I really enjoyed this book! It’s an opposites attract story and so cute! Jock versus scholar! I haven’t read a book by this Author before but can’t wait to read the rest of this series. This Author has a new fan, in me! Thanks you….

I enjoyed this book for what it was (a hockey romance I used as a palette cleanser). I feel like there are other books just like it, but I read it quickly and enjoyed it for the most part.

I looove sports romances but I feel like I’m getting really picky with them lately bc there’s just too many to wade thru and few of them are really great. I unfortunately did not really like this one. Summer was super dramatic and kinda immature, and the way she acted towards her dad and Aiden at times really annoyed me. The writing style wasn’t for me, it was a bit clunky at times.

It was super cute, especially towards the end. However, it took quite a while to pick up. It served its purpose as a hockey romance.

Overall, this was a very enjoyable read. It had equal parts rom and com, and there was a great found family dynamic (which happens to be my favorite part of hockey romances). I will say that I was annoyed by the enemies to lovers aspect that was sort of introduced at the beginning of their relationship, however it fizzled out pretty quickly, which I am eternally grateful for. As for the Icebreaker comparisons I've seen, it's definitely there. Especially in the way that they are forced to work together and hate each other at the beginning, then have a friends with benefits moment while the fmc refuses to admit her feelings for the mmc. There's also a toxic ex/male figure that's a reocurrring issue but gets put in his place at the end. Also the house full of lovable hockey players. Now that I'm thinking about it, it definitely has a lot of similarities to Icebreaker, but I didn't really notice it while reading. To conclude, if Kian doesn't get his own book I'm fighting someone.

This is a standard, classic, hockey romance. Boy falls first, girl is strong and determined and doesn’t want to let boy district her, boy needs her help and she needs his help, they fall in love. It’s a standard formula for a reason: it works. We do get some intricacies with Summer’s father that are never fully fleshed out, but are there to add some depth. Aiden has an actually pretty traumatic backstory that I wish was more fully addressed. I guess what I’m saying is that this is a pretty surface level hockey romance with standard tropes and spice, and it’s a perfectly predictable read. It’s enjoyable. If you liked Icebreaker, you’ll like this.

I will say: it’s entirely too long. Like 150 pages too long.

I love a good; student x hockey player they have to tutor/do a joint study with, like that’s a whole genre I love it. Although there is a mass amount of these type of books out there this was really creative and well thought out! It didn’t feel repetitive at any parts like most modern sports romance go, the author also wins points for including not just a man who isn’t a jerk to his girlfriend and excusing it but for including pop culture references without being cringy. I stop a book once I get to an Ellen degenres obbsession or Harry Potter reference but this was a really nice blend without making it seem like a tiktok based book.

The romance was nice and sweet, the plot got a little lost somewhere in there but I usually end up getting a little fuzzy memory wise in romance based books because I’m not here for that part anyway:)) but it gets back on track near the end and there’s a nice ending that doesn’t feel too abrupt or sudden, aiden and summer are one of few sports romance couples I can actually full heartedly support and will be reccomending to friends!!

Thank you to NetGalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review!

I've been in a big hockey romance era and I was excited to read this one, but yikes it wasn't for me. I can see sooo many people loving this, but I just wasn't jiving with the characters and the flimsy plot would've been fine, but the characters themselves couldn't quite match the Well, I didn't like it, obviously. Honestly, I think this just comes down to personal preference. I don't think it's an inherently bad book and I can see why so many people like it, especially if you're a hockey romance girly. I love hockey romances myself, but I DNF'd Icebreaker, so I think there are just certain ones that aren't for me. Personally, I think (from what I did read of Icebreaker) these two books have similar vibes. This one, I did like a little more, but the love/hate relationship I had with the characters grew tiresome. Summer was a good MC, flawed and grumpy, but sometimes she was so irritating, I was rolling my eyes at her on the page. Also, this book kind of had a hate-to-love situation going on, but it felt so pointless? Like their banter was a lot of fun, but I felt like we could've had that banter without the unnecessary animosity between them in the beginning. The way they reacted to one another when first meeting felt so forced and random. Also Aidan was just fine for like the first half of the book to me. He did get better and make me giggle and kick my feet eventually, but it took awhile to get there. Idk there were a lot of little things that perhaps on their own wouldn't have hindered me enjoying this too much, but all of them together made this tough to get through. The epilogue was cute and there were some bright moments in this, but overall this wasn't for me!

Fun title to add to adult romance collections. This is a similar title to IceBreaker but I would definitely recommend.

this was such a quick and fun read. I really liked this book it was really giving dislike to lovers . Summer and Aiden are forced to work on a project with each other neither of them really want to . For one Summer hates hockey players & Aiden is one. I really loved the friendship that developed between Summer & Aiden before becoming more. And omg Summer and Aiden are the cutest couple!! I seriously loved the personality growth and how they individually grew as a couple and as a person!!

“I haven’t talked to you all day. I’m thinking this punishment is a bit cruel,”

Collide was so cute!! I loved all the characters and watching them fall for each other was so sweet. Definitely recommend!

Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley for providing me with an egalley of this book to read and give my honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
Summer Preston dislikes hockey so when she's given an ultimatum from her advisor to take on a hockey player for her project that will help her get into graduate school, she begrudgingly sucks it up. Saddled with Adien Crawford, the hockey's teams senior captain, she's determined to dislike him but still make the project work so she can pursue her dream. What she's not expecting is to find a warm hearted, genuine guy, who is loyal to a fault. They have a rocky start but then form a tenuous friendship that finds them spending time together and being drawn to one another.
I love me a good sports romance but there is just something about hockey romance that gets me every, single time. I will always add it to my TBR. I was excited to see this one offered when the author got picked up by Berkley and had to have a crack at it as I'd heard some great things about it. I was pleasantly surprised by this new author,
If you're looking for a book with heavy plot this one doesn't really have that. There is an underlying plot that kind of blows up at the end, true to any romance book of this type, But if you are looking for fluff and romance and swoon, then you've come to the right place. If you're looking for a frenemies, forced proximity, reverse grumpy sunshine book, this is for you!
Summer Preston is my girl. She knows what she wants. She's not afraid to ask. And I loved how her character morphed and changed to go from someone who doesn't want to burden others with her stuff to taking the help she might need. I was a little surprised with her acceptance of how Donny Rai, her ex, treats her pissed me off. I wanted to see her stand up to him more and realize he was playing her but it didn't happen. I will say given her hate of hockey, and hockey players, she does easily integrate into that life without much push back. Her Daddy issues come through but not enough to really stop her from immediately accepting and interacting with all the guys from the team. This is something I would have liked to see more: her struggle with accepting being part of it all. Her childhood friend is on the team, her friend from her classes is on the team, so she does associate and it seems not in line with what she says about it from the beginning.
Adien Crawford is a warm hearted, golden retriever of an MMC. He's not at all what I thought he would be at first, which was cocky and full of himself. Instead, he's a caring guy who wants to make sure everyone is safe and happy. It totally took me by surprise. But I was happy to see an MMC with such a big heart. He wears his emotions right on his sleeve and I adore that he's not afraid to show them. I will say, he was quick to turn from never settling down to suddenly finding the one. Going from more of a hook up player to someone who is ready for a real relationship kind of seemed like a jump for me. I would have liked to see this explored a bit more. But I guess when you find the one, you just know. He had so much patience with Summer though I do think at times he let her walk all over him because he wasn't willing to hurt her.
As with most romance books like this, we see a slew of side characters: particularly Adien's hockey team friends and Summer's dorm mates. I loved how the story wove them in and gave opportunities for them to have their own stories in future books. I'm looking forward to more Tyler, Dylan, Kian, Eli,
I loved all the smut and fluff in this book. But my biggest love was the banter. It was everywhere. If a book has me laughing out loud, I consider that a huge success. The writing was good. From the reviews of this title as an indie publication, you would think it didn't make any sense, but editing must have done this book well because I liked it.
I liked the diverse cultural representation in this book, as well. My past experience with sports romance have never shown such diversity. But Khabra wove in so many different cultures in this book, I was happy to see it. I'm hoping she continues this diversity for her future books. I will definitely be following this series and other books written by this author.
Fans of Elle Kennedy 's Off Campus/Briar U/Campus Diaries and Hannah Grace's Maple Hills series will eat this story up.

DNF 1/2 way through (due to being open door explicit!) This book was very enjoyable. The plot was so fun and I loved the family drama in Summer's POVs. This is a great option for beginner hockey romances and perfect for anyone who liked Icebreaker by Hannah Grace. This is an open door explicit romance with multiple scenes that are not too long.

4/5 star sports romance.

Okay, when I requested this book, I thought it was the second book in the series, I had already read the first a few months ago!

Regardless, my review is below:

I LOVE sports romance. But I am picky about them. I think too many are so overly corny or the dialogue is awkward. That wasn't the case here. I thought Bal did a really great job at keeping the forced proximity, enemies to lovers trope fun and the dialogue felt natural. I'm really looking forward to the second in the series, hopefully soon!

This was such a good read and I immediately fell in love with Summer and Aiden’s characters. Loved the setting, the support, and the ending ❤️

I CAN"T wait for the next book in this series!!!

This was such a fun and cute read and definitely gave me what I was looking for. However, the main charcater summer was very obnoxious at times and I felt like she caused unnecessary drama for no reason. Aiden was good and kind to her and despite so she always put a face about him that wasn’t true. And honestly at times I genuinely thought he deserved better. But nontheless it was an enjoyable read and can’t wait for the next one!

I imagine this book was meant to be in the same vein as Icebreaker, but I felt it wasn’t as successful. I enjoyed the main characters and their banter, but the plot felt lacking. Enjoyed it enough for 3 stars, but wouldn’t necessarily recommend it to others.

the warm and cozy feelings that i got while reading this was unmatched! i didn’t want this book to end and i’ll definitely be doing a reread. summer and aiden are soo cute together and i’m really looking forward to the next book in this series!!

A hockey romance with no third act breakup, written by Bal Khabra? I already knew I was gonna love this and I DID!!

After reading her debut A Code for Love I absolutely fell in love with her writing and was counting the days when she would release another book bc it was THAT good. So when I received an arc of this book I was 𝘦𝘤𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘤🤍

Summer is a sports psychology student and Aiden is captain of the hockey team. After an incident, he has to help Summer with a project so he doesn’t get suspended from the game. These two didn’t get off to a good start but their relationship progressed as they spent more time together.

Summer and Aiden’s dynamic was very well written. I didn’t expect it to be a slow burn but shit it was burningg. This was also dual pov and the way he would talk about her and OBSESS over her gave me butterflies😩 I was 𝘥𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 for them to get together.

Aiden is the greenest green flag. He’s flirty, cocky & has zero filter. Some of the things he would say was so unexpected it made me blush🤭 Summer tried to deny her feelings but he would go out of his way to show that he cares and respects her, especially when she doubted herself. Him being her biggest supporter was so CUTE🥹

And the side characters? I freaking LOVED them. They were funny, entertaining and the way they would have Summer’s back when Aiden was being stupid, it made me smile🤍.

Is it too early to ask for Kian’s book? he’s so baby girl and idk, seems like the possessive type…👀 I know it’s gonna be fun watching him be down bad for a girl🤭

🌷thank you so much Bal & Berkley for sending me an arc!🤍 I enjoyed this so so much <3

Quotes I loved:

♡ “𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘳, 𝘚𝘶𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘮𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘻𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯’𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵.”

♡ “𝘐 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦.” 𝘏𝘰𝘮𝘦. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘐 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦.”

♡ “𝘚𝘩𝘦’𝘴 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘺. 𝘓𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘺. 𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘶𝘱 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘵. 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯.”

♡ “𝘈𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯’𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘦…𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯’𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐’𝘮 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘪𝘮. 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯’𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦.”

♡ “𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭 𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘶𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘯𝘰 𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘦. “𝘖𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯. 𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦. 𝘠𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘦. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘣𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘯.”

♡ “𝘈𝘴 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘴 𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺, 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘮𝘱𝘴 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯’𝘵 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘴𝘰 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘻𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘶𝘱 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘳, 𝘚𝘶𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘮𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘻𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯’𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵.”

♡ “𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘭 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵, 𝘚𝘶𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳.”

♡ “𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘦.”

Aiden being his flirty self:

♡ “Now that you mention it, I wouldn’t mind a tip.”
“𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧.”

♡ “𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘨𝘶𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘧𝘺 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘦.”

♡ “You practice on a lot of girls?”
“𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴.”

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

The description I read of this one being Icebreaker x The Deal was just spot on.