An unexpected spark between a hockey player and the coach’s daughter might cause them to cross the line in the next Dalton University book from international bestselling author Bal Khabra.
Kian Ishida is all about parties, hockey, and living in the moment. But when he realizes he’s headed to the NHL without his degree, his late dad’s one wish for him, he’s determined to make up those last few credits. Desperate for help, he joins a study group led by none other than Scarlett Kilner. She’s as gorgeous as she is smart. Too bad he doesn’t know yet that she’s his coach’s daughter.
After making a reputation for herself, all Scarlett wants for her senior year is to prove she’s more than her mistakes and graduate without tarnishing her well-respected father’s name. But when Kian Ishida, one of her dad’s star hockey players, joins her study group, things get complicated.
As Scarlett helps Kian, their study sessions turn into something more—stolen glances, lingering touches, and a connection neither of them expected. Kian has to decide what’s more the dream he’s worked for his whole life or the girl he never saw coming.
Kian Ishida is all about parties, hockey, and living in the moment. But when he realizes he’s headed to the NHL without his degree, his late dad’s one wish for him, he’s determined to make up those last few credits. Desperate for help, he joins a study group led by none other than Scarlett Kilner. She’s as gorgeous as she is smart. Too bad he doesn’t know yet that she’s his coach’s daughter.
After making a reputation for herself, all Scarlett wants for her senior year is to prove she’s more than her mistakes and graduate without tarnishing her well-respected father’s name. But when Kian Ishida, one of her dad’s star hockey players, joins her study group, things get complicated.
As Scarlett helps Kian, their study sessions turn into something more—stolen glances, lingering touches, and a connection neither of them expected. Kian has to decide what’s more the dream he’s worked for his whole life or the girl he never saw coming.
Title: Embrace (Off the Ice #4)
Author: Bal Kahbra
Publisher: Berkley Publishing Group
Publication Date: August 4, 2026
Review:
Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this title to read and give my honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
I have to say I was really excited to read Kian's story. I loved him from the first time I met him. He's the most golden retriever or golden retriever book boyfriends and I needed him to have his HEA. Plus, watching his story unfold with the coach's daughter? A little forbidden love trope? Sign me up! My love of Khabra's stories has been up and down. I loved Collide but Spiral fell a bit short for me. Then I really enjoyed Revolve so I was really expecting something great with this story.
I was surprised to see this book kind of dropped in in the middle of another couple's story. It was honestly a little disorienting for me. I kind of wish I had that background before I started reading because I didn't expect this to coincide with Revolve. But it does. If you haven't read the first three books, I highly recommend doing so. While this could be read as a stand alone, I think reading the others gives a better background of all the side characters and their relationships. If I didn't know the other characters, I'm not sure some of those relationships would have made sense to me.
Kian and Scarlett's connection is interesting. She's tutoring him to make sure he graduates and he's helping her mend her reputation. I liked the idea of this relationship and could see how it might turn into more between the two characters. Of course they bring with them their own baggage: her reputation and her biological father who is in jail and him with the death of his father and his family treating him like he's glass. I kind of wish both of these things were explored a little more. The baggage almost felt like it was pushed to the back of the story when it was supposed to be what made the characters the way they were. I think it would have made more sense so the two connected on a level above just being in college and helping each other. I feel like I would have connected with them better had this been the case. Their chemistry was kind of there but didn't quite come across well enough for me to believe in their true attraction.
The plot is interesting enough but the pacing was so uneven. It felt choppy and all over the place with some chapters flowing right into each other in the same time line and other jumping far ahead with any segue. It made it hard for me to really want to push forward. And there were just some things that were put into the plot that seemed unrealistic and others that just became plot holes. Plus the conflict didn't really come across in this book. I didn't truly understand it and that's pretty essential in a romance that relies on this type of trope. The way the conflict was displayed didn't really make any sense to me and so I didn't really care about anything else that was happening.
Add to this the miscommunication trope that just keeps on giving. I can't imagine these two just never talking. Never sharing what was happening between them, what was happening in their lives, what was happening overall. Where was the work they were supposed to be doing to get to the part where they are ok? It wasn't there and then suddenly they are magically just great. It made no sense.
I see many great reviews for this title so take what I say with a grain of salt and explore this title for yourself. While I"m not giving up on this author all together, I'm going to be more cautious with what I read from her until I can see there is better consistency in her writing and stories.
Author:
Bal is a Canadian writer, romance enthusiast, and book lover. Before she decided to jump into the romance pool, she spent her time gushing about books on social media.
She loves reading about love, watching movies about love, and now, writing about it herself. There really isn’t much else that gets her heart fluttering the way HEAs do. She fell in love with writing and hopes to continue living out her romance author dreams.
She loves reading about love, watching movies about love, and now, writing about it herself. There really isn’t much else that gets her heart fluttering the way HEAs do. She fell in love with writing and hopes to continue living out her romance author dreams.
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