Okay, there are a lot of mixed reviews about this book. People either love it or they hate it.
Well, I happened to LOVE it!
Basically if you substitute her adorableness with yoga pants and dirty hair then it's totally me!
The Deal is a hockey romance that centers (pun unintended) around Hannah, a music student that comes from a rough past and is eager to leave it all behind. While she is content with most of her life, she has yet to find someone that makes her heart race. She certainly has someone in mind: Justin Kohl, the star of the football team, Hemingway lover, and all around perfect guy.
Too bad he doesn't know she exists.
Garrett Graham, however, knows she exists. Well, kind of. As the captain of the Briar University hockey team, he knows he needs to pass his ethics class and it just so happens, Hannah is the key to that. After seeing her perfect grade on the midterm, he begs her to help him study. Uninterested, she quickly rebuffs his requests, but Garrett isn't one to be deterred.
Essentially, he annoys the hell out of her until she agrees. Well, and he offers to help her score a date with Justin Kohl.
As they start to study together, they get to know one another and form a pretty awesome friendship. They watch shows together, they hang out, they eat dinner together - it was interesting to actually read about the friendship instead of the author just saying 'hey, they're epic friends.' Their friendship eventually progresses to feelings, though neither will acknowledge them right away.
Now the whole thing about the rape was obviously a point of contention for most of the readers. I can agree it's an overused trope, but it was handled in a way I haven't seen. I am frustrated because most people that were upset over it either didn't finish it or didn't read it all. This wasn't about her becoming desirable for a boy - she wanted to overcome it for herself. She even says: "With Devon, my sex issues were made a hundred times worse because of that pressure, because the sex part was tangled up with the love part. With Garrett, it can be just about the sex. Trying to put the pieces of my sexuality back together without worrying about disappointing someone I love."
Furthermore, the book discusses how people with this issue are often treated like they're made of glass. Garrett, on the other hand, doesn't do this.
"I'm not a fragile piece of china to him. I'm just...me."
I also love that the sex in this book is about having fun! Sheesh, do we need another book of romantic sappy bullshit where it's about a penis going in and out and in and out? At least this book - because it is a romance - is about having fun with each other. I am firm believer that if you can't laugh during sex then you're not doing it right.
For instance: "'It's okay. There's only one boo-boo I want you to kiss, and you sound too distracted for that.' He pauses. 'I'm talking about my dick, by the way.'"
I genuinely laughed out loud reading this. Garrett and Hannah are funny! They bicker and they make fun of each other and they're sarcastic and then they have sex in between. It was pretty hilarious.
My favorite scene had me cracking up to the point where I scared my cat. It's a scene where Hannah ventures into a locker room, prepared to throw down a fight. However, unlike movies that make a men's locker room seem like something sexy (A Cinderella Story, Varsity Blues, etc.), this basically says how that's a bunch of crap.
"Penises! Sweet Jesus. Penises everywhere. Horror slams into me as I register what I'm seeing. Oh God. I've stumbled into a penis convention. Big penises and small penises and fat penises and penis-shape penises. It doesn't matter which direction I move my head because where I look I see penises."
As for the hockey aspects, I had to let some stuff slide. It's not so much that she was wrong, but there was hardly any true hockey details in the book. I'm a hockey junkie (GO SHARKS!) so I know my hockey and I'm fine with how it was portrayed. I'd rather have it be limited than wrong. However, since there are more books, I hope she discusses more of the hockey in the future.
I feel like I could go on and on about this book, but I just am eager to read the next one. It's fun, it was hilarious, and despite what a lot have this listed under, there is no cheating in this.
So excited for Logan's book!
Final rating: 5 stars!
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