Collide

Khabra debuts with an adorable if slightly overlong new adult romance. Dalton University senior Summer Preston feels her dream of working as a sports psychologist with the U.S. Olympic program is within her reach. Only one last hurdle stands in the way of being accepted into Dalton’s competitive graduate program: an ultimatum from the adviser she idolizes that she work with the one sport she hates, hockey. (She had a bad experience with a hockey player in the past and has written the rest of them off as well.) After a reckless party lands Dalton’s team in trouble, captain Aiden Crawford takes the fall. As punishment, his coach forces Aiden to work with Summer or face NCAA probation. Aiden’s seemingly nonchalant attitude toward everything except hockey peeves Summer, confirming her worst opinions of hockey players—but she can’t deny her attraction to him. The novel is light on plot, chronicling how these two slowly go from enemies to lovers without much friction, but the characters are endearing and their connection makes sense. It’s a welcome addition to the booming subgenre of hockey romance. Agent: Jessica Watterson, Sandra Dijkstra Literary. (May)