The Deal by Elle Kennedy

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Title: The Deal
Author: Elle Kennedy
Series: Off-Campus #1
Published by: Indie
Release Date: February 24th 2015
Format: Kindle Book
Pages: 342
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Sports Romance
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Kobo ✩ iBooks ✩ IndieBound
My rating:

Blurb:

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.

My Review:

4 stars — This book had so many Lenore things going for it, I think it only didn’t reach 5 stars b/c it suffered from a little bit of pre-reading hype….so I kept thinking things while I was reading it, and it took away from my experience.  (like I was told it was a hilarious book, and while I definitely thought it was funny, I guess I was expecting something else)

It took me a little bit to get into the book and to get hooked on Garrett and Hannah.  But once I did, I definitely fell in love.  There was so much more to the story than what I had initially expected, including some rough past experiences for both of our main characters.  And I thought that both situations were dealt with with respect by the author.  I know not every person reacts the same way after certain traumas, so it was interesting to read about how Hannah was shaped by her experiences.

And once I got to know Garrett and Hannah more, they both wormed their way into my heart.  I loved the way they interacted with each other, their banter in all situations was just so unique to them and had me giggling in my head.  That was probably my favourite part, their chemistry with each other.  Not just steam chemistry (though they definitely had that), but their friend chemistry.  I loved seeing them both caught off guard by the other and the relationship that was developing.

I appreciated that the obstacles that were thrown in the way weren’t dragged out and used to force them apart unnecessarily…that gets really old for me.  They were relatively upfront with each other, navigating their new relationship together as best they could.

So while my expectations got in the way of the beginning of this book, the book itself overrode my misgivings and took me on a sweet ride.  Will definitely be wishlisting more books by Ms. Kennedy.