Aviv Snowberry

This is a romance novel that I would say is best summed up as doing perfectly what it says on the tin. Personally for me, neither the characters nor their trials and tribulations were particularly compelling to me. That being said I recognize that is my personal preferences and expectations of romance. I am no stranger to the average genre romance story, and this one with plenty of sex and a competitive sports college setting, is definitely in the realm of a rather traditional romance story arc. Which made it overall predictable and not in a way I found terribly compelling.

I think the messages of the story are good ones, the relationship is sweet and built up in a way that I think reflects a good and healthy relationship even with smatterings of enemies to lovers. But about a third of the way in I had to force myself into finishing the work, not because it was awful or anything but because I was just not invested. The work was a little over hyped online in my opinion, and I think that led to warped expectations. By the end of the story I was compelled by the developing plot beats but I wish it hadn't taken so long for me to feel that way.

Overall Icebreaker is a cute frenemies to lovers story doing exactly what it set out to do perfectly, it simply wasn't for me. I won't, however, be surprised to see this made into a film in about 5 years.

This memoir was a really poignant story about growing up in the 80s/90s in a fundamentalist Christian context and trying to find out who you are and how you fit in to the world around you in the face of being ostracized, abuse, and that awful feeling of just not quite fitting in anywhere. The art was beautiful, and the story itself a very touching coming of age story.

I really enjoyed the other two books in the series, and loved this one even more. It's really the culmination of the previous two books' plot threads, twists, and character development particularly between Laurent and Damen. It's a satisfying conclusion to their story and to their journey all the way from book 1. Sometimes I find that series ends will be unsatisfying, that the author will try too hard to make the last book stand out even as they've run out of steam, the entire Captive Prince Trilogy feels like one continuous story split into three parts. Of course each has its own distinct narrative arc for our deutrotagonists, but it's satisfying seeing everything you've read and learned reach the end you'd hope it would. In the last 1/4 of the book I was nearly jumping out of my seat at the events transpiring, and the end definitely made me tear up at the poetic book-ending that Pacat gave the story.

I immediately enjoyed the disability representation, the Jewishness of all the characters, and the overall pacing was good. That being said, I think it dragged a little bit at the end.

I am personally not a huge enemies to lovers fan, never have been. While I enjoyed this book immensely, I am still not a fan of the trope being used within the book, especially as the original conflict feels very contrived and it ended up in the space that I often feel that these books get to which is "If they would just talk this would be resolved rather quickly." Also I know a third act breakup is par for the course with the genre, but that being said, the first one where she quits volunteering at the Matzah Ball was fine, but the second one where he personally discovers she's Margot Cross and gets upset that she's writing him into a book made me actually groan, it was conflict to be conflict and that was not really doing it for me.

This book was a great example of romance mixed with plot. There was plenty of really interesting characters and character dynamics, and plenty of interest to be had in the difference between cultures that the main characters shared. It reminded me in many ways of C.S. Pacat's Captive Prince series, though that one is a much slower burn and with much more intrigue and darkness. I enjoyed the book thoroughly, and enjoyed especially the ways people of different genders, sexualities, disabilities, and magical abilities were represented. I would recommend this book, though I would say it lacked in exxecution of the intrigue plotline, which was interesting, but was perhaps not as compelling as it might have been.