Please, someone stop me because I’m officially on an MM romance binge.
A few months ago, if you’d told me I’d be devouring hockey romances featuring emotionally available men instead of serial killers, I’d have laughed in your face. Yet here we are. Character development, I guess.
I came looking for another hockey romance. What I didn’t expect was a silver-fox goalie having an existential crisis, a heartbroken grad student absolutely committed to not catching feelings, and a friends-with-benefits arrangement so spectacularly doomed that I was just sitting there waiting for the emotional train wreck.
Common Goal follows an almost retired NHL goalie Eric Bennett—better known as Benny—who’s finally ready to explore his sexuality after years of living for everyone but himself. Then there’s Kyle, a younger graduate student fresh out of heartbreak, convinced casual is the only safe option. They agree on one simple rule: no strings attached.
Yeah… we all know how that usually ends.
I didn’t realize how much I’d missed a good age-gap romance until this book reminded me why they work so well. And listen—I usually don’t even go for older guys, but Benny? Rachel Reid somehow made a 41-year-old retired goalie one of the hottest fictional men I’ve read this year.
Maybe it’s because he actually acts like a grown man.
He wants to date Kyle. He wants to take him out, kiss him, make him feel wanted—not just sleep with him and disappear until next weekend. Watching Kyle keep his walls up while Benny kept showing up with patience and genuine affection was equal parts adorable and mildly infuriating. Let the poor man kiss you already.
Also… can we talk about how unrealistic Benny is? A gorgeous, emotionally mature, divorced man in his forties who’s kind, communicative, takes care of himself, has hobbies, a social life, emotional intelligence, and knows how to make someone feel safe?
Rachel Reid really said, “Here’s your fantasy.”
Because let’s be honest… finding a single divorced man over forty without enough emotional baggage to require airport security screening feels about as likely as winning the lottery.
This was simply a sweet, cozy, ridiculously easy romance to fly through. Nothing overly dramatic, just two people slowly realizing that “casual” stopped being casual about three chapters ago.
And somehow I’ve almost finished the entire Game Changers series. Me. The person who normally avoids series like they’re a commitment.
That’s probably the biggest compliment I can give Rachel Reid. Every book has pulled me right back onto the ice, and I’ve loved the journey far more than I expected.
Now all that’s left is two more books and then Ilya and Shane’s final book… which I’ve already preordered.
The wait is going to be painful.
If you’re looking for hockey romance with mature characters, believable chemistry, genuine emotional intimacy, and men who actually communicate (yes, miracles do happen), I can’t recommend this series enough.
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