I absolutely love the Off-Campus series from Elle Kennedy, and I couldn't wait to listen to The Deal narrated by Lorelei Avalon. This was my first experience with her as a narrator, so while I knew what to expect when it came the story I didn't know what I was in for as far as a listening experience. Though Lorelei Avalon wasn't my favorite narrator I have listened to, I love this story so much that I still enjoyed the experience. I have to say that I'm not convinced she was the right choice for this book though, and I wish that there had been a different narrator chosen to bring this story to life.
Hannah Wells is surprised to finally have found a guy that makes her hot after a horrible incident in her past. The only problem is that he has no idea she's alive. When the star of the hockey team Garrett Graham asks for her help, at first she says no. But when he figures out that she is hot for a football player, he proposes a deal where in exchange for tutoring he will pretend date her to get her crush to notice her. Hannah finally agrees, and she begins spending more time with Garrett in order to help him pass their midterm. But soon they are both starting to feel the lines blur between pretend and real, and Garrett starts to realize that he needs to convince her that what she really wants is him.
I absolutely love Garrett and Hannah! Garrett is sexy and charming. He is cocky in a likable way and I love that he isn't a jerk. Not only is he a talented athlete though, but he is super smart. I really like that he isn't your typical jock. He is more than just the sexy guy that is a great hockey player, and there is a lot more to him. He is such a well rounded character and I think that Elle Kennedy did a great job of giving him a ton of depth and making him easy to feel invested in. Hannah is smart and witty, and easy to relate to. She made Garret work for it and it was so fun to watch these two. The tension and chemistry between them is so strong and the sparks were flying between them right from the start.
The one thing that I will say though is that I felt like the narrator wasn't able to really convey the witty banter and how fun and flirty these two could be. This didn't have the same feel as reading the book did, and I think a lot of that was because the voice didn't fit the story. Not only did the narrator do both the male and female POVs, but her voice was older and too robotic for this story. I really like when audiobooks use a male and female narrator for a dual POV story, so I was really disappointed that this audiobook did not. I felt like that was a huge missed opportunity and it really hurt my enjoyment here. Lorelei Avalon's voice was already older than the college/NA aged characters and came off as robotic, so when you have her doing a male's voice and her tone goes even deeper it just came off as odd. Usually I love audiobook versions of my favorite stories since they bring the books alive in a way that simply reading them can't. But unfortunately this wasn't what I had hoped for with The Deal. While I didn't necessarily care for this narrator or version of the audiobook, I found myself lost in the story regardless. The Deal is one of my all-time favorites and no matter what it is just such a fun and enjoyable read that it is impossible to ruin the experience. I highly recommend this book and if you prefer to listen to your books, then I would still give the audiobook a shot. But if you have the choice, I think that this book is much better read traditionally since the audiobook doesn't do the story justice in my opinion.
**Audiobook Provided by Publisher**
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