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

Luke is the best hero

Listening to this on audio was a treat. The duet narration was perfect. It really brought some of the scenes to life. I was especially a fan of Luke's parts...and the spicy parts were very well done.

If you love marriage of convenience and friends to lovers you're going to adore this book. I fell in love with the selfless Luke that doesn't even think twice about being exactly who Eva needed in this book. I loved how he put her and her health first in every moment but also supported her every dream. It was perfect. I especially loved every single "my wife" throughout this book and there were lots! I also loved how Like put in the work through a therapist because there is nothing sexier than a man who gets mental health therapy.

Eva was beyond impressive. Her dedication to figure skating and getting to the Olympics was so inspiring. I loved the partnership her and Christopher had and how much trust they had in each other. I also loved her and Luke together though. They truly made a perfect couple. I loved how supportive they were of each other's sports. I think them both being athletes was so fun because they really understood training schedules and competition. I loved watching her become a mom.

Another aspect of this book that I loved was their friend group. His teammates, everyone in his team's organization, and their partners were all so wonderful. I love seeing previous characters in their happily ever after.

I received an advanced listener copy of this audiobook from the author. This is my honest review.

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.

Goal Line: Boston Rebels Book 4

🎙️The duet performance by 🎤Sean Masters & Savannah Peachwood🎤 was incredible! 👏👏👏Both of these narrators are talented in their own right and together they were a force of nature. I *read* this story back in August of this year (2025) and it was one of the most heartfelt childhood-friends-to-more stories that I had read in a long while. There are circumstances surrounding this story that made for incredibly emotional journey in one way or another and having Sean & Savannah not just narrate this story but truly develop this story made for even more potent experience and elevated the story to new heights. It was an incredible experience listening to ⛸️💚Goal Line. 💚🏒

The power that Julia Connors wields with her pen is pure wizardry. Every single book that I have read by her has been grantastically grand, believe it, in one way or another or all the ways! I honestly wish she had a backlist of a hundred books for me to look forward to as I await her next Great Novel. She is incredibly talented and I am so lucky that I bumped into her work last year (2024) because she has yet to let me down in any capacity. Her storylines are incredibly heartfelt and thought out and she has yet, in my experience with her work, missed a single step. That’s just so rare and as a lover of romance fiction, it makes my heart very happy!

Goal Line followed the incredible ease that all the stories in this series have had. It’s amazing to me how a story that is riddled with landmines can be so expertly unfolded without a single landmine exploding in epic disaster. Was there conflict in Evie & Luke’s journey? Um…yeah!! lol It just was dealt with a sense of “adulting” that allows the reader to sink into the story and never really get twitchy. GOD, I love this woman so much! This best of friends since childhood to more has to be one of the best stories I have read of its kind in a while! I was so content that it’s ridiculous! LOL But also, the story had surprises in it so it wasn’t predictable, just natural. If that makes sense.

One other thing that Julia always delivers is big family or friends or both energy as part of her stories and those are the absolute best kind of romances, I love to get lost in. She also delivers “growth” on all fronts. Her characters grow along with the story and that is so important for me to be able to believe in them. Reading Evie & Luke grow as individuals, as friends, and as a couple made my heart soar and made me believe in their love tenfold. I cannot wait for the audiobook of this story to be available because I know Julia is going to cast a team that will elevate this story as she has in the past to the point that my poor little heart might burst! I love this team and the family they have created both as teammates and as friends! This is a story and series I can easily see myself re-experiencing over and over in the years to come! <3

Absolutely obsessed 🥰🥰😍😍

The speed at which I devoured this audiobook. i loved every minute of it. I have been invested in this series from the beginning and I think this might just be my new favorite. I loved their whole friends to lovers vibe and however could see it but them. I also loved how protective Luke is of Eva. The narrators did a great job of bringing these characters to life and I cannot wait for the next book.

Loved this yearning book

If there was a picture next to the word “yearning” in the dictionary, Luke Hartmann’s would be it. He was such a swoony guy, and was SO in love with Eve. He was literal perfection in all the right ways.

I adored their story. Childhood best friends, secret pining, accidental pregnancy (but not his), marriage of convenience. It was literally the MOST perfect book for our Luke and Eve.

🎧 Sean Masters and Savannah Peachwood were IT for this book. They were absolute perfection, plus duet narration made for a top tier performance!

An outstanding childhood friends romance that is brought to life on audio!!!

Childhood friends is my all time favorite trope and this is going onto the list with my absolute favorites!!!!

Luke and Eva’s romance has the perfect elements I love in a childhood friends story including a deep connection due to their longtime friendship with delicious tension and mutual pining simmering beneath the surface but then Julia took it over the top and perfectly incorporated pregnant not his baby AND marriage of convenience into this book!!! It was just outstanding story telling as I absolutely devoured the journey of their romance and the performance in the audio just completely elevated it and brought it all to life!

Luke and Eva are two childhood best friends whose parents are even best friends. Luke is a professional hockey player on her dad’s team (and his family owns the team), while Eva is a pairs figure skater trying to get to the Olympics. Only Luke and her skating partner know that Eva had a one night stand and got pregnant but after landing herself in the hospital a few months later, she finds herself in trouble. Luke proposes a marriage of convenience to help her out and says it will help him too. The problem is that these two have been mutual pining over each other for years.

AUDIO REVIEW:
There is just something magical about Julia Connors’ incredible story telling on audio!!! I devoured this audiobook as Sean Masters and Savannah Peachwood gave a remarkable performance in the DUET narration and completely brought the tension, romance, heat and heartfelt emotion of this story to life!!!

Savannah Peachwood’s soft, sweet tone showcased Eva’s determination and strength to put in the work to achieve her goals while also bringing all the brightness out in her voice was Eva was around Luke! Savannah is also incredible at bringing out emotion in her voice as Eva is navigating so many things in life including dealing with her mother. Sean Masters knows how to bring out the swoon of this hockey goalie!!! His deep, velvety voice for Luke will make you fall hard for this sweet, caring and thoughtful man while also capturing his protectiveness with that deep edge to his tone! He also brought out all of Luke’s vulnerabilities with the emotion in his voice as Luke deals with his own mental health as well.

Overall, there were so many things I loved in this book!! Luke was the swooniest golden retriever and loves Eva so hard!!! Their close bond and incredible support of each other made the marriage decision feel so natural and a no brainer for these two. I also loved the incorporation of men’s mental health and Luke’s whole story arc with working on himself was so beautiful. Eva is also such a strong women who is career driven but love that you also got to see depth to her character as she deals with her own struggles. And the found family aspect with previous players and their significant others was the perfect addition to it all!!! Goal Line on audio was so entertaining and had me smiling and all in my feels as Sean & Savannah’s performance brings the heart, yearning and emotional depth of this childhood friends to lovers story to life!!

All the swooning ahead! LOVED Luke & Eva in audio!

Sean Masters as our golden retriever, Luke, and Savannah Peachwood as our sweet Eva was audiobook perfection!

You will be swooning from start to finish with this audiobook. The mutual pining for YEARS is next level and the tension it created combusted into the perfect “this is really happening” moment.

If you loved Luke and Eva in print, you’re going to fall even more in love with them in audio.

Julia Connors wrote the goldenest golden retriever to ever exist in Luke. If you don't swoon over that man from start to finish and wish he was yours, is your heart even beating?

The mutual pining for YEARS between Eva & Luke packed on the tension and created the perfect build up to their "oh my goodness this is really real" moment. The love was loving and the spice was spicing. I loved these two as best friends, and loved them even more as husband and wife. That man was so down bad for Eva that my heart could barely stand it. A professional hockey player that waits (IYKYK) for the woman who has owned his heart for years? Sign me up! Luke's acts of service were next level and our sweet Eva deserved it all. Is there a man that exists more devoted to his partners well being and happiness than Luke? I think not.

The found family that was Luke's teammates and their partners, and the way they were there for Luke and Eva was incredibly special and added so much to this couples journey to happily ever after.

I am stoked for what's next from Julia after that little teaser at the end of Goal Line...

Luke & Eva will have you falling in LOVE!!

I listened to the audiobook for this book and OMG it was AMAZING!! After reading it first the audiobook makes this story even better in my opinion. I just got more of a connection with them in the audio. I fell in LOVE with Luke! He was he PERFECT book boyfriend.

The duet narrators Savannah Peachwood and Sean Masters were the PERFECT duo to tell this story! Their voices held my attention and kept me entertained through the entire audiobook. They have the kind of voices that make you feel a true connection with the characters. I love these narrators so much!

OMG I have fallen in LOVE with Julia Connor's writing. I was so excited to see she had a new book coming out and I'm so glad I got to read it. This is a slow burn but in the best way! I love a good friends to lovers story and she wrote this one perfectly! I was smiling and swooning so much in this book!

Luke and Eva have been friends since childhood and when Eva ends up pregnant after a one night stand, Luke steps up. They enter into a fake marriage based on their friendship but we all know how these fake marriages turn out. Luke will do anything to keep her safe and happy. Luke was the perfect book boyfriend.

Eva and Luke will navigate all the different changes in their lives together and in the end everything will happen the way it was always meant to happen.

This book will have you swooning, smiling like crazy, get a little emotional, and warm your heart! I can't wait for the next book in this series! I HIGHLY recommend this book. I also recommend this series!!