You know, I get it. Mlm books are bestselling as romances. This is a debut. I see where the choice to market and focus everything on that part of the story comes from. But it's just... Not a romance, not really; and that cover and blurb are sure to mislead readers. There is, certainly, a good chunk of page time dedicated to Mickey and Cauler's interactions, but the plot is not at all about that.
The story itself focuses on Mickey's mental struggle, his untreated depression and the pressure of family legacy; and the romance with Cauler takes a supporting role in helping him deal with it. I have no qualms about this decision, the portrayal of Mickey's mental health felt real, his anxiety was palpable and even when his intrusive thoughts were louder than what the narrative showed to be true I deeply sympathized with him.
Another great point is how complex the representation was. More often than not authors add the queerness and ethnicity/color to characters like it's a box to be ticket out and it barely impacts them or the narrative outside of eventual discussions about the toils of X minority. In Icebreaker every identity shapes the characters, their personal histories, how they interact with the world. It never felt like it was added half a minute ago, but that it was something they were living with all their lives. Even if no character besides MC was really developed, it was nice to see.
Now, my main issue with this book is that I can really feel the potential, it shone in some passages, but mostly it falls flat because the plot doesn't seem to be that solid, it's almost a slice of life but without enough time for us to like it for the characters. This is felt more towards the last 20% or so, when the narrative unravels into a very soft climax that doesn't have many stakes and makes the resolution little satisfying. The epilogue (both the transition from the last chapter to it and the ending itself) was very abrupt and didn't develop much of a pay-off to the whole thing, but I believe this is more of a style preference.
Maybe Icebreaker would've benefited of a hundred or so extra pages, but most likely it is something Graziadei will work on on future projects. It is a debut after all.