The Deal by Elle Kennedy Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
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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.
Sometimes people sneak up on you and suddenly you don’t know how you ever lived without them.
Once upon a time….No, seriously. This book had all the elements of a childhood fairy-tale where the hero comes to save the damsel in distress-except, get this-the damsel isn’t in distress. She doesn’t need some random dude entering her life when everything seems to be going well for her. It’s a modern day type fairy-tale where the prince is a jock who is cocky as fuck, but somehow is sweet as can be. And the girl is an intelligent, independent student with a blossoming music career that will take her all the places she’s ever wanted to go. But while this fairy-tale type story seems perfect as can be on the surface, because it almost was, there’s a tremulous storm brewing underneath. These two characters are broken. They hurt. They have secrets. Secrets they’ve never told anybody….and it’s time they unraveled them-Together.
Sometimes I don’t feel half as cool as people think I am, and I’m pretty sure that if any of them took the time to actually get to know me, they’d probably change their opinion. It’s like that pond I skated on when I was a kid-from a distance, the ice looked so shiny and smooth, until you got close enough to it, and suddenly all the uneven edges and crisscrossed skate marks became visible. That’s me, I guess. Covered with skate marks that nobody ever seems to notice.
-Garret
No, this isn’t a fairy-tale, nor is it marketed as such. But don’t you ever just read the perfect book for your mood and it makes you all happy and giddy and excited and it gives you more butterflies than you’ve had in weeks? Well, this is that book (Yes, sigh, I know, Jennifer/Harriet…you guys told me). It was happy and sad and heartwarming and uplifting and no…it didn’t teach me any life lessons and it wasn’t any deeper than a puddle after the rain, but it worked for me. Sometimes books just work. Sometimes we need that little fluff on our pillow to finally get comfortable, and lemme tell ya-I had my lowest book rating week last week since, like, I’ve ever been on GR-a 1, a 3, and a 2. It was horrible, I felt horrible, and I needed a pick me up. Thank God for this little slice of adorable-ness.
“For almost two months, Hannah. I went two months without knowing your name.”
“Well, we didn’t know each other.”
“You knew my name.”
I sigh. “Everyone knows your name.”
“How did I go so long without noticing you, damn it? Why did it take seeing a stupid A on your midterm to make me notice?”
Let me get the fangirling out of the way, because I think it’s inevitable. Garret….Garret is….I just….
Yeah, thanks, Dylan!! Exactly!!! I mean, yeah, I’ve fallen in love with so many guys I can’t even begin to count them, but there’s just something so so special about this guy. It’s been a while since a dude who calls a girl ‘baby’ has gotten my heart pumping, so it must mean something that I was able to overlook such a cheesy term of endearment. He’s sweet. He’s funny. He’s smart. He’s a hockey player. AND DESPITE BEING A TOTAL MANWHORE…..HE’S *gasp* LOYAL. Once he, inevitably (I mean, come on), fell for Hannah, he never once looked at another girl. I found this to be so refreshing and sweet and did I say refreshing?? He broke my heart with how protective he was over Hannah and how he would do anything for her at the drop of a hat. And, something you don’t always find in NA, they were best friends. Even when they were ‘together’, they were as dorky and sarcastic and bantered like any other time. Every moment where they were together was better than the last, and I couldn’t help but to get snared in their trap as the story progressed.
“I’m not other women.”
No she isn’t. Because other women don’t entertain me as much as she does. I suddenly wonder how I ever made it through life without Hannah Wells’ sarcastic barbs and annoyed grumbles.
“Stop grinning,” she snaps.
I’m grinning? Didn’t even realize it.
*****
Hannah takes a breath. “We studied. We watched TV. I went home late. That’s what happened. Got it?”
I fight back laughter. “As you wish.”
“Did you really just Princess Bride me?
“Did you really just use Princess Bride as a verb?”
I know a lot of people thought there were tons of cliches, but I really didn’t mind. If a story flows well and has good grammar and isn’t cheesy (Hallelujah), then that’s something I hold dear. Lol, oh, and I love how Hannah always calls him ‘Dude’…I sometimes slip and say it to my husband as well so I thought it was hilarious. It’s so few and far between that I enjoy a NA so strongly, so I won’t look a gift horse in the mouth. There was adorable jealousy, self-sacrifices, confessions, protectiveness, and a possessive gleam any girl could get behind….Hell, can I just have Garret, please?? Please??
While I didn’t fall head over heels right away for this story, it began to seep slowly into my pores as the story progressed and I couldn’t help but to fall in love. Of course the deal isn’t going to go perfectly as planned-then we wouldn’t have much of a romance, would we?? It wasn’t overdone and it had all the perfect amounts of cheese-I think anyone could like this, if they give it a chance.
Penises!
Sweet Jesus.
Penises everywhere.
Horror slams into me as I register what I’m seeing. Oh God. I’ve stumbled onto a penis convention. Big penises and small penises and fat penises and penis-shaped penises. It doesn’t matter which direction I move my head because everywhere I look I see penises.
^^Definitely one of my top favorite scenes lol^^
I laughed so hard and so frequently with this story it’s not even funny (ironically). The humor was absolute perfection. Sometimes I think we all need to put our pitch forks aside and go along for the ride…it’s nice to just stop and enjoy and not over think a book-in fact, I find it’s necessary sometimes. So, I will end my NA week on a VERY strong note…..I’m going back to my fantasy/dystopian/paranormal….boy have I missed it.
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Buddy read with Sarah (AND MAYBE ANNA OH ANNA YOU BETTER YOU TURD (Do you feel guilty yet)) starting this weekend!! Woot! Let’s see what all the fuss is about 😀 ♥
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