I adored this book! Collide by Bal Khabra was a fun and captivating read, it is a college sports romance with just the right amount of heart, spice and a little mystery. I think it is safe to say I am firmly in my sports romance era.

Summer is an ambitious graduate student who aspires to be a sports psychologist, Aiden is the captain of their college hockey team. They are opposites in every way and there is no reason for their paths to cross until Summer’s thesis advisor requires her to do her project on the one sport she despises – hockey. Meanwhile Aiden finds himself in hot waters trying to remedy his teammate's careless mistakes, as punishment his coach nominates him as the subject of Summer's project.

Bal Khabra’s writing is beautiful, it flows easily and draws you in. I cannot believe how quickly I blew through the 400+ pages of this book but I really couldn’t put it down. Her characters are well-developed and the pacing is perfect. Aiden is a true puppy dog, he is loyal, and giving and would do anything for the people he loves. Summer is practical, her life meticulously planned and independent. The attraction between Summer and Aiden is obvious and as they start to let their guards down it gives way to a beautiful relationship. This is book one in a series and I loved getting to know all of the side characters. It takes place in a college setting so I can only guess the next book will feature one of the roommates/teammates and I very much look forward to getting to know them better. With the age of the characters some immaturity is to be expected and we certainly see that in this book, however I feel like that is an accurate representation of this age group.

One of the hardest parts of finishing a book you love is letting go of the characters and trusting everything works out for them. For that reason, I love that the author included an epilogue that gives us a glimpse of Summer and Aiden’s life post-college.

I would highly recommend this book to other sports romance lovers, it is perfect for fans of Elle Kennedy.

Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada for the eARC in exchange for my honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

This was such a cute read. I loved the grumpy, take no shit Summer and Aiden the absolute puppy dog. This is probably one of the best college hockey romance I've ever read. It had good drama, good spice, great enemies to lovers vibes. It was great. I cannot wait until this comes in!

Why are college hockey romances everywhere now? Why do I love them all?

Summer is an aspiring sports psychologist. Aiden is the captain of his college hockey team. She despises the sport her loves. He's the opposite of her uptight schedule making. Basically, they're opposites in every way.
But when they're forced together, they find that maybe opposites do attract and that they may just balance each other out.

Honestly, there's not much to say about the characters or the plot. I've read this hockey romance dozens of times by dozens of different authors with dozens of different characters. There are only so many ways it can be written. Don't get me wrong. That's not a bad thing. College sports romances are popular for a reason.

The plot wasn't anything special, but the characters more than made up for it. They're banter and chemistry made me smile the whole way through. If you're looking for complex storylines and epic tales, why are you reading romance novels?? The point is cute, fluffy, romance and that's exactly what this book delivers!

I REALLY LOVED THIS BOOK. thank you for giving me the opportunity to read this book. I really enjoyed it. I really loved the author’s writing and it was a really good story. enemies to lovers. i would recommend!!

I have mixed feelings about this book… but let’s start with the good things!

The writing in this book was so fluid and easy to read, you go through the pages without realizing how much you’ve read. The pacing was perfect for the development of the story, the setting was believable, and the side characters added so much fun to the story (specially Dylan and Kian).

Aiden was a breath of fresh air when it comes to hockey romances, with how kind and respectful he was, after their first not so good impression. Throughout the whole book he showed his loyalty, giving nature, and how much he was willing to sacrifice for love, for Summer.

And it is when it comes to Summer that I had some problems with this book.

I’m all for the black cat female main character, but Summer went a little beyond that, to the point where I thought she was mean. I get the reasons why she was supposedly closed off, but the way she treated the mmc was cruel sometimes, and very cold despite how warm and good he was towards her. As much as I love a good push and pull, Summer kept that game going for too long. It felt like she was simply leading Aiden on, and that didn’t sit right with me.

It was hard for me, as a reader, to root for the main characters as couple, when only one of them was showing up. I spent most of the book just rooting for Aiden to find his happy ending, whether or not Summer was it, and that killed a little bit of the magic of this book for me.

I found ​the chemistry between Summer and Aiden kind of mid. There were tiny mentions in the first quarter about a sliver of attraction, but they were both pretty set on being “platonic”. I wasn’t dying of any sort of tension between the two.

Overall, it kind of dragged a bit. It read long; like things just kept happening (both plot lines and just nothing moments) and maybe could have used a pacing edit. They got together, “broke up”, got together again, and then instead of ending, MORE stuff just kept happening.

I still kind of feel like Summer and Aiden are doomed for divorce because the chemistry (aside from the physical) just wasn't really there. I didn't love it enough to read the bonus chapter or the beginning of the next book.

I love diverse representation in romcoms, and this brought us a beautiful Indian FMC, but I just wanted MORE from her in terms of character.

It could have been a fun little good time read, but it needed some trimming. It just paced too slow for me, which kept pulling me out of the story. I didn’t hate it, I just wanted to love it more!

⭐⭐⭐
🌶️🌶️

4.5 stars

Summer is strong and determined, her passion driving her to face a fear she’s been avoiding.

Aiden pushes himself to the brink, pure hard work and will power fuelling his intense schedule. In control and confident, reality catches up and crashes into Aiden, forcing him to confront his gruelling schedule as he toes the line between success and burnout.

Together, the tension and chemistry is real. The flirtation. The banter. The looks. The attraction between Summer and Aiden is clearly strong, and as their time together grows, so do their feelings.

“My heartbeat changes tempo when she enters my orbit.”

This was refreshing to read and I absolutely adored the character development—so authentic and real, my heart squeezed. Summer confronting how she approaches relationships is heartbreaking, but seeing her progress and opening herself to be vulnerable? I’m so proud. I related to Summer so hard with this, and knowing there’s a healthier way is empowering ❤️

Collide made me question my own lack of future plans and what I wanted, and it was both confronting and helpful to realise that we can live in the moment but also have plans for our future to work towards, to keep us motivated and excited for the future—about finding balance.

Collide is a gorgeous rom-com that no only makes you fall in love with Summer and Aiden, but that also makes you confront the realities of high achieving college students and the pressures they’re under. Bal has written a beautiful romance that cleverly incorporates delicate and important subjects. We can all learn something from Collide.

Bal is sensitive in her representation of some challenging topics, and I am so thankful Bal has included these as we need to see more of these hard subjects in books, and Bal has done them justice in a respectful way.

Summer and Aiden are total opposite. She is an ambitious student and he is the hockey captain. They are forced to work together and they see each other in different light.

Love summer and Aiden together. They are great! Fun banter, terrific chemistry and sweet too! Really enjoy this book!


Thanks to the publisher for the arc.

Thank you Penguin Randon House Canada and netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I'm not sure why but this book took me FOREVER to get through. I don't know if it's me or the book but damn, it took long. I just couldn't seem to get through it. Regardless of that though, I do LOVE a sports romance. I would never say no to one, they're just so good. I feel like for this book it took me a while to care about Summer and Aiden. I enjoyed their love story but it also didn't really do anything for me. The smut was middle level. I think I went into this book with too high expectations because I thought it would be similar to the deal, my absolute fave.

I still think this is a really good sports romance and I will definitely be checking out the rest of the series!!!

Collide: ★★★☆☆ (3)

Pub date: out now!!!