Heather’s Bookshelf: Future Goals
Author: Genevive Chamblee
Released: 02/02/23
Genre: Sports Romance
“It doesn’t always take the Iliad and the Odyssey and a Battle of Troy to figure out who you’re meant to be with. And you don’t need reasons to validate what you feel. It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks. It’s what you feel that matters most. There are always going to be people who don’t get it, who question the authenticity. People who complain that it happened all of a sudden. But guess what? It’s not their relationship, and it’s not their place to judge.”
“Future Goals” takes place on a college campus in Louisiana. Corrigan Ellery is an African American hockey player trying to fit in on a new team, in a new place. When he’s up for a scholarship, he’s introduced to a gorgeous and well-to-do lawyer. Sacha Weymouth lost a case and is being punished by his father and owner of his firm by having to work at the university in contract law.
When Corrigan and Sacha meet, sparks fly, but the number of complications between the two may be unsurmountable. Corrigan’s already in a situation where ire is drawn simply for his race and he can’t imagine adding sexual orientation to the equation. Sacha is just starting to come to terms with his sexuality. Plus there’s the age difference and the fact that Corrigan is a student at the school Sacha works for…
Trigger Warning: adult language, racist/sexist language and behavior, sexual situations (several graphic)
Overall, I was left with a mixed review of this tale. The story is told in a very casual way with frequent slang and comedic internal talk. I found the writing to be entertaining and that it pushed the story forward, but I can see how it would not be for some. There’s also a definite frat boy portion to this story both literally and figuratively which was a little much at times, but also probably pretty accurate. I liked the sports angle to the story and wish it was more forward in the story, perhaps including competition or having the story take place over a season. While both Sacha and Corrigan’s characters were well developed and interesting, I found Corrigan’s to be especially relatable and intriguing. While the first half of the book is more about the characters, the second half is more about their sexual connection (fair warning: graphic at times). There were several uses of the exact phrasing in different scenes in the book which were distracting and felt more odd than anything. There were inklings of relationships and touches on complications with other family members, but unfortunately the second half just didn’t have the emotional impact of the first. It felt rushed and redundant, which was disappointing.
I received a copy of this story in exchange of a fair and honest review.
OVERALL REVIEW:
An interesting concept and two well developed characters aren’t enough to save the second half of this story which loses the emotional connection so prominent in the beginning
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