The Deal (Off-Campus #1)

Hi Friends!

For so long, I have heard many people talk about Elle Kennedy's Off-Campus series, a sports romance trope following college and hockey. (I love hockey). When I finally picked up the first installment in the series, The Deal, I was not expecting to love it as much as I did! Thanks to the Reading Rush challenge of "reading a book with the word The in the title" for encouraging me to finally read this hilarious and fun story.

The Deal follows our main characters Hannah Wells and Garrett Grahame. Garrett is the captain of the division 1 hockey team and is the big-man on campus. He comes across as cocky and arrogant, which makes Hannah really despise him at first. When Garrett asks Hannah, well begs her, the quiet music student to tutor him in Ethics, she is against the idea. Eventually she budges after Garrett promises to up hr reputation so she can score a date with football player Justin Kohl. Soon the two start spending a lot of time together and end up uncovering feelings that they never expected to have. 

Trigger warnings for abuse, rape, and domestic violence. 

The banter between all of the characters was hilarious. Garrett is so sarcastic and Hannah gives it right back to him. There were times I was actually laughing because the inner and external dialogue was so entertaining. I especially enjoyed one of the final scenes in the locker room and thought that it was pretty funny on what happened and how Hannah dealt with it. 

This is an enemies to friends to lovers romance and it was a delicious slow burn. I found myself anxiously awaiting Hannah and Garrett to realize they had feelings for one another and for Garrett to give up his "no girlfriend" rule. Especially after Hannah cooked him and his teammates a lasagna dinner. Their relationship really blossomed as they talked about hard things that they have been through and their true feelings surrounding their passions in hockey and music. We learn about the back story of both characters that involves various hard-hitting topics such as rape, abuse, and domestic violence. The author did a really great job of delicately handling those topics but also making you sick to your stomach to realize that it sounded real and that it does actually happen to some people. 

I was SO mad at Hannah towards the end of the book but understood that there had to be some climax and the book couldn't be all happy go lucky. The sex scenes were not too vulgar, which I absolutely appreciated. They were steamy but not too overly steamy.

The character development of Garrett especially over this story was amazing. He really worked hard on himself and working on his flaws. Hannah definitely helped with that but it was nice to see him go from this cocky jock to this passionate and loving character. It was refreshing to be honest.

Overall rating: 5 Stars

And yes, I absolutely went and ordered the other three books in this series and I cannot wait to see what the other hockey players stories are.