Hey ladies and gents,
I realize I said that I don't appreciate college romances because of partying and other immature actions. I may have been a college student myself once upon a time. However, I was never a partier and feel like it detracts from the story. This is just my opinion, and this book certainly contains parties.
However, this book was fantastic. I think it was mostly because Nate it the absolute best. He is so sweet but not in a feminine sweet, in a masculine sweet way.
He has got to be one of my favorite male characters. Nate may have been sweet, but he was also very protective as well. I think he was the best mix of dominant and sweet. If you couldn't tell, I think he was pretty great.
Anastasia makes me think of myself a little. She is bossy and very hard on herself. However, she does seem to be a lot better about communicating her emotions than I ever will be. She was adopted at the age of five. Due to this she felt like she had to earn her parents love and was in therapy to help her out (this is why she is so good talking about emotions).
In the beginning of the story Anastasia hates hockey and being off schedule. She fallows her planner and a meal plan religiously. The meal plan is from her roommate and skating partner Aaron. Anastasia and Aaron have been skating together since they both started at UCMH (their college). Aaron is a little hot and cold with Anastasia throughout the book. However, Nate is able to loosen her up and get her to be less strict about her schedule. When it comes to her meal plan, he points out that she has been under eating, and he helps her repair her view on food.
Anastasia meets Nate when they find out the second ice rink was trashed. Due to this the figure skaters and the hockey players will need to share the area.
Anastasia hates the hockey team and takes most of her anger out on Nate because he is the captain. Whenever they run over time wise or even see each other she is not happy, however, slowly his sweet personality starts to thaw her frozen heart after a few run ins at parties. Also, I'm sure it helps that her friend and other roommate Lola starts to date Robbie, Nates best friend and roommate.
Things go smoothly until one day Aaron claims Nate pranked him, that he is injured and can no longer skate because of it. Due to this Nate is not able to play hockey till Aaron can skate again. After her initial anger, Anastasia realizes that Nate did not in fact hurt Aaron their relationship just gets better. We find out latter that Aaron actually got hurt playing football with some friends at UCLA.
When Aaron is allowed back on the ice he almost drops Anastasia in the middle of a competition. Due to this Aaron is back to not skating, Nate can't play hockey and Anastasia is terrified to do lifts (understandably). Nate offers to skate with Anastasia because she needs to keep practicing and he needs to keep in shape.
While Nate and Anastasia start to work together, this puts a strain on Aaron and Anastasia's relationship and Anastasia starts staying with Nate and some of the hockey players. During this time Anastasia leans she has been undereating and that Aaron has been calling her names. Tension is high between the hockey team and Aaron due to the names he calls Anastasia, until a fight breaks out between them, and Anastasia decides she can no longer try to be friends with Aaron. She also decides that for the rest of the time they skate together it will have to be an entirely professional relationship.
Over the Christmas break Anastasia brings Nate home to Seattle where he meets her parents. Both her mom and dad love Nate. Anastasia's dad even starts watching Nates games and sending him encouraging texts.
Afterwards, Nate takes Anastasia to his childhood home in Colorado. They planned this around Nate's father and sister's vacation. Unfortunately, they come back a day early due to a Nates dad trying to make the vacation a training trip for Shana (Nate's sister).
Due to Nate not having a good relationship with his dad the lunch that they have together is incredibly awkward. Because of Anastasia's previous problems with food, some of Ian's (Nate's dad) comments get under Anastasia's skin and she stands up for Sasha. Due to this Ian decides that she is a lot like Nate's mother and who Nate needs. This conversation gave Nate a good moment with his dad as well as some understanding of how his dad views himself.
After Aaron heals and comes back to skating, he suggests sports teammate therapy. This really bothers Nate (which is totally understandable in my opinion). After a few weeks their therapist suggests that they move back in together. This really bothers Nate but, in the end, he is able to have a good conversation with Anastasia about it and they come to an understanding.
Not long after Aaron and Anastasia are trying to make their partnership work, they head to nationals. At the end of the routine Aaron kisses Anastasia. She rushes off the ice, in the tunnel Brady (their coach) seems thrilled until Anastasia starts crying and tries to leave. Nate, who had been watching in the stand's rushes down, sees Anastasia in tears and clocks Aaron in the face.
Even though Anastasia and Aaron get first place she decides she won't skate with Aaron again and goes on to skate as a signal rather than as a partner.
A few years later Nate has won the Stanley Cup, Anastasia won gold in the Olympics, and they adopted a dog. Anastasia is pregnant and they are on their babymoon. Nate decides that now would be the perfect time to propose. I definitely would agree, he seemed to have chosen the perfect, romantic place. Obviously, Anastasia says yes, it would be weird if she where to say no. However, I guess there is always a chance and what not.
In case it was needed, or this review has not expressed it very well, I really liked this book. Nate is my dream guy. He was sweet but not too sweet. Anastasia is essentially who I want to be. Smart, using a planner (a little less of a stickler though), and hard/grumpy on the outside but nice/soft on the inside. While I was not a fan of all the partying one can only expect so much from a college romance. All in all, I really liked the book and will definitely be reading the rest of the series as it comes out.
I decided to start a book club with a few of my friends and this was the first book we're reading together. They are not romance readers so I was hoping to start them out with a cute story that would not get too steamy. I clearly did not do a good job (lol). This book was definitely more on the smutty side of things than the cover portrays. While this is a good thing, I wish I had known this previous to choosing the book.
I finished the book first and am now currently waiting on the other two to finish (they read a lot slower than I do Hehe). So, let's hope they enjoy the book as much as I did. They were both shocked by the first chapter and one of their fiancés is convinced I am having her read porn (slapping face emoji). Oh well, we shall see.
Sincerely,
Harper
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