Review: The Deal – Elle Kennedy (Off Campus #1)

Rating 5 Stars

TW: contains characters healing from physical and sexual assault.

What’s the book about?
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
If you enjoy NA romance, contemporary romance and/or sports romance, then this is the triple threat for you! The Deal is the first book in the Off Campus series by Elle Kennedy and contains all of the above and more.

The story is about two characters, the jock hero and music-major heroine, who begin as indifferent towards each other but build up a wonderful friendship through study sessions and eventually fall in love. As much as I love everything about this book – the writing, the storyline, the characters, the dialogue – my absolute favourite part of this story is the development of the relationship! Garrett and Hannah are so genuine in every aspect from beginning to end and you can’t help but fall in love right alongside with them.

In addition to their budding relationship, they also work through and heal from some difficult moments in their life together. While it doesn’t go into too many specific details and is discussed in the past tense, it’s still something that readers should consider.

Other than the main characters, this book also has so many amazing and complex side characters, each with their own lives and personalities. I absolutely loved getting to know all of them and am so happy that several of them have their own stories.

Elle Kennedy is such a fantastic writer. She truly knows how to create intricate characters and a well-developed storyline. She was also able to tackle sensitive subjects with respect. Even if you’re not too sure about the new adult genre, I’d still recommend this story. If it wasn’t based on a university campus, I wouldn’t have even noticed since each of the characters showed maturity typical of many adults in their 20’s. Overall, I couldn’t recommend this book more!

Please note: In addition to the four books in the Off Campus series, there are also four books in the spin-off Briar U series.