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A review by mybookishdelights
The Goal by Elle Kennedy
emotional
funny
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Heat Level: High graphic sex scenes
CW:minor violence, creepy stepfather, talk of abortion, death of a friend, childbirth description, breastfeeding shaming, shaming of anything other than natural childbirth (minor, but still disturbing)
Well this was a bummer. I've given all three previous books in this series a 5 star rating and adored them. I loved the world and the characters. That was the only thing I loved about this one: was seeing the characters from the previous books.
I could not figure out what it was that I wasn't enjoying until I finished the book and then started looking at reviews to try and figure it out. Unfortunately, it was the romance. And that's the main point of this book.
I didn't dislike the two main characters, but I certainly didn't love them. Even Tucker that everyone was drooling over. He just seemed "too perfect." It was boring. Sabrina was kind of interesting, but her character growth felt weird and unearned. I don't know... something was missing there.
The plot was fine... nothing special. It's a surprise pregnancy trope, which isn't a spoiler. It's in the synopsis. This trope doesn't bother me and I actually enjoy it more times than not. I don't know though... again, something was missing. I did like how it was aligned with the events of Dean's story. That was interesting to see it from someone else's perspective.
After reading some reviews, I feel like what this book was missing that was crucial to my enjoyment was the romance. I didn't feel any romantic tension.The whole book was Tucker chasing after Sabrina. Like he just "knew" right off the bat and was so calm and like "that's my girl." Maybe there are people out there like that, but reading it in a romance is boring. She spent the whole book acting not interested. Until like the very end. The whole plot was kind of bizarre. Tucker's mom acting like a total bitch felt like it came out of nowhere. Then their big "I love you" moment was meh. Basically Tucker was perfect and had zero character growth and Sabrina was imperfect and her growth was too little, too late.
A note on the pregnancy and childbirth: There is talk of abortion in this one and there's a lot of people weighing in on what should be done. This is realistic because it seems that as soon as you become pregnant, everyone and their mother thinks they should give you their opinion. However, I wanted to touch on some things that I found weird and disturbing:they go to a breathing class, but it's not called Lamaze, and the instructor basically shames the women and says they're failing their jobs as women if they do anything but a natural childbirth. The graphic videos they watch are described and it's never addressed that this viewpoint is wrong. There is shaming about breastfeeding from several older women in Sabrina's life, which is bizarre to me. Sabrina gets shamed by Tucker's mom basically calling her a bad mom/girlfriend for staying in school and studying with men. It was so weird. The stepfather makes disgusting comments about Sabrina's breasts while she's feeding her baby. Maybe none of this will effect anyone, but I wanted to put it out there anyway. Moms have enough guilt and maybe this will trigger something for someone.
I 100% recommend the first three books in this series, but I can't say I would recommend this one.
CAWPILE Score: 5.29 = 3.25 stars
Characters: 6
Atmosphere: 6
Writing: 6
Plot/Romance: 5
Intrigue: 4
Logic: 6
Enjoyment: 4
CW:
Well this was a bummer. I've given all three previous books in this series a 5 star rating and adored them. I loved the world and the characters. That was the only thing I loved about this one: was seeing the characters from the previous books.
I could not figure out what it was that I wasn't enjoying until I finished the book and then started looking at reviews to try and figure it out. Unfortunately, it was the romance. And that's the main point of this book.
I didn't dislike the two main characters, but I certainly didn't love them. Even Tucker that everyone was drooling over. He just seemed "too perfect." It was boring. Sabrina was kind of interesting, but her character growth felt weird and unearned. I don't know... something was missing there.
The plot was fine... nothing special. It's a surprise pregnancy trope, which isn't a spoiler. It's in the synopsis. This trope doesn't bother me and I actually enjoy it more times than not. I don't know though... again, something was missing. I did like how it was aligned with the events of Dean's story. That was interesting to see it from someone else's perspective.
After reading some reviews, I feel like what this book was missing that was crucial to my enjoyment was the romance. I didn't feel any romantic tension.
A note on the pregnancy and childbirth: There is talk of abortion in this one and there's a lot of people weighing in on what should be done. This is realistic because it seems that as soon as you become pregnant, everyone and their mother thinks they should give you their opinion. However, I wanted to touch on some things that I found weird and disturbing:
I 100% recommend the first three books in this series, but I can't say I would recommend this one.
CAWPILE Score: 5.29 = 3.25 stars
Characters: 6
Atmosphere: 6
Writing: 6
Plot/Romance: 5
Intrigue: 4
Logic: 6
Enjoyment: 4
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Death
Minor: Violence, Vomit, and Grief