Genre: College romance
Books remaining in my physical TBR: 32
A book lover and a college hockey captain become friends through their need to overcome two personal challenges - writer’s block and struggling to pass a difficult class. In a friends-to-lovers romance, they end up falling for each other (no matter how much they initially deny it).
(Minor spoilers ahead)
For this review, I will continue to say ‘college’, meaning how the US calls university, not the UK
This book contained adult themes, and hence this review may also contain adult themes
My summary for this story wasn’t excellent. I don’t know why I struggle to summarise these sorts of things when I literally only finished reading the book a few hours ago (I’m going to have to start doing summaries of each chapter to make this easier for myself in future).
I genuinely did really enjoy reading this book; it’s the third of a trilogy by Hannah Grace, with the first one being the infamous Icebreaker. I read Icebreaker a few weeks ago, following all of the TikToks on it being ‘so explicit’ (well, this was a few years ago, but it’s all I think about when I see it), and I love to laugh at sex scenes (yes, I am that sad). However, I was surprised at how much I loved the plot of the book, outside of how insanely sexual it could be at times. I really enjoyed the storyline of Anastasia as a figure skater and her struggles with perfectionism, and also with a toxic skating partner. So, once reading that, I obviously had to read the second, and now the third. I must say, I loved them all the same amount for different reasons. I wouldn’t rate them 5/5 as that is strictly reserved for my all-time favourites, such as The Hunger Games books or the Silver Eyes trilogy, so 4/5 is still a high rating for me!
Henry has been a core character since the first book, with him obviously being neurodivergent (Hannah Grace herself said she would never diagnose him with any sort of neurodivergency as he’s a reflection of her own AuDHD), which led to some funny moments within the books with him being quite direct to people. Though he is a very lovable character (both to me as a reader and other characters within the book).
Halle hasn’t been mentioned in any of the books so far (from what I can remember), however you’re immediately sympathetic to her as the first line of the book is her being broken up with by, who we later learn, to be a horrid man (I think the KAM movement needs to make a comeback - and I will specify that that is a JOKE, I have a boyfriend I love very much).
I also felt as though the progression of this book made sense, timing-wise. A lot of books have characters meet and like immediately fall in love and get together within a matter of months - though I can’t judge, as my boyfriend and I got together within like 3 months of meeting, but we’re teenagers, not grown adults! However, that sort of storyline doesn’t seem quite believable for fully grown adults. Though I can believe it for college students. There were a lot of sweet moments between Halle and Henry before ever doing anything intimate, both being incredibly helpful to each other. A large part of their friendship was based around Halle’s want to experience life to help produce inspiration for her book, and Henry struggling to pass a class in college due to his inability to focus on a text if he found it too boring, and both of them can come together to help the other with their struggle.
You can’t help but sympathise for the characters throughout the book - Henry struggles to understand social situations and with the fact he does not want to be captain of the hockey team, and Halle struggles with her being a people pleaser, feeling (and actually being) responsible for her whole family, and on top of that, her ex-boyfriend eventually begins to make appearances being snarky to her. How dare he!
I feel this review is getting too long with me yapping, so I’ll wrap up some final thoughts.
The final few chapters of the book (before the time-skip) are some of my favourites as I’m a big lover of drama (hence why I loved Icebreaker so much; the fallout between Aaron, Nate and Anastasia was SO fun to read). I felt as though the fight between Henry, Bobby, Will, and, eventually, both hockey teams was the perfect dose of drama I needed for the final 100 pages. Will, once again, reveals how much of an asshole he is (pardon my French) by saying some very vile things about Halle, bless her man. I only wish that Henry were as violent as Bobby and would beat some sense into him.
There were a few moments I nearly cried when Henry and Halle had their few weeks apart, whilst Henry was coping with his overwhelming emotions from the whole situation - I was kind of hoping to see him on the ice against Will, but I can’t complain when I’m getting drama such as this. I thought it was so beautiful to see them come together again, and I was so happy that Halle ended up going on the girls’ trip with Aurora and co!
The final chapter was also satisfying to read. Although Halle (unfortunately) didn’t win the writing competition she’d entered, her still being able to go was such a relief, as she’d worked so hard to go.
I’m going to really have to improve my reviews, as I feel this will only make sense to anyone who is omniscient or has actually read the book, sorry! But I always find Hannah Grace's books to be such beautiful reads. It’s clear she puts a lot of thought into her books, and some of the topics she writes about are really eye-opening to read, as a lot of times it’s something I’ve never experienced or had anyone in my life experience before. I would genuinely recommend her books to anyone looking for an easy read with some more serious subtopics, as I think she writes in a way that isn’t insensitive to anyone. Similar to the Dream Harbour series, the Maple Hills books are all sort of a continuity, but in a way where you don’t have to read a previous book to understand the next.
My summary for this story wasn’t excellent. I don’t know why I struggle to summarise these sorts of things when I literally only finished reading the book a few hours ago (I’m going to have to start doing summaries of each chapter to make this easier for myself in future).
I genuinely did really enjoy reading this book; it’s the third of a trilogy by Hannah Grace, with the first one being the infamous Icebreaker. I read Icebreaker a few weeks ago, following all of the TikToks on it being ‘so explicit’ (well, this was a few years ago, but it’s all I think about when I see it), and I love to laugh at sex scenes (yes, I am that sad). However, I was surprised at how much I loved the plot of the book, outside of how insanely sexual it could be at times. I really enjoyed the storyline of Anastasia as a figure skater and her struggles with perfectionism, and also with a toxic skating partner. So, once reading that, I obviously had to read the second, and now the third. I must say, I loved them all the same amount for different reasons. I wouldn’t rate them 5/5 as that is strictly reserved for my all-time favourites, such as The Hunger Games books or the Silver Eyes trilogy, so 4/5 is still a high rating for me!
Henry has been a core character since the first book, with him obviously being neurodivergent (Hannah Grace herself said she would never diagnose him with any sort of neurodivergency as he’s a reflection of her own AuDHD), which led to some funny moments within the books with him being quite direct to people. Though he is a very lovable character (both to me as a reader and other characters within the book).
Halle hasn’t been mentioned in any of the books so far (from what I can remember), however you’re immediately sympathetic to her as the first line of the book is her being broken up with by, who we later learn, to be a horrid man (I think the KAM movement needs to make a comeback - and I will specify that that is a JOKE, I have a boyfriend I love very much).
I also felt as though the progression of this book made sense, timing-wise. A lot of books have characters meet and like immediately fall in love and get together within a matter of months - though I can’t judge, as my boyfriend and I got together within like 3 months of meeting, but we’re teenagers, not grown adults! However, that sort of storyline doesn’t seem quite believable for fully grown adults. Though I can believe it for college students. There were a lot of sweet moments between Halle and Henry before ever doing anything intimate, both being incredibly helpful to each other. A large part of their friendship was based around Halle’s want to experience life to help produce inspiration for her book, and Henry struggling to pass a class in college due to his inability to focus on a text if he found it too boring, and both of them can come together to help the other with their struggle.
You can’t help but sympathise for the characters throughout the book - Henry struggles to understand social situations and with the fact he does not want to be captain of the hockey team, and Halle struggles with her being a people pleaser, feeling (and actually being) responsible for her whole family, and on top of that, her ex-boyfriend eventually begins to make appearances being snarky to her. How dare he!
I feel this review is getting too long with me yapping, so I’ll wrap up some final thoughts.
The final few chapters of the book (before the time-skip) are some of my favourites as I’m a big lover of drama (hence why I loved Icebreaker so much; the fallout between Aaron, Nate and Anastasia was SO fun to read). I felt as though the fight between Henry, Bobby, Will, and, eventually, both hockey teams was the perfect dose of drama I needed for the final 100 pages. Will, once again, reveals how much of an asshole he is (pardon my French) by saying some very vile things about Halle, bless her man. I only wish that Henry were as violent as Bobby and would beat some sense into him.
There were a few moments I nearly cried when Henry and Halle had their few weeks apart, whilst Henry was coping with his overwhelming emotions from the whole situation - I was kind of hoping to see him on the ice against Will, but I can’t complain when I’m getting drama such as this. I thought it was so beautiful to see them come together again, and I was so happy that Halle ended up going on the girls’ trip with Aurora and co!
The final chapter was also satisfying to read. Although Halle (unfortunately) didn’t win the writing competition she’d entered, her still being able to go was such a relief, as she’d worked so hard to go.
I’m going to really have to improve my reviews, as I feel this will only make sense to anyone who is omniscient or has actually read the book, sorry! But I always find Hannah Grace's books to be such beautiful reads. It’s clear she puts a lot of thought into her books, and some of the topics she writes about are really eye-opening to read, as a lot of times it’s something I’ve never experienced or had anyone in my life experience before. I would genuinely recommend her books to anyone looking for an easy read with some more serious subtopics, as I think she writes in a way that isn’t insensitive to anyone. Similar to the Dream Harbour series, the Maple Hills books are all sort of a continuity, but in a way where you don’t have to read a previous book to understand the next.
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