Thank you so much to Alcove Press and netgalley for an E-ARC of this book!

Okay, so this book is about Rae, a 25-year-old woman working in investment banking who is in a “romantic recession.” On her 25th birthday, she realizes that time is running out on her biological clock, which means she needs to have some sort of plan to meet the man of her dreams and get married - all before turning 30. So, with the help of her friend Ellen, she starts looking for Mr. Right on dating apps. Eventually, she comes across Dustin, a fellow poetic soul who is also trapped in the investment world. She knows he’s Mr. Right. She can feel it. But then, Dustin reveals he’s battling depression and isn’t ready for a relationship.

In my humble opinion, the above should be part of how the book is advertised. I thought I’d be picking up a witty Rom-Com novel and that’s what it felt like for the first couple of chapters. But then Dustin revealed he has depression and the story completely shifted, as it should. And so I think, it should be advertised as such - a cautionary tale.

With that being said, this story addresses a lot of important issues. Depression obviously tops that list. Dustin is severely depressed and how it affects him - and Rae - is portrayed very well. Dustin will go days, if not weeks, going through an episode, cutting off those around him, not eating, not being productive. Rae will worry for Dustin but still cling onto the hope that he will get better and that they will have a future. Some may perceive this as straight up ignorance/naivety, but, unfortunately, this is the case for a lot people who stay in toxic relationships like this. Rae is in complete denial for most of the book. She becomes less of a girlfriend and more of a mom/emotional punching bag for him.

Ellen - somebody give that woman reward. Bless her soul. She was right. He was taking advantage of her. And she was probably the only person really looking out for Rae in the story.

It isn’t until like two-thirds of the book when she finally leaves him because she’s realized that she, herself, is very much on her way to becoming depressed.

Which is why the ending was so, so disappointing.

SPOILER, for anyone who sees this and hasn’t read it yet: she goes back to Dustin in the end. And I think that sends out a terrible message to the young, impressionable minds who will read this (even though it is categorized as New Adult). And yes, I say this again, that this is a reality in a lot of toxic relationships. But, I don’t know, it didn’t sit right with me.

So, all in all, while it has a lot of potential, it’s not my favorite way of telling a story like this. And the pacing could’ve been much, much quicker.

Rae is portrayed as an artist but stayed as in investment banker to be able to pay her college loans. She started looking for dates at a dating app, because she wanted to be married by thirty.

I have to be honest, I liked this book when I started it, it is funny but then started feeling heavy, which felt like about 50% of the book. This
book tackled depression and sexism, so the description of funny for me cannot represent the whole book.

I have to give credit though to the writing style of the author, because for me, this book is written well. Rae really is an artist and can spout poems about anything. I liked how Rae has evolved, after going through so much, but the ending is open to a lot of interpretations.

From the cover, it looks like this is a romantic comedy, but really, it’s not.

Overall, it’s 3.5 - 4 for me. Even though it’s heavy, I still wanted to finish this book.

“The Heart of the Deal” is a debut novel by Lindsay MacMillan and I love getting the chance to read an authors first book and than later seeing how they grow in their writing!

This book follows Rae (Raelynn) as she navigates life trying to balance working (and surviving) the corporate world and dating with the hopes of matrimony and children (and at the age of 25 she has a plan for when she needs to be married and have those kids). Rae works a grueling work schedule (often working late and on weekends) and isn’t fulfilled beyond hoping for bonuses and raises. What Rae really wants to be is a poet - and she sees inspirations everywhere, but that is looking to be as difficult as finding husband material.

While I did enjoy the overall story, there seemed to be a pacing problem that slowed the reading process for me. I put this book down several times before finally finishing it.

I do look forward to reading this authors next book and giving her another try.

I'll start by saying the writing was good, but I think this book might not have been for me. The actual story compared to the blurb seemed a little misleading, but it wasn't a bad book by any means. The blurb doesn't give us much of a heads up that there might be some heavy topics/thick drama to contend with inside the book. It makes it seem like it's just a young twenty-something looking for love in the big city. I might characterize it more as a drama, because even the romance felt pretty light at times because of all the deep issues these characters were dealing with outside of the romantic part of the relationship. The biggest issue that I had was the pacing. It jumped forward a lot without much explanation between time jumps and it was hard to connect with the characters when I would miss six months of their lives. The plot felt a bit helter-sketer. I think it could have been streamed lined a little better and some of the unnecessary characters that didn't add much to the story could've been edited out.

I did appreciate the metal illness rep, digging into the male-dominated finance world, strong female friendships, and the overall all theme of "finding one's self". I mean, who hasn't felt like time was getting away from them or they were stuck in a dead-end job? That was realistic. I like that the heroine didn't settle. She pushed forward. The poetry moments were really lovely. I actually bought her dream of being a poet because she created some really good poetry and romantic lines. I think the writing was easy to read, but the overall story fell a bit flat to me at times. I'd try something else the author writes though, but I'd just hope for more orderly story line so I could better connect to the characters.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a chance to read the e-ARC!

First of all, I wouldn't give this book the classification of "humor" - I didn't find it particularly funny. If anything, it was a downer.... and more of a cautionary tale.

Rae is on a mission to be married before she's 30. She meets Dustin and they hit it off, she thinks he could be "the one" until he promptly disappears. When he resurfaces he confides in Rae that he's been suffering with depression for some time and that he recently when through another "dark" period. Rae is determined to stick by Dustin through the ups and downs and is convinced that love is all he needs to conquer this dark depression.

Though Rae's love is pure and she genuinely cares about Dustin, the depression begins to seep into their relationship and affect her as well. She becomes codependent and is more of a caretaker than a partner for him. it's really a sad portrayal of two different aspects of depression: the one who suffers, and the ones who suffer with them. Rae gives up parts of her life, isolates, and misses out on different things because she is consumed with helping Dustin. While her intentions are well-meaning, it's a very bleak look at how depression can seep into other areas of life.

I absolutely believe that everyone is deserving of love and that depression or any other mental illness is not a reason to discriminate, The Heart of the Deal paints a clear picture of a dysfunctional relationship. It's not really even a relationship - it is one person sucking the life out of another until they are both covered in darkness. While there were certain parts that I did enjoy, I ultimately finished the book feeling very blah and not so hopeful for the couples' future.

Thank you to NetGalley and Alcove Press for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Um. I really just don't know where to begin. I don't know how I even feel. This book in a whole was just not my cup of tea. I think some of the plot got thrown out half way or something. Some of the things that happened just didn't make sense to me. Just my opinion, no hard feelings to the author. I'm not trashing anyone's baby(book) but its just not for me. 3.5 rounded to 4⭐ since I finished the book. But.........idk

To be honest, I have no clue how to describe how I feel about this book. It didn’t really have a plot so it was hard to decipher where the story was going most of the time. I appreciate it calling attention to mental health issues, as well as sexism in corporate America, but the story itself fell flat for me. It was an enjoyable read but didn’t seem to be going down any one path.

The synopsis and cover of this book, as well as the "for fans of..." had me clicking request pretty quickly. Unfortunately that was the only real thing I found endearing about this story. At first I thought I was really going to get Rae; as a single woman in her thirties I understand the clock ticking, loneliness and seeing friends moving on around you. I just hated how all consumed by this Rae was, almost to the very end. How despite some clamour for independence in her job she felt defined by her relationship status. I am glad she didn't settle though. It never really felt to me like any actual story started and I admittedly skipped many pages to see if there was a kick start.

Thank you to netgalley and the author for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

The Heart of the Deal by L. MacMillan, published by AlcovePress is a stand-alone debut.
Rae is a 25 year old, working at a bank, living in NYC and trying to figure out her life.
Should she choose the staedy partner and paycheck, living in a small town; or return to the big apple where her heart lives.
THeartotD is an entertaining ok read. I liked the story, the writng and the characters just fine, 4 beautiful stars.

Alcove Press!!!!.Thank You!. For the opportunity to read this lovely eARC!

The Heart of the Deal by Lindsay MacMillan is a wonderful, love story!
I loved Rae our Main Character. She is smart, funny and down to earth!
Dustin I enjoyed his character also and loved how the author dealt with depression in the story as well!
These characters are flawed, unique and complex, and just plain wonderful.
They were easy to relate to and I got very invested in their story. I loved that there were loads of attraction between the two!.
For this to be Lindsay's debut she did an amazing job!.

Wow, this epic love story isn’t your usual run-of-the-mill boy meets girl story. This book has ups and downs as much as Dustin’s depression. Rae was an investment banker dreaming of a poets life and when she met Dustin, her perfect match in every way there was one thing that was holding him back. His depression.
The book didn’t focus on Dustin’s problems, but the lives of the people around him and how his life and the choices he makes, does effect the ones around him.
Rae was such a good, courageous character & although she had a set plan on wanting to get married and have kids, life got in the way - and this books how’s that sometimes, it’s okay.
Although it ended abruptly and I didn’t get the closure I need. I did thoroughly enjoyed reading this book.

This was a pretty okay read for me. I liked the main character, she was easy to emphasize with and also easy to like. I wasn't completely sold on the romance and the plot didn't really grip me, the pacing was a bit off and some scenes were just really slow and honestly kind of boring. The side characters were all pretty flat and not really interesting, and not all of them would've needed to be included in my opinion. It made the whole book a little confusing with all those characters who added almost nothing to the plot.
I also wish there had been more of a proper ending to the relationship and that more stuff would've been revolved. I did like the topics which were discussed though, and also how the protagonist's arc ended.
Overall I liked this, but it wasn't anything super memorable for me.

I must say this book surprised me. You should not judge this book by its cover, its not a sweet formulaic romance story, as I thought it would be from the description and the book cover. This is a deep read dealing with deep topics such as self-harm, depression, and other topics. I was unprepared, and to be honest I didn't like it, however it was still a good story. I went in expecting something light, and got a deep read, so I blame myself not the author. The book was well written and truly showed what it must be like being in love with someone struggling with mental illness. This is not a beach read, but its a great book none the less. Nevertheless I probably wont re-read this book, but I will be keeping an eye on the author for future novels.

I received an e-ARC version of this book from NetGalley and the publisher.

“The Heart of the Deal” is a debut novel by Lindsay MacMillan. This story follows Rae (Raelynn) as she navigates life trying to balance working (and surviving) the corporate world and dating with the hopes of matrimony and children (and at the age of 25 she has a plan for when she needs to be married and have those kids). Rae works a grueling work schedule (often working late and on weekends) and isn’t fulfilled beyond hoping for bonuses and raises. What Rae really wants to be is a poet - and she sees inspirations everywhere, but that is looking to be as difficult as finding husband material.

Let me start by stating the wonderful pros of this book:

a) New York City. Ms. MacMillan captured NYC perfectly in this book. At times I felt like I was actually there, riding the subway, walking the streets, or even gazing at the buildings from the back of an Uber. For someone who has taken a number of business trips to NYC, it was a nice trip down memory lane.

b) Acknowledging depression. Depression is hard to write about and when it’s written about well, it’s powerful and real for the reader. That Ms. MacMillan chose to have a character have severe depression - and be both working to ‘get better’ and feeling like ‘nothing was going to be better’ I felt was both interesting and heart-breaking. From my own experience, depression can suddenly hit and, unfortunately, one cannot just “get better” - it takes time, it takes understanding, and it takes realizing one is going down the slippery slope.

c) Ambiguous ending. I’m usually not too fond of open endings, but it really worked for this book.

Unfortunately there were a number of things I didn’t like about this book, but I want to preface this by stating that I’m not a twenty-something (or even thirty-something) feeling adrift in the life/dating/who am I doing to be when I grow up world. My main issue was that the pacing was very slow at times and I nearly DNF this book twice - once around the 32% mark and another time around the 55% mark. I found myself skimming parts because they didn’t seem relevant to the story. I feel like there were too many characters that didn’t add much to the story, such as Rae’s parents and some of Rae’s friends/co-workers. I also felt at times that Rae’s dating criteria was a bit over-the-top, which might’ve been part of the humor, but I’m protective of fries too. I found the writing, for the most part, interesting and easy to follow. I did like learning more about the financial sector. I’d give this author another chance to ‘wow’ me with another book.