The Ice Prince by Jessica Freely
Sequel to Hero and Rust Belt
Loose Id
Gay Contemporary
ISBN: 978-1-60737-903-4
Reviewed by Cassie




David and Seth have come a long way in the time they’ve been together.  They’ve forged a life together, full of love.  Formerly homeless Seth has a job he enjoys, and he’s working on helping other fighters from the Pit.

As Christmas approaches, however, things aren’t going so well for David.  He finds out a huge, upsetting secret about his father.  The bookstore he works at may close after the holidays.  On top of that, Seth takes in a young Pit fighter who isn’t re-adjusting well to normal life.  Accustomed to dealing with things on his own, David begins to withdraw from Seth.  No matter what Seth does, David gets farther and farther away.  Can they figure out how to stop it before the gulf between them becomes too much to bridge?

The Ice Prince seems to be the conclusion of David and Seth’s story.  I wouldn’t recommend reading it without reading Hero and Rust Belt first, to get a better understanding of the characters.  That said, The Ice Prince is an interesting tale that features a different kind of conflict than the first two books.  Previously in this series, the conflicts have been mostly external.  In The Ice Prince, the conflicts are mostly internal.  David loves Seth, but the one-two punch of unexpected news he gets sends him reeling.  He copes by closing himself off rather than asking Seth for help.  I was annoyed at times by David’s inability to talk, but at the same time it was a little bit understandable.  Due to his upbringing and his personality, David is not the type to talk about his problems.  Seth, on the other hand, has learned the value of sharing his problems.  All he wants is to help others, especially the man he loves.  Helping the other Pit fighters helps Seth move on, but it also distracts him from seeing that David is upset at first.

David’s struggle to deal with what he learns and Seth’s struggle to get David to confide in him form the basis of The Ice Prince.  I enjoyed the secondary characters, and the nods to m/m romance and ebooks were fun.  At times I found the misunderstandings David and Seth kept having to be a little much, but overall I enjoyed The Ice Prince.