The Goal: Now an Original Series on Amazon Prime (Off-Campus, 4)

The fact that this story wraps up the individual stories of a group of 4 friends is crushing. I love this Off Campus series! Each book is a tender story about life, love, hardship , and finding true happiness. Tuck & Sabrina's book is engaging, intriguing, and beautiful. Please read this book and all the others that Elle writes.

The Goal is an unpredictable, messy romance that follows a determined, headstrong, stoic law student and a sweet, laidback southern hockey player as they find their plans on thin ice, their goals suddenly beyond their reach. Sabrina and Tucker are two very different personalities headed in two very different directions. Sabrina has one goal... escape. The shame and the frustration of her broken, twisted home life has made her ruthless in her drive toward that escape, her academic goals providing her with the only way out. But that drive, that shame, that proud determination makes for a character that is so closed off, so hardened. She's the polar opposite of John Tucker, the sweet, loveable Texan who might be unsure of his immediate plans, but he knows where he ultimately wants to end up. Sabrina and Tucker thought they knew where they were headed, they each had their own plans for their respective futures, but when their lives tangle, the unexpected threatens everything. It's a dicey move to take an unlikable character from a previous book and turn her into your next heroine. It's hard to sell that to readers who've been trained to hate that character by the very same author now looking to endear them to her. Full disclosure, I'm a reader that didn't like Sabrina before either. We weren't meant to. So, of course, I was skeptical that I'd come to want a guy like John Tucker with a girl like her. But while she's definitely a tough nut to crack, I very much appreciated what this author chose to do with this character in The Goal. Sabrina isn't like other girls. She's as unapologetically sexual as the horny hockey players in this series. She's as impenetrable and difficult and frustrating as NA male characters typically are. She's complex and fierce and she has priorities that don't involve long term relationships. She doesn't exude a lot of vulnerability or emotion. She can come across as selfish, but it's not in a malicious way. She's just a girl that has always had to look out for herself and put herself first because no one else ever has. And given all of that, I'd say Elle Kennedy has successfully turned a villain into a heroine, and she's done so without compromising the integrity of her character. I can't get on board with an author taking a character she once vilified and completely altering her personality to fit the new goal of the author, to make her the sweetheart heroine you wish your readers will suddenly fall in love with. I have much more respect and appreciation for Elle Kennedy's choice to ensure Sabrina is still Sabrina. And getting to know her in all of her flaws and rough edges and her maddening stubbornness, I can NOW allow myself to want good things for her despite being so frustrated with her, without feeling like I read a story about a completely different character than the one presented to me previously. This author gets an A for character consistency. A big fat A. I really enjoyed this installment. It hasn't topped The Score for me as a series favorite, but it's a really beautiful, angsty story about finding new dreams, discovering all the things you want in life even if they were never part of your original plan. It's about deciding what's most important. It's about making the choice to roll with whatever life throws at you as long as the right person is there to hold your hand through it all. Sabrina is a hard heroine to root for. And Tucker is so freakishly nice, he's the polar opposite of the bad boys I typically fall for. But there was something so right about this couple. Even when everything was stacked against them, even when Sabrina fought so hard against the good in her life, even when Tucker should have probably run the other way, I wanted good things for this couple. I wanted their happily ever after. And Elle Kennedy delivers a really solid storyline that took me and these characters exactly where I'd hoped we'd go by way of the road less traveled. The Goal made me feel all the things. As Kennedy's sports romances tend to do, The Goal is chock full of colorful characters whose banter had me laughing and sighing, swooning and smiling. This story is peppered with amusing moments, times of heartbreak, seriously steamy, sexy scenes and the most frustratingly maddening storyline of the series. And I really loved it. I love a story that makes me want to scream from the inside out. There's a lot of ways a writer can drive a reader to the brink and this story tested my patience and my tolerance in ways no other book has before. Sabrina takes stubborn to a whole other place and Tucker's patience with her was far more virtuous than mine. But as stressful and angst ridden and damn infuriating as I found their story, it's a deliciously satisfying, honest one and I really, really enjoyed it.

3.5 stars In the fourth, but hopefully not final, book in Elle Kennedy’s enjoyable Off Campus contemporary new adult romance series, another university student hockey player and lovely young woman find a future in each other as they move inexorably towards adult lives. Sabrina James has been surviving on ambition, overwork, and very little sleep as she drives herself through her final undergrad year. Determined to make a better life for herself and gain distance from her grinding family life, she is going to go to law school if it kills her. Her upbringing in an unpleasant, complicated family has made her self-reliant to the point of leeriness and incredibly driven. It’s been a long time since I wanted to see a heroine to escape as much as I wanted a better life for Sabrina. Show me a capable woman fighting dream crushers telling her who she is and you have my full attention. Letting off steam one evening, Sabrina meets John “Tuck” Tucker. He’s a charming member of the men’s hockey team at her university. While she likes athletes, she has sworn off hockey players after a bad experience with one. Tuck’s a temptingly engaging and unassuming guy though, so she makes an exception for him just for one night. Laid-back Tuck finds himself smitten with tough, but sweet Sabrina and he pursues her until – WONDER OF WONDERS AND MIRACLE OF MIRACLES – she tells him she’s not interested and he backs off. (Let’s pause to thank Elle Kennedy for a hero taking no for answer.) When Sabrina realises she’s pregnant, she finds herself seeking Tuck out and things move forward from there. Tuck is all in. It’s been three years since I asked this question, but I still don’t have the answer. Should a hero be a perfect guy or the perfect guy for the heroine? Is there a difference? Tuck is pretty amazing. He’s grounded, patient, an enthusiastic and attentive paramour, hard-working, calm, rational, responsible, patient again plus synonyms for it, mature, kind, sensible, fun, good-looking, protective in a non-overbearing way, bearded (to start off with and, admittedly, that may only make him perfect to me), supportive, and financially secure. Tuck gives Sabrina time and space, he participates as much or as little as she wants him to with her pregnancy and its ramifications, and bides his time while she comes around to the same conclusion he did the night they met. Tuck and Sabrina face almost insurmountable odds in succeeding with the stresses of their relationship, school, baby, and getting established in adult lives and all, I thought, with virtually no sacrifices. I guess that’s where the wish-fulfillment part of these books comes in. Young people having an instant family plot is not my favourite, but Kennedy did a good job with the story and she continues to be very good at writing friendships in addition to the love story. I will be buying all of the other books in the Off Campus series as they are published.

I LOVE sports romances and last year I came across the Off-Campus series by Elle Kennedy. I devoured The Deal, the first book in the series, and eagerly got my paws on the next books in the series as soon as I could! These books are typically classified in the New Adult and College or sports romance genres because most of the main characters are college students and several of them are usually athletes. I love Elle Kennedy's writing style in these books because she makes most of her characters likable and funny, not to mention relatable. That being said, when I saw that The Goal was being released this fall, I pre-ordered it way back in the summer and couldn't wait to dive back into the world of the Briar University athletes and their girls! "'So money doesn't matter once you get down to it. It doesn't matter how thin or thick anyone's wallet is. We all hurt. We all love. We're the same. And your past, who you live with, where you came from, it doesn't have to matter. You're creating your own future, and I want to see where the road forward takes you.'" Sabrina James is pre-law at Briar University who works two jobs to make ends meet and is planning on applying to Harvard Law School. She's had a bit of a crazy life, with both of her parents leaving her at a young age so she was raised by her grandmother. As a result, she has a hard time loving people and keeps her guard up with most people she meets. She has a couple of close friends but never makes time for a boyfriend, both because of her dreams of becoming a lawyer and she doesn't want to be disappointed if someone doesn't love her back. "'You might want to get a sandwich. I'm gonna keep you in bed for a long time.'" Sabrina is at a bar with her friends one night when she meets John Tucker, a hockey player at Briar. He's from Texas and after graduation, he plans to move back to the Lone Star State to be close to his mom and invest in a business down there. Since he was born and raised in the South, he's got the southern drawl that makes all of the girls go crazy (every time he said "darlin,'" I think my heart skipped a few beats!). He and Sabrina are attracted to each other but they agree to get together for just one night and that's it. However, Sabrina's intelligence and beauty keep Tucker wanting more while, as much as she won't admit it, Sabrina is attracted to the way Tucker genuinely cares for her and wants to be around her. "My goal, once upon a time, was to succeed. I didn't realize that success wasn't grades or scholarships or achievements, but the people I was lucky enough to have in my life." When I started reading The Goal, it felt a lot like the other books in the Off-Campus series. They take place at Briar University, full of good-hearted hockey players and their girlfriends, and are written in a fast-paced manner because of the hilarious dialogue between the characters. About halfway into the book, there is a dramatic turn of events which cause (I believe) a shift in the typical feel of these books. No longer was the book about college athletes and their comical antics, it was about college students who have to make real-life choices that greatly affect themselves and others. I think The Goal starts out as a typical NA book but finishes with more of a mature feel to it, given the circumstances Sabrina and Tucker now have, though there are still elements of the NA genre in the second half of the book. There were times when I wanted to shout at Sabrina and tell her to stop being so stubborn but that's just her character and in the end, she realizes what she really wants. "Because love is the ultimate goal. It's not the one I had strived for, but I was lucky enough, so d**n lucky, to achieve it." In summary, I loved The Goal and it made my heart happy to see how the development of the characters unfolds and what they choose to do in their lives. Those familiar with the other Off-Campus books and who are looking to read The Goal may just want a bit of advanced warning that this book isn't exactly written in the same style. The first half is similar to the other books but the second half is a bit more serious and mature as the characters deal with some serious life events. Personally, I loved it but I also love books about love and family so The Goal satisfied my desires to read about college life, sports, as well as family. This book can be read as a standalone but I feel you will get more out of it if you read the other books first. I was also bummed to see that this is the last book in the series BUT there will be a spinoff for anyone, like me, who is eager for more! I loved The Goal and recommend reading it, especially if you have read and enjoyed the other books; just know that the second half has a different feel, even though I think it ends on a good note and the series is wrapped up nicely.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4 Stars I really enjoyed The Goal by Elle Kennedy! Like all of the other books in this series, it did a great job of telling Tucker's story while still giving us the follow-up moments we needed from the previous books. One of my favorite things about this series is how connected all of the stories feel, and this book was no exception. I absolutely loved getting to see Tucker finally get his chance at happiness. It also felt like a lot of the moments where he seemed to be missing in some of the earlier books were filled in here, which made his story feel even more complete. In a lot of ways, this book felt like an unofficial wrap-up to the series, even though I know there are still more books after it. Now, Sabrina was a different story. 😂 I won't lie—I started this book being completely annoyed by her character. That could possibly be because I'm a Dean girlie and had some unknown bias going in, but honestly, I don't think that's the whole reason. However, as the story went on, Sabrina really started to grow on me. I appreciated her character development, and by the end of the book, she had definitely won me over more than I expected. Overall, this was a really good addition to the series. It gave Tucker the story he deserved, wrapped up some lingering questions from previous books, and delivered plenty of character growth along the way.

I just finished this book with tears in my eyes. I read this book in a 24 hour time frame, and had trouble putting it down. The plot drew me in and would not let me go….totally enthralling. Tucker and Sabrina are opposites, and they have a difficult road to their HEA. I was not very invested into Tucker from the previous books because it just seemed he was way in the background. But this book showed who he really is, and I just fell for this southern gentleman. Meeting Sabrina in the previous book, she did not seem likable at all, she is Dean’s nemesis and I didn’t know if I would be able to like her as the heroine. I was wrong….to see how brutal her home life is….how tough she has had to be just to survive really brought her close to my heart. Tucker makes the best dad and Sabrina is a wonderful mother (the surprise pregnancy is in the blurb, so this isn’t a spoiler). That being said, the sex is very explicit and the language is strong….but the plot and characters, especially the sweet baby, captured my heart. This is definitely for mature audiences. All of these hockey players and their ladies have truly become my book friends ❤️

4 stars — I was actually most looking forward to Tucker’s story, and while I loved it, it didn’t end up being my favourite. Weird how that works right? Now as I fully anticipated, I LOVED Tucker. Like LOVE LOVED him. He was everything I was hoping for and more. I adored how he was this delicious blend of sweet, caring, genuinely good guy mixed with a delightfully dirty mind. I think that was the part that surprised me, though I’m not sure why. But damn, that boy had it going on!! And yet he was still so gentlemanly…god, I love that mix. And he was so freaking patient! Like, I couldn’t even believe it sometimes. He was almost too patient on occasion, b/c he wouldn’t push Sabrina at all, and maybe she needed a little push. But I loved how he could see through Sabrina’s bullcrap to the heart of her. And I loved how he didn’t let the curveballs throw him off his path, he stayed true to himself and wouldn’t make choices that he couldn’t be happy with when it came to his life. While I wasn’t surprised that I loved Tucker, I will admit that I was surprised I loved Sabrina too. I loved how driven she was, and how she put on that persona of being a witch with a b to keep people away, but underneath she was extremely vulnerable. I also thought that Ms. Kennedy did a great job of showcasing the challenges of poverty through her situation. She desperately wanted a better life, and she thought she knew exactly what that better life would look like. While both Sabrina and Tucker aggravated me with their stubbornness and wrong assumptions (it’s not my favourite trope), she took a bit longer than I wanted to figure stuff out. It’s not that I didn’t get that her family life and childhood damaged her, but she was being an idiot and I was sad that none of her friends woke her up. Another thing that bugged me was that, in my opinion, she was seriously emotionally abused, and I kind of wished that that had been addressed at some point. Her Nana was, quite frankly, awful to her, and her love felt very conditional. And the way Sabrina would excuse Ray’s behavior…well, I just wish that someone had told her that that’s not normal, and gotten her some guidance. Tucker and Sabrina were interesting together. Obviously they had amazing chemistry, and there were so many sweet moments that I just loved. But their relationship was a bit dysfunctional, and I felt like I needed a bit more near the end when things changed. I just would have appreciated learning a bit more about their motivations, or seeing more frank discussions between the two of them…it just felt like I didn’t understand why this time it was different, you know? The plot in this one flowed a bit differently for me, especially the second half. It just didn’t feel like the usual narrative structure I’m used to, with the build up to a conflict and climax. As I said, I kept waiting for the turnaround, but it just kind of snuck in there with a lot of little ups and downs. And can I also say that I hated the way Tucker’s Mom behaved? She was truly awful, and I’m not sure I ever fully understood her motivations, or what she was like, or how Tucker became who he was with that kind of mother. On the completely other side of it, I loved seeing the group interact again. I really love all those boys and the girls they fell in love with. I also really appreciated that Dean and Sabrina worked things out, but weren’t all buddy buddy. And as for other secondary characters, I loved Sabrina’s friends and seeing a bit more of some of the other hockey boys. I’m so excited to know we’ll be getting a bit more of some of them. So yeah, so much goodness in this one, just a few little niggles that made it not the hit out of the park I was expecting. But a seriously great end to a fantastic sports romance series.

4/5 Stars! Spoiler Free Review Okay, so I suck. I have had this sitting on my Kindle since release day, but just got around to reading it. I was dying for Tucker's story, too. Shame on me, but I have finished it and I have mixed feelings. :( I was so looking forward to Tucker and Sabrina's book. Sabrina was sassy as Dean's nemesis in previous books and Tucker was like a gentle giant with a sexy side. Tucker is still the sexy, gentle giant, but the man is too good for his own good and I wanted to smack him upside his head and tell him to cave man on Sabrina. Sabrina wasn't much better. Here I expect some sassy back and forth banter and while there is some, there is more woe is me from Sabrina than "I am woman, hear me roar," which, frankly, is what I expected out of her. So, without going into detail, I will tell you that if you are expecting a romantic and sweet wooing...that is not what you get at all. There is a lot of overlap with The Score in the first half of the book. The second half is pretty much all about Sabrina with a few tidbits of Tucker thrown in. Granted, Sabrina's life is kind of a mess, but apparently Tucker doesn't have all that much drama going on in his life to have as many of his own chapters. Then, there is the frustratingly slow and arduous "romance." I use romance lightly, because, while there is sex, there isn't nearly as much as in the previous Off Campus books and there is almost no romance, because John Tucker is TOO GOOD of a guy. I know how ridiculous that sounds, but trust me, you will find yourself wanting to smack him upside the head and tell him to quit being a bleeping martyr. Eventually, and I mean eventually, like in the last 4 pages of the very last chapter before the epilogue, we get some romance and a HEA to wrap it all up. That's all I can say without giving it away. I love the Off Campus series and hating writing a less than stellar review of The Goal, but I think honesty is best and so you get my honesty. While this wasn't my favorite book in the series (Hello Logan, I'm looking at you!), it was a nice wrap up to the series and I was happy to see there is a spin-off series coming. (Read: I need Fitzy ASAP!) If you are a fan of this series, you will enjoy the book. If you haven't read the series, you really need to start at book one because the series is really good and it will help make sense of some of the things in this book.

The Goal by Elle Kennedy ✨ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Sabrina and Tucker absolutely won my heart. Hands down, this is my favourite book in the entire series. Sabrina is a powerhouse. She busted her arse chasing her dreams, and I admired her resilience so much. Her family though? Absolute trash. I despised them. Her grandma should have known better, and her stepfather is a straight up disgusting prick. I truly don’t understand why he was tolerated at all especially when her mum isn’t even in the picture. Sabrina deserved so much more. And then there’s Tucker 🫶🏼 Officially added to my book boyfie list. He has this nurturing, steady presence that just melts you. He was always there when Sabrina needed him, never wavering, never pushing just always showing up. The way he loved and supported her? Arghhhhh, my heart couldn’t handle it. The surprise pregnancy trope isn’t usually at the top of my list, but this one was done perfectly. It realistically portrayed the struggles, the fear, the emotional weight and the successes. Nothing felt rushed or sugar coated. This series wrapped up well and finished with a bang! I loved the friendships, the found family, and the sense of closure. I’m so glad I stuck with the series, and now I’m crossing all my fingers that the upcoming TV series does it justice 🤞🏼

This book completes perfectly the Off-Campus series, and it is just as good as the other 3 books before this one. I loved knowing Tucker and Sabrina's history, their emotions, their struggles, and they love. It is just awesome! A definitely must read!!!

i love an accidental pregnancy and him being there no matter what 🩷 might be my fav of the series

, Perfect condition + ♡♡♡

I must say I am pleasantly surprised with this book. I wasn’t as eager to read it as I was for the previous three because Tucker was rather underdeveloped in the previous books and we got to know Sabrina only from Dean’s perspective (meaning thinking that she’s a cold hearted bit*h). So, I picked up the book just so I would finish the series. And thank God I did because it is amazing! Tucker is the perfect combination of sunshine and alpha male and I love him so much! He melts my heart just like he does Sabrina’s. They were so unexpected and yet so amazing together. But what I love the most about these books is the dynamic between the 4 main guys. It’s their chemistry and friendship that kept me ‘till the end. I loved that each of them appeared in all of the books and that each new book gave more depth to the previously read scenes. LOVED THIS WHOLE SERIES SO MUCH!! Can’t wait to read The Legacy and see the 3 years after for Hannah and Garrett, Allie and Dean, Grace and Logan and Sabrina and Tucker (I love all 4 of the couples but Garrett and Hannah will always be my first and true love, followed closely by Dean and Allie because I am a sucker for the playboy-falls-in-love-trope) !