RELEASE BLITZ & 5 STAR REVIEW: Goalie (Juked #3) by ME Carter

Title:  Goalie

Series: A Texas Mutiny Novel

Author: M.E. Carter

Genre: Sports Romance

Release Date: February 18, 2017

“M.E. Carer's Goalie is one of the most real romances I've ever read.” 

- A is for Alpha B is for Books

“It’s gritty, raw and real. It's an emotional book from both the main character points of view. I was on the rollercoaster with them.” 

- Alpha Book Club

“This book is real. It's hard. It's life.” 

- Reader Review

Goalie 

[goh-lee] 

noun 

a player in the goal whose duty is to prevent the ball from entering or crossing it 

See Santos and Mariana DeGuajarado

As goalie of the Texas Mutiny, Santos is damn good at protecting that net. But he never bothered to protect his marriage. 

Letting the fame and notoriety go to his head, he lost the things he loved the most… his wife and kids. Now he has one shot to make it right before losing at this relationship game and he’s determined not to miss this time. 

Mariana has been scarred so deeply by Santos’s betrayals, she will carry the wounds forever. After almost ten years of marriage though, she knows him well, and she knows he won’t let go without a fight. Still, she refuses to be a push over. 

Because love is never enough… 

I received an advanced copy of this book with the promise of an honest review. 

We met Santos in the previous books and knew about his extracurricular activities that he and his other teammates took part in. This book opens with Mariana finally getting the truth about her husband. It's not easy to hear, but it is something that she needs to know. That conversation is the catalyst that sets the rest of the book in motion. 

I absolutely loved Mariana. She had the courage to do something that turned her life completely upside down and she did it so gracefully. It wasn't always easy and she had her fair share of bad days, but it was what she needed to do to get through it. It was also something she needed to do to find herself again. Being married to Santos became her life and she lost herself along the way. She gave up a lot to be with him and being apart from him was hard, but again, it was something she needed to do. 

Then there is Santos. I definitely did not like him in the beginning. He was not willing to accept his role in the break up of his marriage. He was so angry and blamed everyone but himself. Then he took a step back and really looked at things and realized he needed to make some changes in his life. He took responsibility for his actions and did all he could to make things right. Don't get me wrong, by the end of the book I still like Mariana more than him, but M.E. wrote a fantastic redemption story for Santos.

Once Mariana and Santos were on the same page I was just waiting for them to work it out. These two put the time and energy and throughout it all it was always very clear that they still loved each other. They just needed to figure out how to make things work. Santos never once shirked on his fatherly duties and was actually a wonderful father, which was something Mariana clung to during their separation. Santos wasn't a bad person, he just made some terrible choices and now he had the chance to make things right.

I can't say enough wonderful things about this book. I've never been married, so I've never been divorced. And to be honest, no one close to me has ever gone through a divorce (crazy right?) but I wept my way through that book because the author's words were so honest and it felt so real to me. There are moments in this book that were hard to read for me so I can't even imagine what it would be like for someone who has been through anything remotely similar. The author didn't approach this subject very lightly and you can tell that she really did her research. 

I devoured Goalie. I started it on my commute one morning, continued on my evening commute and finished a couple hours after returning home. I could not put it down. IT. IS. AMAZING.

“Mother, reader, storyteller - ME Carter never set out to write books. But when a friend practically forced a copy of Twilight into her hands, the love of the written word she had lost as a child was rekindled. With a story always rolling around in her head, it should come as no surprise that she finally started putting them on paper. She lives in Texas with her four children, Mary, Elizabeth, Carter and Bug, who sadly was born long after her pen name was created, and will probably need extensive therapy because of it.”

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