Icebreaker

Nathan Hawkins, or Nate, is a senior at the University of California, Maple Hills, where he majors in sports science. He is the captain of the Titans hockey team and is also its star, for he has already been drafted to the NHL Vancouver Vipers. He is tall and broad-shouldered, with a sharp jawline, dark hair, and dark eyes. Having already been drafted, he does not worry about his career. Instead, he worries about being a good captain to the hockey team and taking care of his younger teammates. He is a fixer and a protector, and he often takes on too much responsibility for the people around him. He feels like he needs to always be the savior, and the arc of his personal growth toward the end of Icebreaker shows him finally letting Anastasia defend herself against Aaron.

Nathan grew up extremely wealthy in Vail, Colorado, where his family owns a ski resort. His father wants him to take over the resort business and does not approve of Nathan’s hockey career. Nathan resents where he grew up, and he hates his father for cheating on his mother while she was dying. He loved his mother very much; ever since she first contracted a rare blood disorder during his youth, he has experienced migraines during moments of extreme stress. For all these reasons, Nathan avoids his father and makes it his life goal not to be like him. Despite Nathan’s estrangement from his father, however, he continues to rely on his father’s money. He lives off a trust fund, drives a Tesla, and lives in a house that his father bought.

Before Anastasia enters the picture, Nathan sleeps around with random girls. He tends to chase women who don’t like him, and that is what initially attracts him to Anastasia. However, when he does start chasing Anastasia, he stops chasing other women. He explains that when he likes someone, he likes them all the way. His mother taught him to be “all in with his whole heart and head” (351). As a boyfriend, Nathan is emotionally intelligent, attentive, and dominant in the bedroom in a way that Anastasia enjoys. Though he can be jealous and overprotective, he is also gentle and willing to change. He is an ideal boyfriend in the tradition of romance novels.

Aaron Carlisle is a junior at the University of California, Maple Hills, and the best male figure skater at the school. Aaron has never known failure, and so he is always calm and confident before skating competitions. He cares about Anastasia as a friend, roommate, and skating partner, but he struggles to express those feelings in a healthy way. He is an only child of two wealthy but unhappy parents who donate money to the school and buy Aaron a fancy condo and expensive car. Because his parents often fight and manipulate each other, Aaron only knows how to express love by manipulating the people closest to him, especially Anastasia. For that reason, Aaron is the novel’s primary antagonist.

Anastasia summarizes Aaron’s problems by saying he “never learned to share” (168). When Anastasia spends most of her time with him, his behavior is not problematic. However, he betrays a nasty side whenever Anastasia talks about anyone else. When she socializes with people other than him, he gets upset and insults her choice of friends and lovers. He shames her for sleeping with other men or partying, and he criticizes her eating habits whenever she cheats on the meal plan he developed, which is later discovered to be a very unhealthy plan. Despite Aaron’s emotional abuse, Anastasia gives him every chance to improve himself, but he never does, and he eventually loses Anastasia for good.

Lola is a junior at the University of California, Maple Hills, where she majors in theater and acts in plays. Throughout Icebreaker, she is working on a production of Hamilton. She wears her heart on her sleeve and is a very positive person. She is very supportive of Anastasia, her roommate and best friend, and sides with her in every argument. Lola is the oldest child in a big family, and thus she is bossy and extroverted. Hannah Grace uses Lola’s impulsive personality to constantly boss Anastasia into situations she otherwise tries to avoid—such as parties with the hockey team—and her relationship with Robbie, Nathan’s best friend, helps push Anastasia and Nathan together.

Before Icebreaker was revised for Atria Books, Lola was Sabrina Allahi, an Arabic-speaking Algerian Muslim character. After readers objected to the contradiction of Sabrina’s partying and Muslim religion, Grace changed the character.

Robbie Hamlet is a senior at the University of California, Maple Hills, and an assistant coach for the hockey team. Robbie has been Nathan’s best friend since childhood in Colorado, and Robbie’s parents treat Nathan like a second son. Robbie once played hockey, but he lost his ability to walk after a skiing accident in high school at the Hawkins family ski resort. Despite the accident, he lives a happy life as a coach, and at the end of the novel he begins a master’s program at UCMH and plans to continue coaching hockey permanently for the school. He lives with Nathan and strikes up a relationship with Lola.

Henry Turner is a Sophomore at the University of California, Maple Hills, and the best player on the hockey team after Nathan. He is beautiful, with curly, auburn hair, sharp cheekbones, and brown skin. He is a very sensitive person. He grew up in the Maple Hills suburbs with two mothers, paints in his free time, and keeps a box of women’s essentials in his bathroom for female guests. After having a hard time living in the dorms, Nathan invited him to live at their house. Henry struggles with social cues and lacks a social filter. It takes effort for him to be social, and he sometimes struggles with obsessive thinking. Grace uses Henry as a kind of Shakespearean fool figure; due to his lack of a social filter, Henry gets way with voicing unspoken truths, including Anastasia’s love for Nathan and Nathan’s unhealthy obsession with Aaron. By the end of the novel, Henry and Anastasia are like siblings, and he strikes up a relationship with Russ.

Jaiden Johal, or JJ, is a senior at the University of California, Maple Hills, and a defender on the hockey team. He lives with Nathan, Robbie, and Henry, and like Nathan he has already been drafted to play in the NHL (for the San Jose Marlins). JJ is a pansexual Indian man and an only child from Nebraska. He has bleached-blond hair, tattoos, and a nose ring. He is interested in astrology, but he looks like a bad boy and likes behaving mischievously in order to annoy Nathan. By the end of the novel, he becomes good friends with Anastasia and strikes up a relationship with a waiter at a fancy seafood restaurant in Malibu.

Russ is a freshman at the University of California, Maple Hills, on a scholarship for hockey. He is a nervous guy who avoids talking about himself. He comes from a working-class family, and it is implied that his father is an abusive alcoholic. Anastasia describes him as a gentle puppy. By the end of the novel, he strikes up a friendship with Henry and plans to move into the house.

Coach Aubrey Brady was once a star figure skater on her way to the Olympics, but she got pregnant and lost her chance to compete. Now she is the intimidating figure skating coach at the University of California, Maple Hills. She is from the Midwest, but Anastasia thinks of her as having a Russian accent because she is so strict during practice. Brady believes that Anastasia has what it takes to go all the way to the Olympics, which leads her to be harder on Anastasia than on the other skaters. She even willingly ignores Aaron’s abuse in her determination to push Anastasia toward skating success. However, by the end of the novel, she understands Anastasia’s decision to quit pair skating and sympathizes with her situation.

Coach Neil Faulkner is the coach of the Maple Hills hockey team. He is a three-time Stanley Cup winner whose career was cut short by a car accident. Because he was on the road for hockey so often, he missed a lot of his daughters’ childhood, and now he is a dedicated family man. He is a no-nonsense coach quick to lay down the law, but he trusts Nathan.

Colin and Julia Allen are Anastasia’s adoptive parents. They love their daughter, but in an effort to be supportive of her career, they too often treat Anastasia as a figure skater first and a daughter second. After Anastasia makes an effort to have a relationship with her parents aside from talking about skating, their relationship is repaired. After meeting Nathan, Colin becomes very proud of his hockey career, becoming something of surrogate father to Nathan.

Sasha Hawkins is Nathan’s teenage sister. She is a skiing prodigy. Though she loves skiing, her father puts too much pressure on her career. He also wants Nathan to take over the resort business even though Sasha is a much better fit. Sasha and Anastasia become friends, but the novel ends before Sasha fixes her relationship with her controlling father.

Ian Hawkins is Nathan’s and Sasha’s father. He looks just like Nathan, but older, and his personality is similar to Aaron’s. He controls Sasha’s life and is critical of Nathan’s choices. He cheated on his wife while she was dying and made enemies of the Hamlets after Robbie’s skiing accident, only later making amends by paying for Nathan’s garage in Maple Hills to be converted into an accessible bedroom. By the end of the novel, Ian has not changed, but Nathan recognizes that his father despises himself for cheating on his wife.