Collide (Off the Ice)

I loved this book so much! Aiden and Summer were amazing! Also I need an Aiden Crawford in my life! This is a must read hockey romance! It had great friend groups, tons of banter, romance, lots of spice, hockey, etc. This is a must read! Some of my fav moments! - - - - - - - - - - "I haven't talked to you all day. I'm thinking this punishment is a bit cruel," | whisper against her ear. She shifts to look at me. "Not talking to me is punishment?" "The worst kind. "Aiden stands in front of me attacking my eyes with his bare chest." "My attraction to her insults is mildly concerning. I'd talk to a therapist about it, but I'd rather not divulge that." "opening the passenger door and groans when it doesn't budge. "If you're trying to kidnap me, I have two thumbs, and I'm not afraid to use them." "Stay at my place." "Why? So you can hold me in your stupidly large arms and coax everything out of me? I'm not falling for your tricks, Clifford. She points a finger at me, eyes narrowed to the point that thev're basically closed."

This was a cute one. It was a pretty steady fall for both characters. Summer is a dedicated student trying to get into grad school and forced to work with Aiden, captain of the hockey team. Summer doesn’t like hockey because of issues with her pro dad. Aiden is persistent and proves her wrong, and eventually they fall hard for each other. The spice was good, but there wasn’t too much conflict. I appreciated an easy read without too many of the typical miscommunication fights. Overall super cute, very reminiscent of “icebreaker”

In top Unis with grad programs, the research buildings rarely close up. There are researchers there all hours. No need to "break in," and it's easy enough these days to mock up email addresses and nigh impossible to get past 2FA, so the idea of breaking into a Uni building to use a professor's email is...weird and wrong and silly. Just make up a new email address and send the incriminating evidence using a VPN like any normal smart kids would know how to do. Aiden "coming to the rescue" was also silly, when he had no idea what was going on and put his whole team in jeopardy. What? And finding a student ID laying around isn't actually incriminating, guys. Students lose those daily. The editor needed to get a handle on this plot. It also would have made more sense to tie the dad's behavior to Donny's so we could see why Summer was susceptible to being manipulated. Finally, this is a taming of the shrew story...Summer is not sunny, and anytime someone refers to her that way, again - silly. She's anxious and driven and smart. What great chemistry, though - if the author gets plot managed well, lots of promise here

🏒 “‘𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚍𝚘𝚗’𝚝 𝚐𝚎𝚝 𝚒𝚝, 𝚍𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞?’ 𝙸 𝚐𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚑𝚒𝚖 𝚊 𝚋𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚔 𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚔, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚖𝚒𝚕𝚎𝚜. ‘𝚆𝚎𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚗, 𝚕𝚎𝚝 𝚖𝚎 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚒𝚝 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚌𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚛. 𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚒𝚙 𝚖𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚖𝚙𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚙 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢 𝚊𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚍 𝙸’𝚟𝚎 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚗𝚎𝚍, 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚒𝚏 𝙸 𝚑𝚊𝚍 𝚢𝚘𝚞, 𝚗𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚒𝚝 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛.’” 📖 𝘾𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙗𝙮 𝘽𝙖𝙡 𝙆𝙝𝙖𝙗𝙧𝙖 ⭐️I am a huge fan of sport romance novels and this book just joined my top 3! This was such a refreshing read! The absence of a third act breakup was beyond refreshing. The natural build up between the two leads is amazing and very realistic. ⛸️ Aiden is such a great guy and destroys all existing stereotypes as to what you’d expect a captain of a hockey team to be like. ☀️ Summer is an extremely focused and hard working college student that is very goal oriented. Along the way she forgot to take care of herself and to make room for fun. 💥When both leads are forced into working with each other, sparks fly! 🥊 💃🏻🕺🏼The side characters in this book were my favorite part! They are a hilarious bunch of guys and gals, and I seriously can’t wait for more books about them! I hope they each get a happy ending! (Especially Kian, the golden retriever of the bunch! 🐶) If you enjoyed books like Icebreaker & The Deal, you will love this book! 👏🏼🩷 Tropes: Sport romance, black cat x sunshine boy, reverse grumpy x sunshine, hockey romance, opposites attract, forced proximity, dual POV, he falls first, NO 3rd act breakup

4.5/5 stars 2/5 spice This book was so cute and sweet! It did have slow and really fast parts but everything fit together so well! I devoured it SO FAST! It was so fun and I loved the side characters so much! (Not summers ex though). I loved summer’s development, it really showed throughout the book and the cute “I love you” thing they do.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 🌶️🌶️🌶️ This book was everything. Chemistry. Banter. Spice. Side characters. Slow burn. Just everything. I loved the development of Aiden and Summers relationship. There was so much story, buildup and chemistry. So much banter. I LOVED it. Aiden was the ultimate golden retriever book boyfriend. He was caring, selfless, sweet, and sexy. Him caring for Summer had me swooning. Summer was the black cat and I loved her character. She was stubborn, kind, and passionate. I loved how she opened up throughout the book and I got to learn so much about her. If you liked Icebreaker and The Deal, definitely read this book! Happy reading!

"In a world of boys, he's a gentleman." Pretty sure Miss Taylor was referencing Aidan Crawford! Loved how intentional and patient and respectful he is with Summer. Period-care? Check. Small gestures that show he listens? Check, check, check. Being jealous without being toxic or controlling? Check! Collide is a fun, dual POV hockey romance in a college setting with a HEA. Aidan and Summer are both less than thrilled about the circumstances that cause their meeting, but even when they are annoyed with one another, they have stellar chemistry. This isn't a book with plot twists or suspense - it's soft and sweet and won't shatter your heart. It feels like a rom com! I enjoyed the side characters of Aidan and Summer's friends and pray that Eli, Dylan, and Tyler each get a book in this series...<3 Will automatically read anything from Bal in the future after this one!! Yay: - Glimpses of South Asian culture: hair oiling; chai; hindi words - Both are playful and competitive which leads to lots of fun... - Summer was a very relatable FMC to me - she deeply cares about her career path and is scared of how deeply she cares for Aidan. Quotes: - "But I know, of all things she can do, the worst is if she ignores me." - "Is this enough space for you, Summer? Because it's too much to bear for me." - "If you want me to be the toxic guy who tells you I'll mess up anyone that comes near you, I will. But that's not the kind of guy you deserve, Summer. I won't dictate how you live your life."

This. Book. Was. PERFECT!!!!😍 like literally I don’t have a bad word to say about this book. But since I’m a bookstagrammer, I gotta give you more than that, so let’s get into it😂😅 Let me start by saying that I saw soooo many people saying this was like Icebreaker by Hannah Grace and I must say that other than the fact that it was a college hockey romance, for me, the similarities stopped there. But I did see more similarities between this and The Deal by Elle Kennedy. BIG HOWEVER! Both of those books were also AMAZING so I’d consider that high praise! Anywho! Yall know I love me a good forced proximity book and this one gave EVERYTHING it was supposed to give! I love how the MCs, being forced to work together, formed a bond without even realizing it and became friends before anything else. Those ALWAYS make my heart melt🤭 Aiden Crawford THE MAN THAT YOU ARE😩 This man was perfect. Everything about him was perfect. The way he stood up for her, the way he acknowledged that “I know you can stand up for/take care of yourself, but let me do it this time?!” RAW. NEXT. I loved the FMC, Summer, and her character growth was phenomenal! From issues with her family to issues with her ex, when she FINALLY got her backbone, she stood on BUSINESS! And the conflict that was thrown in? Yeah I saw that coming from a mile away😂 but it was still satisfying in the end🥴 And, of course, I will say that the SPICE . WAS. SPICE. ING. Two words!🥵😩🤭 like this was actually spicier than I expected it to be but I ATE IT UP!🙂‍↕️ Overall, this book was amazing and I already wanna read it again🫠 (and I’m gonna need my Libby hold to come through by tomorrow cause I am READY for the next one!😭)