Review: "The Deal With Love" by Jamie Wesley (Contemporary Romance)

	The Deal With Love (#3) by Jamie Wesley Publisher: Entangled Publishing - Lovestruck Series: One-on-One Tell Me Something Good #1 (affil.) Slamdunked By Love #2 (affil.) Genre: Contemporary Romance Publication Date: June 13, 2016 (Affiliate links)
Description from Publisher: When filmmaker Christian Monroe runs into fiery—and frustrating—Elise Templeton at a party, the night quickly becomes the hottest one-night stand of their lives. But then her boss hires Christian to make a publicity film about Elise, and suddenly they’re in each other’s space. All day. Every day. And things are getting hotter… Outside the bedroom, the two have nothing in common. Elise is focused solely on becoming the NBA’s first female general manager. And Christian learned long ago that being a work-a-holic—or being with one—is a recipe for disaster. But the more Elise reveals her deepest desires and fears to Christian—something she’s done for no man, ever—the more Christian wonders how much longer he can keep his hands off the infuriating woman who rocked his world…
My Rating:	Heat Rating:
I received a digital ARC from the publisher through NetGalley.com for an honest, unbiased review. This in no way influenced my review. My opinion is my 100% own. Elisa was a strong and sassy female lead, breaking into a "boys club" - trying to be a General Manager for an NBA team - so she is a likeable, but staunch, feminist. I'll admit that her strength made it difficult for me to get a feel for her being vulnerable at any point, which I think made it harder to connect to her. However, she's a badass who is very professional, respectable, and knows how to be real with people 99% of the time, so I thought she was awesome. Christian is just as likable and awesome, and perhaps a little more relatable since he is much more easygoing. This key difference in the characters' personalities was a very realistic "hurdle" and I thought the sort of "opposites attract" worked really well for this story. Their interactions are sometimes sizzling hot, sometimes sweet or funny, and sometimes a mix of all three. The last 3rd seemed to focus more on love or lust and not as much a combination of the two. I had really enjoyed them ignoring their obvious chemistry for awhile, then giving in to it, and really, really enjoyed the scene at her place when they do a good amount of emotional bonding... and then things wrapped up a bit too quickly and easily for everyone. Christian's drama with his dad also, unfortunately, felt shallow to me. I absolutely understood where he was coming from, but it still felt a little forced. Mostly, I think that reading the previous books would have helped me feel differently (there was also something that had happened with Elisa in one of the previous books that was referenced that I didn't quite get, this being the first book of the series I've read.) Overall, I thought this was a great read and would definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys strong, mostly confident women characters who are career-oriented... and the sweet and sexy guys who love them. :)