Super sweet and light hearted and exactly what I needed at a time like this. The imagery was stunning as was the writing and Lindsay Macmillan is surely an author I will keep my eye out for in the future absolutely!

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I needed something light and fun to get me out of the dark murder mystery mood and this arc did just the trick. This book tells the story of Rae a wall street rat who just turned 25 and has no hope in her mission to be married and settled by thirty… sounds about right lol. No but really this book is full of clichés and an incredible amount of business and negotiation jargon to explain relationships and love which is just cheesy to the Max.

Dustins character and story just broke my heart and I’m glad they shed light on the difficulty it is to love someone who’s struggling with their mental health. That being said I think this book did an ok job at showing that perspective and didn’t paint it in the best light, although realistic they made him the Villain. When I think that Rae’s character in her late twenties shouldn’t be so naive when it comes to the subject and her fantasy of it disappearing over night.

Also the obsession with the girl group and eggs was so confusing and honestly gross. I mean of all meals THIS is what we’re going with as their “thing”. Anyway loved how it was written like a business self help book but I think the ending was super rushed.

This book just didn't hit the mark for me. I couldn't connect to the main character and instead of rooting for this heroine I felt myself pitying her until the end. I appreciate the author telling a story on loving a person with mental health issues. That road is not easily walked. But the book fell flat to me. The smart, intelligent, Rae didn't add up to me.

I was excited when I read the overview of this book, and then subsequently thrilled when I was approved for an ARC. Unfortunately, that’s where the excitement stopped. There are some major issues I took with this book —

📚 The overview presented does not accurately portray what this story is actually about. The overview/back of the book should be totally rewritten.

🚩 This book’s [seemingly] central story line is about a *highly* toxic relationship. While this story felt LONG, it lacked depth in the relationship between Rae and Dustin. We know it’s toxic, but we’re never really shown. It’s alluded to multiple times in the book, but the book lost focus too much to allow the relationship to be portrayed more fully. What killed me is the message it sends to readers. Rae had a fantastic relationship with Stu that was glossed over. One page they were together, and the next page they’re all of a sudden broken up, she’s back in a toxic relationship, and then the book ends? What kind of message does this send? To choose a toxic, unhealthy relationship?

🤔 There were too many story lines, none of which were fully developed…yet the book was incredibly long. Is this book about her career? Her friendships? Her relationship with her dad? Dustin? Stu?

🏛 Politics need to be left out of books. I’m all for authors having their own opinions & political beliefs, but I don’t want to see it saturated into the story line. For example, in chapter 6, we have this statement—“He’d probably only gotten his job because he was well-connected white guy who’d reminded his washed-up interviewers of their own heyday.” It just wasn’t needed in the story line.

Overall, I could not connect with these characters. This was a big disappointment.

This is a Rae’s journey of navigating the ups and downs of dating and finding out who she is in her late 20s. A coming of age story that deals with her struggles of dating, friendships and her passion in life. It is filled with touching moments and raw honest emotions on turning 30. This book will make you laugh and cry and make you reflect on your own life.

Unfortunately due to my own recent personal experiences I was unable to read this. I checked out a few reviews and saw some content and trigger warnings around depression and this is a subject I avoid due to losing a close family member recently.

I would recommend that NetGalley/publisher consider adding content warnings in the blurbs.

Apologies!

**Average rating as I have not read due to sensitivity of some subject areas discussed**

The Heart of the Deal is the story of Rae, a single New York woman who feels the pressure to get married by the time she is thirty. She begins to navigate the dating scene with her best friends by her side for support. Rae goes through many ups and downs to say the least, and finds that she may need to change her outlook and expectations.

The Heart of the Deal is a book for the single big city reader, and Rae's situation is one that many can relate to. Especially when it comes to feeling that biological clock tick (not to mention maybe some societal expectations thrown in). A big round of applause for addressing male mental health issues with Dustin's character; I am a big fan of seeing this in fiction and this was a strong point of the book for me. That said, I may need go jump of the train of other reviewers and state that I think The Heart of the Deal is incorrectly tagged a humorous novel. I can see parts where this may have been the case, but the book reads a lot heavier than my expectations. I may have enjoyed it a little more had I gone in with a different outlook. Readers interested in the book summary of The Heart of the Deal should give it a short, but note that the themes may read heavier than expected.

Thanks to Netgalley and Alcove Press for this ARC; this is my honest and voluntary review.

Thank you to Alcove Press and Netgalley for an advanced reading copy of THE HEART OF THE DEAL by Lindsay MacMillan which is due to be published in mid-2022.

THE HEART OF THE DEAL starts off like the romantic comedy it's marketed to be. Rae lives in a penthouse in NYC with a girlfriend Ellen and on the evening of her 25th birthday, Ellen and two other friends, gather together to wax lyrical about their life and dating struggles. Rae determines 30 to be the age she needs to be married by, so they whip up a dating profile to move things along. The early chapters are Rae's (not so great) experiences of dating, her displeasing life in finance, and her dreams of wanting to write poetry for a living.

Rae then meets Dustin, a quiet financier like herself. There's not an instant attraction but when Dustin messages after the first date, which turns into a second date, Rae thinks her dating fortunes might have changed. It's around this time the tone of the book also changes, and we find out Dustin struggles with Depression. The book explores Dustin's affect and emotions, including a period of withdrawal and his suggestion they will be better off as friends. Note to Rae .... that might have been the point to take stock.

What follows are the up and (mainly) downs of Dustin's mental health, and Rae's being subsumed by his illness. She ignores her own internal warning signals, and the more overt messages from her friends, who can see the negative impact the relationship is having on her, but again she doesn't listen. She is so focused on saving Dustin from himself and finding the ever after.

The narrative of THE HEART OF THE DEAL spans a five year period. We see opportunities for Rae to look more objectively at her relationship with Dustin (the darkness) and there's another love interest (the light) as well. The story morphs into a bit of a love triangle and plays on the dark and light elements, overlaid with Rae's indecisiveness about her career pathway and a city versus country lifestyle.

I think it was a brave storyline for Lindsay MacMillan to explore. The book was emotionally taxing to read, and there was a real push-pull dynamic. The Dustin - Rae relationship really screamed toxic to me despite my tendency to want to be empathetic to both characters. I wanted to look for takeaway messages in the final chapters of this book - Live your life? Follow your heart? Risk it all? But in the end I just don't know with this one. And the ending didn't help. It's a tough one.

Rae is working the corporate grind in NYC, despite being a hopeful poet, and on her 25th birthday decides she needs to be married by 30. She eventually meets Dustin, who seems like he truly *sees* her.

This is an interesting book, and not what I expected from reading the blurb. I mostly enjoyed Rae's character, as I could relate to over-analyzing actions, words, etc., in social settings. I thought the friendship between Ellen and Rae was lovely; it's amazing to have a friend willing to tell you the hard things about yourself (or decisions) as well as the good. I applaud Lindsay for tackling difficult issues in her book as well.

Unfortunately I struggled with this book in several aspects. Despite understanding where the author was likely going with the story, the toxic relationship Rae found (put) herself in was unpleasant to read; I almost stopped reading several times. Not being an investments person, I found the jargon hard to follow, and skimmed much of it. Lastly, though the premise is stated right up front - 5 years to find a husband - I was unprepared for many of the time jumps, which made some story beats feel stilted to me.

Overall if you are willing to read a book that deals with difficult, often heavy subject matter, and an ambiguous ending, you will likely enjoy this read!

I'm rating this at 2.5 stars, rounded to 3. My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to review!

I wanted to be in love with this story! But I couldn’t help but feel so frustrated by Rae and Dustin, and even Stu. I felt like Rae was settling each time she decided enough was enough and even when she went back to New York, I felt like she continued to set herself up for heartbreak. That being said, this book was so relatable! When you’re single and in your mid to late 20s, it really his so hard to remain patient and trust that life will work itself out.
Not my favourite read this year but I think it will do okay in the romance world!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC of this book. I tried desperately to find something to like about this, but found the plot incredibly underwhelming and was very bothered by the toxicity of Rae’s relationship with Dustin. I’m still not sure what the takeaway was supposed to be, but found myself more annoyed than anything as this book went on. While I think the intention was to provide strong, positive messages to female readers, I wasn’t left feeling those landed the way the author thought they would.

I think I wasn't the proper reader for this book as I found it very hard to read the toxicity of the MC's relationship, particularly in regard to mental health. Due to being somewhat triggered by that due to my own experiences, I wasn't able to appreciate this book properly, but I still finished. The writing was great and Lindsay is talented, I just wasn't the best audience for this book, which happens!

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.

Thank you for this ARC. I read this book I just over a day and could not put it down!
Rae turns 25 and puts some deadlines on how she wants her life to go (married by 30, 3 kids by 35). To help her achieve this goal, she and her friend, Ellen, just dating apps. Rae’s meeting with Dustin changes her life forever. As she gets to know Dustin, she learns that he suffers from depression and has been in and out of therapy. As much as she tries, his depression is such a big part of their relationship and she has to step back. But as the reader, this was the couple I was rooting for.
Some favorite parts of the book:
1) The friendship between Rae & the Scramblettes.
2) Rae standing up for herself in her male-dominated career.
3) The realistic take on mental illness and not glossing over it and having it suddenly be “cured.”

<b>Cautionary tale wrapped up in a cutesy book cover with Anne Hathaway's <i>Modern Love</i> episode serving as the story. </b>

(WARNING: be ready to get your heart ripped out, stomped on, put back to pieces and get smashed by this book again and again until it's final)

*ARC courtesy of Alcove Press & Netgalley.

This was a tough book to love. Particularly the ending.

The start and the pacing was a little off but I trudged on because the author wrote a strong character in Rae that I liked, that I was willing enough just to see the end of this story.

What I like was how real the portrayal of depression was and how toxic a relationship can be if you're in the middle of one with a severely depressed person. I liked that the realness of it that was shown here.

I mentioned "toxic" because that's what this book actually was about. So keep in mind before reading this, its essentially a story in the same vein of Anne Hathaway's Modern Love episode (but this one is just stuck). This could get your mood down (particularly the ending, which I felt very cheated on and didn't like) so if you want to read a sad book about sad people with one who just couldn't help but keep coming back to it despite how many times she broke up with it, then this book is for you.

I actually think this book is really great in a sense that it may be written as romance, but it is actually a cautionary tale about avoiding this type of love for yourself. So, make of that what you will.

All in all, this is still a great write for a debut book. I may disagree with the author's choice of the ending but I still appreciated the hard-hitting poeticism of the lessons in every chapter and the easy-to-understand use of the finance/Wall Street jargon and lingo here. I just love that the author has incorporated the corporate aspect of the story really well that it felt so real as if I was living it and understood what it's all about.

The Heart of the Deal is a debut novel by Lindsay Macmillan. We follow the main character Rae, a 25-year-old woman currently working in investment banking in New York who is in a “romantic recession". Being scared that her time is 'running out' she decides to come up with a plan to meet her 'prince charming', get married and start a family before turning the age of 30. With a little help from her friend, Rae meets Dustin - 'a poetic soul trapped in a business suit, just like her'. They instantly connect and Rae gets her hopes up that she has met her one true love. However, we soon come to realise that not everything is as it seems and that Dustin is battling demons of his own. The story dramatically shifts the tone and explores serious topics such as depression. One thing I found very well done is the accurate representation of people struggling with mental health. We see them both trying to make it work despite how much his state of mind affects their relationship. However, I think Rae was desperately clinging to the hope that one day things will get better and well... Unfortunately, this relationship falls into the 'toxic' category. I am not a fan of main characters with saviour complex and ungrateful love interests who take advantage of that. The ending didn't sit well with me and sadly I couldn't connect with the story.

I'm feeling mixed about this. While I love that it's a quick read, the MC and the saviour complex was a bit hard to stomach. Not exactly the book I thought I was going to read.

Thanks to NetGalley and Alcove Press for providing me with an early eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 3,5 / 5 Stars

When I read the blurb, I was highly interested in reading this book. The topic of the pressure of finding love before you turn 30, the struggle of dating, keeping up with friendships, coming to terms with your own freedom and dreams - this sold me on this book.

I have to admit that I really enjoyed this book. First of all, I enjoyed the writing style a lot. It was a quick and easy read without any issues. I found myself picking up the book all the time to continue to read it. The characters were also beautifully written and I enjoyed that each of them had a little spotlight on them, so you could get to know them and their current issues.
I also really enjoyed the topics the story was talking about, especially finding love before your 30th birthday, the idea of friendship when growing up as well as coming to terms with your own freedom, identification and dreams. When you grow older, you definitely feel the pressure to find someone to marry and settle down, while having your life perfectly mapped out. Life, love, job and friends. But who said that your life needs to be mapped out at all? This story showed that you do not have to settle and you are able to follow new adventures and keep on chasing your dreams. I really enjoyed this part of the book a lot. For me it was less of a dramatic setting but more of the actual process of learning something in this book.

The things that I did not enjoy in this book was the whole toxic relationship the main character had to go through and how her partner‘s depression made her feel. How he kept pushing her away and she found herself drowning while losing herself more and more. I understand how hard it is with depression and that she wanted to help the man she loved, but at the same time her own happiness was vanishing. Yes, this was an important part of the story to make her realise, that it is okay to leave when your own happiness is suffering, but it confused me quite a lot when she actually called him up in the end after their break up.

I wish there was some kind of closure to explain her thought process more, but at the same time I understand why she did that. Yet, we found her worrying about him again.
I actually was surprised about the last plot twist, where she suddenly moved back. I did not see that one coming but I guess that her new life in her home town was not the right choice for her since she felt trapped again.

I do want to mention that this book might not be for everyone and that trigger warnings need to be named, since it mentions depression and self-harm and some readers might get triggered by it.

Overall, I really enjoyed the book and it taught me a few lessons for my own life and I am really thankful for that positive message.

[Thank you Netgalley for providing me an ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review].

The thought of being in a relationship to "save" the other person "from themself" didn't really sit well with me, and if I'm going to be honest, it's like the MC had a bit of a savior complex. Rae embodied that cliché "I can fix him" trope.

I don't expect to relate to every MC of every book I read, but I have absolutely no idea why I had no sympathy to Rae at all. She was difficult to connect to, and I had a hard time connecting to her, her motivations and her problems.

Dustin's ... well, he's not overwhelming, he's not underwhelming, he's just whelming. I never really warmed up to him, and I just found him to be a bit bland. Maybe a tiny bit pretentious?

It was also all a little too insta-lovey for me. The progression of their relationship didn't seem or feel natural at all, and the moment Rae relays to you that she's in love feels like a block of cinder just smashed on top of your skull, or a Netflix movie accidentally getting logged off in the middle of the climax. That was how abrupt that felt.

This wasn't the worst book I've read, and I'm certainly still up for any book the author might release in the future. But for now, this ain't it for me.

'The Heart of The Deal': 2⭐

(Unpaid Review: thank you to @netgalley, @lindsaymacmillan and the publishers for allowing me to read this eArc copy in exchange for a review.)

One word to describe this: toxic. There's a reason why I'm not the biggest fan of After, for example, and that is because of how toxic the relationship between the MCs was.