Books Like The Deal
by Elle Kennedy
The Deal is built around a very specific rom‑com engine: a fake-or-practical arrangement between two smart, sexually charged protagonists that slides into genuine feelings. Hannah and Garrett start with a clear transactional premise — tutoring in exchange for fake dating — and the novel mines that setup for chemistry, escalating sexual tension, and slow emotional revelations. The book’s tone balances explicit steam, college-campus stakes, and careful work on each character’s vulnerabilities; Garrett’s guardedness and Hannah’s pragmatic warmth drive both the banter and the emotional payoff. Structurally, The Deal favors close third‑person focus, alternating scenes of witty, sometimes raunchy dialogue with quieter scenes of character growth and family or friendship fallout.
Readers who loved The Deal usually loved one of these things most: the friends-to-lovers/fake-relationship premise, the sports-team context and locker-room comforting of a jock hero, the sharp, modern banter and sex-positive heat, or the way the book pairs levity with serious emotional beats. The nine picks below make those tradeoffs explicit so you can match the exact element you want more of.
Recommended for fans of The Deal
The Score
Elle Kennedy
Continues the same campus, friends-to-lovers vibe with sharp banter and emotional payoff.
Pick this if you want more of the exact world and secondary-cast continuity — same hockey team, overlapping friendships and the same mix of sharp banter plus emotional catharsis.
The Friend Zone
Abby Jimenez
Enemies-to-lovers vibes, witty banter, and emotional stakes with sports-adjacent characters.
Pick this if you liked The Deal’s blend of witty banter with real emotional stakes and sports adjacency. This is one of the closer emotional matches and handles serious topics alongside romance.
Bet Me
Jennifer Crusie
Smart, funny romantic comedy with sharp banter and slow-burn chemistry.
Pick this if it was the witty dialogue and slow-building sexual tension that you loved. Expect clever interplay and a slow-burn chemistry; it’s more of a traditional rom‑com than a sports romance.
The Hating Game
Sally Thorne
Sharp enemies-to-lovers banter and slow-burn tension that delivers a satisfying payoff.
Pick this if you enjoyed the charge of opposites and verbal sparring as much as the eventual softness. This one is sharper on workplace/office-like rivalry than campus tutoring arrangements, so consider it for the banter and slow burn.
Thoughtless
S.C. Stephens
Passionate, contemporary college-age romance with messy choices and strong emotional payoff.
Pick this if you want more of the college-age intensity and messy emotional choices. This one leans into darker, more fraught decisions than The Deal, so pick it if you want passion paired with messiness rather than a primarily light tone.
The Kiss Quotient
Helen Hoang
Steamy romance with awkward-meets-confident chemistry and heartfelt character growth.
Pick this if you loved the slow, vulnerable character growth under explicit sexual chemistry but don’t mind a different structural premise; this leans more on disability-aware romantic dynamics than sports.
Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating
Christina Lauren
Funny, flirty friends-to-lovers story with great chemistry and warm emotional stakes.
Pick this if you wanted a goofy, highly likable heroine and a male lead who’s warm and adoring; it shares the friends-to-lovers route and comic energy, though it’s lighter on sports scaffolding.
Pucked
Helene Dunbar
Sports-centered romance with lots of humor, chemistry, and charismatic leads.
Pick this if it was the locker-room, sports-team energy and broad comic tone that hooked you. Expect lots of banter and a lighter, jokier voice — this is a looser emotional match than The Deal.
Wallbanger
Alice Clayton
Lighthearted, steamy romantic comedy with snappy banter and a feel-good ending.
Pick this if you want rom‑com banter plus explicit, sex-forward scenes and a feel-good emotional arc. This matches the tone and heat but doesn’t have the campus or hockey-team context.
At a glance
These recommendations were chosen for specific elements of The Deal — the fake‑relationship/friends‑to‑lovers premise, sports-team setting and jock-hero, the light-but-emotional tone, and explicit sexual chemistry — rather than broad genre labels.
| Book | First published | Pages | Closest match on | Match |
|---|---|---|---|---|
The Score Elle Kennedy | 2016 | 377 | Same campus & continuity | 92% |
The Friend Zone Abby Jimenez | 2019 | 384 | Emotional stakes + sports | 88% |
Bet Me Jennifer Crusie | 2004 | 364 | Smart rom‑com with banter | 84% |
The Hating Game Sally Thorne | 2016 | 379 | Enemies-to-lovers tension | 80% |
Thoughtless S.C. Stephens | 2011 | 364 | Messy, passionate college romance | 80% |
The Kiss Quotient Helen Hoang | 2018 | 336 | Awkward-meets-confident heat | 78% |
Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating Christina Lauren | 2018 | 315 | Playful friends-to-lovers chemistry | 74% |
Pucked Helene Dunbar | 1900 | 206 | Humorous sports romance | 72% |
Wallbanger Alice Clayton | 2012 | 343 | Steamy romantic comedy | 70% |
About The Deal
The Deal (Elle Kennedy) launched the Off-Campus series and established Kennedy’s signature blend of steamy contemporary romance, college setting, and emotionally grounded characters. It introduced Garrett and Hannah and helped popularize the current wave of sports-adjacent, university-set romcoms.
Frequently asked questions
What should I read after The Deal?+
Start with The Score if you want the nearest continuation in the same campus world and with overlapping characters. If you want similar mechanics but a different authorial voice, pick one of the rom‑coms here that tilts more toward enemies-to-lovers or steamy slow burn.
Is The Deal part of a series?+
Yes. The Deal is the first full-length novel in Elle Kennedy’s Off-Campus series; subsequent books follow other players and friends from the same campus and hockey-team circle.
Which book here has the most similar hero to Garrett?+
For a guarded, sports-adjacent hero who softens over time, The Friend Zone and The Score are the closest tonal matches on this list.
Which picks are the steamier, more explicit ones?+
Several picks here lean into explicit heat alongside emotional arcs; The Kiss Quotient, Wallbanger and Bet Me are examples that mix steamy scenes with rom‑com structure. The Score also maintains the erotic frankness of The Deal.
Are there more books by Elle Kennedy like The Deal?+
Yes. The Score is the direct Off-Campus follow-up, and other Off-Campus entries expand the same campus, friend-group world with similar banter and sports elements.
More books by Elle Kennedy
Want recommendations based on your own favorites?
BookTwin can match you to books by mood, pacing, themes, and emotional payoff — based on 1 to 5 books you tell it you loved.
Try BookTwin