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.

A quick and easy read that I found myself picking up after a long day to unwind. The characters are beautifully written and I came to love them within the first few pages and was rooting for them all the way to the end. At times I wanted to stop reading because I just wanted the experience to go on for longer.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Thanks Netgalley for the ebook. This review is my honest opinion but just another opinion, you should read this book and judge it by yourself]

//REVIEW IN ENGLISH//
I'm very disappointed with this book, mostly with its blurb, which I think it's quite misleading (I'm still searching for the funny parts). I think this book needs a Content Warning, since one of the MC struggles with depression and it's all over the book. I though it was going to be funny and a little touching with a cute love story, but I found a female MC with savior complex and a male MC that I was willing to love and understand but I couldn't (I know he's dealing with his mental health and it's overwhealming and exhausting but I think he's too selfish). I didn't connect with the rest of Rae's problems and I was a little angry with the ending.
Well, I think this is one of those times when you don't connect with a story since the beginning andnothing improves the reading . Maybe this book is great for other readers but sadly not for me.

//SPANISH REVIEW//
No me gusta nada dar una nota tan baja, sobre todo a la novela debut de una escritora que sus buenas esfuerzos habrá tenido que hacer para escribirla (yo sería incapaz de hacerlo), pero es que mira, no. Esta novela es un no para mí como una catedral. La terminé anoche y la única conclusión que he sacado es que he perdido el tiempo con ella. No he conectado con ningún personaje. La protagonista me ha sacado de quicio casi todo el tiempo, con su mente cuadriculada con respecto a su futuro, y el supuesto protagonista es para echarle de comer aparte. Digo supuesto porque realmente es secundario, el libro es ella, su proceso de búsqueda de sí misma y de su amor definitivo, ese que se debe adecuar a su plan de estar casada y con tres niños a los 35 años. Entre su trabajo de Wall Street, su plan vital que debe seguir sí o sí y su relación amorosa principal estaba yo ya que me daba algo. Todo se narra de un modo aséptico, quitando, además, prácticamente todos los acontecimientos y momentos importantes, los cuales sabemos que ocurren porque se menciona que ya han ocurrido. Además, hay poquísimo diálogo, a veces parecía estar leyendo un diario.
Pero lo peor de todo es que la sinopsis es engañosa a más no poder. No es falsa, porque ciertamente el libro es lo que dice, pero se omiten detalles que hacen el libro mucho más oscuro y deprimente de lo que la sinopsis deja ver. Este libro necesita un Trigger Warning como un castillo y se ha obviado, lo que te hace encontrarte con un libro triste con una portada que no te hace pensar que lo sea. Además, no tiene nada de divertido. Y encima tampoco creo que deba ser considerado romántica, ya que la historia de amor no es lo que mueve el libro, tiene mucho más peso la condición de uno de los personajes y la lucha del otro por ayudarle.
En fin, que ojalá lo lea gente y le guste pero yo lo he terminado a duras penas.

I realllllllly wanted to like this book. I really did. But I got to the end feeling disappointed and emotionally drained for, what felt like, no reason.

So why did it get three stars when I wanted to give it one? Because it had really good bones and it made me cry my eyes out.

However, I do want to make it very clear that I was disappointed with the ending and the amount of emotional tug-of-war that went on throughout the whole book. If it would have ended differently, that would have been a different story (pun intended). I would have walked away with something to show for my emotional brutalization. However, I feel like the book was trying to push an agenda while missing the mark on keeping the readers interest. Now, I have zero issue with writing about issues you are passionate about, I get it. But don’t let it take away from the story.

Lastly, this book is clearly marketed at a contemporary romance… BUTTTTTT that is not what we get. If it was marketed differently, then it probably would have had a higher rating.

This one will only appeal to young adults and new adults - Iwouldn't recommend it to anyone older than 25.

As a middle aged female, I can normally find some common ground with younger characters, but there wasn't anything here that I could relate to long enough to finish the book.

I completely related to Rae in The Heart of the Deal by Lindsay McMillan- an overworked, exhausted, NYC banker in her mid-twenties with a creative soul who is looking for love and beginning to wonder if she will ever find it. The man she falls for is not a typical hero and at times I just wanted her to walk away from him. But overall, I enjoyed this book and still think about Rae even after turning the last page.

The one thing I liked about this book is that the main character comes to see that life is not always what you plan. If you are looking for your one true love, you have to realize that the dream guy or girl you are looking for is a real person. Real people have histories, flaws, and sometimes mental health struggles. In this case, Rae falls for someone with depression.

This book spans a few years, as the main character has a 'five year plan' to get married. Because of that, I had trouble with the short bursts of story! It'd be a couple paragraphs, and then the next page would be a few months later, etc. That should keep the story moving, but for some reason that made it really drawn out, and boring in a lot of places. I definitely skimmed!

I might feel differently about the overall love story, except I didn't feel that great chemistry between them that would have made it all of that roller coaster worthwhile.

Go into this book not expecting a romantic comedy! It's definitely heavier and even the ending is ambiguous.

Full review will be up on Pop-Culturalist.com closer to pub date. Rae is a 25-year old woman working as an investment banker. On her 25th birthday, she has an epiphany: her biological clock is running out of time and she needs to do everything in her power to find a guy and get married before she turns 30. In an effort to accomplish this, she turns to dating apps where she meets Dustin. Dustin seems like the perfect guy- they're both into poetry and he seems like her dream guy. The only catch? He's coping with depression and isn't ready of a relationship. Personally, I think if that's the case then Dustin shouldn't even be on a dating app. But, that's my opinion.

***contiene spoilers ****
Primero que nada gracias Netgalley y Alcove Press por el e-ARC
La sinopsis se veía muy prometedora , un clásico Rom-Com ambientado en Nueva York.
Los primeros capítulos eran así , llevaderos y entretenidos hasta que llegó el "plot?" Y es que Dustin tiene depresión , y eso genera idas y venidas en la relación volviéndola completamente tóxica ya que Rae en vez de ser una novia se convierte en una "madre" y un saco de boxeo psicológico para Dustin. Todo lo que conlleva a la salud mental es difícil de superar y es un proceso pero utilizar eso como justificación de ciertas acciones no está bien.

Romantizar el estar con una persona porque "va a mejorar" que no tiene la voluntad de hacerlo es completamente tóxico.

Dicho esto , creo yo que debería tener las advertencias correspondientes , más por tratar muchos temas importantes ( no solo la depresión de Dustin aunque esté encabeza la lista)

Dustin está deprimido y esto se va ir viendo reflejado en la relación con Rae. Y Rae está en negación y se aferra a la esperanza de que mejorará. Lamentablemente este llega a ser el caso de varias en personas con esta misma clase de relación y que permanecen en este círculo tóxico.

Por otro lado tenemos a Ellen que es la única que de verdad se preocupó por Rae y se dió cuenta que Dustin se aprovechaba de Rae.

En los últimos dos tercios?) Rae decide dejar a Dustin porque la estaba consumiendo poco a poco y la estaba llevando a deprimirse también.

Tras esto llega el esperado final , lo cual para mí fue una completa decepción.

Spoiler : Rae decide volver con Dustin siendo consciente que esa relación le estaba haciendo daño a ella misma.

Este es un mensaje terrible para los más jóvenes ( 16 o incluso más chicos ) que leerán esto ( incluso a mi me dejó con mal sabor de boca / está categorizado como New Adult ). Y vuelvo a repetirlo la relación es mega tóxica.

Don't let the rating fool you, there are some interesting conversations to be had around this book.
Many of us can identify with Rae, a young ambitious woman stuck in a job she doesn't love but needs for obvious reasons while harbouring her passion for poetry on the side. All the while struggling with all the dating shenanigans to make sure that she's married before she's thirty because Rae wants a big family and her eggs are not getting any younger.
And it begins her adventure with online dating, first uncomfortable dates and all that jazz.
Despite my rating, I thought it interesting the choice of including the reality of dating someone with a mental illness, how difficult it can be and how love can't exactly fix everything.
I could perfectly empathize with Rae, with her wanting to do more but at the same time being afraid of taking the leap. With her need to conform to societal measures and get married and start a family before she's thirty hence why she insists on making a relationship work when it has 'disaster' written all on it.
Now, there was a parenthesis where she was just in pure denial, understandable and I don't mind much reading about flawed characters. But it still made sense if put in the context of her journey.
What made it feel all of this, the story, pretty pointless was the ending. I liked the independent, creative stride it had taken but then the very last page vanished all of that.
So, I have to ask, what was this story about?
Young ambition? fighting for one's passion? struggles with online dating? the ugly truth about being a woman in the workplace? coming to terms with the fact that some things cannot be pushed because everyone has their own timeline? the reality of friendships evolution during the twenties?
Maybe all of the above but I fear it didn't quite work for me.
The story felt stagnated at some points and I could ignore Rae's denial and all of that if it wasn't for the ending.

Lindsay MacMillan's The Heart of the Deal was an unsatisfactory read; it was simply okay. The prose was not for me.

<i>Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review</i>

The premise of The Heart of the Deal sounded interesting, but I just couldn't get past how toxic the relationship between the two MCs was.

I understand that depression and mental health can be difficult to overcome, however using them as a crutch an a way to escape accountability for their on actions is not okay. Romanticising a relationship with a person because ' they will get better' when they clearly do not want to get better is just incredibly toxic, and honestly Dustin came accross as, yes depressed, but also horribly narcissistic.

[Thank you Alcove Press and NetGalley for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my review.]

2.5*

i think the cover and description are a little misleading, because while this book does start out as a standard romcom would, it veers into some heavy territory, and i don’t know where to categorize it after that.

i think the writing was very nice, and the poems were beautifully written too, but the pace was very slow. i had trouble keeping up with the story at times because i was bored, and found myself skipping more than one paragraph at a time.

i don’t really know how i really feel about this book, so idk how to word this, there was a more or less honest depiction of depression in some aspect. it shed light on how it doesn’t affect only the person dealing with it, but also the people around them, which is in this case, their partner. so as not to spoil i won’t mention who the person is, but as the story goes on, you see how their illness affects their partner in some ways, despite their well-intentions to help and look after them, and be there for them.

i’m definitely going to pick up this author again for a second chance, but i’m not entirely sure i’ll recommend this to anyone.

Wow this book put me on an emotional rollercoaster. I really appreciated seeing representation of mental health struggles and how that can impact relationships and loved ones however I think some aspects were a bit problematic. For starters WOW Ellen had some terrible moments such as saying you should never date someone with mental health issues. I think that way oversimplifies the issue. It would've been a better message if she had said you can't give up your own mental health to be in a relationship with someone with mental illness which is a good message to portray rather than just you shouldn't love mentally ill people. Also Rae's idea that she's going to "save" Dustin is also kind of messed up. I think the book does eventually bring us to the conclusion that you can't set yourself on fire to keep someone else warm but there were some bad pitstops along the way. I do think Rae went through an incredible amount of important growth from her relationship with Dustin and her perspective on that relationship and I wish she hadn't ended up back together with him in the end because that to me negates her growth,

I do have a lot of positive thoughts about the book though: I enjoyed the puns and the poems woven throughout and I thought it had a good subplot about sexism in corporate America and not giving up on your dreams

Rae, turning twenty-five, declares to her friends that she will meet a man, fall in love, and be married by thirty. She does meet a man and falls in love but the relationship is fraught with problems. Sometimes depressing, sometimes uplifting, this is a difficult at times to read novel.

This one is uneven in tone, a little too wordy, and needs a little more editing as some details don't make sense. The overall premise of a 25 year old woman in an unfulfilling job trying to navigate the NYC dating scene is a bit of a downer to start with even though the blurb promises a humorous story. Her goal is to be married by age 30 to fulfill society's expectations. Unfortunately, it's not light hearted as expected - instead it deals with some heavy issues, depression and self-worth.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This wonderfully written tale spans the five years between Rae's 25th and 30th birthdays, and follows her and her friends as they negotiate life in Manhattan, their jobs, and their position in the world. Rae's largely positive disposition was a significant element of this narrative; despite her personal problems, she has worked hard, studied hard, and is working in a harsh male-dominated field. This contrasts with Rae's impulse to "fix" and heal Dustin's profound sadness. There were a number of characteristics of this connection that made me sorry for her. it was slowe paced in between but I found the writing, for the most part, interesting and easy to follow. i felt like It ended abruptly, and I didn't get the closure I was looking for. I had a great time reading this book.

3.5 ⭐s!

Though the cover may suggest a lighthearted romantic comedy, this isn't the typical fast-paced and predictable romance you may be looking for. Rae falls in love with Dustin, who is struggling with depression. She continues on to wrestle with internal and external expectations and the book deals with heavy themes having to do with mental illness.

Lindsay MacMillan writes beautifully and the heartaches brought on by this story absolutely prove that to be true. I was a bit disappointed with the very end, mostly because the cliche in me was hoping for a certain stu-pid to come out victorious, but my heart hopes that the future past the last pages in the book was sweet and bright.

Many thanks to Lindsay MacMillan and Alcove Press for this ARC!! A pleasure to read and I can't wait to see what Lindsay writes next.