Review: Hooked by Emily McIntire

Author: Emily McIntire
Genre: Romance, Fairytale
Format: Paperback
Kindle Unlimited: Yes
Published: September 2021
Publisher: Bloom Books
Series: A Never After Novel, Book #1
Price: $8.63 (Amazon)

Synopsis: {via GoodReads}

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.

Review: 

*Contains Spoilers* 

I'm not going to lie, I didn't care for this book at all. If I had stopped reading this series with this book, I'd have a pretty terrible opinion of this book series... thankfully, I didn't do that. Hooked by Emily McIntire is a rift on the Peter Pan story. The characters are a mix and the story is nothing like Peter Pan, so it's not a retelling at all. If you're looking for that, this book isn't for you. Rather, it's a mix of Peter Pan characters, all sort of blended around. The only similarity is that Hook is still a villain, but this time he's the MC. 

The Characters:

There's not a lot to say here. Hook is a bad dude, he's dark and sexy, and obsessed with Wendy from the first moment he sees her. Wendy is a sweet little virgin whose drawn to the bad dude because she ignores all the red flats and doesn't seem to know he's a bad guy. McIntire does do a good job of making James/Hook a morally dark character, but Wendy is a bit of a punching bag. She forgives too easily and falls in love with a man who hurts her. Wendy is also not a believable character. She lives in a mansion but she works as a barista?

The Plot: 

The plot is a bit of a mess. There are moments you're not sure who knows what. It's not clear if Hook knows Wendy is Peter's daughter from the start or if he figures it out later, but somehow he sort of just seems to suddenly know she's his enemy's child. The bad-bad guy is set up the whole book to be one guy only to find out near the end of the book that it's someone else. And, there's a subplot with Wendy's brother that's very obvious from the beginning. 

I struggled a little bit with the fact that Wendy, who is fairly naive, simply forgives Hook for kidnapping and keeping her chained up in his basement. She just seems to forget he keeps her locked up for weeks. She's also portrayed as naive, but wants some pretty advanced sex play.

The biggest issue I had with the book is that the romance between Wendy and James/Hook isn't believable. Why in the world would she fall for him? We, normal real world women, love morally grey/dark romance heroes, the guys who hold women hostage and commit murder, in theory but we wouldn't want those guys in the real world. Likewise, why does Hook fall for Wendy? She's not very interesting. 

The Review: 

❤❤ - Just alright. I wouldn't recommend this book, but I do recommend the series. Skip this one and pick up Scarred (book #2).