I am surprised but I actually enjoyed the plot of this story. Actually, no. I am not surprised. I have read other books by Avery Keelan, and I have really enjoyed them, so I wasn't expecting to hate this book. I'm just surprised at how well the plot is. I have seen that Avery has 3 books from Wattpad, and I am assuming that these are her first endeavors in "professional" writing. Are there errors and typos? Yes. Does the story need to be worked a bit more? Yes. But it was already apparent that Avery was going to be a really good writer. Now that she has a publishing deal, I am hoping that she considers revisiting her Wattpad writings and works them a bit more to re-release them.
This is the story of Ryan Winters and Ethan Russell. Circumstances beyond Ryan's control meant that she was going into her junior year of college without accommodations and was facing the possibility of spending the year couch surfing. Luck would have it that a room becomes available in the penthouse of one of the buildings that she has been drooling over. The catch? The owner of said penthouse is fellow junior and hockey captain, Ethan Russell. Not that Ryan knows who Ethan is as she doesn't follow the school's sports team. There are mutual sparks but hooking up with your roommate is only inviting drama. Ethan does not need more drama after his break-up with his girlfriend, Alexis, the previous school year. He wants to keep his head down and focus only on hockey and schoolwork. School to appease his father and hockey to make sure he achieves his NHL dream. Ethan has been burned before by relationships...with his father, with his girlfriend, and with his friend. He isn't one to open up and let new people in. But Ryan worms her way into his heart, and soon, the attraction gets to be too much and becomes a distraction for him.
This was a slow-burn book as Ryan and Ethan took almost 60% of the book to finally confess their feelings for each other and act on their mutual attraction. The pining, the back and forth..it was great. I wish we had more scenes showcasing their growing friendship. The way they bonded over breakfast and decorating for holidays was cute. But I wish we could have seen how they hung out outside of their condo or how they shared movie nights at home, little moments of shared time together. We know it has happened because they say it towards the end of their flirtation period when they explain how their feelings grew for each other over time, but since we didn't actually witness it too much, it's hard to connect with those feelings.
Also, if you are familiar with Avery's work, you know that the spice is there, and her MMC likes to talk dirty and be dominant. I think Avery was still a little shy when she wrote Breakaway. It's pretty much-closed door...no; I would say maybe a 1 spice. There is some talk about Ryan getting naked, Ethan loving her nipples...things like that. But the spice from her later books is not present in this one. If, no, WHEN this book gets re-written (I will manifest it into existence), it needs the spice.
My main issue with this book is the length. It started off with detail, explaining quite a few things, but then it started to rush through the story, and there was so much left out. Ethan is passionate about hockey but we don't see much of his hockey life. There is some mention of diet, workout regime, and practices in the beginning. We know that Ethan's head is out of the game for some time because he is distracted thinking about Ryan, but we don't get much information about the hockey games, the career, etc. It just stops being a talking point at some part of the book and becomes an afterthought. He even gets hurt for a second time during one of the playoff games with a concussion and there is no mention of that game or injury. We just found out that he is benched for the remainder of the season and that Ryan took care of him.
Ryan is a nursing student doing her practitioner internship or whatever it is called. There is mention of her working at the hospital and being affected by the pediatric ward she works in but no real explanation of her aspirations or internship. Nor does it mention the hardship she could face if and when she runs into her ex-boyfriend during the internship.
I need more storyline and insight into the family and friends of our main characters. Ethan has a wonderful relationship with his mother, yet we only meet her once briefly, and not much information is given about her. We get more information on his father...a relationship I want to know more about.
Ryan is very close to her mother as well but hides the fact that she is living with a guy, and then eventually dating him. Not to mention that her mother kept her relationship secret from Ryan as well. I need more background information. Also...what was that with Ryan's father? I feel that it was just thrown in to add drama but then was forgotten about. And it was good potential drama. Elaborate on that storyline, please! This book needs another 150 pages or so...easily!
And then the friends. I loved Axel and Izzy's relationship. Oh my gosh! Avery, please, girl! Rewrite Breakaway and have that be book 1 of the series. Create a book with Axel and Izzy for the next book; I need Luca's post-breakup from Karissa, a Smith book, and a Geoff book. These were great characters. You can't leave me hanging. We need the entire series.
We get a lot of insight into Ethan's crazy ex, Alexis. In fact, I think there is another book on Wattpad by Avery called Dangle that involves Alexis, although she is not the FMC. It is the story of another teammate and ex-roommate of Ethan's. I won't say more as I have yet to read it and I want to. In fact, release Dangle and have it be a novella and #1.5 of the series.
Then there is one other book on Wattpad by Avery called On Tilt. I haven't read it yet but I don't think there is a connection to the other two books. However, I need it too.