Reviewed by Kat
TITLE: The Ultimate Goal
SERIES: Brooklyn Blades #1
AUTHOR: Felice Stevens
PUBLISHER: Good Man Press
LENGTH: 313 pages
RELEASE DATE: January 29, 2026
BLURB:
Rip
In the fifteen years I’ve played for the Brooklyn Blades, I’ve won all the awards except the most important one. The Stanley Cup.
But my annoying ex-boyfriend is the team’s goalie, and the paparazzi is loving it. What’s worse is, my absentee father decides to make an appearance and won’t leave me alone.
I’m ignoring it all. My ultimate goal is to win the Cup.
Then my best friend’s younger brother, Adrian, shows up to interview me for the sports segment of the evening news. He’s nervous and unsure, so I have to help him. We grew up together, but I barely noticed him then.
I’m definitely noticing him now.
Adrian
Our sports reporter is injured, so I have to cover the hockey game when my ultimate goal is to be a hard news reporter. Not only am I camera shy, but I know nothing about sports. Sure, I know Rip Tremaine—I’ve had a crush on him for years. Not that he’s ever noticed me.
Maybe I can fake it.
Nope, I can’t.
But Rip saves my interview, and now the station wants me to follow the team. With my job on the line, Rip comes up with a plan: Get my own sports show to prove I can be on camera. I’ll pretend to be his boyfriend, and no one will know, not even my brother.
I’ll have unlimited access to the team.
And Rip.
We can do this. We’re professionals. He’s teaching me all about hockey…and kissing. And I’m helping him navigate his father’s betrayal.
Except neither one of us is pretending anymore. And our ultimate goal now is to win it all: the Cup, my job, and love.
REVIEW:
A brand-new sports series written by the amazing Felice Stevens and it’s Hockey!!! Go Brooklyn Blades 🎉
Rip wants one more thing in his career with the Brooklyn Blades before he’s forced into retirement…the Stanley Cup! The pinnacle of the best in hockey. Something that has eluded him in his fifteen years in the NHL with the Brooklyn Blades. He’s won all the rest of the awards and accolades and this is the year for his team to finally bring the cup home to Brooklyn. Adrian is finally back in New York and, with help from his brother’s connections, working for Channel 8 News. Yes, he’s stuck as a gopher for the Sports reporter but he has a job. And after all his mistakes in the past this one might be it if he gets a chance to prove to Rob DeVine that he’s more than Neil’s baby brother. When fate puts the two men from the past in each other’s path it is difficult to look past the attraction. But Adrian is Rip’s best friend’s little brother and the son of the people who took him in at 8 years old when his Mom was killed and he had no where else to go!
Wow, what a transformation in both men when they finally had the support…and love, whether they were ready to admit it or not, of each other. Seeing the true hurt and scared man beneath the tough Hockey Star and Captain of the team was so deeply touching. That he let it out to Adrian proved that Adrian was his one. Watching him put on his front for the team, the fans and the world when deep down inside he was still that lonely little boy who missed his dead mother desperately and never felt good enough. And watching the much younger brother, who was shy and always thought he was the third wheel, transform to a confident professional with the love and support of the only man he ever wanted was heart warming.
Neil got on my nerves a bit. He had been busy with his life and both his best friend Rip and his baby brother Adrian failed to gain his attention. But he felt, when he realized that the two might be together, that he had the right to judge and lecture. I know he loved them both and only wanted what was best for the young man that had followed them around during their teen years. But his constant interruptions and nagging is what lead to them not sharing. He hadn’t earned that right anymore. I did love that he was constantly reminding Adrian that he only helped get him an interview at the news station. That it was all Adrian that pushed on and achieved his own success. And I loved when Adrian finally showed his strength and took on Rob. And Rob deserved Angry and Pushy Adrian.
This is a heart warming story of perseverance and pushing against all the odds to get what you want and deserve. I can’t wait for more of this series. I heard that their goalie/Rip’s ex Denis is up next. He has left a very sour taste in my mouth and is going to really have to work hard to redeem himself for me to even like him. Can’t wait to see what Auth Felice Stevens has in store for him!
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