This book was such a fun read.

I love a sports/college romance, and this one did not disappoint. The characters were fun, the story itself was entertaining and I was rooting for Summer and Aiden to end up together. There were a lot of really sweet moments. It was refreshing to see Aiden owning up when he made mistakes and doing his best to make up for them. I also really like the way he supported Summer without fail every single time she was struggling, especially towards the end when she almost got caught for breaking into her professor's office. The romance aspect was really well done. I loved their banter, Aiden's relentless attempts to get her to date him, and the spice was just right.

The secondary characters really made this story. One of my favourite parts of a sports romance is the instant friend group and Aiden's teammates are no exception to this rule. They provided the sort of comedic relief I look for in these books and I'm definitely excited to read future books to see more of them!

this was just entertaining and cozy and I really loved it.

I loved this book!! Super fun and playful, but also dealt with topics that were super relevant to the plot and the characters. There were a few character relationship dynamics that seemed a bit inconsistent to me, mainly how Summer kept claiming she had no friends that were connected to hockey at all, but Kian and Sampson seemed to be friendly with her from the beginning. I loved Aiden's character from the beginning. Sometimes, I find myself taking a while to warm up to the male main character, but he became bearable pretty early on. I found Summer's constant refusal to communicate and her tendency to simple ignore people and run away from the problem to be a bit annoying and repetitive, but I enjoyed seeing her relationship with her dad progress and I found the pace it did was really realistic. Overall, I enjoyed reading this book and will definitely keep an eye out for more Bal Kahbra books!

Thank you to NetGalley, Viking & Penguin Random House Canada for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was a cute and sexy hockey romance that made me laugh, smile, and swoon multiple times! I wasn’t sure if I would like it because I’ve never read an enemies to lovers romance novel, so I wasn’t confident if I would like that specific trope. But it was done very well, especially with the reverse grumpy x sunshine trope included too. Both those tropes worked well together to make this book work well.

I loved Summer and Aiden’s chemistry too! Seeing how they interacted with each other and how their relationship developed was wonderful. The growth from enemies to lovers worked excellently and felt believable. It didn’t feel rushed at all or insta-lovey whatsoever. Plus, the banter between Summer and Aiden had me laughing and smirking more than I care to admit.

This was a great hockey romance novel with the right amount of spice. If you’re into that and the aforementioned tropes, I definitely recommend it!

As someone who loves hockey romances, this was a really great read and I really liked the Canadian references throughout. Really excited for the next books in this series! I found this book to be similar to icebreaker (Similar exes, Donny and Summer's) and the deal (my favourite hockey romance, similar to Aidan and Summer's relationship). The book has a black cat (her) x golden retriever (him) trope but honestly it made me dislike Summer sooooo much. The timeline in this book was a bit confusing and found that some things dragged on and just didnt seem realistic? For example, student and professor romantic relationships not being dealt with immediately (also the fact they were making out in public)? No one stepping in for the Dean?

***Reviewed/edited to be a 4 star read!

Hockey romance girlies I’ve got a new book for you!! This was so cute and fluffy with so many swoon worthy scenes! I loved Summer & Aiden’s dynamic, there’s just something about watching two characters who want nothing to do with each other slowly build a friendship and then a relationship that gets me every time💖 I also just loved the banter between them, Summer being so sassy made for so many fun moment. And of course we have to talk about the spice, Aiden definitely surprised me with his dirty mouth considering how sweet he is the rest of the time. Overall this was a fun hockey romance read that I think lovers of Icebreaker and The Deal would really enjoy!

DNF @ 36% . Nothing is happening & the FMC is so frustrating. Thanks to NetGalley & Penguin Random House Canada for an advance copy

Thank you for sending me this eARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

I'm a huge fan of sports romance. Is it cliche and predictable? Yes, but there's comfort in it. Does that make sense? If you liked Icebreaker or The Deal, then you'll definitely enjoy this one (same spice level). I really liked how hardworking and ambitious Summer was, how she learned to overcome her "problem" with hockey players, how she started to trust Aiden and that she was a POC character. I think that the representation of different cultures and backgrounds is very important and we definitely need more of that in books, so thank you for that. Aiden was the sweetest, golden retriever and sunshine mmc ever! Every time he said or did something, I thought "He can't get any cuter" and he proved me wrong every single time 😍😭
The romance was great and I liked that there was no third act breakup, unnecessary drama or back and forth between them. And I loved that they were watching a Turkish drama together – that was so cute (and my family is Turkish, so you had me there, Bal Khabra 😂).
The reason why it's not 5 stars for me is because the premise of this book was that a sports psychology student falls in love with a hockey player while he has to participate in her research, so I would've liked to see more of that research and tension between the mcs while she conducted the tests. Additionally, the book felt a little slow at times.

Still, it was a great debut. I can't wait for the next book – not sure if I can spoiler who it's going to be about though ;) and I hope to see more BIPOC characters in the next one(s), too!

I am so disappointed with this read, I almost dnf it. But I pulled through because I needed closure from it. While I enjoyed the found family trope in it, the writing was so poorly written that I didn't care for the characters much. Many spicy scenes were unncessary too, especially when they try to solve problems through sex - that was a huge no no for me. And I just didn't enjoy random scene jumps that left me confused. I debated rating this lower than 3 stars but that seems harsh so 3 stars it is.

Thank you netgalley for the e-arc, but I probably won't continue on with the series.

If you love college sports romance, grab this one too!

🏒 college sports romance
📱 read on kindle (arc)

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️🌶️🌶️

💭 thoughts:
I loved the dynamic between the MCs, and how Aiden just wouldn’t give up on her, no matter how much Summer kept trying to push him away 🥰
He really supported her and her goals, and kept putting her first.

I really enjoyed reading this, but a few things didn’t quite make sense, hence the dropping of a star. Summer says she doesn’t associate with hockey players, but seems to have existing close friendships with many of Aiden’s teammates. I didn’t study anything to do with research in university, but a lot of that didn’t quite seem to add up either.

I’m definitely intrigued to read future books, hoping more of the team get their own, and Summer’s friends as well!

tropes + topics:
🐈‍⬛ black cat + golden retriever
🏒 hockey player + psych student
🏫 college romance
🪝 casual to more
💙 he falls first + harder
❌ no 3rd act breakup
🫶🏼 found family
🇨🇦 Canadian author
💞 dual 1st person pov

✨ books with similar vibes:
♡ Icebreaker by Hannah Grace (college sports, “I would never date a hockey player” vibes)
♡ Stealing Home by Grace Reilly (college sports, black cat + golden retriever, casual to more)
♡ Tutoring the Player by Rebecca Jenshak (college sports, opposites attract, he falls first)

Thank you to Netgalley & Penguin Random House Canada for an advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

In general I really liked this book, but I have a few major complaints.

Firstly, I feel like I've already read this book. A few times. It's pretty formulaic and there is nothing that differentiates itself from other college sports romances. I was looking forward to a BIPOC female main character but her ethnicity was kind of glazed over. I appreciated that it wasn't her main defining trait or whole personality, however it would have been nice to have a few more touches. For example, the FMC and MMC talked about oiling her hair and then it never happened. I think that could have been a really great scene in the book that built intimacy between the characters.

The pacing was unfortunately very disjointed. Also there were too many plot points. I think the book would have been better if there was one focus, whether it be the FMC's relationship with her father, the grad school application, or hockey. It could have been simplified. Everything felt rushed to get to a conclusion because there was too much happening. This book could have been so much shorter. I was skimming through the last 10% because I was ready for it to be over.

I didn't really believe the love story. I don't love it when the entire relationship is based off of sexual attraction. It's difficult to believe that the characters fall in love when all the reader sees on the page is their sexual tension.

Finally, I really did not enjoy Summer. She's described as a black cat, however I felt like that was just an excuse for her to be mean. She's quite mean to the MMC, and honestly I just felt bad for him. I was waiting for him to stand up for himself or tell her to start treating him better but that never happened.

The saving grace for this book was the MMC and his group of friends/teammates. I love a good band of brothers, and this book delivered that.

Overall, I didn't hate it. It just had the potential to be so much better than it was.

3.25 stars.

This was an alright cute and fluffy hockey romance. It is very similar to Icebreaker. Their banter was good, but I thought it got a bit repetitive and boring in the last half. There wasn't a whole lot of plot going on besides the romance, which is fine... just could have been shorter for me haha.

Summer got a bit annoying by constantly being bitchy and hot / cold throughout the whole book. One second she's all for him then next she's telling him to see other people. I didn't really give AF about her character tbh. I did like Aiden though. He was just so caring and sweet, I enjoyed his POVs 100x more.

A very highly enjoyable hockey romance with great chemistry. It’s a pretty quick start and honestly I just found myself saying omg they’re so cute. A very sweet fluffy book and will be perfect for those looking for something light fun and cute.

I’m really trying not to like sports romance but books like this… with characters and chemistry so good… it’s so hard not to like—love, even. Even though this book isn’t set in Canada, this is a *true* Canadian book. I’ve read books before set in Canada or characters that are Canadian, but only a couple of them got it right. When I read “washroom” in this book, it was so satisfying. Weird to be excited about washrooms but it really is the little things, you know? Anyways, the first 20% of the book got me thinking, oh things are progressing fast, is the book almost over? But no! They’re just getting started! And I loved that. The character development was also so satisfying. I loved Summer and Aidan. They’re literally perfect for each other. This was a true romance novel. I was giggling, kicking my feet, twirling my hair. The epilogue was so sweet. I want more of them. I’m glad this is just first of a series.

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I was a little torn while reading this book. There were a lot of things that I found infinitely annoying, but there were still enough parts that made me stay invested that I wanted to see it through the end.
I have a read a lot of hockey romances in the past few years, and this one felt mainly too cliché for my taste. I really like the fmc, but the mmc got on my nerves from the beginning og the story.
While the book tries to present him as this smooth and sexy, NICE guy, he’s just incredibly pushy, forcing a friendship on a girl who doesn’t want it and this is where it went wrong for me. Instead of having the relationship grow naturally, he was always forcing closeness, feeling entitled to get really personal with her even though they barely knew each other.
This got better as the book progressed, but came back full force when he started doing macho sacrifices that appeared to be heroic, coming to her rescue again and again when she didn’t need him and didn’t ask him. What really annoyed me is that his behavior was PRAISED by the author through the heroine saying he was perfect because of those things.
The evil ex trope and the drama with the dad that all resolved to a perfect happy ending really pushed the artificial angst into something terribly cliché.
However, the friendship were amazing to read about, the banter between the guys and the hockey parts were fun and this is really what kept me invested because those secondary characters were hilarious sometimes.
All in all, if you’re not too bothered by toxic things disguised as swoon-worthy green flags and a healthy dose of cliché romance tropes, this book has a lot of qualities and was still a lot of fun in some parts. Add to that some really nice spicy scenes (although maybe too numerous for my taste) and this is still a book worth giving a try when you’re a fan of the genre.

This book was so cute and I’m excited to see how this story shakes out. There were a few moments where Summer’s ping-ponging feelings for Aiden felt a little repetitive, but was otherwise a fun hockey romance!

Charming and brilliant, “Collide” by Bal Khabra is equal parts spicy and sweet while shining above the rest. Khabra seamlessly weaves whip-smart banter, a captivating cast of characters, and laugh-out-loud humour into an endearing, timeless love story. Readers will cheer for the main characters from the first page, and think of them long after the end.

Meet Summer Preston: an honours student with ambitious graduate school plans. Meet Aiden Crawford: the captain of the college hockey team. Their worlds collide when an ultimatum from Summer’s professor thrusts her into an unexpected collision with Aiden. She’s caught between conflicting desires: fulfilling her lifelong dream of becoming a sport psychologist and staying as far away as possible from the god-awful sport of hockey. For Aiden, being the hockey team’s captain has its perks, but a reckless mistake by his team threatens their entire season. His coach nominates him as the subject of a research paper, and the last thing he wants is to work with Summer, who looks like she could wield his skates as a weapon.

Summer can’t stand Aiden’s blasé approach to life, and Aiden doesn’t understand her uptight, scheduled one. They’re off to a rocky start, provoking each other at every turn. Yet, defeat isn’t something either of them is willing to accept. As their connection deepens, their chemistry becomes hot enough to melt an ice rink. Khabra masterfully captures the tension between Summer and Aiden, making their journey from enemies to lovers utterly captivating.

The novel is light on plot, chronicling how these two slowly go from adversaries to soulmates without much friction. However, it’s the characters that steal the show. Summer’s flaws and Aiden’s charm make them endearing and relatable. Their banter is witty, and their emotional connection feels genuine. Khabra’s writing is easy to read, engaging, and sprinkled with humour. You’ll find yourself laughing out loud and rooting for this unlikely pair.

“Collide” is a welcome addition to the booming sub-genre of hockey romance. Whether you’re a sports fan or simply love a good love story, this book delivers. Prepare to be swept away by Aiden and Summer’s journey. It’s a collision that leaves a lasting impact.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for a temporary e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was a true, classic college hockey romance (and yes those are considered classics now lol). Bal Khabra was able to capture the magic that was the Off-Campus series by Elle Kennedy but with a new and modern vibe to it. It was witty, funny, and sexy, but also so heartfelt. I cannot wait for the rest of the series because of how lovable this entire cast of characters are! One of the reasons I adore hockey romance is because of the side characters. They are always so entertaining and they add so much to the story, giving it a ‘found family’ vibe.

I really enjoyed Summer. I liked how truly grumpy she was compared to Aiden’s sunshine-y demeanor, especially in the beginning. This was a REAL ‘he falls first’ romance because Summer was so unaffected (at least she acted like she was) by Aiden until like 50% in which was so funny since he was completely obsessed with her and was so desperate for her attention lol. It was very much “Barbie has a great day every day, but Ken only has a great day if Barbie looks at him” vibes and I loved it. I find a lot of FMCs fold for the MMC so easily and Summer didn’t, Aiden really had to work for her. I will say that I did want to shake her a little bit for listening to Donny and her advisor so much. Aiden was right, she let them control her life and I just wanted her to stop giving them any attention and be confident in how good her work is! She was so stressed, and they were so toxic. I wanted her to yell at them a bit, y’know? For someone that’s a psychology major, Summer was surprisingly against therapy and wasn’t self-aware about her mental health, which I found strange.

Aiden was the perfect, sweet, cinnamon roll book bf! He had me gigglin’ n kickin’ my feet. He was so down bad for Summer—pretty much from the jump. I loved the little things he did to show Summer he loved her (like making her tea!). I think his love language has to be acts of service. I did find that he didn’t have as much depth as Summer. She had a lot of character growth and Aiden was pretty much the same throughout the book, besides being a reformed player, of course. I would’ve loved for Khabra to have explored his past a bit more maybe. But honestly, this is really a minor detail for me, I still loved him and he’s def going on my fav book bfs list!

TROPES:
- Hockey romance
- College romance
- Dislike to love
- He falls first/boy obsessed
- Reverse grumpy x sunshine
- Opposites attract (nerd/jock)
- Cinnamon roll MMC
- Forced proximity
- Lovable side characters

Thank you so much to Bal Khabra, Penguin Random House Canada and NetGalley for the ARC! I cannot wait for more from this series. Congrats on the re-release!

This was a great book and cute story! I loved the dynamic Summer and Aiden had and how their love unravelled. Thank you for allowing me to read this ARC!

A decent new adult college hockey debut. The writing style wasn't my favourite, and honestly neither is new adult, which are both me issues, not book issues. It looks like things are being set up for the roommate, friends, and teammates to get books, and I'm willing to give those a try when they come out.

Amidst the backdrop of college life and the high-stakes world of collegiate sports, the author skillfully weaves themes of ambition, passion, and self-discovery. Readers will find themselves rooting for Summer and Aiden as they navigate the complexities of love and identity, ultimately realizing that sometimes, the most unexpected connections are the ones worth fighting for.

Collide is a heartwarming and engaging romance that will leave readers cheering for love to triumph over all obstacles with its irresistible blend of humor, drama, and sizzling chemistry.