Icebreaker

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Title :

Icebreaker / A.L. Graziadei.

Title:

Icebreaker

Author:

Graziadei, A. L.

Format:

Books

Physical Description:

314 pages ; 22 cm

Edition:

First edition.

ISBN:

9781250777119

Production / Publication Information:

New York : Henry Holt and Company, 2022.

Summary:

Mickey James III is following in his father's (and grandfather's) skates by playing hockey at Hartland University, but he is not enjoying the situation: for one thing he is seriously depressed, unsure of anything, even whether he can make it as a hockey player (or wants to); more troubling his rival, Jaysen Caulfield, is also on the team and seems to bitterly resent him--and Mickey actually finds Jaysen very attractive and does not know how to deal with that.

Target audience note:

Ages 14-18.

Language:

English

Genre:

Sports fiction.

Gay fiction.

Novels.

Subject Term:

Gay people -- Juvenile fiction.

Hockey players -- Juvenile fiction.

Depression, Mental -- Juvenile fiction.

Self-confidence -- Juvenile fiction.

Hockey stories.

Gay people -- Fiction.

Hockey -- Fiction.

Depression, Mental -- Fiction.

Self-confidence -- Fiction.

JUVENILE FICTION / General.

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Material Type	Library	Call Number	Item Barcode	Location
Book	Searching... Andover - Memorial Hall Library	TEEN FICTION GRAZIADEI	31330009177308	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Amesbury Public Library	YA FIC GRAZIADEI	32114002769744	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Burlington Public Library	YA GRAZIA	32116003952286	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Carlisle - Gleason Public Library	TEEN GRAZIADEI	32117002110769	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Dracut - Moses Greeley Parker Memorial Library	YA/FIC/GRAZIADEI	31482003043000	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Georgetown Peabody Library	YA FIC GRAZIADEI	32120001424165	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Hamilton-Wenham Public Library	Y GRA	30470002079175	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Lawrence Public Library	FIC GRA YA	31549004937123	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Littleton - Reuben Hoar Library	YA F GRAZIADEI	39965002443629	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Lowell - Pollard Memorial Library	YA FIC GRAZIADEI	31481005678086	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Lowell - Pollard Memorial Library	YA FIC GRAZIADEI	31481005787374	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Merrimac Public Library	YA GRA	32125001487799	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Methuen - Nevins Memorial Library	YA GRA	31548003397065	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... North Andover - Stevens Memorial Library	TEEN GRAZIADEI	31478010191014	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Rowley Public Library	YA FIC GRA	32130001015053	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Tewksbury Public Library	TEEN FICTION GRAZIADEI	32132003379529	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Tyngsborough Public Library	YA/GRAZI	32137002198739	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... West Newbury - G.A.R. Memorial Library	YA GRA	32135001549472	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Wilmington Memorial Library	TEEN GRAZIADEI	32136003626367	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

A. L. Graziadei's Icebreaker is an irresistible YA debut about two hockey players fighting to be the best--and the romance that catches them by surprise along the way.

Seventeen-year-old Mickey James III is a college freshman, a brother to five sisters, and a hockey legacy. With a father and a grandfather who have gone down in NHL history, Mickey is almost guaranteed the league's top draft spot.

The only person standing in his way is Jaysen Caulfield, a contender for the #1 spot and Mickey's infuriating (and infuriatingly attractive) teammate. When rivalry turns to something more, Mickey will have to decide what he really wants, and what he's willing to risk for it.

This is a story about falling in love, finding your team (on and off the ice), and choosing your own path.

Reviews (3)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Mickey James III, who's white, loves hockey, but the steep expectations--he's starting college at the school where his father and grandfather were hockey stars, and he's a projected top-two pick for the next NHL hockey draft--weigh on him, amplifying his depression and anxiety. Plus, he's bisexual, which he worries won't go over well in "notoriously homophobic" hockey circles and with the media, even if the school's athletic department has a zero-tolerance bigotry policy. Even so, Mickey can't help noticing how attractive Jaysen "Cauler" Caulfield, his teammate and prickly rival for first pick, is. On paper, Mickey's the consummate insider, whereas Cauler is Black in a largely white sport, has already sustained a career-threatening injury, and, Mickey's starting to think, might be gay. Debut author Graziadei clearly knows the sport, but even readers who don't will enjoy a tale that's more than just enemies-to-lovers. At 17, narrator Mickey's never really bothered making friends, and now he's on a team that insists its players get along; their friendly byplay and love for the game, Mickey's loving relationship with his sisters, and the book's nuanced discussion of mental health make for a complex read. Ages 14--up. (Jan.)

Kirkus Review

Being a hockey phenom doesn't magically cure overwhelming depression and anxiety, but falling for a teammate definitely complicates things. At Hartland University in upstate New York, White freshman Mickey James III has the weight of his family's hockey legacy on his shoulders: His father and grandfather are both alumni and former NHL legends. The all-but-guaranteed trajectory of his seemingly charmed life makes him deeply uneasy but also sows some initial resentment in his teammates, as Mickey's mental health issues and years of sports-only development have left him a bit awkward. Luckily, they come to be overwhelmingly supportive--even Jaysen Caulfield, the other top NHL prospect and Mickey's biggest rival, who is a Black player in a mostly White sport. Explicit conversations about mental health make for a refreshing take on the typical athlete's journey. Mickey's five older sisters and their respective successes also shed sobering light on gender inequity in sports while raising the stakes for Mickey in a family full of winners. Mickey's queerness and budding relationship with Jaysen highlight first-time author Graziadei's ability to balance teen melodrama and well-paced eroticism with a thoughtful, contemporary consideration of queer representation in sports and media. Despite well-worn tropes that move both boys from a tumultuous meet-cute toward as realistic a future as possible for two NHL players in love, Mickey's progress with his mental health avoids predictability. Equal measures unabashed romance and sports story; a thoughtfully rewarding read for those who need one most. (Fiction. 14-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Booklist Review

College freshman Mickey James III is a hockey phenom who is stuck on his college team with his greatest rival, Jaysen Caulfield. Initially, the two hate each other, but it doesn't take Mickey long to come out to readers as secretly bi and to begin rhapsodizing about Jaysen. And yet, when Jaysen comes out to him, Mickey dithers. And dithers some more until he finally comes out to Jaysen. The two begin an awkward affair, unsure of where it can go since Mickey plans to be drafted by a professional hockey team at the end of the school year, while Jaysen plans to finish college before going pro. But this is only one of Mickey's problems: he also secretly lives with clinical depression and has problems with his father, a legendary hockey player who, Mickey feels, abandoned him. Graziadei's empathetic first novel is richly plotted and handles its gay themes and hockey action well, making it a natural read-alike for Ngozi Ukazu's Check, Please! #Hockey (2018). The author shoots and scores!