The Deal by Elle Kennedy
Series: Off-Campus #1
Published by Elle Kennedy Inc. on 31 July 2017
Genres: Romance, Sports Romance, Hockey
Pages: 445
Format: Paperback
Source: Owned Book
New York Times bestseller and TikTok sensation Elle Kennedy brings you the first in the sexy Off-Campus series that everyone is talking about.
The series that inspired Amazon Prime's Off-Campus – Now Streaming!
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.
After owning this book for 10+ years, I finally picked it up and read it! Honestly, I’m not sure why I never picked up this book or this series other than #moodreader. But I’m so glad I finally did! Kennedy does such a wonderful job bringing Hannah and Garrett’s story to life. Both characters are dealing with and healing from their own respective traumas over the course of the book and I loved how both Hannah and Garrett helped each other to process and heal. Kennedy does a wonderful job interweaving those heavier topics into a romance story. Really that’s what I love about the Romance genre – is being able to experience or process certain things in a safe way through a story.
The Deal also brings in one of my favorite troupes – fake dating. Ugh, I’m such a sucker for certain tropes and this is one of them for sure. I felt like it was the perfect one for this story and really allowed the characters to learn to trust each other before the romance part really kicked off. And once the romance aspects did start – man so swoon worthy for sure! The spice was done very well, and I enjoyed the healthy relationship to sex that was portrayed in this novel — especially View Spoiler »
Outside of Hannah and Garrett, I really enjoyed getting to know both friend groups. The rest of Garrett’s team members were a lot of fun to “meet” and I’m looking forward to each of their books. Similarly, it was a delight getting to know Hannah’s friends and seeing her have such a good friendship support system — especially after dealing with her past, but also her current musical showcase issues. I can already see some pairings potentially between her friends and teammates, but I’ll just have to wait and see.
The only thing that brought this book from a 5 to a 4.5 stars for me was View Spoiler ».
Overall, this novel was a ton of fun and had some great depth and character development. I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the series before watching the show.
Have you read this series before? What are your thoughts on book 1 and Hannah and Garrett? What other Sports Romances do you recommend reading?
Happy Reading!
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