E-galley Review: Breaking the Ice (Love on Thin Ice Series) by Whitney Dineen

I received this book for free from the author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Breaking the Ice by Whitney Dineen
Series: Love on Thin Ice #1
Published by 33 Partners Publishing on August 22, 2024
Genres: Adult Contemporary Romance
Pages: 196
Source: the author
Format: E-galley
My Rating:
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Blurb:

What do an entitled billionaire and small-town ice-skating coach have in common?

Ellie
My life is not turning out like I thought it would.

My mom’s arthritis has gotten so bad that I had to move in with her. I’m making ends meet by giving ice skating lessons at the arena in Maple Falls. I’d be in serious trouble had the Harts not given me that job.

Which makes it impossible to say no when they ask me to let Troy’s obnoxious billionaire brother stay in the cabin on my mom’s property during the charity hockey event they’re running.

Zach
First the tabloids call me out for being a cheapskate and then Yolanda Simms takes to national television to tell everyone what a vicious heartbreaker I am?

Yeah, my life has been better.

My brother thinks I can fix my bad press by coming to Maple Falls and donating big to his new charity endeavor. Too bad he didn’t mention the woman who owns the cottage I’ll be staying at hates me with a passion.

He also didn’t mention she’s everything I’ve ever looked for in a woman…

Breaking the Ice is part of the Love on Thin Ice sweet small town hockey romcom series. It’s an enemies to lovers, billionaire romance, with forced proximity, It’s a small town romance with all the sizzle and chemistry, but none of the spice.

My Review

I’ve wanted to read this author for a long time, and I finally got to read a book by her earlier this year, and I loved it as much as I thought I would. So when I saw this new multi-author series starting up, with her book as a part of it, I had to sign up to read and review.

This was another winner for me! I loved the characters, I loved all the small town atmosphere, and I also loved Zach’s assistant! I wonder if possibly the author will give us a story for her soon? Like maybe Zach’s twin brother or something? Anyway, once I picked this one up I sped through it. I hated having to put it down to go back to work after my lunch break, or when I had to go to bed.

There was a lot to the story with Zach’s brother hosting the charity hockey team/game. Then there was Zach’s not really ex-girlfriend, three dates, part of a PR deal in reality. She was the perfect villain for the story. Ellie’s story with her mom also brought a pretty emotional part, for me especially with the last year with my mom and stepdad’s health. But I really did like the way the story handled all of it. The author did a great job having it be emotional, yet not depressing.

The only reason I didn’t give it a full 5 stars is because it seemed Ellie’s dislike of Zach was a little over the top for me. I don’t think we necessarily got a back story with a guy for her that did something, and to believe all the press when she knew and really liked his brother, it just seemed she kept getting into that too much without really knowing the guy. That’s just my opinion, and it wasn’t anything that ruined the story, as I still really enjoyed it!