book review – An Infinite Book World

Title: The Deal
Author: Elle Kennedy
Series: Off Campus (Book #1)
Release Date: February 24th, 2015
Publisher: Bloom Books
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Rating: ★★★★★

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New York Times bestseller Elle Kennedy brings you the first in the sexy Off-Campus series that everyone is talking 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.

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To be completely honest, I bought this book on a whim after seeing it on sale at Chapters. Having skimmed the back of the book, I believed that I was getting myself into a Wattpad style novel, similar to Anna Todd’s After. But holy crap, this was like After on steroids! (And no, I don’t mean the sex scenes haha). Elle Kennedy has an easy, fresh writing style, which is perfect for those finishing an intense fantasy novel and needing a lighter follow-up read. It’s full of sarcasm and cocky, college athletes, so where can you go wrong?

I personally really enjoyed the characters in this novel, but I could see a lot of readers finding them annoying or lacking character development. Hannah, our main character, is a musical performance major who dreams of pursuing a music related career. The author showed us so many sides of Hannah’s character throughout the novel, including some intimate, fragile states. Hannah was raped in the past, causing her feel uncertain around alcohol and sex. Throughout the novel, Kennedy sends us through Hannah’s story of overcoming her fear of these subjects, even after years in therapy. Now, that’s where Garrett comes in. I loved Garrett from the beginning. As the captain of the hockey team, he knows how to go after what he wants. At first it was solely a professional career in hockey. Then it was a good mark on his Ethics midterm. Then it was . . . well, it was Hannah. From the moment he met her, he knew he wanted her for more than just helping him to boost his ethics mark. And his motivations can be admired as he didn’t back down from any of the times she told him “No.” Both Garrett and Hannah’s characters developed an incredible amount throughout the novel, as relationships developed and others were broken.

I’m not going to lie, there are definitely some annoying characters throughout the novel. Characters like Cass and MJ I found were necessary for the storyline, but came across as “non-developed”. Cass was bratty and MJ lacked the ability to make her own choices, which I believe would have made her a much stronger character! However, I loved both Garrett and Hannah’s friend groups and they definitely played pivotal roles in helping our main characters make some difficult choices throughout the novel!

Also, did I mention that this book features a hot group of HOCKEY players. Sure, there’s also players from the football team are mentioned in the novel, but Garrett’s main group of friends is the hockey team. This is a key detail that means a lot to me as a Canadian, since it is not often that we see hockey as the main sport in young adult novels. After finishing The Deal, I found out that Elle Kennedy herself is Canadian too, making this detail make so much more sense!

Overall I found this novel to be a light, addicting contemporary that was very difficult to put down. There were quite a few nights where I definitely should’ve been reviewing some pathways for physiology, but found myself so invested in this novel. It’s a page turner, that’s for sure. But, if you enjoy sports and contemporary novels (Oh, and hot guys!), definitely give this novel a go!

Buy The Deal at the following retailers:
Indigo | Barnes and Noble | Book Depository | Amazon

REVIEW (3)

Onyx (Lux, #2) Title/Author: Onyx by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Series: Lux (#2)
Release Date: August 14, 2012
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Genre: Paranormal/Sci-Fi
Rating: ✭✭✭✭✭

Being connected to Daemon Black sucks…

Thanks to his alien mojo, Daemon’s determined to prove what he feels for me is more than a product of our bizarro connection. So I’ve sworn him off, even though he’s running more hot than cold these days. But we’ve got bigger problems.

Something worse than the Arum has come to town…

The Department of Defense are here. If they ever find out what Daemon can do and that we’re linked, I’m a goner. So is he. And there’s this new boy in school who’s got a secret of his own. He knows what’s happened to me and he can help, but to do so, I have to lie to Daemon and stay away from him. Like that’s possible. Against all common sense, I’m falling for Daemon. Hard.

But then everything changes…

I’ve seen someone who shouldn’t be alive. And I have to tell Daemon, even though I know he’s never going to stop searching until he gets the truth. What happened to his brother? Who betrayed him? And what does the DOD want from them—from me?

No one is who they seem. And not everyone will survive the lies…

This is the second installment in Jennifer L. Armentrout’s electrifying Lux series. This series is filled with intense fight scenes, kick-ass females, sexy men and everything else you could ever want from a YA novel. Add on Jennifer L. Armentrout’s emotional and humorous writing and you’ve got a masterpiece. Before you read this post, I strongly recommend reading my review on Obsidian, the first book in the Lux series. Don’t worry, it’s spoiler free. Before we get into this review, be sure to check out my old review of Onyx (CLICK HERE).

WHAT I LIKED

Onyx is the one book in this series that I didn’t LOVE when I first read it. I thought that it had too slow of a pace and seemed to stretch on endlessly! But, absurdly, each time I read this book I love it a little bit more. It’s really weird, but I’m so glad that I have finally come to love this book!

We’ve got to start this section off super strong, right? SO why not start off by talking about Daemon and Katy. Daemon’s a Luxen (an alien if you are not familiar with the series) and Katy’s a human. The two really shouldn’t mix, but they did. It was obvious in the latter chapters of Obsidian that the two characters had feelings for each other. But it wasn’t until Onyx that both characters recognized these feelings. Although their relationship was a mess for the majority of this novel, I am determined to go down with this ship!

Overall, I found that both Katy and Daemon’s characters had really changed from what we saw in Obsidian. Although Katy was still a huge, naive, book nerd, she had a bit more maturity. She could still throw out a ramble of non-sense to Daemon, but for the most part she only spoke when she was confident with what she was going to say. And Daemon had really lightened up from the douche-bag I read about in Obsidian. He truly was more caring, emotional and NICE.

I feel like we also got to REALLY meet some of the characters introduced to us in the first book. Unlike Katy, Daemon, and Dee, there were some characters who didn’t get a lot of page time in Obsidian. The stunning, blonde haired Thompson triplets had quite a bit of page time, whether it was because they were sitting with Daemon in the school cafeteria or because they were having ACTUALLY having a conversation with Katy. And even, you can’t help but love Ash’s sass! Matthew, Katy’s biology teacher and the Thompson’s and Lux’s “guardian” was also frequently in this book. I still don’t LOVE him as a character, but I do love the role he plays in this series.

I also really enjoyed having Katy’s mom appear in this novel so often. In Obsidian, we only really saw her watching over Katy whenever Daemon came walking up their steps. But literally, she is the MOST chill mom you will ever read about. Like, come on, I wish I could wave my middle finger in a hot, cocky boy’s face with my mom looking. But, although every scene Katy’s mom was in included Will (Yea, let’s not talk about Will…), it was nice to have her appear so much in this novel. Even though she is constantly working, I love knowing that Katy and her mom still maintain such as strong relationship.

Just know to keep your eyes out for two scenes in this novel when you read it: the Thanksgiving scene and the movie theatre scene. You will totally thank me later. Also the ending might have you in tears.

WHAT I LIKED (1)

For the most part, I still disliked the same things as before. The DOD and the Arum are still HORRIBLE. But, during Onyx I really found myself disliking certain characters. Some are new, while others were mentioned in the previous novel. But they were all just evil, even if they didn’t try to be.

Blake Saunders. Santa Monica native, surfer, blogger, wears nerdy shirts, cute, average boy most girls would try to go out with. Yep, and Katy actually did that last one. But the two characters seemed to have a lot in common. They both moved from a warmer place to LITERALLY THE MIDDLE OF NO WHERE. They both blogged about things they were passionate about. And, they both seem to be HUGE nerds. She thought that it would be smart to go for someone normal, unlike an alien like Daemon. But really, she ran herself into the biggest problem EVER.

Will, Will, Will. I thought you had potential but really you were only in this book to ruin Katy’s life. In case you didn’t know, Will is a doctor who worked at a local hospital with Katy’s mom and later went on to start a relationship with her. I really was starting to lighten up to Will, until certain things were revealed about him. After that I just couldn’t stand him. Especially during the last 20 pages. Ugh.

WHAT I LIKED (3)

‘“Cookie?” he offered, holding a cookie full of chocolate chips.
Upset tummy or not, there was no way I could refuse that. “Sure.”
His lips tipped up one side and he leaned toward me, his mouth inches from mine. “Come and get it.”
Come and get…? Daemon placed half the cookie between those full, totally kissable lips.
Oh, holy alien babies everywhere…’

‘“Your mail could’ve waited.” Daemon followed me into the kitchen. “What is it? Just books?”
Grabbing the OJ from the fridge, I sighed. People who didn’t heart books didn’t understand.’

WHAT I LIKED (4)

I absolutely LOVED this novel and couldn’t help but give it 5 stars. If you asked me back in 2015 what I would’ve rated it, I honestly would have given it 4 stars. But with all of my re-reads throughout the years, I have managed to bump it all the way up to 5 stars! And trust me, it really does deserve it. This book (and the entire Lux series) is a must-read. So, you better drop your laundry and run to the bookstore after reading this review and pick up a copy of the first book, Obsidian. You will not regret it.

Amazon | Chapters/Indigo | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository

Happy Reading,
Alaina

Tag: book review

BOOK REVIEW: The Deal by Elle Kennedy

Review: Onyx by Jennifer L. Armentrout