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A review by whendevreads
The Deal by Elle Kennedy
3.0
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.
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.