Embracing the Chill: A Review of Icebound by Meredith Trapp

A debut novel by Meredith Trapp, Icebound, is a classic sports romance with all of the right elements you need for your next spicy read. Featuring a misunderstood and robust, not to mention attractive, hockey player, facing a potential crossroads in his life and a young art student, truly coming into her own and facing the world with amazing bravery, this book had me up all night finishing the captivating story. 

The narrative switches between the two main characters, allowing us to really understand their motivations and reasons behind their decisions. And, speaking to Trapp’s skill as a writer, she kept this novel away from a lot of the stereotypical tropes that the alternating perspective tends to fall into. There’s no unnatural and forced misunderstanding, and the characters really remain true to themselves and don’t make any odd decisions just to further the plot. Both characters grow and change and manage to do so in a very realistic manner. 

Our two main characters, Rhode and Nina, are so well fleshed out and have such compelling personalities, that the story just feels so right. Rhode is veteran hockey player that is a totem for his team. He is so much more than a goalie on the ice, and has even more to offer once he takes his skates off.  Nina is an art student who challenges the role of what college life and students are expected to be. 

Trapp’s writing style is very casual and easy-to-read. She’s able to convey a complex and wide spectrum of emotion, circumstance, and detail without losing the reader along the way. She truly has pacing down to an art; the story unfolded in such a compelling way and doesn’t jolt the reader from one plot or scene to the next. 

I really appreciate that Trapp added a content warning at the beginning of the book. It doesn’t spoil any of the story, but definitely prepares readers who might be affected for when those points come up. I’ll touch more on this later, but the main character deals with anxiety and panic attacks, of varying intensity, throughout the story, so as someone more prone to that side of anxiety, I was glad to be able to prepare and distance myself from the attack while still being in the moment with the character.  The other content warning, to me was perhaps an excess, though, not having personal experience with fertility issues, I am not the one to speak to how helpful that would be. I’ll just say that I almost wouldn’t even have noticed the reference made during the story if there hadn’t been a content warning. However, someone having faced that might have felt a bigger impact. 

Icebound is a solid romance that teeters on the “smut” category. The tension built between the characters is fairly believable and realistic, and the more illicit scenes have the perfect amount of description without being gaudy. 

While it may be a stretch, if you like this story, you probably want to check out some romance stories that verge on paranormal or supernatural. You know what I’m about to say, Werewolf Romance. I have a few suggestions, but first, the “pack” mentality from the hockey team, the possessiveness shown by the “alpha” or primary leader of the team, and the subtle and mutual rough intimacy between the two main characters; yep, all classic tropes in werewolf romance. Now, obviously this is a non supernatural story, so if you’re not into the mid to high fantasy, then stick with hockey romance. But, if you want a little variety, that might be the direction you want to look for your next spicy read.