I’m going to preface this by saying I already know I’m the odd man out on this one, but I did not care for Collide, primarily because of the female main character. Don’t get me wrong, the overall story was great, but I think my problem was that Bal made Aiden Crawford too sweet, too wonderful, too swoony – so much so that the way Summer treated him just ticked me off!

I got it, I really did. I understood her history with hockey and her father, and why she was closed off when it came to athletes. I understood the importance of education and her long-term plans, goals, and focus. What I didn’t get – or like – was that for someone who was so self-aware, so protective, so in touch with how the repercussions of actions can inflict emotional pain on someone, she could just blatantly disregard Aiden’s most of the time.

She protected herself at the expense of hurting him and never seemed to care. He went above and beyond, always showed up, gave her what she needed, and still she put him through the ringer because of her own hang-ups – not respecting that he is human with feelings too.

Removing Summer from the equation, the rest of the book was enjoyable – I adored Aiden’s teammates and the friendships throughout the story. Full transparency: I immediately read Spiral afterward and enjoyed it so much more because of the male and female protagonists. So, I would still recommend Collide to anyone, as I know my beef with Summer is my own.