The Deal
by Elle Kennedy
Interest peak #1
A college hockey star and a music student strike a fake dating deal that becomes more real than either intended. Sweet, steamy, and sports-flavored. Read the full description
Best for: Fans of sports romance and fake dating
The Deal is #46 on BookWard's Top 100 books for September 2026, with a BookWard Score of 66 out of 100.
The Deal: reading interest over the past 12 months
Sources: Open Library’s public reading-log and ratings data (dump of 2026-08-31), Wikipedia page views and Wikidata. Monthly counts are exact; they show relative interest among readers of these public sources, not total readership.
Ranked against the other books on this list, The Deal’s reading interest has run from #1 to #100 over these 12 months. Interest rank blends shelf adds, Wikipedia page views and rating activity, each compared with the other 99 books that month.
Shelf adds by month
The Deal was added to Open Library readers’ shelves 926 times in the past 12 months, peaking in May 2026 with 337 (337% above its monthly average of 77). Over the latest three months (Jun 2026 to Aug 2026) shelf adds were up 33% on the three months before. 87% of the adds were “want to read”, 10% “currently reading” and 3% “already read”.
Want to read Currently reading Already read
What the data says about The Deal
- Uneven demand. Monthly shelf adds swung widely around an average of 77, so interest arrives in bursts and not as a steady stream.
- Busiest and quietest months. May 2026 was its busiest month (337 adds), about 56.2 times its quietest, January 2026 (6).
- Share of the list. It accounts for 0.9% of all shelf adds recorded for the Top 100 over these 12 months, #34 of 100.
- Its age. First published in 2015 (11 years ago), it is older than 28% of the books on the list.
Each finding is computed from the public data above and shown only when the numbers support it.
The Deal on the Top 100: rank history
First charted in September 2026. The chart gains a point with every monthly update, so its peak, climbs and falls will show here as they happen.
| Month | Rank | Score |
|---|---|---|
| September 2026 | #46 | 66 |
Is The Deal rising or falling?
Cooling It ranks lower this week than over the past year, so interest is softening from its recent level.
On Open Library, The Deal ranks #58 this week, #60 this month, and #38 over the past year. A longer bar means a higher position. Comparing the three windows shows whether readers are arriving faster than the book's long-term pace. Readings as of 2026-09-30.
Why The Deal made the Top 100
The Deal made the list mainly on momentum (+27.1 points) and reader love (+15.8 points). Its smallest contribution is rising (+0). The BookWard Score blends five public signals, each scored from 0 to 100 and weighted as shown.
The reading-now, rating and rank signals come from Open Library’s public data, not from BookWard’s own readers. The score measures reading interest, not quality or sales. How the score works.
Open Library reader stats for The Deal
Source: Open Library public reading logs, as of 2026-09-30. BookWard’s own monthly snapshots are added to the picture, and anonymous BookWard reader data will be layered in as the community grows.
More readers have The Deal open right now than 14% of the other books on this list. These counts come from one public source, so they show relative interest rather than total readership.
Where it sits among Romance books
It is #5 of the 11 Romance books on this month’s list.
About The Deal
A college hockey star and a music student strike a fake dating deal that becomes more real than either intended. Sweet, steamy, and sports-flavored.
Why it’s here: It is a fan favorite in the college-romance corner of the reading world.
Best for: Fans of sports romance and fake dating
At a glance
- First published
- 2000
- Genre
- Romance
- Length
- about 388 pages (the median across its editions)
- Languages
- editions in 7 languages listed on Open Library
- Editions
- 15 on Open Library
From Open Library and Wikidata public records. Missing rows mean the records do not list that fact.
Themes
- Fake dating
- College hockey
- Vulnerability
What reading it is like
Light, sporty new-adult romance.
At about 388 pages it is a longer read: roughly 8 hours at an average reading pace (about 250 words a minute, 300 words a page). Audiobook and edition lengths vary.
Good to know
First in the Off-Campus series. Adult content.
The premise
Hannah is a music student who needs a boyfriend to make someone jealous, and Garrett is a hockey star who needs to raise his grades. They agree to a fake relationship that turns real.
What you’ll get
- Fake dating with sports
- Steamy, funny, and quick
- A college campus setting
You might skip it if you dislike explicit scenes.
Pairs well with: Icebreaker · The Love Hypothesis
Keep exploring the chart
Also on the chart at #45 and #47
Questions about The Deal
What rank is The Deal on the Top 100 books?
The Deal is #46 on BookWard's Top 100 books for September 2026, with a BookWard Score of 66 out of 100.
Is The Deal rising or falling?
Cooling. It ranks lower this week than over the past year, so interest is softening from its recent level. On Open Library, The Deal ranks #58 this week, #60 this month, and #38 over the past year.
Why is The Deal on the Top 100?
The Deal made the list mainly on momentum (+27.1 points) and reader love (+15.8 points). Its smallest contribution is rising (+0).
How many people are reading The Deal right now?
Open Library's reading logs show 149 readers currently reading The Deal, 1,620 who want to read it and 90 who have logged it as read (as of 2026-09-30). These are counts from one public source, not all readers.
How much interest has The Deal had over the past year?
926 Open Library shelf adds in the past 12 months (peak May 2026, 337); latest three months up 33% on the prior three. Figures come from Open Library and Wikipedia public data.
Who is The Deal best for?
Fans of sports romance and fake dating.
Ask a question about The Deal
Ask about this book's chart history, reading interest, or who it is for. Answers come from this page's data and can be wrong.
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How we know
This page is built from public data: Open Library’s dated reading-log and ratings dumps, Wikipedia page views, Wikidata, and BookWard’s own monthly Top 100 snapshots. The interest rank blends shelf adds (45%), Wikipedia page views (30%), rating activity (10%) and, for months where a snapshot exists, BookWard’s own score (15%), each as a percentile among the Top 100 books. Every month shown is real data; nothing is estimated. Rankings reflect reading interest, not quality or sales, and can be affected by data gaps. Last updated September 2026. Read the full methodology.
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