⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Author: Bal Khabra
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Series: Off the Ice
Release Date: 28th January 2025

Perfect if you love:
- Fake Dating
- Hockey Romance
- Roommates
- Hockey Player x Ballerina
- Found Family
- Banter/Teasing

I adored this book so much that I read it in one sitting, and this really should tell you all you need to know about how amazing this book is because to grip me that much on a week day evening that I stay up until the wee hours of the morning when I have work the next day means that it is nothing short of incredible. I fell head first into my hockey romance obsession recently, and this book ticked all of my boxes, I was gripped from the first page until the last.

The characters in this book are nothing short of phenomenal, as soon as we meet both Sage and Elias, you can tell that there is more to them than meets the eye. Finding themselves both in particularly tricky situations while trying to achieve their dreams, they find a solution in each other by embarking on a fake relationship that could be a means to an end for them both, or it could be the start of something magical. This then, of course, causes an absolute onslaught of drama, banter, and so many deeply emotionally filled moments that it made my heart ache. Sage is a beautifully crafted character, putting everyone she loves before herself while still pushing to achieve her dreams despite the situation she’s been put in, all while still keeping her firecracker energy she quickly became my firm favourite. Elias on the outside may seem like the pro hockey player that has it all, but as the book goes on, you can see that he is someone that would do anything for the people he cares for. These two push each other in the best kind of way, and reading them journey together had me smiling, laughing, and crying. Also, it is not only the main characters that stole the show for me but having a whole group of amazing side characters that provide the most heart warming found family vibes. This really embellished the story further in my eyes and made the stakes for our two main characters even higher.

In terms of plot, this book had it all. There was an end goal in sight for both of the characters, that is, the thread that flows throughout the whole book. This story begins as a chance meeting of Sage and Elias, and from this, they come to the conclusion that a fake relationship could be mutually beneficial for both of them up to achieve their dreams. The questions then become, will they stick to the rules they set out for their fake relationship? Will this fake relationship become something more? We read as Sage and Elias become friends, peeling back the layers of each others truth bit by bit, and it is one heck of a journey. I highly recommend this book. It is such a beautiful and emotionally vulnerable story that left me reeling in places and smiling from ear to ear in others.

This book is everything I love about romance books. Sage & Eli’s story was full of love and warmth full of the tropes I love; fake dating, friends to lovers, found family. It bought me so much joy seeing Summer & Aiden again and then being in more love than ever.
If I could give a book 5 million stars , I would.

4.5 stars

Spiral is everything I've been looking for in a sports romance, and I finished reading it in less than a day. Both Eli and Sage felt so real, and their chemistry and affection for each other felt natural and developed in a realistic way. There was the perfect balance of both ballet and hockey, and I love that Sage was so focused on her own career, as the love interest's ambitions can often feel sidelined in hockey romances, but that wasn't the case here. It was so lovely to read about Eli & Sage opening up to each other about their pasts, despite their very different approaches to their trauma, and I felt seen by aspects of both characters. I also loved that the conflict they faced was primarily external to their relationship, as well as how they showed up for each other even when they weren't on the best terms. Eli's friends were also a great part of the book, and I loved how they immediately warmed to Sage and adopted her into their group. The epilogue was very sweet, though I wish it had been a little longer than three years to make some of their life developments more realistic - perhaps Sean's college graduation could have been a more appropriate moment.

Thank you so much to Bloomsbury Publishing & NetGalley for the arc, which has been one of my favourite reads of this year! My review will be posted on Goodreads and Instagram closer to the publication date.

This was my first book from Bal, and I had so much fun reading it! ❤️

If you love these tropes, then this book is definitely for you:
🏒 Hockey romances
🎀 Cinnamon roll boy
🏒Slow burn
🎀 No third-act breakups
🏒 Fake dating

Sage is a people pleaser who never asks for help, even when she desperately needs it. She’s genuinely the funniest character ever, with a dirty mouth and I absolutely loved her!

Elias, my boy, just wants to play hockey, but the pressure he’s under is crushing him mentally. I adored the relationship between Sage and Elias. It’s the kind of relationship you need in real life... friends and lovers with the perfect balance. Plus, the fake datin

Thank you to Bloomsbury & NetGalley for the ARC! ❤️

3.5 stars 🌟

I haven't read Collide (thought I might now!) but that didn't stop me from enjoying this slow burn, fake dating hockey romance from Bal Khabra.

I liked the build up of feelings between Eli & Sage and the epilogue got me surprisingly emotional considering the rest of the story didn't really affect me that much.

It felt a little bit samey to other hockey romances with their family issues and Eli being your typical hot hockey player who puts all other men to shame but it was still a fun read. I enjoyed the spicy bits and was a little disappointed there weren't more to be honest!

If you like hockey romance, chances are you'll like this too.

With thanks to Bloomsbury and Netgalley for the ARC

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with an advanced copy of this book. Spiral is the stand alone sequel to Collide, another hockey romance. In spiral, we follow Elias, who we met in Collide and is now an NHL rookie player on a bad streak. He meets Sage, a self-sufficient ballerina who can’t book any gigs, and the two end up fake dating to solve both of their problems. Of course, this doesn’t go as expected.

I read Collide about 10 months ago and I remember quite distinctly that I enjoyed Summer, the FMC, since she was quite strong minded but also had a generally well developed personality compared to some other romance books I have read. Sadly, Spiral was a miss for me and that became clear pretty early on when it started to become obvious that both of our main characters seemed to quite one-dimensional. Their dynamic develops super quickly even though they initially have no chemistry and truly don’t know each other. They move in together after having met once or twice. No matter how good of a guy you are, you don’t offer a stranger to live with you and as the person being offered a place, you don’t accept. They don’t know each other. It was a little strange that the characters very clearly didn’t know each other and never really got to know each other (at least on the page) and yet moved so quickly. At the same time, it takes them so long to act on any tension and while celibacy after a traumatic sexual event is a completely valid and important plot line, they do some pretty intense sexual stuff but then keep on skirting around an actual relationship or sex as if oral sex isn’t also breaking a celibacy vow. The combination of an underdeveloped yet fast moving connection between the characters that then moved super slowly and kept on circling around the sexual aspect of their relationship was just not a hit for me. If the emotional connection between the two had been worked through more thoroughly, the will they won’t they wouldn’t have been so annoying but the combination just made the novel drag out. I did review Collide by saying it was too long and I think a lot of this books problems could also be solved simply by cutting 100 pages. Not enough happens plot wise or character arc wise to warrant 400 pages in my opinion.

I do appreciate the general ideas of the characters that were chosen. The people pleasing older sister is always a trope I personally enjoy reading. The tragic circumstances under which she and her brother grew up are hard to read through and how Sage came out at the end is truly wonderful considering the circumstances. I also love the interactions between her and her brother and how the brother and boyfriend get on together. The glimpses of Summer and Aidan from Collide that we get are also cute and add some joy to the plot.

The cliffnotes of my review are: it’s too long and the characters lack some depth. I think it’s still a fun read and this might work much better for a different kind of reader, but as someone who has read a lot of these books, I need something a little bit more to launch an emotional connection with the cast and truly enjoy the story.

spiral was so so good and a genuine surprise after collide. everything about this book was a massive improvement and i absolutely adored the characters and the way eli and safe developed their relationship !

eli and sage’s relationship felt so natural and easy to read about .. they were funny, raw and made this book so easy and enjoyable to read.

the plot was well paced and i felt like their relationship was really well paced too. the plot was engaging and had other elements aside from the relationship which is always a plus for me!

overall, it was such an easy read that brought me so much joy .. i am so excited to see what else Bal Khabra comes out with because i know it will only improve!

I’m such a sucker for fake dating tropes. This was a perfect romance, full of swoon worthy moments that were perfectly balanced with the more emotional scenes. I loved Eli and Sage, they were so well written in their own right which only made their relationship that much more believable and easy to root for. They each had their own battles to overcome and I found myself enjoying every single moment of this book, something that rarely happens for me in a romance. The side characters were also a great addition, I’m definitely going to read the other books in this series. A perfect romance, no notes!

It the first book hadn't convinced me, Spiral was a really great read. I started out reluctant, and ended up moved, so I'd say it was a successful gamble!

I was absolutely hooked on Sage from the very first chapters. She's a people pleaser. She puts the happiness of those closest to her, who are a very small circle, before her own happiness. Despite rejections and setbacks, she doesn't back down from her dream of being a ballerina; on the contrary, she's determined, and I found that very realistic. She was used to not showing her emotions as a child so now she's unfiltered, if she has to cry she doesn't hide, if she flirts she goes all out. In short, she's great.

It took me longer to get attached to Elias. I found it hard to grasp his tears and reactions at first, but as he let Sage in, I let him in and then adored him. If I had to give his language of love, l'd say words of appreciation and act of services. He did a wonderful job of soothing Sage, where she allowed him to let go.

It was a real good slow burn and their fake dating was written to pertection!

It comes out in early 2025, and I recommend it, whether you want to read the first book or not!

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!

Give me a hockey player romance any day! Absolutely loved this read, it was a slow burn, no PDA, fake dating, forced proximity and wow it was so good. Both Elias and sage opened up to eachother so much and it was so lovely to read!

This might actually be one of my favourite reads this year! Thankyou NetGalley

Thanks so much to Bal Khabra, Bloomsbury and NetGalley for the eARC, all opinions expressed are my own.

Another fab read from Khabra, I loved the dynamic between Elias and Sage and especially enjoyed the exploration of their character backgrounds and what shaped them into the people that they are.

The fake dating element was fantastic, set against a backdrop against ballet and hockey, a fantastic combination.

I especially enjoyed the way the storyline unravelled, and the secondary characters were fantastic.

Really enjoyed this one!

I LOVED THIS BOOK!!! The ballerina x hockey player trope gets me everytime.

The banter between the main characters was everything and the story had a perfect balance of serious issues and the fluff.

Gotta say I’ve been in love with Kian since collide and can’t wait for his book.

Thank you NetGalley for approving me for this request.

Thank you Bloomsbury for granting me a digital arc of Spiral by Bal Khabra from Netgalley. I know its an uncorrected proof but the copy I have is unreadable with no spaces between words and whole sentences. Worst formatting of a uncorrected digital arc I've seen and no response to request for support. Sorry this was such a disappointment.

i love a good sports romance and this one did not dissapoint. i love khabra's writing, the first book in the series was just perfect. would recommend this to any romance lovers!

really enjoyed this one just as much as the first!! you just can’t beat a good sports romance i eat them up every time and this was no exception! thank you so much for this arc

I loved Collide, but in her follow-up Bal Khabra has really knocked it out of the park (or insert hockey analogue here!). This time, it's the turn of the enigmatic Elias Westbrook, Aiden's bestie.

While some of the guys from the hockey house are still at Dalton, both Aiden and Eli have now been called up by NHL team Toronto Thunder. Aiden's taken the switch from NCAA to NHL in his stride, but Eli is struggling under the weight of press attention and the pressure to perform. Having been the NCAA top scorer at Dalton U, Eli has yet to score his first professional goal for Toronto, and his initial golden-boy status has tarnished: the press are out for blood, trying to dig up any dirt they can on the 'underperforming' rookie, and the GM is less than impressed. Meanwhile, Sage Beaumont, a jobbing ballet dancer, is desperate to score an audition for the principal role with Nova Ballet Theatre, but as an unknown, her lack of social media following means she's turned down sight unseen. After taking a last-minute dancing gig for her uncle at a team fundraiser, she and Eli are thrown together when she agrees to help Aiden save Eli from the clutches of an over-zealous fan... But one 'auction-mandated' date isn't enough, and the pair agree to fake a relationship that should be mutually beneficial: the press will back off from the salacious gossip now Eli's settled down, and Sage will benefit from a massive boost in visibility and followers, so they can both focus on achieving their dreams.

Of course, we know how this is going to go, right? It's a fake relationship story... And to an extent it does - there's obvious chemistry between the two from the start, and there are rules for the fake relationship that are gradually eroded, and we get to see them discover what it's like to be with someone who complements you (Eli learning to trust, and Sage learning to accept help, for example). But nothing about the story is formulaic, and these are three-dimensional characters, and their arc was really satisfying to see play out. I was so happy to see Sage become brave enough to go for it and ask for what she wanted, and Eli overcome his past to give them both what they both needed. I also appreciated that other hockey romance tropes were incorporated in interesting ways - without spoiling anything, I'll mention the Stanley Cup outcome, and also how the storyline with Elias' dad played out. Neither turned out as I might have expected, and I loved that!

Sometimes there's one MC who I find more compelling, or whose story holds more interest at the expense of the other, but that's not the case here. Eli's stoicism and nurturing nature that we glimpsed in book 1 is elaborated on in Spiral and it's hard not to fall in love with him; for all that seeing him cleave to his rule is frustrating (as a reader, as well as for Sage), it's impossible not to empathise and only makes you root for him to do the thing and be happy. And Sage is a wonderful FMC - warm and funny and sassy and vulnerable; I loved that the ballet storyline was as compelling as the hockey one. The pair initially seem to have come from very different backgrounds, but the more we find out about them, the more parallels are revealed. I loved that the things they shared brought them closer, and the differences gave them both strengths and baggage that the other was able to balance or counter or complement in some way.

One of the best parts of Collide was the hockey family, and while 'mum and dad' (Aiden and Eli) have moved up to the pro world, they haven't left Dylan and Kian behind, so as well as plenty of cool moments between Sage and Summer, she also gets to have more new friends, and the family further expands to include Sage's younger brother, Sean. Given Sage's and Eli's backgrounds, found family is an even bigger theme in Spiral, and I think the epilogue perfectly encapsulated that.

I can't wait to read more in this series, and I'm sure I'll be re-reading Spiral before too long. Highly recommended for fans of sports romance, particularly those who're there for the found family.

(While I'm assuming most readers will be coming to this having read Collide, and there are recurring characters from that book, I think it would be perfectly possible to enjoy Spiral on its own merit, particularly if you prefer pro hockey to college hockey stories.)

Note: review also posted to Waterstones.com but awaiting approval; will update links when available.

4.25⭐️

thank you netgalley and bloomsbury for this arc! i had the best time reading collide, so this was a highly anticipated read for me 🫶🏻

i loved this book, fake dating romances just do something to me where i get all giddy inside but i also want to throw my kindle across the room because they don’t tell each other how they actually feel.

sage and eli were perfect. i loved how they were both unique but their personalities bounced off each other and complemented each other so beautifully.

it was refreshing to read about someone who was celibate and refrains from drinking alcohol. it was so real and something i think people can relate to. it was a lovely touch

i did feel like the story finished earlier than i was expecting, with how much book was left when they got back together i felt myself feeling a little disappointed. but i am glad that we got to see them both do something they loved and watch them grow.

the epilogue was actually so frigging adorable. no spoilers here. but i usually hate epilogues because they’re always married and have kids, but this was a warm welcome.

I know what you’re thinking, another hockey romance, but if you decide to read just one more, let it be Spiral!

I am a huge fan of Collide, the first in the series and absolutely adored Aidan and Summer, but I have to admit, Sage and Elias have now claimed the top spot in my heart.

Spiral is a ballerina x hockey player, fake dating romance and I was hooked immediately, like I was with Collide. I LOVE Sage, she’s independent and strong but playful and flirty to Elias’s quiet and reserved demeanour, but they were so perfect for each other. Bal Khabra has a unique ability to create such likeable characters without them being overly perfect and I think it’s what makes her books so enjoyable to read. There were few unexpected twists which definitely took me by surprise and although this was a pretty slow burn the chemistry between Sage and Elias made it so worth it!

I really enjoyed Collide so was super excited to get an eARC for Spiral. I just love the hockey team so much and it was great to be back in this world with all the familiar characters from the first book.
In this novel, Elias Westbrook is a professional hockey player who can't catch a break on the ice or in the media. He hasn't scored on the rink, but the papers keep reporting about him scoring with women - even though that's not accurate.
Enter struggling ballerina, Sage, who could do with a little attention from the media to help her achieve her dream of performing in Swan Lake.
The pair agree to fake date, even though there's immediate chemistry between them and they might struggle to keep their rules of no PDA, and no falling in love.

I absolutely loved this, such great tension / forbidden love between the two and I enjoyed the back story of both characters, especially Sage's relationship with her brother Sean. It made both of their flaws and worries make complete sense. The found family in this book is top tier, highly recommend!

The pacing was a little off as it built to a conflict that wasn't really in the third act and was over very quickly but I still thoroughly enjoyed it.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury for the eARC.

Ahh this was super cute! I'm a sucker for a hockey romance and Eli was possibly the sweetest hockey player MMC ever. The dynamic between him and Sage was really fund to read and the spicy scenes were great. Looking forward to the next book!