🏒🩰REVIEW🩰🏒

I didn’t know this was not gonna be college hockey so I was surprised there but pleasantly! I actually really enjoyed this one! it was so good. Nothing like a fake relationship and the tension that builds. Add in the roommates situation and sparks fly!

I really liked how their relationship was built and how they opened up to each other. They were honestly so cute together & Eli really came through for Sage in every possible way. He was such a good guy.

I really liked the characters and how much we got to see of Aiden and Summer & how they were doing now that Aiden went pro. Actually, the whole friend group is amazing. I love how they all took in Sage into their fold. They are such a cute friend group. I’m really excited to read more of them and get to know the other guys better! The next book is coming sooner than I thought it would and I’m really excited for it!

⭒ Rating: 4.5
🌶️ Spice rating: 0.5/3

Spiral - Bal Khabra

Thank you to Netgalley, Bloomsbury and Bal Khabra for the ARC.

Spiral follows the story of Eli the rookie hockey player and Sage the struggling ballerina as they realise that the publics perception of them does matter to their carers.
Eli struggles with being known as a playboy to the point no news story about him mentions hockey.
Sage is told at an audition that follower counts are important and she has ~90ish.
The two meet at a charity auction and end up fake dating to help Eli's playboy image and being seen with the most popular rookie boosts Sage's follow count.

Eli and Sage are adorable. I think I might actually like them better than Aiden and Summer 😍
They seemed to have more things to overcome both as individuals and as a couple and they're there for each other through it all.

I will say I'm okay with instalust but this one did verge a little onto the instalove side for me. Not fully insta but pretty damn quick. I did enjoy seeing them as a couple mind you. And Eli interacting with Sage's brother is just down right adorable.

All round I really enjoyed this book but I would say I feltnthe last couple of chapters felt as if they went by very quick. I loved the epilogue but 😍

Cannot wait for Revolve!

As someone who was a ballet dancer when they were younger this book was for me. I related to the main character so much as was rooting for her the whole time.

A thoroughly brilliant romance read that had me feeling all of the warm fuzzy things as I watched Sage and Elias' story unfold from the rocky beginning to a charming ending. Sage's fiery side was great to read and I loved watching her challenge Elias - especially at the beginning when he definitely deserves to be called out the way Sage does. These two characters really complement each other and we get to know them both well across the course of this story. Sage is carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders, fiercely independent and determined to make her dreams come true. She has difficulty letting to but with Elias there to give her room to do that, she's learning to let others in, Elias struggles with the fame - and the fans - that comes with being a famous athlete. His image is being damaged more and more by the press and he's struggling with the pressure of his new position in a big team. These two really balance each other, and support each other. Their love story is beautifully written and filled with character development and lots of chemistry. This is the first book I've read in the series but I'm definitely going to have to go back to Collide for Summer and Aiden's story - these two make brilliant side characters in the story and I'm always here for a genuine, supportive male friendship in a book so Aiden and Elias's brings the story to an extra level.

I received a free copy of this book. All views are my own.

Firstly thank you to Bloomsbury, NetGalley and Bal Khabra for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I have not read Collide but I most definitely will be after reading Spiral.

The Dual POV from our main protagonists so that we know they are both anxious dumb dumbs. The fake dating, family dramas and slow burn all worked for me. The characters are likeable and the writing flowed smoothly.

SPOILER ALERT
No miscommunication or third act breakups! However the dumb dumbs did have their pivotal moment and I then I was worried as still plenty of story left but other tensions and drama concluded the novel.

Loved the epilogue super cute and having way for more within universe to follow. One I'd recommend.

Tropes:

🏒 Dual POV
🩰 Spicy
🏒 Fake Dating
🩰 Found Family
🏒 Hockey Romance
🩰 Slow Burn

#bookreview #books #reading #book #bookpost #bookworm #bookish #romcom #contemporaryfiction #fakedating #romance #spicy #sportromance #hockeyromance

Spiral é um hockey romance fofinho.

A história em si é um fake dating entre dois amigos. Gostei muito da história. Tocou em temas mais sensíveis, como a família. Uma vez que a Sage não tem pais, e cuida do irmão mais novo, acabamos por ver uma irmã mais velha que dá tudo de si aos outros e acaba por se esquecer de cuidar dela mesma. É uma people pleaser e ela própria o assume.

O Elias é a mais recente compra da equipa de hockey e anda com dificuldades em marcar o primeiro “golo”. Ele é muito fofo. Mesmo uma pessoa que se preocupa com os outros e que dá vontade de abraçar e dizer que vai ficar tudo bem.

A história em si é leve e fofa. Temos o hockey, o ballet e a pressão de ambos os desportos.

A escrita da autora melhorou imenso desde Collide. Gostei muito mais deste livro, por isso quero dar os parabéns!!!

Estou muito curiosa com o próximo livro da saga, Revolve. Mal posso esperar!
Não dou 5 estrelas porque houve momentos no livro em que a história não me estava a prender, no sentido de que, senti que eram capítulos “para encher”. Acho que menos 3/4 capítulos e o livro tinha ficado excelente.

5⭐

I loved this book so so much. First of Hockey x ballerina was a trope I didn't know i would love as much as I did. I love a fake dating trope and oh boy was this done good. I really related to sage and not letting anyone take care of her. While there is spice and I LOVE the spice the romance is what made this book so perfect. Also, I love any book that doesn't have a third act break up so this immediately got bonus points.

Thank you for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I was so excited to read this book after adoring Collide and this was so brilliant!! I loved Eli and Sage. Their fake dating / friends to lovers vibe was SO cute and the book had me so hooked.

I loved seeing the exploration of both their characters and felt that the more challenging topics were handled well. Seeing the side characters from book 1 was also such a delight. I’m so excited for the next book in this series!

Thank you NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book follows Eli, a professional hockey player in his rookie season who is struggling to score for his team; and Sage, a talented ballerina who can’t seem to land any auditions. When they meet, they realise they can help each other by pretending to date.

This is a very easy read, fast-paced and engaging throughout. The writing is simple and accessible, and there are only a couple of pacing issues where the story drags a bit, but it quickly picks up.

My main issue with this book was the chemistry between the main characters. Without risking any spoilers, the device used to create tension between them was poorly managed. I felt it was used to add shock factor rather than to explore the character’s relationship deeper, and it weakened the stakes.

Overall, it is a fun and easy read, I just wished the characters had been better developed!

A really cute slowburn sports romance with my favourite tropes of fake dating and found family! 💜

To misquote “Sk8er Boi” by Avril Lavigne: He was an ice hockey player, she did ballet. What more can I say?
First of all, I am in love with the book’s dedication. Let’s start there: “You are a light in this world, don't waste it on those who can't see it. Find the people who can.”

Spiral is an excellent title choice for this one because there is the phrase “spiral out of control”, which is accurate for their relationship – they try to restrain themselves but they lose control and are mad for each other. There is also the idea of “going into a spiral” which the two of them do often because of past traumas: Sage ; Eli . This is used in Chapter 31 wherein Sage feels she has been “tossed into a downward spiral almost as complicated as our fake relationship”.

Indeed there are beautiful parallels between Sage and Eli : they both perform well when they are together/supporting each other, they want to prove people wrong (Sage wants to show the artistic director Aubrey Zimmerman that she has come a long way since he laughed at her and her audition; Eli wants to show general manager of the team Marcus that he will do better and he will achieve his first goal and wants to show the media he is more than a playboy), they both get injured doing the sport they love, they have trouble sleeping.

The story draws attention to important aspects like: long distance can work and isn’t a be-all-end-all, healthy vs toxic family dynamics, the problems faced by a sibling forced to grow up too soon and step into their parents’ shoes and take care of the family, and last but not least the realistic issue of ballet dancers who are self-conscious of their bodies, especially because of remarks ballet directors have said.

There were unfortunately some things that were not so great about this book: like some of it felt too fast or moments felt unrealistic or not what the character would do, some opportunities to explore aspects like Nina and Sage's bond were wasted but all-in-all a delightful read I didn't want to put down

I fear this was so much better than the first book, I think that the writing ad editing in his book was so much better than collide. sage and Elias the main characters were so cute and I really liked the struggling ballerina and hockey player who needs to spin his image with the media.

I liked both characters and the struggles they both went through. I liked that though this is a slow burn there is immediate chemistry between the main characters even though they make guiding rules for fake dating. i

I’ve never read Bal Khabra’s books before and went into this not having read Collide first, but this book was absolutely amazing!!! I loved both Elias and Sage’s characters so much, and the chemistry and slow burn romance was soooo good!

This is a hockey player x ballerina romance with fake dating, and it was executed perfectly! Definitely one of my favourite romance reads ever!

I’d give it 4.5 stars purely because I would’ve liked the other side stories to be resolved/talked about more throughout the book, rather than all mainly focused at the end, but that’s a fairly minor thing because I really enjoyed this book and I definitely want to reread this in the future!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for letting me read this ARC!

Honestly this book is absolutely stunning and so perfect. There was so much banter, dirty flirty jokes and the right amount of spice to make it all fun and interesting. Collide was amazing but Spiral was a knock out in my opinion. I devoured and left no crumbs and did not want to put this down.

Elias oh my god was just perfection he treated Sage with some much love and respect and honestly the perfect man. He was so caring, loyal, had so much patience, he had his own growth in this book with his carer and personal life. And he comes with tons of surprises ;)

Sage represents for a lot of people the older sister syndrome. Always caring for others before herself, sacrificing parts of her life for others, deflecting, loneliness, hard working.

Elias and Sage together just perfection and they helped each other grow and become better people

This books includes (in my opinion)
-ice hockey player x ballerina
-forced proximity
-fake dating
-found family
-bad childhood
-spice
-dirty flirty jokes
-celibacy

Spiral is a Ballerina/Hockey player sports romance following our rookie of the season Eli & talented ballet dancer Sage.

I’m a huge fan of a sports romance but I feel the pacing of this one was so off. It felt like we didn’t have enough time sitting in certain scenes with the characters which made the relationship feel pretty disconnected all the way through.

There was a couple of deeper meaningful topics of discussion brought up for both characters which were then glossed over, so it just felt pretty pointless for them to be introduced in the first place.

Also the constant sexual innuendos just grated on me, I don’t think I’ve ever read someone wiggling their eyebrows after a joke as much as I did in this book.

Thank you to NetGalley & Bloomsbury Publishing for providing this arc in exchange for an honest review of this book!

“because i know no matter where i am, i'll always be home as long as i have her.”

oh bal u never disappoint and when i say never i mean it since the very first time i have read collided i already knew that i needed more because bal’s writing’s truly addicting like her characters… she’s just one of my favourite authors in the end… if she announces something i’m in but we aren’t surprised aren’t we?

firstly do i love this one more than collided? don’t ask me because my emotional attachment can’t choose right now!

there are a lot of reasons about why u should go and read this book or let’s say the entire series… i could simply start by saying no third act break up or talking about the act of services or idk the family found part that always ate… and i could just go on by mention the tension between sage and elias or the healthy communication… and well if u know u know!

i would like to suggest you to just go and start without reading much of anything and just read the book because trust me it’s way better!

sage’s such a strong and lovely character her development it was so good and well deserved and i’m so happy to see her happy with elias because yes he was always there for her and helping her but he also needed sage in a very intimate and deeply way that even he didn’t knew he needed before actually knowing her and so it was very touching sometimes to read about their healthy and lovely relationship!

least but last the side characters and the crumbs about the next couple because uhm yes i need more and have u seen the cover of the third book??? a masterpiece but we aren’t surprised in the end!

A lot of thanks to Netgalley and Bloomsbury Publishing Plc for the e arc of this book in exchange of my honest opinion!

the BEST. this book did not disappoint. bal is an amazing author and i was very fortunate to read this before release! eli and sage are such cuties! i can’t wait to see this in stores

I love a fake dating romance and this one did not disappoint. Super fun, great characters, engaging and so enjoyable to read!

This was such a fun read! Of course any romance book with fake dating has my heart.
Elias and Sage were both complex characters who leant on each other to overcome their own baggage/demons.
I loved the pacing of the book, not too fast. The coming together of both characters was so organic and cutereeeeeeeee.
I’m actually now obsessed with sports romance books!!!!!

My only negatives were, this character was black but was full on neck blushing? I think that threw me out of the story, as I questioned is this even possible unless they’re light skinned????

This book is the 2nd in the Off the Ice series and is a fake dating sports romance following ballerina Sage and NHL rookie hockey player Elias. I went into this book cautiously, as I was not a huge fan of Collide (the first book in the series), but it’s safe to say this one greatly surpassed my expectations!

This book was so sweet! It actually made me cry from how sweet it was (and it’s very unlike me to get emotional at a romance book!) I thought the characters were great. They both had fully fleshed out backstories and personalities. Both main characters had good character development, on an individual level as well as together as a couple. I also loved the friendships and family in this book too. I felt like there was good attention to detail in the writing.

I did think that certain plot points disappeared too quickly and could have been explored slightly more. Additionally the pacing felt ever so slightly off towards the end. The book went on slightly longer than I expected.

Overall I really enjoyed this book! I loved the characters and the chemistry between them. I can’t wait to continue this series with the release of Revolve in October 2025!

Thank you to NetGalley, and the publisher for the ARC.

Hhhhmm this started so strong I loved the characters, the chemistry, and the banter was perfect. I liked that both characters had diverse backgrounds and how it played out on the page. I also really enjoyed the dance content.
But at the 60% mark the spice started and I just didn't love that (its a me thing I don't love the spice) I think there was 6 chapters.
The epilogue was a great finish and a few surprises.