DNF at 20%
I am not a fan of instant love connections. I should have guessed this book would be that since Rayna Raven “Ray” spotted a “delicious looking man” at the bar but “too bad that wasn’t who she’s meeting”. Spoiler alert. It was.
Jax invites her over to his house after their failed merger meeting where he kisses her. Ray’s response to that kiss is “we shouldn’t have done that”. But Jax has been wanting to do that the second he saw her. Umm, no that's weird and was completely without consent.

After that I couldn’t continue. I am a big fan of dual point of view, that’s the one positive note I can give this book. But the writing was very immature and all over the place. DNFing books is very rare for me.
ARC provided by NetGalley for a fair and honest review.

Thanks NetGalley and publisher for the e-ARC.

This book has been a quick read about sweet workplace romance, I suppose.

It would've works quite well if only the pacing is not that fast, because I feels like there's some missing links on the plot that I actually has to made up on my mind to imagine. The plot and premise is promising but I don't know maybe because it fast-paced story, I only feels like it's only been told in a surface.

I knew there's such things as instant attraction (especially physically) and I know the kiss was supposed to depict that, but since it's unconsensual it irks me a little. but I still want to know how the story goes, so I went along to finish this. The name dropping in every sentence is also a bit too much for my liking

While I love the personality and the work-ethcs of both MCs, I think it could be used to exploring more about the characters and their relationship with friends/business partners. I still found it's questionable when the heroine's brother was contacting a strange man he just met once to take care of his drunk sister.

I wish it could be helpful to expand the story more, this book has potential.

DNF at 65%

This book was difficult. I really couldn't get a handle on the plot. I thought I was missing pages for clarity. Overall, i felt that the writing was choppy and couldn't get over the characters addressing each other by name in every sentence of dialogue.

There were oddly placed steamy scenes and the overall plot of two prospective business partners who nonconsensually kiss each other during meetings was not for me.

This ARC was provided to me via Kindle, from Cullen Maclean and #NetGalley. Thank you to the publishers, NetGalley and the author for the opportunity to preview and review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

I hope this turns into a series as the book is quite interesting and enjoyable.

Making the deal is about Ray and Jax, who meet up to merge their businesses, but somehow the tension between them intensifies and becomes real feelings towards each other, and somehow they end up becoming an item? I'm not explaining this properly, probably because most of the time I was extremely confused, but you'll read some good things in the review so just head on down there.

I was provided with an arc copy of this book by Netgalley, so thank you to Netgalley, the publishers and the author.

The story in this book was a good one, there was something to build on, and something to expect from this book, but the writing style was not very enjoyable, most of the time I would find that I am missing out on things..

I suspected that I lost a few pages, even though it's an e-copy of the book, and there was very unnecessary mention of abuse, which nothing was done about by the way.

There wasn't much depth to the characters, and there was very unnecessary detailing of the business deal, and there was unconsensual kissing that happened more than once by the same person to the same person!

I think I read somewhere that this was going to be a series, and like I said the story is interesting, and I would like to know what happens next, but honestly, that is all there is.

Thank you NetGalley!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I have mixed opinions on this book which is why I gave it 3 stars.

On the one hand I finished the book in like 2 hours. I ate it up and it was a quick, easy, and fun read. The story was fun to read and I liked the fact that it was short and sweet.

The thing that I didn't like is the fact that I felt like there was too much name saying. I don't know if that makes sense but in real life people do not say the name of the person they are talking to in every sentence. It seemed like every time someone said something to someone they always started the sentence with the persons name. Which is okay every once in a while but it felt a little choppy when it was happening all the time. Especially when there were only two characters in a scene so it was super easy to keep track of who was talking.

I loved the story line, but the writing was the issue for me with this one.

DNF @ 40%
I received an ARC for this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to like this but between the writing style and the regularly happening nonconsensual kissing, this was a no for me. Rayna is an entrepreneur and software developer who has created a successful program that helps assess risk (I think?) and Jax is the main partner at a successful law firm that Rayna would like to merge with so everyone is as successful as they should be. The tension from the first chapter was there and palpable and I was ready for a great tension build, a will they/won't they. But instead, he shuts Rayna down and abruptly ends their meeting, telling her they can resume conversations at his house? And tells her to dress casually? That rubbed me the wrong way and left me feeling very icky, like a grown man couldn't take no for an answer. Rayna consistently refers to how unprofessional all of this is but since she thinks Jax is cute, she still goes over to his house. Jax has set up a date, Rayna asks to remain professional, and Jax kisses her without her consent.

And then the nonconsenual kissing happens again two chapters later, this time in an office? all of this rubbed me the wrong way and I don't think it would've gotten much better as I continued. This felt a bit like a man in power abusing his position to "get the girl" and even though the girl felt weird about it she threw that to the wayside because she found him attractive. It would be one thing if the tension was building, but I cannot stress enough how Jax came off as a man who cannot take no for answer and grabs at women because he cannot help himself.

The writing felt choppy and the plot points felt very disjointed, there wasn't a lot of seamless flow to things. The dialogue sounded like it was generated by AI and just was not realistic by any stretch. I definitely think this needs another round of writing/edits before being published because this reads as if it was haphazardly assembled.

This was 100% not for me.

DNF at 20%.

Rayna "Ray" is apparently an entrepreneur, a lawyer, and she's developed some amazing software for law firms which is in great demand. She has been offered a merger with a large law practice which will give her more money, success and power.

Jax is the founder of said large law practice, apparently, he needs this merger to take his business to the next level, but he seems intent on sabotaging the deal. When he meets Rayna he is shocked that she is female (poor little brain can't cope) and does everything in his power to antagonise her, despite her software being in huge demand. Then he abruptly ends their merger discussion after about fifteen minutes and arbitrarily demands that they resume discussions at his home, in the evening, and sets a casual dress code. WTAF?

Instead of calling off the merger and complaining about his unprofessional behaviour, Ray is struck by how good looking he is and how much she wants to kiss him. Like a big ol' schmuck she rocks up to his house like she's going on a date, where he's prepared a romantic dinner complete with candles (RED FLAG) and they kiss FFS.

The next morning, she flip-flops over his unprofessional behaviour and wanting to kiss him again. I just can't even, it's so juvenile and unrealistic. How either of them could possibly have built up their own successful law firms is inconceivable. It also feels very icky to make it seem that this sort of behaviour is romantic or sexy rather than creepy.

I thought I could finish this because I saw that it was quite a short book, but life is too short.

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

I’m sad this was a let down for me. The story didn’t really make you want to root for the characters to be together, I think the main issue is the writing style, if it was written in first person, it would’ve been better.

I picked this up for the main character's first name proximity to my own, I will admit. This, unfortunately, does not foster an immediate love of the book or the characters therein. The writing is not what I would call publishing ready, and while it is not beyond salvage 'Making the Deal' should go through another round with both a development and a line editor.

This was a new to me author. I really enjoyed the plot of this book!

Rayna is a young, successful attorney looking to merger her firm with a larger firm to launch new software she has developed. Jax is the managing partner of a larger firm. They meet to discuss the merger and sparks fly!

I really loved this book I just wish it was larger to provide more details. As others mentioned it felt rushed. Overall a good, quick read.

Thank you to NetGalley for the copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

#makingthedeal #netgalley

I was very confused by this book. As I was reading it, I kept thinking that I skipped pages or that pages were missing. I felt like the story was very hard to follow. I couldn't really connect with or root for any of the characters.

The book focuses on Ray and Jax. They are meeting to discuss a merger of their businesses, but they have an instant connection to each other. Ray agrees to meet at Jax's house, and while there, he kisses her. She quickly leaves Jax's house, and they agree to keep things professional. Tensions continue to rise, and they take their relationship to the next level.

I didn't understand how their relationship became so intense so quickly. They didn't really know anything about each other, and all of a sudden, they are in love? How did Ray's brother know Jax? I was confused about why he would just call or text him.

Also, I'm even more confused about Ray's friend, Cam, and Cam's abusive, controlling boyfriend, Justin. Cam and her boyfriend are introduced, but the story doesn't go anywhere. Ray and her brother witness Justin physically grabbing Cam and yelling at her to give him money, but they don't do anything about it. Ray's brother is a police officer, and he doesn't go to help her out. I didn't understand that at all. We never find out what happens with those two characters. I don't know why that was included in the book.

Overall, the book is very short, and it can be read quickly. I got hung up on how quickly their relationship intensified, and I got lost in all of the legal and business merger jargon. I think that this is the first of a series, and I would be interested to read the next book to see what happens next.

Thanks to NetGalley and Xpresso Book Tours for an ARC of this book.