Goal Line

Boston Rebels, Book 4

By: Julia Connors

Narrated by: Sean Masters, Savannah Peachwood

As the youngest heir of the Hartmann fortune and the backup goalie for the Boston Rebels, the pro hockey team my family owns, I’ve spent my life being the peacemaker in my cutthroat family and the goalie that my teammates can depend on.

I have only one weakness: my coach’s daughter, Evangeline Wilcott.

Eva is a pairs figure skater, and my life-long best friend. I’ve always wanted more, but she friend zoned me back in high school and we’ve lived thousands of miles apart since.

Eight years later, a secret pregnancy is threatening her skating career. When she’s rushed to the hospital right before Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals, I panic. Now, my team’s loss lies solely on my shoulders and I could be traded.

When Eva needs help, suggesting we get married is the easiest split-second decision I’ve ever made. A grandchild could keep me in Boston playing for my family’s team, and I’d do anything to take care of Eva.

We agree to a marriage based on friendship, but once Eva and I are living together, all those artificial walls we’ve built start crumbling. Now, I’m making up for all the years I couldn’t call her mine.

But when her past reappears in our new life together, her happiness and my family’s reputation are both threatened. And maybe I’m not so different from my family after all, because I find there’s nothing I wouldn’t do to keep my wife safe and happy.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Goal Line is book 4 in the Boston Rebel series, which features interconnected standalones about the players on a fictional professional hockey team.

Tropes:
* hockey player x figure skater
* childhood best friends to lovers
* marriage of convenience
* accidental pregnancy (not his baby)
* mutual pining

©2025 Julia Connors (P)2025 Julia Connors

Pining Hero at its Finest

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
🌶️🌶️.5

Goal Line is the 4th book in the Boston Rebels series, but only my second book by Julia Connors. I read the previous book and immediately became obsessed with Julia's writing and how mature her sports romances are. This one also hooked me immediately with a beautiful friends to lovers romance with all the mutual pining I love.

Luke is a goalie in the NHL, and he is also close friends with his coach's daughter Eva. She is a figure skater training for the Olympics, but her world is turned upside down with an accidental pregnancy from a one-night stand. She is worried about her training, health insurance, and disappointing her parents, so Luke offers up a marriage of convenience.

There is nothing better than a pining hero, and Luke is top tier. He has been so in love with his childhood best friend forever, and now he finally gets the opportunity to move past the friend zone with this marriage. He completely steps up and is ready to raise this child as his own. The pregnant (not his baby) trope is one of my all-time favorites. I love watching a man take care of his woman while she is pregnant and love her baby as his.

This book had so much longing, and that is something I wish we had more of in romance books. Their connection was beautiful, and I loved how they stepped up for each other. I highly recommend this book!

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW

🎤Duet narration by Sean Masters & Savannah Peachwood

This audiobook had duet narration by Sean Masters and Savannah Peachwood. They did a great job bringing all the longing and mutual pining to life. The audio was so well done.

Wow

This book is spectacular. Luke and Eva story is so sweet. Their bond is like no other. Their love is indescribable. The friendships/family in this series are amazing. I love how supportive they are of each other. They both definitely had obstacles to overcome come. Highly recommend

SWOONWORTHY duet audio

Sean Masters and Savannah Peachwood were absolutely wonderful in this duet narration audio! Sean is always great and I can’t think of anyone better to voice Eva than Savannah! 5 star listen with a 5 star read!

I loved Luke and Eva so much!! Luke just gained a place as one of my favorite MMCs.

This was such a sweet read and the audio was so good! I did an immersive read/listen and couldn’t stop! The years of built up tension, missed signals, and yearning was everything I could have hoped for! When Luke was finally given the chance to win Eva, he went all in! Who doesn’t love a Vegas wedding to save her reputation while he’s secretly completely in love with her trope?

HE WAITED FOR HER 😭 she thought he was having all these flings and he was actually very inexperienced…! Because he only wanted her!! And did he care at all that she was having someone else’s baby? NOPE, he didn’t even hesitate!!

Tropes to love:
Brother’s best friend
Hockey player x figure skater
Childhood friends to lovers
Accidental pregnancy (not his)
Marriage of convenience
V!rg!n MMC
It’s always been you

DUET narration perfection for these besties!

Story Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (0-5)
Narration: 🎧🎧🎧🎧🎧🎧 (0-5)
Overall: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 (0-5)
Steam: 🔥🔥🔥 (0-5)

What I’m Starry-Eyed Over:
🤩 The DUET narration by Savannah Peachwood & Sean Masters is perfection! The narrators are perfectly cast—they take on the personalities of Eva & Luke fabulously!! Hearing these gorgeous voices perform this fantastic story makes for extraordinary audiobook entertainment. Chapter 23 deserved this DUET narration so very much! It’s my faaaaaavorite!
🤩 Childhood best friends-to-lovers.
🤩 Eva is a professional ice skater and Luke is a professional hockey player.
🤩 Marriage of Convenience.
🤩 I love some secret pining in the shower, especially when it’s from all the forced proximity.
🤩 Oh my hotness! When Eva has needs and obediently goes to him.
🤩 And when Eva calls out Luke’s name and he
💦👖 (this is chapter 23 by the way)!
🤩 Feeling so much love and longing, and then frosting.
🤩 The love of peaches and the nickname.
🤩 Anxiety plus therapy/sports psychologist representation.
🤩 Beautiful character growth and development.
🤩 A fabulous little plot twist, just to make extra clear what book boyfriend material Luke is!
🤩 The on-ice times we get are perfect.
🤩 Developing friendships.

What I’m Wishing/Dizzy About:
💫 The bonus scene gave me that little extra steam I was looking for (post baby).

Truly enjoyable

I truly enjoyed this book. It’s was cute how invested Luke got about the pregnancy. Of course it’s a romance story so you’ll never have a MMC that doesn’t but still it’s always very sweet when it happens. It was great to see the connection between Eva and Luke. There are some small little things that, while important to the story, were not obsessively discussed and I was very happy about that. Overall it is a great story and I will keep this in my reread pile. Savanah Peachwood and Sean Masters did an amazing job with the duet narration on the audio book.