• The female protagonist is a member of the hockey team — not a figure skater, a public relations manager, or a player’s sister. Break the Ice’s female lead is a coach!

• In this universe, the NHL doesn’t exist. Instead, the fictional North American Hockey League is the pinnacle of pro-hockey, and is more progressive about employing women and people of colour.

• It’s not just about love and dating. It’s about how to land your dream job. It’s about how to communicate effectively. It’s about how to manage anxiety.

Additionally, Break the Ice explores these key concepts:

• Ambitious women navigating a male-dominated industry.

• Building a chosen family.

• Challenging white privilege in Canadian hockey culture.

This novel includes footnotes to empower readers with relevant hockey knowledge!

This novel also includes footnotes that provide context for geographical and cultural references related to Toronto, Canada.

TROPES
bantering / frenemies to lovers ● fresh start ● dark secret ● he falls first (long-term crush) ● rough past ● secret lovers (don't get caught) ● underdog team ● workplace romance

THEMES
career goals and sacrifices ● celebrity culture & privacy ● challenging the status quo / defying tradition / rebellion ● chosen family ● education (high school, post-secondary, continuing) ● feminism ● friendship ● gaining independence ● love, dating, and single life in early to mid-thirties ● parenthood ● social & ethnic diversity ● sports culture ● therapy & self-improvement

WHAT ELSE TO EXPECT
time-jump ending ● resolved / unpredictable ending (main characters don't get everything they want in their happily ever after) ● teaser ending (new characters introduced to set up the sequel)

This novel contains mature themes and content that may be distressing to some readers, including but not limited to: explicit language, sexual scenes, descriptions of violence and injury, psychological trauma, alcohol use, and references to mental health struggles. Reader discretion is strongly advised.

Specific topics mentioned:

abuse (emotional, physical, verbal) ● addiction & substance use disorder (alcohol, gambling) ● blood ● coarse language (excessive for specific characters only) ● dissociative disorder ● domestic violence (not between the main characters) ● infidelity ● mental illness (anxiety, depression, paranoia, emotional eating ● physical violence ● pregnancy outcomes (loss, live birth, intended, unintended, terminated) ● self-harm ● sex (consensual, graphic, implied, protected, unprotected) ● stalking

This story includes many recurring references to other areas of interest:

FILM & TELEVISION: Star Wars ● Star Trek ● James Bond
MUSIC: Jazz (John Coltrane, Duke Ellington) ● Blues Rock (The White Stripes)
SOCIAL / CULTURAL: Hockey / Professional Sports Culture in Canada ● Social / Cultural / Economic Diversity ● Social Status ● White Privilege
REGIONAL: Maritime / East Coast / New England ● Quebec / French Canada ● City Life ● Small Town Life
OTHER TOPICS: Fashion ● Journalism ● Media & Communication Theory ● Astrology

Wanna skip to the good stuff? 😉

STEAMY SCENES (HEAVY MAKEOUT SESSIONS)
● Chapter 4: The Rush
● Chapter 5: The Shot

SPICY SCENES (RATED R FOR RAUNCHY)
● Chapter 8: The First Intermission
● Chapter 9: The Captain's Log
● Chapter 30: The Goal Horn

For book clubs and beyond!

1. What do you think was the real reason Daniel had chosen Toronto? Proximity to his family in Quebec? A shot at the championship? His long-standing secret crush on Lauryn?

2. Would you consider Daniel’s legal action against the Quebec tabloid magazine as extreme or warranted?

3. With Lauryn entrusting her secret to Michael, what would you have done in Michael’s shoes when Daniel was desperate for answers?

4. Do you believe that Michael’s motives throughout the book were genuinely altruistic? Or had he intended to benefit from creating a rift between Lauryn and Daniel?

5. Who is your favourite supporting or minor character in Break the Ice? Who deserves more attention in the sequels

6. At the end of the book, we learn that Daniel has been retired from hockey for three years. What career do you see him exploring next?

7. What are your thoughts on the author’s use of therapy sessions?

8. Whose approach to conflict resolution do you identify with most?

9. Which aspects of Break the Ice do you suspect are autobiographical? What impact do those elements have on the narrative?

10. Lauryn and Daniel don’t get the happy ending they originally planned for. What do you think of the author’s decision to present the couple with a significant loss?



Jes Tongio had originally written Break the Ice when she was 15. The 2004–05 NHL season had been cancelled due to a labour lockout, leaving Jes to create her own hockey entertainment. 

At the time, teenage Jes was a hardcore hockey fan who bled blue and white for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Her heart, however, belonged to José Théodore, the charismatic goaltender of the rival Montreal Canadiens.

His highly publicized career (and posters on her bedroom wall) inspired Jes to write a story called Untitled Hockey Romance LOL(UHRL for short). She filled WordPad documents with fantasies of being a sharp-dressed pro-hockey coach in a secret workplace affair with the team’s French Canadian goalie.

Over the next decade, Jes chipped away at UHRL, never intending to let it see the light of day. Writing served as an escape while Jes struggled with low self-esteem and an abusive romantic relationship in her early twenties. True love, it seemed, only existed in fiction.

One day, however, a bibliophile friend from journalism school encouraged Jes to resurface and publish her buried novel. During the editing phase, Jes enriched the story with her real-life experiences, which helped her confront her past trauma.

Twenty years after penning its first words, Jes published her debut novel, Break the Ice. She hopes the story resonates with anyone who has felt stuck, trapped, and frozen, while offering fresh perspectives on how to break free.