Title: The Deal
Author: Elle Kennedy
Publisher: Bloom Books
Pages: 360
Genre: Sports romance
My Rating: ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
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The Deal
Hannah Wells is a student at Briar University. She’s smart, loves making music, and has a major crush on a guy she’s never even spoken to she’s not even sure he knows she exists.
Garrett Graham is a hockey player, but he’s failing one of his classes and needs a tutor. He wants Hannah to help him, but she keeps turning him down until he makes her a deal. If Hannah helps him study, he’ll help her get the guy she likes.
As they start spending more time together, Garrett begins to realize he might actually be falling for Hannah.
Review
A long time ago, I read The Graham Effect by Elle Kennedy, which is about Garrett and Hannah’s daughter. After reading that book, I decided I wanted to read all of the books in the right order — and that’s why I picked this one, since it’s the first book in the Off-Campus series.
I remember liking The Graham Effect, but most of the time when I read sports romances, I feel like they’re mostly about the sex and the plot is missing. I’m not saying that’s the case with Elle Kennedy’s books, but it’s something I’ve noticed in general. So I was still excited to read The Deal, but at the same time, my expectations were a little low. Which is probably a good thing, because most of the time when your expectations are too high, you end up disappointed.
But honestly, I really enjoyed reading this book. Yes, there’s some spice in it, but it’s just a small part of the story. I actually liked the whole plot, and both characters had their own personal struggles. Garrett’s father used to hit him and his mother when he was younger, and his mother has since passed away. Hannah’s story is about how she was raped when she was only 15 years old — that’s some pretty heavy stuff, so this book definitely comes with trigger warnings.
I liked both characters, and I really liked them together. There was chemistry, and I always enjoy an enemies-to-friends-to-lovers kind of relationship. At first, Hannah thought Garrett was super annoying, but then she realized he wasn’t a bad guy and ended up falling for him.
There wasn’t really anything I didn’t like, besides a few side characters (Garrett’s dad and someone from Hannah’s past). Even the guy Hannah originally had a crush on turned out to be a nice person. I was expecting him to act like he was too good for her or something, but I actually liked him as well. I don’t think he got his own book though — I believe all the books in the series are about the hockey players, and he was a football player.
Overall, it was a really good book and I definitely enjoyed reading it. I’m planning to read the rest of the series soon. I have a couple of weeks off in December, so I’ll probably read a lot during my vacation. I currently have 125 books on my Goodreads TBR, and I really want to start lowering that number!