The Goal (Off-Campus 4) - Elle Kennedy
She’s good at achieving her goals…
College senior Sabrina James has her whole future planned out: graduate from college, kick butt in law school, and land a high-paying job at a cutthroat firm. Her path to escaping her shameful past certainly doesn’t include a gorgeous hockey player who believes in love at first sight. One night of sizzling heat and surprising tenderness is all she’s willing to give John Tucker, but sometimes, one night is all it takes for your entire life to change.
But the game just got a whole lot more complicated...
Tucker believes being a team player is as important as being the star. On the ice, he’s fine staying out of the spotlight, but when it comes to becoming a daddy at the age of twenty-two, he refuses to be a bench warmer. It doesn’t hurt that the soon-to-be mother of his child is beautiful, whip-smart, and keeps him on his toes. The problem is, Sabrina’s heart is locked up tight, and the fiery brunette is too stubborn to accept his help. If he wants a life with the woman of his dreams, he’ll have to convince her that some goals can only be made with an assist.
I am just going to get picky and say this cover here? LOVE IT. The new cover featured below? Strongly don't like them. They aren't eye catching at all and the original covers should have stayed. I have three of the hot covers and now this one and ugh.. I hate it. Anyways.
OK! So this is an interesting book because though it is a stand alone, it's so much sweeter if you read the entire series in order because this book features the other guys and their gals quite a bit, I thought. It's John Tucker (goes by Tucker) and Sabrina's story, and if you have read the other books you know that Sabrina is a the bitch on campus. She's smart and knows it. She's gorgeous and she's bitchy. Just by looking at her you would assume "mean girl" but you'd be wrong. Turns out, Sabrina has a pretty awful home life. She lives with her grandma and stepfather, her mom up and left years ago. Stepfather is a disgusting pig who kind of leers at her all of the time and is almost always drunk. Grandma has no backbone, but is sleeping with the stepfather, and is kind mean to Sabrina. She drives an hour each way to campus and she excels at everything so she can get out of her situation. She avoids relationships partly because she doesn't have time for them but also she doesn't think she's deserving of anything good.
Enter Tucker. He's a good guy. He's maybe the best guy out of the bunch of them and he falls for Sabrina fast. He knows that patience is a virtue and that Sabrina needs to be handled with kid gloves... so he does. He's maybe the most patient male character you will ever find in any book because holy hell. It's well over a YEAR before she says she loves him and that's through a pregnancy.
Yup- Sabrina, fresh on the heels of being accepted into Harvard Law School, finds herself pregnant. It was the first encounter between her and Tucker and accidents happen, birth control fails, but she's devastated. She has to decide to keep it or not but she also wants to lean and depend on Tucker.. but is convinced by doing so she'll drive him away and he will end up resenting her. She's convinced she is ruining his life. Tucker sees it all differently- he's in love with her, ready to move to the next level or two with her, and wants nothing more than to be a dad.
The book is full of miscommunication and I actually kind of liked Sabrina. I really identified with her though I will say that I expected her to come around MUCH faster than she did. It was almost too much and I was getting a little annoyed with her myself. Overall? I really liked this one. I've really enjoyed this entire series, but if this really is the end, it went out on a good note. All of the characters are matured, ready to graduate college, and all go their own way. It feels like a fitting conclusion. But I'm going to just mention book 5 would be fantastic, and we could focus on Fitz's character. Just throwing that out there.
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