Common Goal by Rachel Reid
Published 2020 · 88,000 words · about 4 hours at an average pace · Romance, LGBTQ+ Fiction
How hard is Common Goal to read?
Common Goal scores 21 out of 100 for difficulty on ReadingRate, making it relatively accessible. The score is a weighted composite of nine measures: four of how hard the prose is to parse, five of how hard the meaning is to extract.
- Vocabulary: 26 out of 100
- A contemporary m/m sports romance from Carina Press, written in plain, conversational English with hockey and bar-life talk. It sits near the clear contemporary vocabulary of Beach Read.
- Sentence structure: 28 out of 100
- Genre romance of this kind relies on short, direct sentences and dialogue-driven scenes. The syntax is as accessible as Beach Read's.
- Abstraction: 28 out of 100
- The story rests on concrete situations: a goaltender's retirement, a first relationship with a man, a friends-with-benefits arrangement. Feelings are personal and direct, as in It Ends with Us.
- Information density: 26 out of 100
- At about 88,000 words, the book follows one central relationship with a manageable cast. It offers a light, comfortable pace like Beach Read.
- Narrative indirection: 25 out of 100
- The conflict comes from Eric and Kyle each assuming the other wants something different, but the reader sees both motives plainly. Little inference is needed, close to Beach Read's what-you-see-is-what-you-get approach.
- Symbolic density: 16 out of 100
- Romance conventions drive the book, and the evidence points to a minimal symbolic layer beyond the hockey setting and the age gap.
- Ironic distance: 20 out of 100
- Sincere emotional engagement defines the genre. Eric and Kyle's misreadings of each other create tension, but the narration stays earnest, like It Ends with Us.
- Resolution withholding: 14 out of 100
- The blurb promises a happily-ever-after once the two men come clean about their feelings. This is the genre-expected ending, in the manner of Beach Read.
- Structural complexity: 15 out of 100
- The story follows a linear romance arc centred on one couple. Its structure resembles the linear romance of Beach Read.
How Common Goal is regarded
Common Goal holds a literary regard score of 21 out of 100, weighing its place in the canon, its critical reception, its influence on other writers, and the standing of its author. Regard is measured separately from difficulty: a demanding book is not necessarily an admired one.
Where the story of Common Goal takes place
- North America, 2020s, the main setting