Hooked by Emily McIntire

Narrated by Felicity Munroe and Rupert Hawthorne

Dark Contemporary Romance

I have been seeing Hooked by Emily McIntire all over my social feeds and the bookstores and it’s intrigued me even though I’m not usually a dark romance reader. I like retellings or reimaginings of books I love, so I wanted to see if Hooked lived up to the hype.

It must be an age thing. Maybe I’ve just turned into an old lady, but I kind of felt like Hooked was written by a creative high school kid who is obsessed with dark romance. I have seen people saying it’s SO dark and SO hot. I just didn’t think it was SO anything.

Hooked isn’t really a Peter Pan retelling, it’s more that they used names and props from the original. Honestly it’s my favorite part of the book. I found it very clever how she integrated bits of Peter Pan into the story.

Most of Hook’s true darkness is in his head. His fantasy of fucking Wendy on top of her dead dad’s body is pretty gruesome, but he never actually does most of the stuff he thinks about. Wendy was a virgin and a little stuffy but other than that I feel like I never got to know her enough to love or hate her. I just got young, dumb, moldable child vibes from her.

There was some kink in the sex scenes, some breath play, but it was all pretty tame stuff that felt like it was trying to be racy and edgy.

“Darling, if I’m the dark, then you’re the stars.”

I feel like I have read much darker books that weren’t even classified as dark, and I have definitely read hotter books than Hooked. I was entertained and never wanted to put it down, but it also never fully grabbed me. The characters felt like exaggerated caricatures. I rarely say a book is too short, but I think this would have benefitted from another 100 pages to actually get to know and Love Wendy. I just never felt like I connected with the characters enough to care about them.

Likes:

The author very cleverly worked in Peter Pan elements.
Kept my interest, especially during the first half.
Twists and turns I didn’t see coming.

Dislikes:

Wendy had no personality other than being a young, naive virgin.
Hook did a lot of thinking and fantasizing about doing horrible things, but he never actually followed through.
Hook didn’t have any redeeming qualities.
The sex was touted as so hot…huh? I read hotter sex in light romcoms. A little Dom kink and a little breath play and then cuddles? Nah…boring.

The Narration:

Felicity Monroe and Rupert Hawthorne did a really good job with the narration, and I think they are the only reason I kept listening.

The Down & Dirty:

I wanted to love Hooked. I like retellings and seeing how the author cleverly works in elements of the original story, but this wasn’t really a retelling, it’s more of a mafia romance that used a few elements (mostly names) from Peter Pan/Neverland, for instance, Pixie Dust was just cocaine or meth. After the first half I honestly tuned out a little and just wanted it to end so I could move onto a book I would love. There was so much potential here, but I mostly found a book that played at being dark and sexy but just felt immature and flat to me. I didn’t hate it, but I wouldn’t recommend it for any experienced dark reader or anyone over 19. I have heard that the next in the series, Scarred, is better, but I don’t think I will be moving on. Please keep in mind that this book has a HUGE number of AMAZING reviews, and this is just my opinion.