I am so IN LOOOOVE with this book!!!! Seriously, I don’t know how some authors do it – I so do NOT relate to sports and athletes, and yet I keep falling in love with these sports romances, with these athlete heroes! Gah, this book. The Deal was perfection – it had me smiling and giggling so hard, my heart was just bursting from reading this book. It’s a pure, feel-good, heartwarming read that I think everyone will enjoy!

Hannah Wells has a crush. Buuut, that crush never seems to notice her. Enter Garrett Graham. He’s the star hockey player at their college, but he may no longer be able to play unless he improves his GPA. Lucky for him that Hannah is acing the class he’s failing in. So Garrett proposes a deal – if Hannah agrees to tutor Garrett, he’ll go out with her to improve her social status and make her crush, Justin, jealous.

Hannah shoots down this deal, hard. And what ensues is a hilarious, heartwarming game where Garrett tries to persuade Hannah to give their deal a chance. Garrett is annoying, in that cute, adorable way, as he is unrelenting in making Hannah cave. After some funny texts (and maybe some naughty ones), and getting to know each other better, Hannah finally agrees to their deal – but neither Hannah nor Garrett expected to find something more, something beautiful, deep, and profound with each other.

I never expected her. Sometimes people sneak up on you and suddenly you don’t know how you ever lived without them. How you went about your day and hung out with your friends and fucked other people without having this one important person in your life.

From the get-go, I adored Hannah and Garrett. The Deal is told in dual POV, and both Hannah and Garrett are hilarious! They’re so easy to relate to, even though they’re vastly different characters. Hannah is shy and likes to keep to herself, while Garrett is the outgoing, sexy manwhore everybody loves. Both have their own painful pasts, which add more depth to their characters. I loved the way Hannah never let her past bring her down, and how she makes Garrett see the same. I loved them, I truly did.

Living well and being happy is how we get over the shit in our past.

The thing about this book is that even though these characters appear formulaic and nothing new on the surface, Elle Kennedy brings them to life, putting a spark in both Hannah and Garrett that made them shine to me. On the outside, they’re typical new adult main characters, but when you read this book, you see the gems in their characters through their thoughts, words, and actions. The blurb makes The Deal sound like any other typical new adult book, but it’s not. It’s well-written with exceptional characters who will grow in your heart. I was wholeheartedly charmed by this book – I loved it!

Quotes are taken from the arc and are subject to change in the final version.

Reading Order: Off-Campus series

#1 ~ The Deal: Ebook • Paperback • Goodreads
#2 ~ The Mistake: My Review • Ebook • Paperback • Goodreads
#3 ~ The Score: My Review • Ebook • Paperback • Goodreads

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