Introduced in Toni Aleo’s Bellevue Bullies Series, it’s the Sinclair brothers’ big sister’s turn to find love in the next installment of the New York Times and USA Today best-selling series, the Assassins.
Lucy Sinclair was no stranger to pain.
She grew up with three younger brothers, met a bad boy, got pregnant by him, married him, and then suffered through a nasty divorce from him. Pain. That … from him. Pain. That was pain. To top it off, she even had to go through the heartbreaking divorce of her parents. Through it all, she survived. All she cared about was making sure her daughter was happy and taken care of. Despite an ex-husband hell-bent on ruining her life, she fought to overcome. She’s gotten to the point that she’s okay with being just okay. She never cared about herself because she never had the time. It was Angie and only Angie she focused on, but that all changed when Benji Paxton offered to help her daughter on the ice.
Benji knew the moment he saw Lucy, he’d never be the same. Especially when she came with the bundle of crazy that was her daughter. His heart wasn’t ready for them. After years spent sobering up and finding who he was without the alcohol, he never forgot he was being punished for not appreciating the love he had when he was younger. Because of his past, he had gotten used to being alone, a recluse, but even he had to admit it was getting old. He was lonely. Hockey wasn’t enough anymore. He wanted a family; he wanted his true love, and Lucy and Angie were just that.
Benji and Lucy were just two lost souls.
Floating through life with no purpose.
But finding each other gave them direction, a chance at a future.
And that had them both Rushing the Goal to be together.
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Read: 3/29/16
Rushing the Goal is the collision of the Bellevue Bullies and the Assassins series by Toni Aleo.
Lucy Sinclair, older sibling to the Sinclair brothers from the Bellevue Bullies, has had a rough go at life since getting pregnant and marrying at 19. She’s now divorced but still battling her cruel and mentally abusive ex husband. Her daughter Angie is her life; yet outside of Angie, Lucy has become a bitter angry woman. Enter Benji Paxton, the Nashville Assasins NHL teammate to Jayden Sinclair, Lucy’s brother. Benji has his own baggage and secrets that has him reclusive which shut him off from most of the world.
Lucy and Benji meet through Angie’s interest and skill in hockey. Aleo travels us through the journey of heartbreak, loss, healing, exploration, trust, doubt, determination, and a myriad of various emotions. The storyline is plausible but hard to believe the ex’s actions for most of it. Sorry to say, there probably is someone out there like that.
Through it all, Aleo was true to form with the Bellevue Bullies trademark with an abundance of laughter. The craziness within the Sinclair family brought the level of humor that we’ve come to expect and it worked well bridging the two series.
Furthermore, Aleo’s continued involvement with the supporting cast of characters from the previous Assassin books in the series continues to captivate and entertain. I’d like to continue to see the development of these characters in future books as well.
I look forward to more from Aleo and hope to see Vaughn Johansson’s story, Benji’s Assasin teammate, as well as McKenna and Markus as a carryover from the Bellevue Bullies.
Lucy Sinclair has been living in a safe little bubble for the last few years and has made certain that no one will ever get close enough to hurt her again by using a hostile attitude towards any one who approaches her. After enduring a crappy marriage, and abuse at the hands of her ex-husband she decided the day she was finally free that she would never give herself to another man again. He took everything from her to the point that she feels she has nothing left to give, and still continues to make her life a living hell. Her main focus now is her daughter and making sure she provides the best environment she can for her to grow up in, no matter the cost, even if it means sacrificing her own chance at happiness again. Her family is her support system, and her brother’s have stepped up and provided the fatherly figure in her daughter’s life, that she desperately needs, which has made her daughter want to follow in their footsteps and try her hand at hockey too. So, she reluctantly signs her daughter up for hockey, with the promise that her brother would be their to help her and look after her, but when something comes up and her brother can’t make it to practice he sends his teammate Benji Paxton to be his fill in for the day. The minute that Lucy finds out what her brother has done she is ready to grab her daughter and run, but Benji sneaks under her radar and convinces her to give him at shot…
Benji Paxton has spent years trying to right the wrongs of his past and find some semblance of a normal life, and he is slowly making progress. But it’s turned him into somewhat of a recluse, he’s tried dating, but he has yet to find someone who wants to stick around after he tells them about his past. All of his teammates are getting married and having families and he would love nothing more than to have a second chance at that kind of a life, but the right woman just hasn’t come along. When his teammate asks him to fill in for him at his nieces hockey practice, he jumps at the chance to do something productive for the day, and get himself out of the house. What he doesn’t expect is to find is though, is the woman he has been waiting for all this time, one look at Lucy Sinclair and he knows she is the one he has been waiting for all these years. Her quirky daughter immediately steals his heart, and he’d love nothing more than having a chance to win her mother’s heart, but Lucy just isn’t interested…
This was my first time reading something from this author, and I have to say that her writing totally took me by surprise, and instantly made me regret not reading something by her until now… she completely won me over with this beautifully written story, and I look forward to devouring more of her books in the VERY near future!! Barely a paragraph into it and I was completely consumed, and left with the insatiable urge for more!! Lucy and Benji pulled me into their world and had me completely entranced by every spoken word. It was evident from the very beginning that these two were definitely a match made in literary heaven, the intense chemistry they shared could be felt from their first encounter, and continued to burn intently until the very end. I highly recommend you give this read a try, it is one of those stories that will monopolize your every thought, steal the breath from your lungs, and linger with you long after the last page has been turned!
‘Rushing the Goal’ is the 8th book of the ‘Assassins’ series. This book is like a crossover book between ‘Bellevue Bullies’ and ‘Assassins’. The hero and heroine of the book are Benji Paxton and Lucy Sinclair. Ohh and we also have our little heroine Angie
If you read the ‘Bellevue Bullies’, you already know who Lucy Sinclair is. She grew up in a loving family but everything changed for her when she got pregnant and married ‘Rick the Dick’. Yeah be ready for murderous thoughts to be awakening by ‘Rick the Dick’. He is the king of a.holes. I hate him with all my heart. After a horrible marriage and suffering through a nasty divorce, Lucy is left angry and bitter. She is also really strong and independent. After Elli Lucy is my favorite heroine from the series. Her only concern is her daughter Angie. She has three younger brothers whom are professional hockey players so when Angie wants to play hockey, Lucy agrees to it and that is how our story really starts
At Angie’s first practice Jayden, who is Lucy’s middle brother and the captain of Assassins, promises to be there to help Angie to get ready. But because Jayden has to be at the hospital with his wife, he asks Benji to go and help Angie to get ready. When Lucy realizes that Jayden send Benji on his behalf, she is super pissed and really mean to Benji but somehow she lets him help Angie.
Benji is really sweet, loving, loyal, dependable and a little nerdy. He is perfect and I loved him. He is also an alcoholic, who has been sober for 12 years. The moment he meets with Lucy and Angie, he wants them in his life. But Lucy being so stubborn and not wanting a man in their life, she gives Benji a hard time. I loved and adored Benji and Angie’s relationship. He is really good with Angie and deserves to be her father for that little angel way more than ‘Rick the Dick’. I think this is one of the reasons it makes it easier for Lucy to accept him in their life. Both Lucy and Benji is broken and damaged because of their pasts. I loved the way they help each other heal and move past their hurt.
‘Rushing the Goal’ is an emotional and sweet story, which gives you hope for a better future.
Would I recommend this book: Yes.
Would I re-read this book: Already did.
Would I read future books by this author: Yes.
The review was originally posted on: http://miabookaddict.com/