COMMON GOAL

If Kyle had one weakness—and he didn’t; he had many—it was confident, attractive older men. Also, confident, attractive younger men. Also, men.

Common Goal focuses on Eric Bennett, the New York Admirals’ goalie, and Kyle Swift—the sweet bartender we first met in Scott and Kip’s story. Eric is playing his final season before retirement, while Kyle is trying to move on from his long-standing crush on Kip, who is very happily in love with his fiancé and about to get married. Because of their connections to Scott and Kip, Eric and Kyle cross paths… and the rest is history 😏😏

I have a very complicated relationship with this series 🤔🤔 I <i>liked</i> Game Changer, <i>devoured</i> Heated Rivalry, was <i>bored</i> by Tough Guy, and <i>loved</i> Common Goal. Usually, my feelings toward interconnected series are more consistent, so I’m genuinely curious how I’ll feel about the last two books.

This one, though, was much more my taste 😌😌 My biggest issue with the previous books was that the relationships often felt shallow and overly physical (with Heated Rivalry being the clear exception). Here, Eric and Kyle start as friends first and lovers later—and that made all the difference 👍👍 They actually took the time to get to know each other before things turned romantic, which made their relationship feel sincere, grounded, and built to last.

He’d never been forced to hide who he really was. Not in the same way. He’d just chosen not to reveal all of himself, because he’d never needed to.

I really loved both of them as characters. They weren’t cringey, and they acted their age, which I appreciated a lot. Watching them slowly heal each other throughout the book was genuinely touching. They opened up over time, built trust, and let their feelings develop naturally—and it worked beautifully 🤝🤝

Besides the main couple, I loved seeing Scott and Kip this happy—they truly deserved it 😊😊 Eric coming out to Scott was such a sweet, heartfelt moment, I really like their friendship. Speaking of friendships, I was also glad to see that Kyle had fully moved on from his crush on Kip; it would’ve been heartbreaking to watch that friendship fall apart 😞😞 And of course, lastly my baby Ilya stole every scene he appeared in, as always. I love him an unreasonable amount, and I cannot wait to read more of his story with Shane 💘💘

Overall, Common Goal felt like a much-needed save for the Game Changers series. It renewed my excitement and raised my expectations again. I really hope the next book lives up to this one—because this time, I genuinely had a great time reading 🤩🤩