The personal growth of the MCs was well-paced and credible. The romance was lively and spicy. The secondary characters were fun (or gross, as expected). I do NOT understand the complaints about this book not having a plot. I think these people must have Hallmark card families and do not understand how dysfunctional families can fuck you up for YEARS. It takes a lot to find your strength and believe in yourself. ( )

I heard about this book so much you could say it was spreading like “wildfire”. Sorry, I couldn’t resist a good pun! So, after seeing so much hype – and the very cute cover! – I was most eager to dive in and give it a read.

I get the feeling that those who have read Icebreaker will probably enjoy this 2nd book in the Maple Hills series. I haven’t read Icebreaker first and perhaps should’ve as, from my understanding, it is considered better. Well, by proportional comparison, it has more 5 star reviews than this one. Conveniently, the word “icebreaker” occurs 5 times in this story, serving as a gentle reminder of her other story.

Bearing in mind Hannah Grace is self-labelled as a “fluffy comfort book” author, this story does tick those boxes. Her writing style feels a little too immature for my liking though amusing in places. But I liked the overall plot, and I really liked how realistic both Russ and Aurora are with their family problems, low self-esteem, eventual vulnerability in opening up about this and the way they both help each other through all this. This was done exceptionally well, and it was nice to see these matters get resolved, or as good as. There were maybe too many parallels between them, but I don’t mind it overall.

This is like the sorts of Wattpad stories I used to read (which I hear is where Icebreaker first debuted). Perhaps if I was around the same ages as the characters, I’d like this more. Or perhaps I need to give another one of her books a chance.

I would agree with the general opinion that the pacing is off: there was somehow a lot happening but at the same time not at all. It was a quick read (the type where I wasn’t checking what page I was on) but felt long, with some that felt like filler chapters. Overall, I came out of this... somewhat disappointed. I didn’t ease into this as well as I would’ve liked as I could not connect to any element of the story, certainly not the characters and certainly not to begin with. I will make an exception for “Muffin” Russ, he was always rather sweet. ( )

Russ is hot and a good candidate for the ultimate book bf. However the book was a bit slow and did feel like it dragged on. ( )

Summer romance, college age, similar characters to Ice Breaker (but you don’t have to read it first) ( )

This was a good story from an author I’ve never read. I enjoyed the way Russ and Aurora came together and they way their “daddy issues” only serve as a tighter bond. ( )