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Icebreaker

Icebreaker

Contemporary LiteratureRomantic Comedy
Pages
448
Published
2022
Language
English

Synopsis

Figure skater Anastasia Allen has built her life around a single goal: a place on the U.S. Olympic team. Her training, her diet, and her tightly managed routines leave no room for distraction, least of all the university hockey team that suddenly has to share her rink after the campus arena is damaged. Nate Hawkins, the hockey captain bound for the NHL, is everything Anastasia tries to avoid: loud, easygoing, and impossible to ignore. When a prank pushes the two teams into the same practice schedule and her own skating partnership falls apart, Anastasia and Nate strike an uneasy deal that forces them together day after day. What begins as friction slowly turns into something neither of them planned for. Set at the fictional University of California, Maple Hills, this hockey romance balances competitive pressure, anxiety, and a controlling skating partner against the easy warmth Nate brings into Anastasia's carefully ordered world. The first book in the Maple Hills series, it follows two driven athletes learning to let someone in without losing sight of who they are.

Prose complexity
1/10

Vibe

FunnyRomanticHeartwarming
Grumpy Sunshine

Genres

Contemporary Literature Romantic Comedy Sports Romance Romance Young Adult Contemporary Romance

About the author

H
Hannah Grace

Writing under a pen name from her home in Manchester, England, Hannah Grace is the #1 New York Times bestselling author behind the Maple Hills series of college sports romances. She did not set out to be a novelist: during the COVID-19 pandemic she began writing a romance about a figure skater and a hockey player largely as a distraction, and in August 2022 she self-published the result, Icebreaker, under an imprint named after her two dogs, Pig and Bear. The book found a large audience through...

Characters

Anastasia AllenProtagonist

A driven Olympic-hopeful figure skater whose tightly controlled world is upended by the hockey team.

Nate HawkinsProtagonist

The easygoing, NHL-bound hockey captain whose warmth disrupts Anastasia's careful routines.

AaronAntagonist

Anastasia's controlling skating partner, who criticizes her weight and tries to dictate her choices.

LolaSupporting

Anastasia's best friend and roommate, a drama major.

RobbieSupporting

Nate's childhood best friend and teammate, who also helps coach and starts dating Lola.

All characters in Icebreaker

Frequently asked questions

  • Does Icebreaker need to be read in order?

    Icebreaker is the first book in the 'Maple Hills' series, but it can be enjoyed as a standalone story. While subsequent books feature different couples, they are set in the same university world and include appearances from characters introduced here.

  • Is there a film adaptation of Icebreaker?

    As of my last update, there is no film or television adaptation of Hannah Grace's Icebreaker.

  • Is the university in Icebreaker a real place?

    No. The series is set at the fictional University of California, Maple Hills (UCMH). Both the hockey program and the campus are invented, though they are written to feel like a typical American college sports environment.

  • How did a self-published book like Icebreaker get so big?

    Hannah Grace self-published Icebreaker in August 2022, having started it during the pandemic as a distraction. It built a huge audience through Kindle Unlimited and BookTok, and was later acquired by Atria, going on to become a #1 New York Times bestseller.

  • How do figure skating and hockey end up in the same story?

    When the campus arena is damaged, the figure skaters and the hockey team are forced to share ice time, throwing Anastasia and Nate together. After Anastasia's own skating partner is injured, Nate steps in to partner her, which deepens their connection.

  • Does Icebreaker deal with disordered eating or body image?

    Yes. Anastasia's skating partner Aaron repeatedly criticizes her weight and tries to control what she eats, and the book touches on the body-image pressures of competitive figure skating. Readers sensitive to disordered-eating content should be aware of this thread.

  • Why is the series sometimes called 'UCMH' instead of Maple Hills?

    Early on, readers referred to it as 'the UCMH series' after the fictional University of California, Maple Hills. It was later officially branded the Maple Hills series, so the two names refer to the same books.

  • Can the Maple Hills books be read as standalones, and in what order?

    Each book follows a different couple and resolves its own romance, so they work as standalones. Reading in publication order (Icebreaker, Wildfire, Daydream) is recommended, because later books include cameos from earlier couples.

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