Everything you would expect from a college sports romance especially covering all the basics. This is a grumpy aspiring sports psychologist tasked with a project essential in getting into a prestigious masters program on the one sport she has refused to cover- hockey. And of course her sunshine eventual love interest is her hockey player subject.

This is very much college aged kids including the side characters. I've read college romances that have felt aged up in their conversations and mannerisms which I do think is possible in the real world, age does not equal maturity in either a positive or negative way, but these characters are definitely immature and messy. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, like I said it's accurate to how some college young adults fumble in life but also some of the eye roll bro-ness between hockey players is definitely there. They live off of assumptions that an accountant equals boring and bad in bed, guys are always DTF, etc. Sometimes it's a bit much and I can overlook a lot.

Additionally, there are some plot holes and chapter jumps. Times when a scene randomly cuts off and it's a new chapter but that isn't consistent in the whole book. Certain logistical things with this masters program application don't line up, like I said- plot holes.

BUT I can be here for the vibes and they are here. It's spicy, there are MANY cute one liners that aren't even cheesy. So I still had fun with this. Thank you to Berkley for the free book!

I decided to DNF Collide about 35% into the book. I picked it up 4-5 times over a week and I just found myself not wanting to read because I didn’t want to keep reading this. The book isn’t awful, it’s just not anything new. I have read this book before, maybe it happens later in the book, but the first 1/3 of the book doesn’t give anything unique from any other college hockey romance. I’m sure lots of people will love it, I just don’t love college age romances enough to stick it out.

This book didn't captivate me from the very very start, but overall a decent story that many will love I'm sure. The writing style didn't grab me like in other hockey romances. I didn't love this book but also I didn't hate it or regret reading it. I couldn't get connected to Summer - stubborn girl that she is. Aiden on the other hand was an absolute delight. No third act breakup which is good. This was a cute story but just didnt have the extra ooomph for me. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thanks @berkleyromance for the advanced copy and including me on the tour for Collide - this one is now available!

Collide - review + tour stop
Genre - sports romance
Rating - enjoyed

🏒hockey romance
🕕bingeworthy
🥊opposites attract
🌧☀grumpy/sunshine
🔥open door
😛banter

Quick synopsis: We follow Summer, an aspiring sports psychologist and Aidan, captain and star of the university’s hockey team. Forced together for Summer’s research project, the two utilize their love of competition and argue at every turn, until it turns into something more than they were planning.

My thoughts: Fans of Icebreaker will love this new hockey romance. While an enjoyable read that I flew through in a day, there were a few minor issues with pacing, and Summer drove me a little nuts with her decisions and thought process at times. Still, the third act conflict tends to make or break romances for me and this passed the test. We even get a sweet epilogue and bonus scene!

Collide by Bal Khabra 💚
Off the Ice, Book 1
Interconnected Standalone

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
NA • Sports Romance
ARC Review
416 pages
🗓️ May 14th

🏒 hockey romance
📚 college romance
🏒 dislike to love
📚 grumpy (FMC) x sunshine (MMC)
🏒 brief other guy(s) drama
📚 no third act breakup
🏒 slow burn

📌“I forgot how much you feel like home.”

This book reminded me of two others that I really loved: The Deal and the Icebreaker. Different and standing on its own, but with so much of the things I love about sports romance.

The found family with that crazy group of friends who take her into their circle effortlessly.
The banter and the reluctance to work together.
The growing attraction that transforms into more despite all the work not to 😜
And hockey as the background. 😌

And are they really red flags when they try their best to fix them? 🫣

Aiden is the golden retriever we all need in our lives. And Kian the mess we could never live without. 😂

happy rerelease!

black cat x golden retriever is probably one of my fav set ups. Summer is working towards getting into grad school for sports psychology, and needs a research subject. Aiden needs to do some community service. So Aiden’s coach pairs them together. But there’s a problem: Summer hates hockey players.

I ate this book up! It’s charming, funny, lighthearted, and steamy af. Summer was so so relatable and I loved her character arc. Aiden is a selfless golden retriever boy and I fell for him SO HARD. The found family and banter between all the side characters had me kicking my feet.

summer did annoy me at times and the third act drama was a little sus but I still had a good time.


Read if you like
✨ college hockey romance
✨ opposites attract (nerdy girl x athlete)
✨ grumpy x sunshine, but she’s the grump
✨ forced proximity
✨ he falls first and HARD
✨ no third act breakup

Thank you sm berkley romance and netgalley for an arc! It’s out now 💖

Move over Icebreaker (which was a DNF for me sry not sry y’all), there’s a new young (college) adult hockey romance in town and it’s *steamy*! I’m a sucker for a witty grumpy x sunshine and opposites attract story and I just love Summer and Aiden together so much! This book is just what I needed - such a cute palette cleanser between my usual thrillers. I breezed through all 400+ pages in only two (!!) days if that tells you anything 😮‍💨

My rating: 4/5 ⭐️

Thank you so much to Bal, Berkley, and NetGalley for the e-galley!

Originally indie pubbed and a Booktok darling, I can definitely say the hype was real for me. Summer Preston is a psych major with her eyes on a prestigious grad program and unfortunately, to improve her application, she’ll have to work with hockey team captain, Aiden Crawford. Their chemistry may be off the charts 🔥- but Summer hates hockey players and hockey.

I adored their “will they or won’t they” banter and the University side plots, especially when their friends were involved! I found this to be a gem of a NA debut that is perfect for fans of Elle Kennedy, Hannah Grace, and Maren Moore. Narrators Julia Knippen and Max Meyers were perfect as Summer and Aiden, too. I received an advanced reading copy, receipt of which did not impact my review.

I ended up DNFing this at 40%. I didn’t connect with either main characters and Summer actually got on my nerves. I rarely dnf but I just couldn’t push through with this one.

If you loved Icebreaker by Hannah Grace then I promise you will LOVE this book as well!! There were so many similarities between both these books. I didn't feel like this book "stole" any story ideas from Icebreaker but instead just gave me those same fun spicy vibes that I have been missing since I finished Icebreaker. Aiden is the absolute perfect book boyfriend. 😉 The things that come out that mans mouth in and outside of the bedroom wow. When he stands up to Summer's Dad and puts him in place WOW!! I loved that so much. He is the sweetest man and really is there for Summer during this personal growth/healing process she is going through. There are multiple scenes in this book that left me SWEATING!! There is a spicy scene in the bar bathroom AND IN A FERRIS WHEEL!! wow so hot! I was eating it up!! I will admit the FMC Summer was slightly annoying to me in this book. Her indecisiveness in regards to being with Aiden really started to get on my nerves once we got to 70% into this book and she still could not figure it out!! She had me numerous times wanting to throw my kindle across the room and saying "omg this girl is so annoying" but the scene when she goes on the date and the guys intrude on her date I died laughing.

Favorite Quotes:
"You're my sunflower, Summer."
"So you've been reading my books?" "Yup. I'm a big fan of the ones that have all the red tabs." hehehe 🤭
"When you're sore to walk tomorrow, remember that only I can give you this." AHHHHHHH
"I know you can take care of yourself, but let me do it. Just this once." 😭

4.5 out of 5 stars simply because i didn't fck with the fwb trope (ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!)

summer preston sports psychology student who hates hockey and aiden crawford hockey team captain who loves how much summer hates hockey. there was good banter, pining, and a decent academia centered plot.

This book was actually so so so good!! like summer my desi queen (i didn't even know she was desi also she got on my nerves sometimes ._.) but the eldest daughter treatment is so real 🥲 i’m glad she had aiden NUMBER 1 GREEN FLAG !!!!

It had a good story and good character as well. like i haven't read a book in a long time that had me oohing and ahhhing over side characters. MAINLY KIAN AND DYLANNNN!! i love my boys.
excited for book 2 with my HOMEBOY EL!!!

🏒 Collide 📚
Bal Khabra
#BerkleyPartner #berkleyromance

Buckle up kids you are in for a hot and wild ride! Sports romance will all the best tropes…enemies-ish to lovers, opposites attract, ALLLLL the banter and oh my the spice! I loved these two! Aidan Crawford defies all the the hockey captain stereotypes except the body and the stamina….he is instantly drawn to Summer his total opposite who is hyper focused on her 5 year plan. She is smart and sassy and doesn’t back down. Love the found family and all the side characters are going to make this a great series! Also it has to be said NO THIRD ACT BREAKUP!

When her professor issues an ultimatum, Summer Preston finds herself unexpectedly entangled with hockey captain Aiden Crawford. Despite her aversion to the sport, she's tasked with studying him for her dream career in sports psychology. Meanwhile, Aiden, facing team repercussions, becomes the focus of Summer's research. Their clashing personalities fuel tension, but both refuse to back down, setting the stage for a tumultuous journey of self-discovery and unlikely connection.

Read if you enjoy:
🧲 Opposites Attract
😈 Enemies to Lovers
🏒 Hockey Romance
💙 He Falls First
💞 Dual POV
🗣️ Snarky Banter
🧑‍🧑‍🧒‍🧒 Found Family
👀 Daddy Issues
❤️‍🔥 Hot N Spicy

Thank you to @berkleyromance and @authorbalkhabra for the gifted copy of this amazing book! I can’t wait for you all to read it! You can pick it up tomorrow May 14th!

Overall the book was a decent read! I enjoyed it but felt I couldn’t fully love it since I have read so many other hockey romances right before. I’m only giving it a lower rating due to it dragging a little but I will have to try again

There is something about college hockey books that just do it for me. When I saw the cover for this book I knew I wanted to read it. It's a new to me author and I didn't know much about the book, but I jumped in. I thought it was great. It gave me 'The Deal' vibes and I loved both Summer, Aiden, and the whole team.

Aiden Crawford is the captain of the hockey team and Summer Preston hates hockey. They get paired together for a project Summer has and it starts out a little rocky. Summer is the grump to Aiden's sunshine and I adored watching them slowly fall for one another. Aiden was the actual best.

There relationship had a few bumpy moments but Aiden wasn't willing to give up on Summer and I loved that. Summer had some daddy issues but I thought they were resolved perfectly. I adored all of Aiden's roommates/teammates and I can't wait to read their books as they come out!

I'm a sucker for hockey romances so I may be biased but I absolutely loved this. The build up and pacing was great and I loved exploring more about summer's relationship with her father and how it played into her situation with aiden.

This was a DNF for me. I ended up listening to the audiobook and really loved the narration. However, the story fell a bit flat.

This was a really cute hockey romance. I loved the characters, both Summer and Aiden where really fun to get to know. It was really great to get to dive into their pasts and see how they became the people they were when the book started. The reason I'm not giving it five stars is because I felt it was building up to something, some big blowout or something and it never really quite reached it. So there was all this anticipation building for everything to kind of work out perfectly, he didn't get that mad at her for sneaking around, she didn't get that mad at him for taking the fall, so it was a little off-putting. Other than that though, great book.

Summer, driven by her ambition to become a sports psychologist, is reluctantly drawn into Aiden's world of hockey, a sport she despises. They are assigned to work together as part of Summer's application to the graduate program. Their initial friction and enemies vibes fuel this story, igniting a world of angst and slow-burn!

Wow! I loved this book so much! Devoured in one day! I could not put it down! Aiden gave me ALL the BUTTERFLIES. I fell so hard for him. Summer is a strong and feisty FMC who stood her ground. I loved the banter between the two of them. The slow burn was done so well...I hated it but loved it at the same time. The only drawback was this story is way too long. I feel the last 15% of the book was not needed at all and sort of dragged a bit.

Overall, this was a fantastic book that put me on an emotional roller coaster, and I anticipate the next twist in the series!

Thank you so much to Berkley Pub for the advance copy!

This book will be published on May 14th, 2024.

"I forgot how much you feel like home."

I had first heard about this book when it made its round when it was a KU hit and kept it there in the back of mind. So when the opportunity came to read it, I knew it was finally the time.

WHEWWW this book was spicy!!!! There was a lot of sex! Aiden immediately fell for Summer when they met. He knew early on that she was his end game. Summer not so much. She was attracted to him but did not date hockey players (daddy issues). One thing I don't like in romances is when a character denies having feelings when clearly there is something there. In this case, Summer was finding every excuse not to be in a relationship but she could not resist Aiden. Slowly their friends with benefits relationship started to grow and turn into feelings.

Aiden Aiden Aiden. I am torn on how I feel about him. I do love his love and adoration for Summer but there was a moment in her room where Aiden gave me the ick and his possessive side came out (would not work in real life but it gets a pass in books). Overall though his love for Summer and his support in her career and mutually she understood his talent in hockey and wanted him to succeed. I am glad we got to see Summer attend his hockey games but a part of me wish there was a smidge more of it.

I love that this was dual POV and the epilogue was set in the far future so we really get a true finale to their relationship. It gave me similar vibes to Icebreaker in that way.

"You're missing the view"
"No, I'm not."

THis book was long and it probably could have been cut shorter but I thought it went by rather quickly. The chapters weren't terribly long but there still ended up being 52 chapters and an epilogue. It was just a fun time!

I know this is part of a series so I'll be curious who will be spotlighted in the second book.
I likely will be checking it out when it comes out!

I recommend this book if you love collegiate romances, dual POV, banter with teammates, short chapters & lots of steam!

4.5

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for this copy in exchange for an honest review

My main opinion on this is how LONG it was. I don't have issues with long romances; MZ is a perfect example of them being done right. But because of my MZ love, I really think a long romance needs to be a slow burn for it to really work. This was not that.

And I was having issues with both MC's. I think Aiden got better as the story progressed, but there were things that happened in the beginning/middle of the book that were kind of red flags for me. But I liked him more in the latter half of the book.

I really went back and forth on Summer. At first I was digging her vibes and how she wasn't falling for Aiden's fuck buddy bullshit, but that seemed to end pretty fast and then she kind of did a 180 and decide that she was going to be a fuck buddy and completely disregard Aiden's feelings and her own growing feelings because why? Definitely got some whiplash from their relationship. I've seen this advertised as no third act breakup, which I guess technically there isn't, but it felt a little misleading considering how all over the place their relationship really was.

All this aside, I did enjoy the story. Hockey romances are always fun, and there were a lot of entertaining side characters. There were a lot of parts of Aiden and Summer's relationship that I really liked, mostly from Aiden's side, but I found myself cheering for them or getting emotional toward the end when a couple things started going sideways.

So I think I would recommend this one overall if you're into sport romances.