The cover make this look like a light romance. Don’t be fooled. The blurb is more accurate and I should have paid more attention to which authors were compared with this debut novel. Rae is turning 25 at the beginning of the book. She shares a small apartment with her college roommate and works on Wall Street in investment banking. She has a life plan to be married and have three kids by mid thirties which means counting backwards she should be meeting the one in the two years. After some dating apps burnout she meets Dustin. He is handsome, also works on Wall Street and shares her love of poetry. He also battles depression. It follows through the next five years as she is on and off in a relationship with Dustin and making choices about her work and interactions with friends and family.

Rae does have to learn that she can’t fix Dustin’s mental health issues. But Dustin is almost unlikable as he is written. He doesn’t like how pills make him feel but he can’t sustain therapy or any other coping skills so cuts people off including Rae. And yet she is continually drawn back to him after friends and family warn her again and again. To me it was not a healthy relationship and Rae literally gives up everyone of her goals except writing by the end of the book. It’s not a message I want to support. And the ending is frustratingly abrupt and vague. It is correctly labeled women's fiction with a romance as the Rae is the focus of the story.

This isn’t badly written but I can’t imagine suggesting it to any of my friends to read. Thank you to NetGalley and Alcove Press for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

3 stars!

This book is a journey through your mid 20s to your 30s. It's life and friendship and love. The thing is I felt that Rae sometimes didn't have opinions of her own or the choices she was sure of then suddenly fell flat for the sake of the plot.

I liked where it was going but I felt that the characters were all over the place sometimes.

Overall, this is a fast read at times and a slow read at others. Romance isn't the main point of the story, so if that's what you were looking for then I'm not sure you may like this one. Also, there are portrayals of depression and mentions of suicide so please keep this in mind.

I am definitely going to be buying this book and re reading it! I was so enthralled by the story with the deeper look into emotions. I love how it depicts how friendships are to vital to our character and functionality through love, live and careers.

When I first saw the cover for this book, I immediately wanted to read it because it just screamed rom-com to me. And as I read the description for the ARC, I thought it sounded good, but maybe not like it'll be one that stuck with me after reading. I was wrong.

The Heart of the Deal is about dating in New York, but it's about so much more than that. Rae, a young investment banker, and wannabe poet, is about to turn 25 when she does the marriage and kids math to realize that she needs to find a husband before she turns 30 if she wants to have the family she's always dreamed of. Her roommates convince her to download a dating app and for the first several dates it does not go well. But then she meets Dustin who can also recite lines from poems and seems to be exactly who Rae wants in her life.

But as they get involved in a relationship, Rae learns that Dustin struggles with depression and sets out on a mission to cure him and still stick within her marriage timeline. She slowly begins to realize there is no cure for depression and she has to ask herself if she's willing to lose herself to help Dustin.

As I mentioned, I thought this book was going to be a rom-com. And it was not that at all. I have a feeling that might throw some people off if they were looking for a rom-com and got this book instead. For me, I loved that it was so much more than I was hoping for. Yes, a relationship is at the heart of this book, but it's truly about mental health, about being in a job that you hate when you have big dreams for a different path, it's about friendships and the found family that you can make within those friendships. This book is so much more than you see at face value - and within the description.

This book will be featured on episode 42 (out June 8th) of Reading Through Life podcast.

An amazing journey from mid twentis to your thirties. The pressure society puts in women to settle and to start a family and how it clashes with a corporate job and climb the hypothetical ladder in your career . About true friendship through the years, by sharing meals, flats, dreams and everything in between. And the irony of choosing between pursuing your dreams or choosing comfort and save. You will cry and laugh and feel all the emotions while reading Rae’s journey to finding herself. A gem to read and enjoy doing it.

2.5/5 The Heart of the Deal is dubbed as a contemporary romance. It reads more as a contemporary, with a romance in it.

I struggled with reading this book and now reviewing it. You have Rae, who creates a timeline to get married by 30, when she turns 25. What follows is a series of dates, and self discoveries about herself both personally, and professionally. She then meets Dustin, whom she feels and instant connection with, but he has struggles with depression. What follows is an up and down relationship that really seems toxic. Dustin is not only experiencing depression, but he seems to blame everything on his depression. He runs hot and cold, cutting Rae off for weeks and then getting angry at her for things. Rae has this belief that his depression can be "fixed", and that she is the one that can do it. This is another trait that is so detrimental to those who struggle with mental health. I get that the point of the book is for Rae to discover that she cannot "cure" or "fix" Dustin, but how she is continuously pulled back to him just seemed harmful, and it made me feel uncomfortable reading it. Perhaps this is just the lens I read the story from, as someone who has worked in mental health and had family struggles with mental health, it seemed very toxic and dangerous to me.

Lindsay MacMillan does a good job of portraying Dustin's depression, as well as Rae's enmeshment with the depression describing it as almost becoming part of her. But I think she failed to discuss just how unhealthy both Dustin and Rae's coping was for both parties. The ending of the book leaves us not knowing whether there was, in fact, any growth in the characters. I don't mind leaving

In the end, this just was not the book for me. Thank you to NetGalley and Alcove Press for a copy of this book. All opinions are 100% mine.

I really liked this book. It was a wonderful novel. There are novels that feel loud and fast-paced, but this one was quiet and slow-moving, though it didn't feel like it was a "slow." book. I thoroughly enjoyed this. The characters and story were well-written, and it was a wonderful approach to a book with a subject matter like this one. IT was raw and real and I enjoyed this story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Alcove Press for an advanced electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

The financial terms in this book tired me out, and so did the portrayal of mental illness in relationships, so here we go.

Rae works on Wall Street, and on her 25th birthday, she realizes life is flashing before her eyes and she's still single. Determined to be married by 30, she starts swiping her way through dating apps, until she meets Dustin. Will she be able to seal the deal?

Big note: Dustin is depressed (literally - that is his diagnosis). He is also toxic, hot and cold, and blames it entirely on his depression - no accountability. And yet, Rae is hooked, just hoping he will "beat his depression" and be everything she needs.

I know the point is to say that isn't how it works, but her pull to him, even though he continues to hurt her, just made me uncomfortable. It wasn't healthy, even for fiction. Not worth it.

CW: depression, toxic relationship, brief mention of self harm, infidelity

I had mis judged this book by its cover and the idea that this was going to be a light fluffy rom com. This is not a romcom so don't expect that, also this books covers some deep depression issues.

This was definitely a good read, I found myself heartbroken, frustrated, and all kinds of other emotions throughout it.

This book explores female friendships, mental health, and how much can you give of yourself before you need to reclaim yourself.

Thank you to the author, Alcove Press and NetGalley, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to like this, but I had a really hard time getting over the false advertizing in the blurb. This was not cute, funny or sweet. Instead, it was morose, depressing and cringey. And why on earth are we still producing books that preach this antiquated view of woman-/personhood, and that there are life goals that are tied to your calender years? Sorry, cannot recommend.

I had mis judged this book by its cover and the idea that this was going to be a light fluffy rom com. The first few chapters were great but then I found it took a dark turn quickly and never really recovered for me personally.

I’ve been up and down with my reading lately when it comes to romance novels and I feel like the topics of depression and anxiety are coming up quite often in the narrative. This can be hit or miss for me and I sadly felt it was a miss for me on this book.

I very much disliked Dustin and could not get around that at all.

There were aspects I did enjoy, and I could find myself identifying with Rae and remembering back to my late twenties and early thirties trying to navigate life.

I also was not a fan of how abruptly I felt this book ended.

Please make note of the trigger warnings if you choose to pick this one up.

Thank you Netgalley and Alcove Press for an advanced copy for an honest review.

⚠️ Depression. Self harm. Toxic Relationships.

This book was in such poor taste. I have nothing much to say on this book (I am obligated to at least write a review and not just think about it once every three years, thinking it was a fever dream), but I will say that the writing is immature with the topics it discusses (why is mental illness always a tool for character development!), discussed inanely.

There is nothing wrong with the writing itself but the characters and the way they behaved had me screaming into my pillow. Based on my declining mental health I could not finish this book.

Thank you for the ARC in exchange for an honest review NetGalley and Alcove Press. I promise I don’t hate you for the torture of this book.

I thought this was going to be a quick and light read. However, I found this book to be SO disrespectful and shallow that I jad a hard time even finishig it, and it was far from enjoyable.

This book took me a while to get through... it is a serious, slow burn, third person pov book. I found myself struggling to finish and while this should have been a quick read, it took me longer than expected. I did like the setting and friendship aspect but the romance just wasn't there for me.

- 3/5 🌟
- Third-person POV
- NYC setting
- mental health rep
- clean
- slow burn

Overview:

Raelynn (Rae) had this goal to meet the perfect man at 25 and get married and have kids as she feels like time is slipping away rather too quickly. She then met Dustin, whom she then knew struggles with depression, but their love for each other conquers it all.

Review:

What I love about this book was how real it is. It’s raw, emotional, and genuine, that I think a lot of people could relate to. It shows that not everything is about clichés and the usual sunshine and rainbows. Sometimes darkness and the severity of our mental health issues can bring out the worse in us (speaking from personal experience) and it always, always sucks, but sometimes we can’t help it.

Though I loved that aspect of the book, I didn’t quite connect with Rae’s character. And don’t get me started on with Ellen. I know she was just being a friend to Rae, constantly worried about Rae, but the way she would put Dustin out to be was not it for me. The least she could do is understand that Dustin has depression and is mentally ill, but instead of trying to understand Rae’s connection to Dustin, she instead implies that it might be better if they’re off without one another like…

The ending too didn’t do its justice to me. It left me wanting moreee like okay do they end up together? Or???

Overall this book is really an eye-opener for me. I enjoyed it, liked it, but did not love it. 3/5 🌟

Not only did I not enjoy this book, I am personally appalled that something like this would be published. Depression is represented in the most inane light, complete falsities about women's reproductive systems and child bearing capabilities are presented as fact, and I not only lost brain cells reading this, I lost respect for the author. I haven't been so incensed by a book in a very long time. I'm a woman who has lived with depression and anxiety since I can remember, and I had a baby at the age of 39. I'm deeply, deeply offended by this book.

I struggled putting this book down. Lindsay MacMillian does an amazing job showing Raes growth throughout the years. I found myself relating to the main character in multiple scenarios especially with putting a time stamp on my expectations in life. This is more than just a love story it’s about the character learning to love herself and choosing her expectations for herself over others. I would suggest this book for young adults as they can learn that life shouldn’t be a time line you follow it should just be lived.

The Heart of the Deal centers on Rae, a woman in her mid-twenties working in the all-consuming world of Wall Street finance but who dreams of one day becoming a published poet. The book follows her from her 25th birthday as she attempts to hold on to her very structured timeline for the future while navigating love and relationships as a young adult.

I agree with other reviews that while this feels like it would be a rom-com of sorts, it absolutely isn’t. There are charming moments, but it’s a more serious take on love in your twenties. I enjoyed and related to her struggles to take the jump and dive into her dream career when she had the stability, however draining and soul-crushing, of her Wall Street job.

I wanted to like this book. I think if I was younger and not weeks from turning 30, I may have had more empathy and understanding for Rae’s fears of being unwed at 30. It feels like a very immature view on love, but maybe that was a very conscious choice for the character.. I also struggled with the way depression was handled in this book. It sometimes seemed to be somewhat romanticized and at other times trivialized or completely misunderstood. Again, I’m unsure if this was a purposeful choice to show Rae’s naïveté about the subject, so I can’t fault the book for the parts that didn’t connect with me. It could very well be a case of me being the wrong audience for The Heart of the Deal

Don't be deceived by this cartoon, cutesy cover. This is a book with really deep feelings. It covers love in friend love, platonic love, self love, deep soul love, love amongst family. I think some people wont' like the ending. I have mixed feelings. Some people like a lot of closure and this books is very open ended with no epilogue to give that closure sense. I think this book is important though. It gives you a look into a dark side of depression. While you are not learning from the POV of Dustin who suffers from depression, you are invested in Rea who is his partner/caregiver/friend. She loves everything about Dustin, until sometimes even her love was too much and she had no more to give. At times I felt like she thought depression would just go away and it would no longer exist. At the end she voices that this isn't true and that Dustin will always have it. I think this shows how you can grow as you learn more about something you don't deal with. Was Rea right to walk away when Dustin was at another low? I hope to think that helped him truly get help when his mom got involved. There is so much I want to know about Dustin that is left up in the air as well. I don't know if I liked the ending. I simply couldn't imagine Rea leaving her corporate world to try to write poetry, it just seemed so extreme. I am not at all surprised she went back to Dustin. I think they connect on a soul level, and no matter what she tries she will always be tied to him. I don't know how life will turn out for them, I imagine they will have some deep conversations, there will still be low days, but I now Rea and Dustin are meant to be. I wish you could have gotten more from Dustin at the end. I know he would have that deep talk with Rea, but I wish I could have seen it (read it) to get the closure I needed to know that Rea would be okay one way or another.

Characters: 7/10
Atmosphere: 7/10
Writing Style: 8/10
Plot: 7/10
Intrigue: 7/10
Logic: 7/10
Enjoyment: 8/10

Overall Rating: 3.64/5

Quickly coming into your late 20's Rae, a Wall Street banker who wants to be a poet, has set a goal for herself to meet a man, get married by 30 and have 3 kids by 35. She dives into the world of dating apps and meets a number of duds and just when she has given up on them she meets Dustin. There is an instant connection and Rae starts to imagine a future with him. However, Dustin struggles with depression and it begins to test their relationship.

This book explores female friendships, mental health, and how much can you give of yourself before you need to reclaim yourself.