Book Review: Breaking Away by Sookh Kaur

Breaking Away: Sookh Kaur 

꘎♡━━━━━♡꘎

Genre: Romance

Summary of the Novel: 

Dmitri Lokhov is the rival team’s hot, tattooed, grumpy defenseman. When he loses his calm, knocking my fiancé out on the ice, I’m shocked. Until I learn that he lost his cool over a nasty comment about me… made by my fiancé!

I break my wedding off, but the best way to get revenge?

Fake date the grumpy rival.

Trigger Warnings: 

Family Trauma

Brief Mentions of Anxiety

Spice Level:

🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

♡.﹀﹀﹀﹀.♡

Review

★★★★

Breaking Away by Sookh Kaur is a beautiful romantic comedy about love, family, and identity! The story follows Kavi and Dmitri, one an aspiring photographer and the other a star hockey player. This fake-dating, friends-to-lovers story follows Kavi as she finally finds her own voice through the help of Dmitri and her newfound friends while challenging the demands of her father, the coach of Dmitri's team rival, and Tyler, her ex-fiance and the hockey captain of said team, who's an utterly horrible person (and in my opinion, we should bring back the Salem Witch Trials for him). 

I LOVED this story! The narrative and writing style were easy to follow, and the chapters weren't too long or too short. Kavi and Dmitri were fleshed out and each had their own battles and battle scars, but it was wonderful to see them work together to grow and explore their passions. Dmitri is a complete package! He's handsome, grumpy, tattooed, and completely smitten with the intelligent, sweet, creative Kavi. Of course, like Kavi, he has his own issues. He's the son of a former NHL player who became an alcoholic after an injury that cost him his career, and because of his strict upbringing, Dmitri lives in isolation. The story makes it clear that while it's a romance, it's also a story of healing and family trauma. Kavi and Dmitri both help each other out of their shells and navigate the complex depths of each others' families. I won't spoil too much, but all I'll say is...that chef's apron...👀

Breaking Away is a novel I definitely want in my hands, and I really, truly loved this story! Kaur has a talent for writing character-driven novels with enticing plots, beloved characters, and villains you love to hate. I do wish we had gotten more closure with Kavi's father and Tyler, but the confrontation was still worthwhile! I also wish the problem with Dmitri's knee was enhanced a bit more, it felt more like an afterthought while reading. I like that he and his father's relationship was resolved, but Kavi and her father's relationship felt like it was left hanging. 

Thank you to Sookh Kaur and Bookfunnel for this early ARC copy! 💜This was one of my favorite reads of the year!