Off Campus: The Deal Review and Recap

Welcome to the Off-Campus series, to Briar U, to the world of Elle Kennedy. The Deal by Elle Kennedy is a college sports romance novel originally published in 2015 and took booktok by storm during the pandemic (and well after). While I just got into Elle Kennedy’s work this year, I can’t deny that I’m a fan. If you’re here because you’re prepping for the Amazon Prime show dropping May 13th, allow me to walk you through the story of Hannah Wells (Wellsy) and Garret Graham. I’ll be dropping review and recaps for the rest of the Off-Campus series every Friday leading up to the show’s release. So let’s get into my review, overall thoughts, full book summary, and everything you need to know before the Off-Campus Amazon series.

Content Warning

I personally would rate this book as PG-16, if not higher, due to the frequency, detail, and overall language used throughout the book. Specific trigger warnings for this book include sexual assault and domestic abuse. In terms of spice, there are multiple open-door scenes, as well as several mentions of explicit details scattered throughout the book. As such, this review and recap will mention those details as it pertains to the plot and the story. If you would like to read the book and skip certain chapters and/or passages, I would recommend checking out this Instagram post. Let me know if you want to see more detailed content warnings, with page numbers, in the future!

Non-Spoiler REview

The Deal by Elle Kennedy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Full transparency, I read this book in one sitting. This was my first time reading anything by Elle Kennedy, and I am pleasantly surprised by her writing style and storytelling. While the book started out a little slower than I thought, the plot picked up quickly and progressed very naturally. I will note that the storytelling style is very college boy, which makes sense since one of the two POVs is a college boy. If you enjoy that type of reading, this book is perfect for you. This book 100% cemented Elle Kennedy as an addictive writer in my book. She knows how to drop hints, write banger side plots, and always leave you at the end of the chapter wanting more. I enjoyed this book in particular as a college sports romance because it beautifully balances the sport (hockey, in this case) as part of the plot and part of the characters. Hockey did not overpower the story, which I enjoyed immensely.

As I am in college right now, this was definitely a fun little read where Hannah is into music, and Garrett is into Hannah. There are a few trigger warnings for this book, including sexual assault and domestic abuse, but the author handles these topics SO WELL. The reason I docked the book a star is due to a few minor details that rubbed me the wrong way. The banter and characters are 10/10, and it is absolutely a worthwhile read before the Amazon Prime show drops in May. It is not a complex Jane Austen literary romance across time and space, but it is still a sweet book that will make your heart flutter and skip a beat. While the book does integrate a fair amount of explicit content into the plot, I believe the author does it very smoothly and skillfully so that it adds more to the book rather than takes away.

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Spoiler Zone

As the heading suggests, you are entering into SPOILER TERRITORY. This is where we’ll jump into a full book summary and recap of all the main plot points. So if you don’t want to be spoiled, stop reading!

Hannah Wells, a music major at Briar University, has a crush on football star Justin Kohl. And, she also just happened to get an A on the Philosophical Ethics exam that 70% of the class failed. Garrett Graham, captain of the hockey team, just failed his exam. If Garrett doesn’t get a better score on his retake, he will be suspended from the hockey team. Since the team has won two consecutive national titles and Garrett is planning to go pro, failing is not an option.

After the exams are handed back and the class empties out, Hannah trips, and Garrett helps her up, catching a glance at her score. When he sees that she aced it, he practically begs her to tutor him. But Hannah, who is annoyed by his whole ‘big man on campus’ ego complex, firmly shuts him down, saying that she needs to stay focused on the upcoming winter showcase in the music department. 

Garrett lives in a house off campus with his three teammates/roommates, Dean, Tucker, and Logan (insert me cackling because Tucker and Logan’s first names are both John). When Garrett gets home, he tells his buds about the exam issue, but says not to worry because he has a tutor lined up (even though Hannah refused). The boys just grunt their understanding and get back to their drinking and hanging out with chicks, or ‘puck bunnies’ (aka the girls on campus that only want to sleep with the hockey guys to say they did it). In his room, Garrett finds Kendall, a puck bunny supreme, waiting for him. They hook up, and Kendall says she missed him and that she wants to make their relationship more serious. However, Garrett quickly shoots her down, declaring he doesn’t do girlfriends but that she’ll be the first to know if his mind changes. 

Just when Hannah thought she had escaped Garrett, he shows up at the diner where she works, much to her dismay. He pops in, dubs her with the nickname Wellsy, and says she has to tutor him because everyone in the study group also failed, so he needs her. She just tosses him off to another waitress and keeps working the rest of her shift. But he is one persistent guy, so he waits till the end of her shift and asks what it’s going to take, booze, weed, and he even throws out a date with him to help boost her street cred. Needless to say, she told him once again to get out of her face.

At the party later that week, Hannah feels guilty for making Allie ‘babysit’ by watching over her and not drinking the whole night. So, Hannah insists that Allie go have fun with her boyfriend, which leaves Hannah a bit uncomfortable and dancing with a guy she doesn’t like just to avoid talking to Garret. Thankfully, he doesn’t spot her, though, and she ends up talking to Justin. She melts like a total girl and gets all excited about the tiniest details and signs of interest. 

Garrett stumbles across Hannah at the party, seeing her making googly eyes at Justin. He comes up to her and essentially tells her that she isn’t Justin’s type and that he’ll never go out with her. This causes Hannah to storm out and call a cab, desperate to leave the party. Unsurprisingly, Garrett follows her. He just elaborates that Justin only dates girls with a certain social status and says that Hannah is too reserved to ever catch Justin’s attention. 

Rather than make her wait 30 minutes for a crappy cab, Garrett offers to drive Hannah home, and she reluctantly agrees. On the drive, Garrett is busting his butt to get Hannah to agree to tutor him. While they talk, he pitches that she should go to a Beau Maxwell’s (another football stud) birthday party next week as his date and that he’ll help her get Justin’s attention. Garrett promises that the deal will only last for the week until he gets through his makeup exam. And she finally agrees.

Back in the hockey world, the Briar U team beats their rivals, St. Anthony’s, 3-0. In some Garrett POV chapters, we hear a little more about his past. Garrett’s dad is Phil Graham, one of the most well-known and famous hockey players. Garrett’s dad pushed him into playing hockey, and it’s very clear that Garrett does not like him at all. After the game, Garrett’s dad follows through with his usual post-game ritual, giving Garrett a single nod when they win a game before he gets on the bus. Logan also inquires if Hannah is single, and Garrett is surprised to find himself protective and put off by Logan’s pursuit of Hannah.

We also learn a bit more about Hannah’s past and family. She is originally from a small town in Indiana, where her parents still live. She has not been back since she graduated from high school, and her parents usually visit her for holidays in Massachusetts. Hannah wishes she could see them more, but she can’t afford it. And Hannah is heartbroken to learn that her parents won’t be able to visit for Thanksgiving. She proposes coming back to Indiana, but her mom shuts her down immediately, saying there is no need for her to come back to the place that has tortured her so much. 

The next morning, they wake up cuddling (ope). Garrett finds himself confused because he likes having Hannah around, even though she makes fun of him all the time. She makes him laugh. And he is feeling more and more wary about setting her up with Justin. 

Speaking of Justin, he comes up and talks to Hannah before class, which gets her all excited. He comments about her hanging out with Garrett, but she assures him that they are just friends. Que Garrett waltzing in with a coffee for her and snagging a seat beside her. Garrett also tells Hannah to just play it cool, let Justin chase her a little. Back in the winter showcase world, Cass asked Mary Jane out so that she would agree to whatever he suggests, and Hannah is pissed.

While dealing with all of this, Hannah calls Garrett to reschedule their tutoring. She heard him agree, so she walked into the house like usual and was greeted by Tucker in his pink apron, playing mom and making dinner for all the boys. But apparently, Garrett didn’t receive her message about changing the time because when Hannah trots into Garrett’s room, she walks in on him hooking up with another girl. She rushes out in a fuss, and Garrett is madly embarrassed, but he wins her back as his tutor because she still needs him to get to Justin.

The next day at tutoring, Garrett starts making fun of Hannah like usual and tells her she’s got to stop being so shy and jumpy when he touches her. He says that he’s going to have to touch her at the party to give off the impression to Justin, and that Hannah can’t run away from it. With that in mind, Garrett proposes that they do a warm-up kiss and accuses Hannah of being a bad kisser or that she must be scared. And Hannah, being little Miss Competitive, just goes for it and kisses him. 

As Justin pulls up and starts talking with Hannah, Garrett gets a wee bit jealous. He heads over to the other room so he doesn’t sabotage Hannah’s chances and then runs smack into Kendall, who is, of course, pissed he brought a date. Kendall feels betrayed because she was supposed to be the first to know if he was thinking about seriousness, and Garrett Graham never brings dates, so this must be serious. Garrett asks why she’s even interested in him because, in all the time they’ve spent together, she has never put in any effort to get to know him. He asks if she even knows what his favorite color is, which stumps Kendall, but then Hannah swoops in and is like, “actually his favorite color is black.”

As they leave the party, Hannah declares to Garrett that the kiss between them didn’t mean anything. He nods in agreement, but internally, he is at war. Garrett knows they’re friends, and wants to keep being friends, but he also finally admits to himself that he is attracted to her and wants her. Hannah, however, is still set on Justin, whom she runs into at a coffee shop. Justin inquires about her relationship with Garrett before asking her out for dinner the following Sunday. Hannah accepts, ignoring the several calls from Garrett (btw he changed her ringtone so that every time he called it would play SexyBack hahaha), and decides not to tell him.

When she finally calls Garrett back, he invites her to go with him and the hockey squad for Dean’s birthday because it’s the same day he gets his exam score back and he wants to celebrate or commiserate with her. At the end of class, Garrett gets his score back and finds that he got an A- on the exam! Their deal should be over. Garrett passed, and Hannah has her date. But Hannah agrees to continue studying with Garrett whenever she can, as a token of their friendship. Despite their intentions at the beginning, neither party is willing to forfeit their friendship. 

Hearing this, Garrett is concerned and leaves the room for a few minutes to take a couple shots with the boys, confused by all the emotions of the night. Hannah makes a move on Garrett when he comes back to the room, but Garrett shuts her down since they are both drunk. This scene was told in Garrett’s POV, and I honestly have mixed emotions about it. Garrett definitely did the right thing, but I found it interesting, and a tad uncomfy, to read about how hard a time he had controlling himself as a drunk college guy with the girl hitting on him. But once again, he did the right thing, and I am SO glad their first time was not when they were drunk. 

The following morning, Hannah confronts the elephant in the room. Seeing her ex made her realize the extent of her problem, and she has decided Garrett is the perfect one to help her through it since they are friends, she trusts him, and he doesn’t do girlfriends. So, she can work through her issues with sex in a safe environment without too much commitment or humiliation. But when Hannah flat-out says she wants to have sex with Garrett, he is thrown off since she previously said that the kiss meant nothing. At long last, Hannah reveals to Garrett that she was the one who was drugged and raped at a party in high school, and that ever since, she has never been able to have a fulfilling physical relationship with a guy.

Once Garrett knows about the rape, he gets PROTECTIVE (AND I LOVE IT). Hannah has a little breakdown because she feels so stupid and broken having to admit that she has a problem. But Garrett’s heart breaks, and he wants to help in any way he can, so he agrees to have sex with her. Our boy gets a bit nervous because he is attracted to Hannah, but he is scared that he will make something worse. In a moment of nerves, Garrett approaches a senior on the hockey team (Birdie) for advice. This scene warms my heart to this day because Garrett put in the time and effort to get help and advice to make Hannah feel comfortable and safe. Garrett Graham: the definition of ‘if he wanted to, he would.’

Hannah comes over later, extremely jittery, and Garrett just demands that she put on her PJs and get comfy on the couch to keep watching Breaking Bad. Garrett reassures her that it’s okay to take baby steps. So they watch TV for a while, and Garrett then transitions to starting with a sweet and simple kiss before turning up the heat. Hannah freezes, feeling the same uncertainty as she usually does, and starts retreating into herself. Garrett is gentle and reassuring, and he says that she is probably scared to be vulnerable and that she needs to learn to let herself let go and trust the people she’s around. He admits that he researched it (CUTE) and proposes that they please themselves in front of each other so that she knows that it’s okay. He keeps emphasizing baby steps and kisses her again sweetly, just wanting to see her smile. 

Allie confronts Hannah about her relationship status, and Hannah finally admits that she and Garrett are fooling around, but insists that they are not dating. And now, Hannah is confused about her feelings for Garrett and what she should do about her date with Justin (that she hasn’t told Garrett about). At rehearsal, Cass continues to be an ass, but then Garrett arrives with a coffee and to pick Hannah up and takes a good five minutes to intimidate Cass, putting him in his place. Garrett and Hannah take another baby step and fool around, and Hannah can’t stop smiling because this guy is nice and sweet and caring. He offers for her to stay at his house while all the guys are gone to practice.

Garrett invites Hannah to one of their hockey games, and she drives his car and drags some of her friends along. They still haven’t had any conversation about what they are to one another, which Hannah’s friends tease her about relentlessly. After the game, Garrett decides to kiss her in front of everyone, making a decent statement. Garrett’s dad approaches him after the game to demand that he come home for Thanksgiving. On the bus, Logan confides in Garrett that he heard Justin talk about how he and Hannah were going out on Sunday. 

Almost immediately, Garret confronts Hannah about her date with Justin. She admits that she isn’t sure if she’s going. She was planning to go, but then things happened with her and Garrett, and now she’s torn because she knows he doesn’t do girlfriends. Hannah declares that they were just fooling around, which wrecks Garrett’s little heart.

Garrett says that they should just make it official since they both like each other. But Hannah says that she never thought about them being long-term because she never considered it being on the table. They have a cute little fight because they both fell and neither expected it. Garrett rushes out in the middle of the argument, thinking that Hannah rejected him, but she chases him down after she called to cancel her date with Justin. Hannah lays into Garrett that he can’t just drop a bomb on her and give her less than five seconds to make a decision. She asks if they can be exclusive, and he just grins because in what world wouldn’t they be? So Hannah and Garrett are officially dating (eek!).

Both are surprised when the transition from friends into relationship goes so smoothly. Although Hannah is struggling because Cass and Mary Jane kicked her off the duet for the winter showcase, leaving her to write her own song and scramble to get it done. With both of their schedules being so chaotic, Garrett calls Hannah and simply listens while she works and writes. He then asks if she’ll come with him to his dad’s for Thanksgiving.

At one of Garrett’s next games, Hannah sees one of the guys who lied on trial about her rape. When Garrett comes out of the locker room, finding her white as a sheet, she admits who the guy is, and Garrett sprints off to defend his woman. The guy denies lying about Hannah and calls her a slut, leading Garrett to punch him, start a brawl, and get a one-game suspension. Garrett feels horrible for causing such a scene and apologizes profusely to Hannah, and she simply tells him that the best revenge against the situation is to move on. 

Working at the diner the following day, Hannah is paid a visit by Phil Graham. She is shocked to see him there, and even more shocked to hear him say she must feel pretty good after watching two guys fight over her. Hannah seethes, but Phil just keeps going, saying she is distracting Garrett from hockey and his dream, and that she can’t see him anymore. To make his point clear, Phil Graham threatens to remove his financial support from Garrett, which will ensure that he won’t be able to play hockey and finish school. Hannah knows that Garrett would choose her over money, but that is what scares her; she doesn’t want him to give up on his dream.

When winter break comes and goes and Garrett is still pestering her, Hannah knows she has to do something so that he will finally give her up and move on. She attempts to talk to a few guys on campus, but they all avoid her for one reason or another. Hannah even talks to Justin at one point and apologizes for leading him on and admits that she is still in love with Garret. Eventually, Hannah becomes desperate enough to call Allie’s boyfriend to see if he can set her up with one of his frat boy friends, and he reveals why all the guys on campus have been avoiding her. 

Hannah is furious and storms right into the boys locker room to yell at Garrett as the hockey team is changing. Turns out, Garrett invoked a campus-wide hands-off rule, spreading the word that no one touches Hannah or they have to deal with Garrett. Hannah kicks everyone out of the locker room and demands to know why he would do something so silly. To which, Garrett simply says he did it so she wouldn’t make any choices she regrets. When the coach comes in to see Hannah and a partially dressed Garrett, Garrett just winks and says “don’t worry coach, I’m winning her back.”

So, the infamous captain of the Briar U hockey team fell hard for a feisty brunette and they got back together. The hockey team managed to win the Frozen Four for the third year in a row and Garrett, with Hannah’s support, finally told his teammates about the true man his father is. Sometimes it really does work out.

In preparation for the Amazon Prime Off Campus Series dropping this May, I will be posting review and recaps of the other four main books in the series leading up to the release! I can’t wait for the show to drop and I hope you’ll join me in my excitement. Let me know what you’re looking forward to seeing on screen! See you next Friday.