COMMON GOAL by Rachel Reid (2020)

★ ★ ★ ★ - not my favorite of the series—& I had high hopes because I have a thing for goalies…—though I did appreciate the demi-/bi-rep! This is a continuation of book one following Kyle’s story, btw.

Mar 15, 2025

∙ Paid

““Were you surprised when he came out?”
Eric thought about his answer before he spoke. “I was surprised that he came out, but less surprised that he was gay.”
“I lost my mind when I saw him kissing Kip on television. It was on the big screen at work and I nearly dropped a whole tray of glasses.”
“I knew they were a couple and I was still shocked.”
“It was brave as fuck. It meant a lot, y’know? The vibe in the bar that night, after he did that? It was like we all won the Stanley Cup. It was a party for sure.””

title: Common Goal

series: Game Changers, book four

author: Rachel Reid

published: 2020

publisher: Carina Press

genre/subgenre: gay hockey romance

setting: New York City

main themes/subjects/rep/tropes: age-gap romance, demi-/bisexual professional hockey player (who is newly embracing his attraction to me after an amicable divorce from his wife of 15 years…), broken heart /in love with engaged best friend, student-teacher (but the teacher is the younger guy), gay clubs in NYC, art collector, art history major, rich dudes, yoga, health-nut MC, flirt MC, bondage

summary/blurbs/premise: This one kind of picks up where Game Changer left off, telling Kyle’s story.

“His situation wasn’t the same as Scott’s, but he understood how it felt to live with a secret. To love playing hockey, but hate having to endure the endless homophobic slurs. To have to pretend you didn’t take them personally. At least Eric had been with Holly for most of his career. He hadn’t denied himself love or companionship out of fear, he just hadn’t been completely honest about who he was.”

my thoughts:

Ok so I actually didn’t like this one as much as the others in this series & it was largely because of the two main tropes: age difference & bondage. It’s not that I’m against age difference romances across the board, I think they can be handled with care & intention, but imo they really really have to be because otherwise they are truly very problematic & there was just something about the way it was handled in this book & the resolution that didn’t feel like it had entirely checked that box for me personally.

& re: the bondage bits I actually thought that was handled very well in this story I just… there’s something about that kink that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me & more than anything else I think it kind of confuses me or distracts me from the story so… idk. It’s just one of those personal things I guess… Maybe it’s different between men than it is when a woman is involved…

I also feel kinda bad but I just didn’t connect or really likeee the character of Kyle even from book one… Boy needs some therapy. Like real bad. & maybe Eric will be the one to support him (emotionally) through that process in the course of their relationship but I just felt like Kyle’s own self-image issues & traumatic past were not fully acknowledged beyond the surface level aspects of him being taken advantage of when he was younger by an older male authority figure let alone adequately addressed in the story. Also his crush on Kip gave me the ick a little bit?? & yes ok maybe it was also a little bit because he came from money, sue me.

Overall I thought both characters were deeply selfish, inward-looking individuals that lacked real depth imo so idk… maybe they really are perfect for each other. 😂

notable elements: Oh my god though, can we talk about Ilya Rozanov??? *ducks tomato* Hah. hah. I know but no SERIOUSLY— in literally all of these books he is basically like THE fairy godmother character to each of the protags & I don’t think I have *ever* been this obsessed with a fictional character before in my life omggggGGh… 🫦

i would recommend this book to readers who are into the tropes mentioned above—maybe you’ll like it better than I did!

“Eric wondered what that felt like, to love a person so deeply that you become braver for it. Become better.”

final note: Ok now I really am going to take a break from this series because I have like a hundred other books I need to be reading for real. Also there are a couple of romances on my physical shelves (particularly sapphic ones!) that I think I’d like to get to sooner…

CW // age gap romance trauma (he was 18, there was a scandal involving leaked pictures & videos! very awful), bondage

spice level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

season: winter / spring / summer

music pairing: dang I wonder what Eric & Kyle would listen to haha… probably something obnoxious… 🤣 Let me drop this album here though bc at the end they went on a vacation to Greece & idk… I just think the vibes are right. 👌🏻

Quotes, Notes, & Annotations…

Keep reading with a 7-day free trial

Subscribe to Stop and Smell the Books to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.

COMMON GOAL by Rachel Reid (2020)

★ ★ ★ ★ - not my favorite of the series—& I had high hopes because I have a thing for goalies…—though I did appreciate the demi-/bi-rep! This is a continuation of book one following Kyle’s story, btw.

““Were you surprised when he came out?”

Eric thought about his answer before he spoke. “I was surprised that he came out, but less surprised that he was gay.”

“I lost my mind when I saw him kissing Kip on television. It was on the big screen at work and I nearly dropped a whole tray of glasses.”

“I knew they were a couple and I was still shocked.”

“It was brave as fuck. It meant a lot, y’know? The vibe in the bar that night, after he did that? It was like we all won the Stanley Cup. It was a party for sure.””

title: Common Goal

genre/subgenre: gay hockey romance

my thoughts:

“Eric wondered what that felt like, to love a person so deeply that you become braver for it. Become better.”

further reading:

Click on the star ratings beside the titles I’ve read to read my reviews/thoughts about the book.

I earn commissions from the sponsored links to my shop on bookshop.org which allow me to keep the majority of my content like Book Reviews & Reading Lists free to all subscribers. <3

“The love his friends felt for their partners shone out of them, lighting up their faces when they talked about them. Maybe that kind of love was rare…”

All content, graphics, images, & photography © Stop and Smell the Books unless otherwise indicated.

If you haven’t already, consider upgrading to a paid subscription to see more of my expanded notes, annotations, & favorite quotes from this book below. . .

Quotes, Notes, & Annotations…

Keep reading with a 7-day free trial