Reviews

This is a book that has been on my TBR probably since I began reading again in 2021. I never ended up reading it, because it was not available on KU and I didn’t want to purchase it knowing there’s like 7 more in the series. And, I will say, I am glad I didn’t purchase it. I honestly feel like I am being a bit generous with three stars, but because I enjoyed the romance between the MCs, I will give it three stars.

This book was cute. I enjoyed myself while reading it, and it only took me a few hours to get through it. There are some pretty big red flags throughout this book that made me question a lot.

For one, the class that both Hannah and Garret are in is something like Philosophical Ethics. They talk about Hobbes and Kant and postmodernism and a bunch of other things. These are all topics I covered in my Political Theory class, being a Political Science major. But, honestly, in my major, I NEVER met a teacher that would have asked us to use theory to justify genocide, specifically Nazi Germany. That is such a weird and off-putting topic for your characters to be learning about in what is supposed to be a lighthearted book. And it seems like the author doesn’t even know what the class is that she’s describing. I’ve been asked how certain political philosophers would frame things like war or strife, but I am 95% sure they would not ask us to justify real life events (like genocide or the actions of Nazi Germany) by using those philosophers’ ideas. I think editors should have had her change that… it felt very off-putting.

Secondly, for a book that has a character that survived a sexual assault, there is soooo much slut shaming. I should have highlighted all of the instances of the words “slut,” “whore,” “ho-bag,” etc. because it is much more than I have ever met anyone in college use those terms. And it is aimed at people of all genders, most of them who are just participating in your average college hookup culture. You treat a topic like sexual assault with care and turn around and slut shame multiple characters?? I expected more.

I have heard so many rave reviews about this book and I honestly just don’t understand it. It gives 00s rom-com vibes, which I get, but I feel like it represents the bad parts of 00s romcoms. I genuinely thought we were past slut-shaming, or pushing the “i’m not like other girls” narrative, or convincing women they needed to play “hard to get” to get a man, or coercing someone into doing what you want… it all felt wrong to me. There was absolutely potential within this book, and I think it definitely fell flat. The romance was cute, so I think I am going to give the second book a chance and see if that changes my mind.

kikip72's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny inspiring lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

brisingr's review against another edition

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4.0

2nd read: 24th of June 2021
So while this is not 5 stars material anymore (when compared to other books that I've rated that high), this still was !!! fun!!! I liked their chemistry, the characters are nice, sometimes you just want to read about semi-polite sportsy but also brainy dudes falling in love with cool girls. And that is fine and we love romance in this house.

1st read, 2nd November 2016 (why did I think I read this in summer? anyway i gave it 5 stars back then)
This was fun!! A nice cast of characters, a plot that doesn't rely on too much #DRAMA and lots of great lines. I did basically stay up until 5am to read this book, so it should mean something, right?

gmp09's review against another edition

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funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

Content Warnings

nooraaa's review

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emotional lighthearted reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

breeannamclovin's review against another edition

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4.0

So I went to start The Mistake (2nd book in this series) and realised I forgot almost everything in this book, so I went back to re-read it quickly. I also realised I never put a review down the first time I read it in 2022!

I did like this book, a lot! It was very interesting and I enjoyed the banter between the 2 main characters. Garrett and Hannah had chemistry that came off the page.

Now I didn’t go to college/university and my high school didn’t have a sports team, so not entirely sure if it’s a universal experience that the guys in this book are super sleezy or if the author wrote them to be like that on purpose, but either way, bit of a red flag.

I started The Mistake and it was talking about how Logan had a crush on Hannah and that’s why I went back to read this book because I didn’t remember that at all and when I was reading through The Deal again, I realised why. Logan’s crush is basically a plot. He and Hannah have hardly any dialogue and there’s 2 instances in The Deal where Logan would have been annoyed/pissed off with Hannah, so the whole crush thing made zero sense.

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