The Deal

Romance · Comedy

Print length: 400 pagesBloom Books, 2025

Description

College student Hannah Wells wants to attract another man, but insecurity around sex and seduction leaves her unsure how to act. Garrett Graham, the cocky captain of the hockey team, has a different problem: falling grades could cost him his place on the ice and threaten his professional ambitions. He persuades Hannah to tutor him by offering a pretend date that might make her crush jealous. Their bargain appears simple—academic help in exchange for social leverage—until friendship and physical attraction begin undermining its rules. As each tries to preserve the arrangement’s practical purpose, their growing intimacy forces them to confront what they actually want. The novel builds a college romance from sharp banter, negotiated boundaries, and the tension between performance and trust.

Reading profile

About this profile

Collected’s assessment, not reader ratings. Complexity runs from 1 (least demanding) to 5 (most demanding).

Writing: How much attention the sentences and language require.
Ideas: How much interpretation or abstract reasoning the book asks of you.
Structure: How much you need to keep track of speakers, timelines and connections.
Background knowledge: Prior knowledge needed to follow the book, beyond what it explains.
Emotional intensity: Emotional pressure, from gentle (1) to intense (5). Separate from difficulty.

Writing style

Conversational · Dialogue-driven · Direct · Witty

Pace

Brisk

Tone

Humorous · Playful · Romantic · Warm

Structure

Linear

Focus

Character · Relationships

Emotional intensity

3 / 5

Reading complexity

1–5 · higher means more demanding

Writing: 2 / 5
Ideas: 2 / 5
Structure: 2 / 5
Background knowledge: 1 / 5

Themes

AmbitionFriendshipIdentityLoveTransformation

About Elle Kennedy

Elle Kennedy is a Canadian novelist whose work spans contemporary romance and romantic suspense, with much of her romance fiction set in the competitive, socially enclosed world of college hockey. Her novels typically begin with a practical arrangement or impulsive encounter, then let attraction complicate the terms. Direct, conversational prose and quick, dialogue-led scenes keep the courtship moving, while sharp banter gives way to candid negotiations over sex, trust, and responsibility. The Deal turns tutoring and a fake date into a friendship that unsettles both participants’ plans. Similar structures recur without producing identical conflicts. In The Goal, unexpected parenthood brings ambition, money, and independence into the relationship, while Risk uses rival teams, professional aspirations, and a staged romance to put private desire under public pressure. Kennedy often reverses an initial imbalance by making confidence prove itself through patience and accountability. Her linked casts also allow couples’ choices to register beyond a single courtship, as campus routines yield to work, family, and adult obligations.