The Heart of the Deal

Finished May 18

The Heart of the Deal by Lindsay MacMillan

This isn't a romance novel, although it does have romance. It is a novel of adult life. A story of a woman, Rae, working in a job that she's good at, but doesn't love. She's also looking for love, someone to connect with in a deeper way. The book covers five years of Rae's life from 25 to 30, and we see her grow, learn, and make difficult choices. 

She's old school and doesn't have a lot of faith in online dating apps, but her friends convince her to give it a go for a while, and help her write a profile. Her roommate Ellen found her boyfriend this way and believes that she can too. 

Rae is a data analyst in an investment firm, and her work is good as she truly understands the numbers she works with, but this isn't what she thought her life would be. She wants to be a poet, but doesn't know how to do that and still make a living. She also wants to start a family by her early thirties, but the lack of a man in her life doesn't make that look likely soon. 

So, as she tries dating with some of the men she meets online, she eventually meets Dustin, a man in the same industry who also has a poetical interest in life and who she can really talk to. It becomes clear early in their relationship that Dustin has struggles with depression, and this aspect to the novel takes it to another level. As Rae navigates her inner feelings and dreams and tries to make them real, she also sees Dustin as he really is, a flawed human being like herself, with his own issues. 

This book had a depth that I really appreciated and that made it impossible not to care about these characters. 

A great read.