Review: The Deal by Elle Kennedy

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.

I wasn’t expecting much from another college fake-relationship trope but actually loved this story. Hannah and Garrett seem like opposites at first, but end up having lots in common. They both have traumatic pasts and live with secrets, so it was really sweet when they started opening up to each other. Hannah is strong and determined, but life hasn’t been kind to her at all. She’s a survivor though and has already dealt with her past, mostly. There’s still one big obstacle in her way but Garrett is the support system she needs to finally overcome it.

Garrett’s slightly annoying at first but turns out to be one of the sweetest guys, even though Hannah’s kind of rough on him at first. She’s pretty snarky but she’s busy, stressed and protecting herself so it felt realistic. Once they start getting closer, the banter is awesome and this is a pretty funny book consider there’s some heavy topics in the story. One of the things I really enjoyed is that these characters have baggage but they’re not defined by their past. It’s not holding them prisoner or ruling their lives. This gives the characters a lot of depth without focusing all the attention on their problems, so it’s a nice balance.

These two are interesting and likeable enough that I’d read more so I hope to get more Hannah and Garrett in the rest of the series. They’re both funny and sarcastic and they talk like real couples. The supporting cast was great, so I’m looking forward to the rest of the series, especially because one of Garrett’s friends seems to have a huge crush on Hannah so I’m curious to see how he deals with it since it was unresolved when this story ended.