damn closure. Wow, it's open to me to decide how the book ended? Well, boo-hoo. I'm not the damn author, I shouldn't have to decide how this goes, gosh.

Also, the ending time skip and the epilogue. It didn't feel at all like one, we love a time skip from school time to draft pick time. But after draft? I expect at least a chapter of a pro-game with the two of them or whatever the heck they're doing. Adopting a child or something for god's sake. Contemporaries skipping to years in the future and you get to see the characters well and truly in love and with babies or some shit are truly the best, and I DIDN"T GET THAT. Anyway…

❝ Jaysen Caulfield is into me. Maybe just as much as I am into

him. Who would've thought? ❞

Basically, what I'm trying to say is Icebreaker is a super adorable book filled with gay fluff and more than enough mentions of our beloved Spider-Man, but it is not a recommendation for you if you despise endings that leave you confused or without an answer. I seriously finished this book at 1 am ready for an ending that would be super adorable. I didn't get that.

Tropes…

— enemies-to-lovers

— sports romance

— height difference

— twitter banter

Read…If You Liked…

• The Foxhole Court (exy, hockey, potato potato [also gay])

• Only Mostly Devastated (vibes)

• Bellevue Bullies Series (shh…me reading this is a secret but it's like cute)

Watch…If You Liked…

• Tooth Fairy (stop, I can't think of any hockey movies)

• The Boys in the Band (the gayest movie I can think of…)

ADD ICEBREAKER TO YOUR GOODREADS SHELF

random q to drop comments <3

What's your favorite sport to read about?

(if I can't give exy as an answer since it's yk,

fake, it'd definitely be hockey or football)