Recent Reads: Hooked by Emily McIntire

Hooked by Emily McIntire

Series: Never After #1
Publisher: 
Publication Date:  September 5, 2021

 

Format: Paperback/ Ebook
Source: I own a copy and downloaded the ebook as well

Rating:


Goodreads Synopsis: 

From international bestselling author Emily McIntire comes a dark and delicious fractured fairy tale reimagining of Peter Pan.

He wants revenge, but he wants her more…

James has always had one agenda: destroy his enemy, Peter Michaels. When Peter’s twenty-year-old daughter Wendy shows up in James’s bar, he sees his way in. Seduce the girl and use her for his revenge. It’s the perfect plan, until things in James’s organization begin to crumble. Suddenly, he has to find the traitor in his midst, and his plan for revenge gets murkier as James starts to see Wendy as more than just a pawn in his game.

Wendy has been cloistered away most of her life by her wealthy cold father, but a spontaneous night out with friends turns into an intense and addictive love affair with the dark and brooding James. As much as she knows James is dangerous, Wendy can’t seem to shake her desire for him. But as their relationship grows more heated and she learns more about the world he moves in, she finds herself unsure if she’s falling for the man known as James or the monster known as Hook.

Hooked is a dark contemporary romance and the first complete standalone in the Never After Series: A collection of fractured fairy tales where the villains get the happy ever after. It is not a literal retelling and not fantasy. Hooked features mature themes and content that may not be suitable for all audiences. Reader discretion is advised. For all content warnings, check the author's website.

Trigger Warnings: Graphic Sexual Scenes, Breath play/Choking, Torture, Murder, Physical Assault, Kidnapping, Mentions of pedophilia/sexual abuse of a minor, Mentions of physical abuse of a minor

Review: 

This was a Peter Pan reimagining but with Hook as our main character. We follow Wendy and James as they fall for each other in a crazy, mob-like enviornment. There is deception, lies, violence... a lot of violence. This is a spicy book, but the non-spicy plotline focuses on James and his past, how he got to be where he is and the people trying to steal it away from him. Peter is Wendy's father, and he has a line in James' past, that is what brings them all together. 

The romance, if you chose to call it that, is very insta-love, and at times a bit cringe, but it was enjoyable for me, I read it pretty much in one sitting. I liked the obsessive boyfirend bit that James has with Wendy, and I liked that they were so broken but good together in a lot of ways. Their relationship was dark, built on lies, but they make each other stronger. He gives her the courage and self-confidence to speak up and speak her mind, and really be herself. 

I felt like there were a few moments that were adapted from other mob-movies/books, like the rat/bucket thing, so it was odd reading them. That being said I liked the book and was rooting for James and Wendy, it was a cute ending... cute but spicy.