| Review | The Deal | Ellen Kennedy

Hello book-nerds!

It's day 18, my internership has begun, college has begun, and I'm still here. I'm so proud!!
So I've recently been forced to read The Deal - I'm talking about you Mad! - and I fell completly in love with the characters.

I made the mistake of starting it at night and... let's say I only slept 5 hours that night...

Totally not my fault, it's Mads fault.

Synopsis:

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:

Garrett's the typical sport's guy that everyone knows, loves and wants to sleep with. And while it kind of annoyed me in the beginning, his character evolution was massive, from the secret he harbours, to his principles. He slowly grew on me.

I was scared that Hannah's rape would be exagerated or, how do I explain this? - badly handled? Sometimes authors tend to lean into these shockings ''plot twists'' to make the plot interesting and then they don't make it belieble. Fortunately, it was not the case with The Deal, Hannah was scared by that horrible event, she went through alot until she was able to live her life again, but she's extremely strong and not defined by the act of others.

I've been told - by Mad - that Hannah-Garrett are an ultimate OTP and I'm forced to kind of agree...
They go through ups and downs, through very hard situations and still they are not broken.

One thing I appreciated the most in this book, besides the writing which was on point, and Garret which we have stabilished we all love, was how the author kept away from clichés. Unfortunately, romance books will normally follow the following plot:

2 people with nothing in common + traumatic events + a hard situation that splits them apart only to join them at the end

From Colleen Hoover to Christina Lauren to random romance authors, I'll say with certainty that his book isn't only amazing on itself, but a breath of air from the same old, same old, used plots.

So if you're a romance fan, and you're not afraid of more mature books, definitely give this book a try!