The Deal

Off-Campus, Book One

by Elle Kennedy

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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.

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So. I obviously jumped on this train after watching the TV series. A big reason was of course Hannah and Garrett, and since I’m struggling a bit with my fantasy read at the moment, I thought this might be a nice palate cleanser. I’ve also heard a lot of good about Kennedy’s books for years now. When I went to buy this on Kindle I even found I’d already bought it way back in 2021, but clearly just never got around to reading it.

Well — here we are, at last.

There was actually a lot I liked about the book, even though I generally think it’s a mistake to watch the adaptation first — and this was no exception. The things that were changed for the TV series, were mostly for the better, to be honest. They were logical changes, so the differences didn’t bother me too much.

I thought that (for the most part), Hannah and Garrett were mature and really great together: they were honest and open with each other, they were teasing each other all the time, and they had insane chemistry. I didn’t mind Garrett sometimes being a bit of a cocky jerk, because he was so unapologetic and open about his thoughts and feelings (there was also never anything seriously bad). And I didn’t mind Hannah sometimes coming off as a bit judgy, because she often had to eat it later.

There was a small confrontation with a jilted hookup, but all the characters around our MCs were reasonable people, and there wasn't any petty drama (except for Cass maybe — I just remembered). For the most part, people actually behaved like actual people. The big, heavy subjects of Hannah’s rape and Garrett’s abuse were also handled pretty well (from someone who’s luckily never been through it myself).

I especially liked how Kennedy dealt with Hannah's trauma. The book didn't just acknowledge the rape and move on — beyond the psychological impact and the ways it continued to affect Hannah’s daily life, we saw the social fallout, the impact it had on her family, and even the financial consequences of pursuing justice. It felt messy and unfair in a very real way.

And though we didn't get quite as detailed with Garrett’s abuse, it was still really present, and the dad came off genuinely scary both in his scenes on page and as an overhanging presence in Garrett’s life.

These were some super heavy things Garrett and Hannah had to deal with, work through and overcome together. And for most of the book, they did that surprisingly well.

Which was honestly why the 3rd-act breakup annoyed me so much.

Maybe I’m overreacting, but a stupid fucking breakup due to lack of communication or misunderstandings is one of my biggest pet peeves. Still, there are so many ways to do it better than this. And it wasn't even made better by the fact that Garrett called Hannah out on it, because by that point I was already too annoyed. Still am now, a few days later.

And I’m so bummed, because I was actually planning on continuing the series and now I’m on the fence. I did like the book until then, and I do love the TV series (though, honestly, I didn’t like their version of the breakup either — it still felt a bit silly).

I think I will eventually continue with the other books, but probably not for a while. I need to calm down and repress this plot point before getting into Logan and Grace’s story.

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I'm feeling quite generous in giving this 3 stars.

⭐⭐⭐ 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

~🖤~ QUOTES ~🖤~

Rape. It’s one of the few words in the English language that has a visceral effect when you hear it. Like a bone-jarring slap to the face or the chill of ice water being dumped over your head. It’s ugly and demoralizing

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.

I never expected her. Sometimes people sneak up on you and suddenly you don’t know how you ever lived without them. How you went about your day and hung out with your friends and fucked other people without having this one important person in your life.