Collide by Bal Khabra is a delightful blend of spicy and sweet that sets it apart from other works in its genre. Khabra skillfully intertwines witty banter, a captivating cast of characters, and humor that will have readers laughing out loud. The result is a charming and timeless love story that had me rooting for Aiden and Summer from the very beginning and left me thinking about the characters long after I reached the end.

This book unfortunately was just not for me. I really disliked both the female and male main characters and found the over plot to be slow and boring. I also really struggled with this being labeled an enemies to lovers but they were enemies for perhaps 5 seconds. I also thought that Summer’s reason for not liking hockey players was such an overreaction.

oh I just absolutely adored this one! I binged this in less than 24 hours and honestly had a blast. it had a nostalgic 2021 hockey romance vibe and it me love it that much more. Aiden is a top tier man - even if he is still a senior in college haha. my only reason for docking a star was Summer got on my nerves sometimes LOL. she got mad very easily and over the weirdest stuff.

read if you like:
- hockey romance
- he falls first (and hard).
- black cat x golden retriever

thank you Berkley romance & Bal Khabra for this arc!

This book felt like a hodgepodge of every other hockey romance I have read. Overall, it's okay.

So, things I liked:
✅ Aiden-I don't normally love the golden retriever MMC, but I'll make an exception for Aiden.
✅ He falls first
✅ Hockey romance
✅ There's a lot of secondary characters that have funny banter.

Things I didn't love:
❌ Summer-I found her difficult to like. The whole plot of the book is she hates hockey because her dad plays hockey and she felt he didn't give her enough attention growing up...so that would naturally make you hate all people associates with hockey. She came off as rude a lot and I just wasn't rooting for her, sorry girl.
❌ The Epilogue. This book was WAY to long and there was 2 pointless epilogues. Yes, you heard me: two epilogues.
❌ The pacing is very slow. The author could of eliminated 150 pages and we still would have got to the same place in the end.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for giving me the opportunity to review this book.

the last thing summer wants to do is include hockey in her graduate admissions research. however, her advisor has made it clear that if she doesn’t, she’ll need to find another advisor, which could upend summer’s plans to become a sports psychologist. enter aiden, the school’s hockey captain, who’d rather do anything else than be the subject of a research paper, but such is his punishment for a party-shaped mistake. as they push through their differences to check off their respective responsibilities, summer and aiden start to realize that maybe there’s more to the other person than they initially thought.

i know it’s become somewhat of a cliché, but academic girl/athletic boy will get me every time. (however, as i mentioned before, there is a lot more to them than those descriptors.) i loved that this was a dual pov romance so we got to see into both summer’s and aiden’s minds. i also appreciated how they both had complicated family situations that were explored throughout the story.

i’d recommend this to NA romance fans and i can’t wait to read more books by bal khabra!

The plot for this one has been done before, but there was something so special about the characters and writing that made this a new favorite hockey romance. Aiden was sweet and attentive to Summer and while she had a tendency to push back, watching her slowly tear down her walls and be vulnerable made me swoon. The whole cast of secondary characters made the college setting comet to life. I’m now ready for books featuring the rest of the gang.

Read if you like:
-College hockey player
-Slow burns
-Grumpy heroine/ sunshine hero
-He falls first
-Icebreaker/ The Deal

This book was really cute and fun to read. My only critic is that the main FMC, Summer, was one of the most unforgiving characters I have ever read about. She got mad at everything and everyone. Aiden was incredible and a dream, so he evened out the field.

Read this if you like:
•hockey romances
•grumpy sunshine
•college setting

This book is a bit of a slow burn but once it heated it up, it was chefs kiss. This was a really fun, solid debut. I am a sucker for hockey romances. I can’t wait for the next books in series too!

Thank you Berkley romance for eARC!

Read if you like:
🏒 Sports Romances
🔀 Opposites Attract
🏫 College Settings
🌶️ Spice
🦮 Golden Retriever MMC
🌥️ Grumpy x Sunshine

For fans of Icebreaker or hockey romances in general, run, don’t walk to read this one!

I enjoyed the South Asian x Canadian rep that we got through our FMC Summer, but wish we got more of her culture in the book as I was really excited for it, and felt like we didn’t get as much as I had hoped.

I loved that Aiden and Summer were pushed together for her project for her grad school application and so that Aiden could stay playing on the hockey team after taking the punishment for his whole team when a party got out of hand.

This pairing gave immediate tension with Summer hating Hockey (her dad is a famous hockey player) and Aiden not having the time nor interest in helping the cute but grumpy Summer with her project.

This one has some good spice, but takes a slower build to get to it which I enjoyed!

Thank you to Berkley Romance and PRHA for my gifted ARC and audiobook copies!

Collide is a hockey romance worth feral reading all night with a flashlight or an ereader under the covers; from the beginning the new adult voice of the college age characters reads authentic, as does their steaming chemistry. Summer is doing sports psychology research competing for a graduate spot and Aiden is the captain of the school’s hockey team. Neither one of them do relationships well, but when they have to work together for her project and his community service, they’re both taken aback by how immediate the attraction is. This is hot and fun!

Thank you to Netgalley, Berkley Romance, and Bal Khabra for this eARC. This ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Cute romance with enough to keep you more. With how booktok is this days this will for sure blow up.

I read this OBSESSIVELY. I couldn't stop my fangirly updates on goodreads and insta stories while I was reading, I felt like screaming from the rooftops about all the magic, writing, dialogue, characters, story, vibes, everything.

I ate it all up. I was giddy, kicking my feet, aww-ing, telling about it to everyone who would listen and fanning myself because these two are so hot you can feel the chemistry even when they are not together.

One of my favorite sports Romance ever, very Elle Kennedy and other classics of the genre type.

The black cat/golden retriever dynamic, the banter, the spice (omg so much spice!! So not complaining), the communication and beautiful natural development of their relationship... top tier. I melted by the end.

Aiden is the new standard (for both real and fictional bf), if I don't get that I don't want it.🥹🫠🫶😮‍💨🫡

Also, NO THIRD ACT BREAKUP. 👏👏👏

[And already OBSESSED WITH THE NEW COUPLE BECAUSE OMG I LOVE THAT TROPE YOU ARE NOT READY. I am not ready, but pls Berkley I'm begging you for an ARC of that as soon as it's available. TY ILY]

Thank you Berkley for the ARC 🫶

In a world full of hockey romances, Collide feels like a breath of fresh air. The story follows Summer, a sports psychology student who is applying to a graduate program. However, things get intense when she’s forced to work with the hockey team. The only problem is that Summer is not a hockey fan in the slightest.

Despite that, Summer decides to give it a try and is paired up with Aiden Crawford who is the captain of the team. While Aiden is used to getting what he wants from anyone, it’s clear things won’t be as easy with Summer. Regardless, it makes the romance all the more refreshing and realistic for the two.

While I adored the romance between Aiden and Summer, the thing I enjoyed most was how much we learned about these characters. The two were dealing with a lot of past trauma and emotional baggage they had to work through. In particular, it felt like Summer had such much to unpack and deal with especially when it came to hockey.

Once you find out about Summer’s past, everything truly starts to fall into place and then learning what happened to Aiden, it’s all so heartbreaking. Despite those tough topics and emotional moments throughout the story, the mood never felt somber. If anything, Bal Khabra made things feel light and fun.

Collide was also incredibly sexy as the tension between Aiden and Summer was just delicious. I do feel like sometimes new-adult stories can go overboard with steam. However, this was just enough and made the story feel even more believable. Considering that I’m not much of a new adult reader these days, Collide surprised me in the best way.

4.25⭐️Collide

One of my favorite hockey romances I’ve ever read! I devoured this book & was sneaking in a few pages any chance I could get! I loved Summer as the FMC and her dedication to her school work and her goals!If you love a reverse grumpy sunshine, dual POV, or found family trope this book is for you!

3.5 stars. Cute, fun, easy read. I easily fell for Aiden's character and how he was a complete cinnamon roll for Summer. He was truly a man of action. I also enjoyed how this was not one sided and Summer reciprocated., Summer's grudge against her father seemed extreme. I was expecting something much worse for her cutting him out of her life. There were also way too many side characters who all blended together.

Read if you're looking for a hockey romance with:
-Enough secondhand embarrassment to fuel a lifetime of therapy sessions
-A hero who speaks the language of locker rooms, not literature
-A heroine who could analyze Freud himself

This is not high literature, folks. It's pure, unadulterated rom-com fluff with enough clichés to ice a rink. But hey, sometimes you just want to curl up with a book that's as predictable as a slapshot, and this one delivers. Would read 1000th more times.

Arc received from the publisher; all thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book was a lot of things, but all in all was very entertaining!

Yes there were a million plot points. Yes the main plot wrapped up by like 35% in. Yes I also ate it up and was kicking and giggling and kicking my feet.

The chemistry in this book was really good and I always love the he falls first of it all. Is it the most unique book ever? Nope, but I had a fun time the whole way through, even when the characters were making rather dumb decisions.

3.5 stars rounded up

Collide was such a fun time!

I was lucky enough to be sent a free finished copy of this book by Berkley Romance, and it didn’t disappoint!

There were definitely some things I wish were a bit different, but there were also lots of things to love!

I loved
💚 Aiden and Summer’s relationship
💚 the balance of lighthearted and emotional beats
💚 the family relationships
💚 Summer’s growth and development

Things I wish were different
💚 I wish some of the side characters had a bit more depth, especially Amara, Cassie, Tyler, and Eli
💚 there were some one-off jokes that were referenced as if they were continual inside jokes, but that never popped up again
💚 I know that hockey teams are big, but there were so many boys in the hockey house that I couldn’t keep all of them straight

These things mostly bugged me in the first half of the book, and as it kept going they got less bothersome.

I will definitely be reading more from Bal Khabra in the future! 3.75 stars.

My review will be posted to Instagram on May 8th and to Amazon on publication day.

Arc review: 4.5 stars
I am a 30 year old woman but this made me care about these little baby college kids 😂
Lots of chemistry, realistic emotional growth, and I loved that the FMC was BIPOC but it didn’t feel like that was a plot point pointing it out- it was just a part of who she was and it was never questioned or meant to be anything “other”. Also Aiden is a sweet sweet boi and I want to hug him.

I love a good hockey rom com and this did not disappoint. Collide by Bal Khabra is a mix between The Graham Effect by Elle Kennedy and Icebreaker by Hannah Grace. This sports romance is extra spicy with aa slice of academia. I enjoyed reading this but I wished there had been a little more detail about the project. Summer had a complete turn of character halfway through the book which I was not expecting. Aiden is your typical hockey hottie. Overall, it is a great read if you are wanting the same tropes that hockey romances have.