Book Rewind · Review: The Deal (Off-Campus #1)
by Elle Kennedy
For today’s Book Rewind we are featuring The Deal the first book in the Off-Campus series by Elle Kennedy! This is a witty new adult series that will have you laughing and swooning your way through the pages & series! The Deal was first released back in February of 2015 and is a favorite for many people in the sports & college romance categories. Check it out and I hope you love it as much as I did!
Book Rewind is a meme where we review a backlist title to distinguish reviewed books that are in no way a new release. We noticed we tend to review almost all new or newly released books and wanted to have a feature to spotlight some older books that we either just read or are just reviewing because we never got around to it, or possibly didn’t blog back then! This meme will be posted on Thursdays as a ‘Throwback Thursday’ kind of deal.
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The Deal (Off-Campus #1) by Elle Kennedy
Category: New Adult, Contemporary Romance
Publication: February 24th, 2015
Purchase: Amazon
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.
Review:
[book rating=5/5] * This review was originally published, on my now defunct blog, back in April 2015, and has since been edited.For months now, I’ve been seeing The Deal recommended by bloggers, stating how much they loved it. I was intrigued by the teasers and when I saw it again, I said, “f*ck it, I’m buying this one.” So I bought and I think it was one of the best decisions I’ve made.
When I read the summary of The Deal, I expected something very different. I expected a fake relationship, a drunken night of sex and debauchery, then the guy to fight his way until he gets the girl. Instead, I got something way more complex and interesting and I was not disappointed in the least.
Hannah is a music major in Briar College. In her junior year, a new guy, Justin moves to town and starts at the school, and Hannah immediately notices him. Which is weird, since he’s a footballer and Hannah is never into jocks. But she sees more in him than the typical frat guy. The problem is, she’s too shy to just ask him out, even though she has Ethics class with him. This is where our hero, Garrett comes into the picture.
Garrett is the captain of the hockey team and a history major. He’s doing really good in all his classes – which is required to play – except Ethics. When he sees that Hannah aced the midterm, he immediately asks her to tutor him or else he’ll fail the make up test and lose his spot on the team. After much persuasion and various offers, Hannah takes the deal and their kind of messy but pretty adorable story begins.
The first thing I fell in love in The Deal was the characters. Especially Hannah. She’s a rape survivor but she doesn’t let a past horrible experience affect her life and dictate her everydays. She gets out of it as someone stronger, determined, who knows she’s not a victim, and doesn’t let others treat her like one. She has the balls to say no to anyone, while blushing in the next moment at a sexual innuendo. She’s literally the funniest character I’ve ever read. I’m not lying, I was laughing every time she says something sarcastic, witty or funny, which she tends to do a lot around Garrett. She’s a talented singer and a straight A student, all the while she’s working to try to make a living to not have to rely on her parents who are neck deep in debts.
Garrett is and isn’t your typical bad boy. His dad was a big hockey player back in the days, everyone knows him and envies Garrett for having him as a parent. But there’s a big secret about good, old Dad that nobody knows. Garrett lives off campus in a house that he rents with his three best friends. They are the typical frat boys/jocks; they’re the stars of the campus, they play, they party, they drink, and they get all the girls. Except Garrett rarely drinks and concentrates on school, beside all his extracurricular activities. So while he is the team captain, he has another side too, a side that he rarely shows to anyone. He’s relentless, funny, protective, loveable, sweet, charming and he would do anything for the people he loves.
I loved both Garrett and Hannah’s friends. They were there whenever our main characters needed them. Tried to protect them from everything, and they were good companions to them. I loved how Garrett’s roommates were bickering with Hannah and accepted her from the first moment. I loved how Hannah’s friend were always trying to encourage her to not let her duet partner bully her.
The book is told in dual POV, which I love. We got to know both Hannah’s and Garrett’s thoughts, situations, and background. It balanced equally between the two characters. I loved the banter and bickering between them, they made the book a funny and quick read. It was so good to read about how they clicked from the first moment and how they experienced things with each other that they haven’t before with other people. It was also endearing to watch them fall in love with each other slowly. I loved that slow burn that was going on and how Hannah was trying to deny everything she felt for Garrett. It just made me wanting them together all the more.
It was my first book from Elle Kennedy, but definitely will not be the last. I loved her style and her quotes are really perfect. She actually wrote about the only topic (rape) that I find hard to read; and did so, in such a way that I didn’t cringe every time it was mentioned. I also loved how easy and quick read it was, I literally consumed it in a few hours. I cannot wait to read The Mistake, the second book in the series.
