Review: The Deal By Elle Kennedy

Title: The Deal

Author: Elle Kennedy

Published Date: February 24th 2015

She’s about to make a deal with the college bad boy... 

Hannah Wells has finally found someone who turns her on. But while she might be confident in every other area of her life, she’s carting around a full set of baggage when it comes to sex and seduction. If she wants to get her crush’s attention, she’ll have to step out of her comfort zone and make him take notice... even if it means tutoring the annoying, childish, cocky captain of the hockey team in exchange for a pretend date. 

...and it’s going to be oh so good. 

All Garrett Graham has ever wanted is to play professional hockey after graduation, but his plummeting GPA is threatening everything he’s worked so hard for. If helping a sarcastic brunette make another guy jealous will help him secure his position on the team, he’s all for it. But when one unexpected kiss leads to the wildest sex of both their lives, it doesn't take long for Garrett to realize that pretend isn't going to cut it. Now he just has to convince Hannah that the man she wants looks a lot like him.

(Synopsis Provided by Goodreads)

The Deal begins with a simple question and ends with the best answer! All around fun, The Deal is a great casual read for any New Adult lover! The characters have such great chemistry together and who doesn't love a hot hockey player? The main characters Hannah and Garrett are a great match with their self-confidence and sassy mouths - put a smile on my face for majority of the book! The book does introduce some pretty heavy topics of violence but does not dive too far into them. Overall I thought this book did a great job focusing/exploring relationships that begin as friends and how people move into something more.

Hannah Wells is a complicated college student. She's got a past that she'd rather not talk about but what happened before has left her with no understanding of how to get the guy she's swooning over to notice her. Justin is who Hannah wants badly. He's a jock, being on the football team, yet he has the brains and loves to read Hemingway - only if Hannah knew how to turn their once-in-a-blue moon encounter into something more. Enter Garrett Graham. The college's notorious hockey player who's known for being the biggest flirt as well. 

After failing a test in one of his classes, Garrett's got to find a way to bring his grades up if he wants to play hockey. Garrett sticks to a few simple rules - hockey is the focus so do well in school to play and absolutely no distractions like a girlfriend. In the same class Garrett failed his test, there is Hannah - who by the way is one of the only students to ace her test. Garrett notices the mark Hannah gets on her test and knows that she's the one who can help him. He's got such a ego, that he thinks Hannah will be excited at the prospect of tutoring him but it shocks him when she flat out denies him. After some hilarious grovelling on Garrett's part, he figures out the only way to get Hannah's help is to give her something she wants in return - Justin. And so the deal is made between the two. In return for her tutoring him, he'll make sure she becomes the one Justin falls head over heels for! Through their time helping one another achieve their goals, Garrett can't help but feel something is different with Hannah. It could be the voice of hers when she sings that makes him speechless or maybe it's just the way she makes everything so fun and uncomplicated, leading him to reevaluate his stance on having a girlfriend. Hannah sees that their deal is becoming something more as well. Garrett has more than proven to her that he's not the jerk everyone makes him out to be and she doesn't seem to mind that he's got a smart mouth that she wants to kiss instead of Justin's. The story takes us through the journey of how Hannah and Garrett navigate the rocky road of being friends first then, maybe/sort of/definitely lovers next.

I couldn't wait for Hannah and Garrett to finally get together in this book! The entire chase was so thrilling to read! Garrett is the sexy, confident, jock who knows he's got it going on and Hannah is just as equally confident - even a little sassy. Each of them can't seem to let the other be right and so marks their battle to be alpha. The word play between the Garrett and Hannah is hilarious, light-hearted and most of all electric! It was great to see two characters on par with each other in confidence - it made for better intimacy later on in my opinion. Garrett despite what his reputation is, is totally different when it comes to Hannah. You know from the beginning when these two meet that he treated her in a way that meant things were going to be different. I loved his character because of that. He could be the bad boy everyone thinks but he knows who he is best - he doesn't let what others say dictate his actions which was awesome. 

I think The Deal is one of the rare new adult fiction novels I have read that don't drag their couples to hell and back to get together. What I mean by that is, Garrett and Hannah started to fall for each other by first studying together then they hung out more and tried some sexy time things, totally with the mindset of "friends" but then, their emotions grew to be something beyond that. At this point in a lot of other romances and NA novels, one of the characters seems to find a reason to NOT move things to the next level (like deciding that the other person doesn't feel the same or they'll never be able to accept their past). However in The Deal, Garrett admits his feelings and comes forward to Hannah about his new intentions of move things between them to relationship status. Hannah is level headed about it - she doesn't disregard the feelings she has for Garrett, (if you read it you know there's FIREWORKS between these two) and admits she's got it just as bad. They come together and they become a couple after that. No fuss, no drama. You like me and I like you - lets be a couple. DONE. No breaking up that makes everyone miserable, and no painful heartache for the reader!

There are a couple of points in The Deal that I found weren't done to it's full potential. Hannah's past dealing with rape, the unjust she faced with the entire case, and Garrett's past dealing with abuse, did not seem to meet a resolution by the end of the book to me. The story sort of went in the direction of 'become stronger than that which makes you weak' which of course is an amazingly brave way to go on living your life after such a traumatic event but I thought Hannah and Garrett's character grew so much through the book that they could have done something differently with their past.

I rate this book 3 out of 5 stars.

The Deal took a seemingly straightforward story of boy meets girl and infused it with brilliantly funny conversation. Of course, still keeping with all the wild and crazy things that are bound to happen when you're in college and falling in love! Definitely pick this up if you want a lighthearted NA novel dripping with chemistry!

AS ALWAYS,

HAPPY READING

-Sherry