The Deal
Ratings286
Average rating4
Got to chapter four and I'd had enough. Gross guy who calls a woman he doesn't know baby because he thinks he's the shit and wants something from her. Sending her unsolicited naked chest pictures to “butter” her up. Her repeatedly telling him no and him steamrolling right over her. No thanks. Gross.
It's messed up how much I'm enjoying this. Just hanging out with a girl without worrying about how I'm going to get rid of her or that she's going to start making demands on me.
Garret, that is like the least messed up part of this whole book.
I wanted to try my first hockey romance this year, and for some reason I chose The Deal by Elle Kennedy. I can't remember what or who initially drew me into this book, but I ended up loving the way the author incorporated so many fun tropes — bad boy with a soft spot, forced to share a bed, fake dating, etc. The bickering between characters and the melodrama of the plot made this the perfectly quick read to get me out of my latest reading slump and I devoured it in a day or two.
That being said, this book was also kind of terrible. In fact, I'd like to give a bombastic side-eye to the following:
✦ The part where Garret or Gavin or Graham calls her playlist “wicked eclectic” and it's literally Etta James, Adele, Queen, Ella Fitzgerald, Aretha, and the Beatles. I love those musicians, but I wouldn't call that an eclectic range.
✦ The part where Garret flashes a boyish grin and Hannah thinks to herself,
He really has mastered that little boy look. Except he's not a little boy. He's a man with a big, strong body and a chin that lifts in determination.
I hope the answer to that is yes and that they anal-probed you for ten hours straight, because you deserve it for ignoring me for more than a week
Maybe because I know what a slut Logan can be. I can't even count the number of times I've seen a chick do a walk of shame out of his bedroom.
should
why
The Deal
The Deal was a really cute read! It gave me all the feels. I couldn't get enough of their sarcasm and banter.
I loved how Hannah and Garrett's relationship morphed from “enemies” to friends then to lovers. They were both very supportive and encouraging of each other's individual interests.
Garrett was swoonworthy. He was very cocky but also very attentive and observant. I loved how he protected Hannah from potential regrets and made sure she was taken care of.
I also really appreciated the mindfulness of trauma and PTSD.
There was absolutely 0 point in having the rape subplot within this book. You can't tell me one that I'll agree with. If I ignore that it was pretty good but idk I'm not into douchebags who think they're all that (yeah yeah I know it's the he'e a softy for her trope, but like no actually that's not the case because he's nice to other men just not women??? Doesn't sit right with me)
I don't know how to feel about this book, I loved the characters and plot but the backstories were not well done,
Although Hannah was a well-written character in the present day her back story was very brief and she felt like the only thing she had been through in her life was her rape while Garret's only personality was the fact his father was abusive.
But again I enjoyed the plot and the spicy scenes were well written and not to much
this book 😭😭 hannah's past hit so close to home for me. years ago, i needed a garrett graham. thankfully i have my own version 🥹 but i'm so happy i gave it a second chance because this book now means so much to me and will for so damn long, i know it.
3.5⭐️
I read this when I was trying to get out of a huge book slump and actually finished it so I'm happy about that.
The banter was 10/10 and that's all for now
I'm not going to lie, I hated this book for the first 50 or so pages. I know that's shocking considering the rating I gave it, but Garrett's first chapter almost put me off the book entirely. I know he was supposed to seem like a douchebro jock, but it was a bad way to be introduced to the mmc. Can't forget Hannah though, because Hannah's not like other girls. She eats 4 slices of pizza and wears polka dotted socks. Lol. Until the deal was made, I was skeptical. This read like a ya book with explicit scenes scattered throughout. All of this being said, I got hooked. Even though the frequent mentioning of her SA was jarring, I flew through the pages. This would have been my favorite book if I had read it at 19 or 20. I was rooting for them almost as soon as the deal was made. I was so sure Justin was going to end up doing something terrible because of Garrett's insistence that he was a bad guy, but I'm glad he ended up being cool in the end. I'm definitely going to finish this series, but I think I'm going to space it out.
“I want to murder him in his sleep, A. No, I want to murder him when he's awake so he can see the joy on my face when I do it.”
Synopsis: Hannah has a major crush on a university football star. Garrett, hockey team captain, needs to get his grades up in order to keep his place on the team. They make a deal - Hannah will tutor Garrett and in exchange he will pretend to date her to make her crush jealous.
“Sometimes people sneak up on you and suddenly you don't know how you ever lived without them.”
Thoughts:
- I felt uncomfortable with Garrett in the beginning with his persistence re: Hannah tutoring him and pestering her, as well as deleting music from her iPod because he didn't like it. He did redeem himself and make me fall in love with him later, but then he lost some points again when he warns every guy on campus off of her when Hannah wanted to try dating others. Definitely a controlling streak there I didn't like. Happily, Hannah laid into him over that.
- Hannah & Garrett had good chemistry and banter.
- The sex scenes occasionally had language that made me cringe, but overall were good. They focus on mutual pleasure and are explicitly consensual, and Garrett genuinely enjoys pleasuring women, all things that are a solid plus for me.
- I enjoyed the writing overall, found it very engrossing with a good, large, world - it felt believable as a real place filled with real people.
- Good balance of smut, plot and character development
- TW for discussions of past SA.
“How did I go so long without noticing you, damn it? Why did it take seeing a stupid A on your midterm to make me notice?”
re-read July 2023
Garrett and Hannah are like my comfort couple of this series. The banter is so funny, and Garrett is such a goof with a soft heart
Officially in my sports romance era.
I love the connection Hannah and Garrett have. Both have tough pasts, and trauma, but come together and are stronger.
They have such passion and love for each other it makes me swoon.
******** 5 Stars *********
A wonderful surprise, not at all what I expected... A breath of fresh air.
Thank you to my friend, Rhi for recommending this book to me. Being from the south, I know very little about hockey, but that did not stop me from enjoying these books! I quickly became consumed by Hannah and Garett's stories and could not stop reading. This book starts out with a fake dating trope and quickly develops into more. They have the sweetest romance and the spice was so good! I love the escapism that I felt going back to collegiate years and living through Hannah. I loved that they came from completely different “worlds” but found each other. Both of them have pretty traumatic pasts that effect the way they experience each other at first. Hannah and Garrett find peace in each other, and help one another overcome difficulties of their pasts. Check trigger warnings for this book because there are definitely come triggering topics that are discussed. This is a New Adult Romance and 18+ for themes, sexual content and language.
ms. kennedy knows how to write some chemistry and smut. i really did enjoy this book but at times the characters seemed a bit immature and the miscommunication did grind my gears a lot so it wasn't the most enjoyable read for me plus there was a certain comment about climate change that bothered me
Definitely one of the better romance books I've read this year. However, the fake relationship - the whole reason I read it in the first place - was not as prominent of a plot point as I wanted it to be.
“I want to murder him in his sleep. No, I want to murder him when he's awake so he can see the joy on my face when I do it.”
A college hockey romance with fake dating? you already know i'm eating up that shit.
was it predictable? definitely. a little cliche? yes. did i also absolutely love it? yes yes yes.
There were some parts that made me want to stab somebody in the eyeball but the fun dialogue and the characters made up for the few stab-in-the-eye parts. For me, the highlight of the book was Hannah and Garrett's banter. Both of them were such great characters and I adored their relationship development. I also loved that they talked about their problems because i'm not a fan of the miscommunication trope. It was great to see protagonists openly talking about their issues and being honest with each other.
Moreover, I ABSOLUTELY LOVED the dual pov.
super fun, cute and fast paced. definitely worth a read if you want to read something for pure entertainment.
This is another case where I left the review to long. It's told in dual perspectives from Garrett and Hannah. Garrett is your typical hot jock and Hannah is I guess the nerd in this situation. She ends up tutoring him and the story goes from there. Both of these characters have traumatic pasts that get slowly revealed throughout the book and for the most part for Hannah at least she has come to terms with her past. They both still have things they have to deal with with their pasts but I feel like they each grew a lot throughout the book. Garrett is brutally honest and up front about everything which I loved and I also loved how that kind of threw Hannah off at first. It's pretty steamy but also romantic in a way. The brutal honesty made from some pretty funny scenes as well. Another one I enjoyed and definitely want to continue on with the next book in the series.
I loooooooved this story SO MUCH. The characters were great. I love both Garreth and Hannah. AND I laughed A LOT. ♥ PS. I love the dual POV and plus (the audiobook narrators were great too, it made the reading experience 100 times better)
I already ordered the 2nd one of the series!
I re read today this AMAZING book because I suddenly! Missed Garreth and Hannah ❤