What do you think?
Rate this book
Open Goal #2
Extra Time
Owen Murphy’s knee wakes up before he does.
Every morning at 5:14 AM, the Irish goalkeeper wraps his failing joint into submission, makes toast for his four-year-old daughter, and drives to the pitch where he stands inside a six-yard box and pretends the future isn’t ending. Inside the crease, Owen knows exactly who he is. Outside the crease, he’s a thirty-year-old single father with a career counting down and a refusal to feel anything about it.
Diego Alvarez doesn’t believe in creases.
The Mexican-American forward from El Paso is sunshine and chaos and the specific, relentless warmth of a man who has never met a boundary he didn’t want to cross. He delivers Rosa’s pupusas, scores goals, and has decided—with zero subtlety and maximum enthusiasm—that the grumpy Irish goalkeeper who told the coach to fuck off on Day 1 is the most interesting person on the roster. Owen doesn’t want Diego’s warmth. Owen doesn’t want Diego’s relentless optimism or his terrible jokes or the way he shows up at Owen’s apartment with takeout and somehow ends up on the floor playing dinosaurs with Aoife. Owen doesn’t want any of it.
Owen’s knee disagrees. Owen’s daughter disagrees. Owen’s entire body disagrees.
The knee is failing. The career is ending. And the man who keeps showing up with pupusas and patience might be the only person who can show Owen that the extra time—the time after the game should have ended—is the time that matters most.
Extra Time is a full-length MM sports romance featuring a grumpy Irish goalkeeper, a sunshine Mexican-American forward, a four-year-old who negotiates like an attorney, and a groundskeeper who has seen it all. This is Book 2 in the Open Goal series. Each book follows a different couple on the same team. Can be read as a standalone. No cliffhanger. HEA guaranteed.
Every morning at 5:14 AM, the Irish goalkeeper wraps his failing joint into submission, makes toast for his four-year-old daughter, and drives to the pitch where he stands inside a six-yard box and pretends the future isn’t ending. Inside the crease, Owen knows exactly who he is. Outside the crease, he’s a thirty-year-old single father with a career counting down and a refusal to feel anything about it.
Diego Alvarez doesn’t believe in creases.
The Mexican-American forward from El Paso is sunshine and chaos and the specific, relentless warmth of a man who has never met a boundary he didn’t want to cross. He delivers Rosa’s pupusas, scores goals, and has decided—with zero subtlety and maximum enthusiasm—that the grumpy Irish goalkeeper who told the coach to fuck off on Day 1 is the most interesting person on the roster. Owen doesn’t want Diego’s warmth. Owen doesn’t want Diego’s relentless optimism or his terrible jokes or the way he shows up at Owen’s apartment with takeout and somehow ends up on the floor playing dinosaurs with Aoife. Owen doesn’t want any of it.
Owen’s knee disagrees. Owen’s daughter disagrees. Owen’s entire body disagrees.
The knee is failing. The career is ending. And the man who keeps showing up with pupusas and patience might be the only person who can show Owen that the extra time—the time after the game should have ended—is the time that matters most.
Extra Time is a full-length MM sports romance featuring a grumpy Irish goalkeeper, a sunshine Mexican-American forward, a four-year-old who negotiates like an attorney, and a groundskeeper who has seen it all. This is Book 2 in the Open Goal series. Each book follows a different couple on the same team. Can be read as a standalone. No cliffhanger. HEA guaranteed.
216 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 5, 2026
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 29, 2026
Enchiladas and Pupusas a man’s love is with food
Marcos and Owen are football player on the same team. Owen at 30 is at the end of his career as his knee is injured and could end his goaltending career. Diego is 23 old and in the midst of his playing career. Diego wins Owen over by showing up at his place bringing his and his 4 year old daughter delicious Mexican food. Owen is hard to love as he has built wall around himself and is not the most pleasant person to be around. Diego does not care how stoic Owen is and continues to show up at his place and eventually Owen lets down part of his guard and has sex with Diego. Owen is not the easiest person to love however Diego thinks Owen is worth it and keeps on giving his best until Owens accepts that he loves Diego as much as Diego loves him.
Marcos and Owen are football player on the same team. Owen at 30 is at the end of his career as his knee is injured and could end his goaltending career. Diego is 23 old and in the midst of his playing career. Diego wins Owen over by showing up at his place bringing his and his 4 year old daughter delicious Mexican food. Owen is hard to love as he has built wall around himself and is not the most pleasant person to be around. Diego does not care how stoic Owen is and continues to show up at his place and eventually Owen lets down part of his guard and has sex with Diego. Owen is not the easiest person to love however Diego thinks Owen is worth it and keeps on giving his best until Owens accepts that he loves Diego as much as Diego loves him.
October 3, 2026
4.8
Many of the same threads continue from Book 1: wonderful maternal figures, two men locked in combat with their faultlines, food, and the stresses of professional soccer.
Owen, the Irish goalkeeper, is silent, in constant knee pain and focused on his four year old daughter Aoife. Diego, a forward from El Paso, is a giver, of food, emotions and joy. Aoife is the key that opens the lock.
I enjoyed this story a lot, but the writing is in a stylized fashion that can get a little overdone. The outside world is not much present as it was in Book 1, so the curve of their developing relationship is magnified.
Rosa is still tending the pitch.
Many of the same threads continue from Book 1: wonderful maternal figures, two men locked in combat with their faultlines, food, and the stresses of professional soccer.
Owen, the Irish goalkeeper, is silent, in constant knee pain and focused on his four year old daughter Aoife. Diego, a forward from El Paso, is a giver, of food, emotions and joy. Aoife is the key that opens the lock.
I enjoyed this story a lot, but the writing is in a stylized fashion that can get a little overdone. The outside world is not much present as it was in Book 1, so the curve of their developing relationship is magnified.
Rosa is still tending the pitch.
November 8, 2026
Owen and Diego are a couple I didn't see coming after meeting both of them in the first book, but I thoroughly enjoyed their story. I wasn't quite as in love with their romance as with Mateo and James's deliciously slowburn one, but that was always going to be a very hard act to follow. Still very much in love with the writing style though.
June 23, 2026
¡Open only from the inside!
An emotionally gripping journe.y of love between two men. The growth, tangents, stalls, transitions, and final result admit and include the sexual attraction without all the lurid details but with no less intense moments.
An emotionally gripping journe.y of love between two men. The growth, tangents, stalls, transitions, and final result admit and include the sexual attraction without all the lurid details but with no less intense moments.
July 17, 2026
another good one
I’ve been gobbling up Chris Savages books for the last 10 days or so, and I am really enjoying them. Well worth the read.
I’ve been gobbling up Chris Savages books for the last 10 days or so, and I am really enjoying them. Well worth the read.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews