Common Goal

The Publisher Says: 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, show more 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.

My Review: Twelve instances of the heinous putridity of the w-verb. I wish to christ y'all straight ladies would stop perpetuating a symptom of eye disease or neurological disorder as "cute." It is not. (And fine Connor Storrie for doing it on the show!)

This one spoke to me moreso than any other in the series. My Young Gentleman Caller and I are parted now, after eight years, but age gap was not the reason...Chat psychosis knows no age I'm sad to say. I so deeply felt Eric's excitement at finding someone he could *connect* with, could relate to and share the far more frequently experienced pleasures of conversation, common interests, and that addictive buzz of companionship, that make sexual relationships with loved ones so deeply satisfying and affirming.

Kyle and Eric getting their happy ending was...soothing...but I had to get through a lot of jealous loathing to get there. Of course them being fictional made it so much easier to do. (It says here.) I'll just say that strangled sobs and ragey outbursts no doubt make Old Stuff, my repugnant roomie, that much gladder I'm leaving this facility next week. show less

Eric…the above mentioned “Silver Fox”… is 41 years old and this is his last season…he’s retiring….thinks he’s “over the hill”. I’m not a big hockey fan but it was in the box of books…and I see I had read another one in this series last year. Eric is a bit narrow minded thinking that the energetic 25 year old bartender that he’s crazy about is too young for him to place his romantic hopes retirement on. Eric spent way too much time worrying the age difference to death. Kyle showed him in everyway possible that he was equally crazy about him…but Eric just couldn’t let it go…and frankly he was the only one that cared. I liked the characters and how the story developed…but what a stubborn guy!!! I wanted to show more hit him up side the head with his hockey stick. It needed much less of time picking apart the relationship and looking for excuses and more time just listening to what his heart was telling him. show less

Ilya is a side character but also a chaos demon who shows up in everyone else's story like some kind of gay Poirot (yes, I know) who sees everyone else for exactly what they are about but somehow is never clocked by any other MCs despite how incredibly obvious he is. It as if these people have never met a chaotic bisexual (which is all bisexuals) because Ilya is textbook but gets away with it probably because of the "is it gay or is he just European" thing.
The main couple in this one is good, but not among my favorites of the series. Not a huge fan of age gap as a trope and these are the least likable parental figures of the series (though very unfortunately not the most unrealistic).

Well, this series can do no wrong in my books. This one starts slow-and-quiet. Then the sparkling Kyle, and the decent guy Eric, unfurl in the centre of another gorgeous romance.

My only complaint is that it wraps up too suddenly at the end - with the drawn out theme of "I'm not right for you" - the time when they finally came to see how wrong that was was over in a flash and we had to rely on the epilogue for any kind of coming together (no pun intended) or satisfying fulfilment of Kyle and Eric's story.

In fact, the drop-off was so sharp that I thought it was an obvious set up for a follow up book for Kyle and Eric.

I know zero about ice hockey but it provides a perfect backdrop for these novels.

A side benefit of the series is the new show more appreciation I have of the disciplined life of the pro athlete. It's inspirational, even motivating!

(Later) My thanks to ksahitya1987 below for such a good review of Common Goal.

(Oct 2023) I've listened to this audiobook again - maybe my third or fourth listen - and I think for the first time I loved both characters. I think I got there previously with Eric, but I hadn't got there with Kyle.

I think I understand now that Kyle was hiding himself, his love for Eric, so much so that I hadn't really understood Kyle. My feeling now is that the super confident Kyle was not nearly as confident as he presents, about his life and the possibility of finding happiness.

(May 2026) Returned again, and this time I heard the first hour as if it was new, and little bits of information revealed about Kyle that I had missed.

Now I see him in a lot more detail, as a fully formed character, as vulnerable as the quiet, gorgeous Eric. I have so much more empathy for Kyle than I had on my initial reading, and see more clearly how much he revealed of his crush on Eric. In my first rush through this audiobook several years ago, I remember more that Kyle was a little cold and smart alec-y, young and cocky, but that was such a harsh and unempathetic assessment! He exposes his heart often and so bravely, way more than I gave him credit for.

I'm so glad I revisited this novel yet again. I'm bowled over by how beautiful it is and am upping the score to 5 stars! show less

Definitely more of a solid 3.5.

I have to start by saying that this is my most favorite ongoing hockey romance series, so it’s always exciting when a new installment in it comes out. And I love that I always get to read them in advance. So I was very happy to get to this one and had quite a bit of fun reading it.

This is the fourth book in the series and it’s very noticeable that the author’s writing has changed a lot for the better over the course of time. From the very sugary sweetness of Game Changer, we now come to a much more believable romance, though the absent homophobia among most of the players in the hockey league in the series feels more like wishful thinking than closer to the real world - but we can always hope. This show more one was a typical age gap romance with some standard tropes which made it predictable, but also quite nice to read. I only took one break in between because it was too late in the night, or else I was pretty much ready to finish it in a single sitting. My only gripe is that the author uses the “almost no communication” trope and it just frustrated me.

Both the characters Eric and Kyle are lovely. I especially loved Eric, for being an amazing teammate who is well loved and respected, finally trying to figure out what more he wants from life after hockey. I adored that he is an amateur photographer and an art collector, which makes his character feel like a well rounded person with interests other than hockey. Kyle on the other hand is doing his masters in art history and works as a bartender, and while we got to see some very vulnerable moments from him especially regarding his backstory, I didn’t think we got to know him well enough. Their relationship starts as friends with benefits and it’s obvious how they feel for each other, but as I mentioned above, there are a lot of internal monologues about how they aren’t good for the other person but never actual conversations between the two about what they feel. I really wish we could have gotten more of that.

But as always, the side characters and the previous protagonists show up to liven up the proceedings and I really enjoyed seeing them all again. Scott and Kip are happy and adorable, and their sweetness quotient only seems to have doubled. Maria is a very supportive friend to Kyle and I loved getting to see her also maybe get her own romance. Carter brings lots of laughs, Matti is just there being his hot self, and Dallas Kent is a douche I never wanna see again. But I knew who I was looking for when I started reading this book, and I can’t describe my delight when he shows up quite early on - Ilya Rozanov is a delight and this series wouldn’t be the same without him. It’s hilarious to see glimpses of what the other players think of him and his “new found friendship” with Shane, and I as usual wish they had more presence because I can’t get enough of them.

To conclude, this was a fun addition to a beloved series. If you enjoy sports romances or May/December ones with very nice protagonists, a fun group of side characters and the usual tropes, you should definitely read this one. But it definitely works better if you start at the beginning because now all the books feel very connected, and don’t work well as standalones.

You might be thinking I’m recommending this series so much but I’ve given three of the four books in it less than four stars, so I have to clarify that I unfortunately can’t help but compare everything to the second one, Heated Rivalry which is an absolute favorite and none of the others make me feel that way. And I probably won’t be satisfied until the sequel to that comes out which is however a ways away. Till then, I can only hope that the next one Role Model will be wonderful because it takes place in Ottawa... which means more Ilya show less

This is my least favorite of the Game Changers series to date, but it was still good. The conflict was MUCH better developed this time around. Good tension throughout, good build. As always, maybe slightly too quickly resolved, but that’s just become the theme with these books, so I’m ready for it.

Ok. Bad: I didn’t like the age gap stuff. It’s not ridiculous or bad or problematic or whatever, but I hated the emphasis on it. Like, honestly, the main point of measurement for age gaps (in my opinion) is life experience, and they’re not so ridiculously unmatched on that it felt weird. I just didn’t like that we brought it up. Every. Single. Chapter.

I hope we get some Maria/Matti resolution, but I know the rest of the books show more aren’t centered around Admirals characters so that feels a bit bleak. RIP I like Maria and want to know where that goes.

Not a lot of hockey in this one. Very sad for me personally.

Sex scenes are as always very well done and interesting. Good vibes.

3 stars. It’s certainly not two, but I’m not feeling as strongly positive about this one as the rest of the series so far. I always feel so strange about my romance novel ratings, because anything I enjoy basically gets 3 stars unless it blows me away, but I also really feel like that’s the vibe. Wish Goodreads had half stars.

I’m also very excited for 5 and 6, so this one may have also just felt a little like a battle to finish for that reason. Also because I kept picking up other books that sucked me in more.

On to Role Model. Might get that one done today, I’m vibing and these are such short little reads. show less

2020_09, book-boyfriend, competence-porn, consent-done-sexy, contemporary, nom-nom, queer-rom, read-in-2020, romance, sports
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What a couple of emotionally intelligent idiots.

There's a lot I enjoyed about this. A recently divorced bisexual goalie coming out who is disciplined and kind of "boring" and a lot 41. Eric was absolutely delightful. I, too, want to rub myself on his silvering beard. (Luckily I have one of my own right here *reaches out to pet husband's face*)

Kyle, his love interest, is 25 years old, and I didn't really feel the age gap was an issue here even though it is the central conflict. Particularly because it was very easy to see where the lust-friendship-love connection was blossoming, it felt a little forced and show more convenient to rely on that piece.

Also, Rachel Reid used "I couldn't help but" all the time and it drove me crazy.

It's unfortunate that this didn't feel as infused with humor that I for some reason expect, but truly only get with our favorite perceptive & arrogant Ilya on page. It's unfortunate,too, that these seem to rely heavily on former characters.

Anyway, my review mojo is a little drained these days and I'll say there were times I smiled and swooned, but this doesn't touch her sophomore book in this series. As far as CR, it was good, but I was hoping for more.

But also yes to 41 year old characters. I'm just putting that out there. For no particular reason. show less