Audio and eBook Review: Common Goal by Rachel Reid, Performed by Cooper North

25 September of 2020 by ButtonsMom2003

Common Goal By Rachel Reid

Genre: Contemporary, Sports, Romance, Hockey, GLBTQ, MM

Tropes: Age-gap, friends-with-benefits

Released: September 21, 2020 ebook and audoi

Publisher: Carina Press, Harlequin Audio

Series: Game Changers, Book 4

Length: 282 pages / 9 hrs, 53 min

Synopsis

New York Admirals goalie Eric never thought his friends-with-benefits arrangement with much-younger Kyle would leave them both wanting more…

Veteran goaltender Eric Bennett has faced down some of the toughest shooters on the ice, but nothing prepared him for his latest challenge—life after hockey. It’s time to make some big changes, starting with finally dating men for the first time.

Graduate student Kyle Swift moved to New York nursing a broken heart. He’d sworn to find someone his own age to crush on (for once). Until he meets a gorgeous, distinguished silver fox hockey player. Despite their intense physical attraction, Kyle has no intention of getting emotionally involved. He’ll teach Eric a few tricks, have some mutually consensual fun, then walk away.

Eric is more than happy to learn anything Kyle brings to the table. And Kyle never expected their friends-with-benefits arrangement to leave him wanting more. Happily-ever-after might be staring them in the face, but it won’t happen if they’re too stubborn to come clean about their feelings.

Everything they both want is within reach… They just have to be brave enough to grab it.

Review

Reviewed by ButtonsMom2003

Another fantastic, hot and sexy book in this series.

I love this series so much. Every single book has been a 5-star read for me and Common Goal is no exception – and boy is it hot!

It’s a fantastic age-gap and bi-awakening story. Eric is an aging goalie who is reaching the end of his career. He had an amicable divorce from his wife of 20-years but has yet to remove his wedding ring. This causes a bit of a dilemma for his soon-to-be love interest, Kyle, because while Kyle is attracted when they first meet, he absolutely will not get involved with a married man.

The thing that makes this story so hot is Kyle’s offer to teach Eric everything he wants to know about sexy-time with a man – and boy does Kyle know a lot!! But beyond this, there is a tender love story developing between the two of them. The problem is that Eric just can’t seem to get past the age difference and just about ends up destroying everything between them.

I started out listening to the audiobook version of this, read by Cooper North, but soon switched back to reading the ebook. I believe this is the first audiobook I’ve listened to from Cooper North. I didn’t think his narration was really bad or anything, I just wasn’t feeling the same emotion listening to the story as I’ve always gotten when reading the previous books (I haven’t listened to any of them).

While Common Goal can easily be read as a standalone, fans of the series will enjoy visiting with previous characters from other books in the series. In particular, I enjoyed the cameo appearances by Ilya Rosanov and Shane Hollander from book two, Heated Rivalry. I’m not certain how the timeline for Common Goal intersects with Heated Rivalry, but nothing about that book is revealed in Common Goal. However, if you’ve read Heated Rivalry, you’ll be reading between the lines in a few of the scenes. 😊

As far as I’m concerned, this series can continue on forever. I’m a huge fan and I love Rachel Reid’s writing.

♥♥♥♥♥

O Factor: Scorcher

Game Changers Series

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About Author

Rachel Reid

Rachel Reid is the pen name of Rachelle Goguen. She chose it because it is much easier to say, spell and remember than Rachelle Goguen! Rachel writes cute, romantic smut, mostly about hockey players. Her Game Changers m/m hockey romance series is available from Carina Press. Rachel/Rachelle lives in Nova Scotia, Canada. She has always lived there, and it’s looking like she probably always will. She has two boring degrees and two interesting kids.

Author Links

Review copies of the ebook and audiobook were kindly provided by their respective publishers.