Touted as a modern-day "Peter Pan"-flavoured dark romance. Definitely not a retelling, more an AU take. The writing was fair but I didn't enjoy the overly simplistic characterisations. I found the violence tediously cartoonish, the plot paper-thin, the characters bland and the twist not only telegraphed but semaphored, phoned and texted at me.

Unrealistically beautiful people falling in "Twue Wuv" practically instantaneously is just not something I can suspend my disbelief for, and don't enjoy it. I also have Thoughts about the sex scenes when seen in context of the time frame they're portrayed as occurring. Maybe Romance just isn't the genre for me. All in all, meh. ( )

Now this book!! Wow.... That about sums it up. It has left me with a complete lack of words, but I will do my best.

Hooked drew me in from the very first scene. I sometimes struggle with books that have a little slower first few chapters, but this one hits you full force from the first paragraph! I am not entirely sure what I expected out of this book, but let me tell you. It was not at all what I expected, but everything I didn't know I wanted.

The author tells you from the beginning that this is not a retelling of Peter Pan, and it truly is not. She takes the character names and some of the more recognizable things (such as the Jolly Roger and pixie dust), and warps them into her own modern day urban story. This book has everything from romance, to violence, to tragedy, to drug dealers, and so much more.

While the book itself does not list out the trigger warnings, there is a statement that if you have any at all to look on the authors website to find them. Please take this seriously if you do happen to have any trigger warnings. The writing is very detailed, and I could see how it could be disturbing or troubling for some.

Overall, I devoured this book! I am trying to figure out how fast I can get to the store to grab her other books in the Never After Series! If you have read Butcher and Blackbird and enjoyed it, give this book a try. ( )

I feel like my review needs disclaimers-- This book falls under the 'Dark Romance' category, so it's not your typical love story. Before diving in, please take a moment to read the disclaimer and trigger warnings.

The goal of this book is solely to present you with cheesy and ridiculous smut. It's not that deep. Take it as a fun read. Some books present as these beautiful love stories but in reality, are just cringe. That's when I will downgrade my rating. This book tells you beforehand what you are getting into.

The MMC is portrayed as a villain, behaving as you'd expect. -A Villain-.

Does he mistreat her? Yes.
Does he do less than savory things? Also, yes.

Wendy, on the other hand, is involved in a complicated relationship with this villain, which isn't the healthiest dynamic. The book leans heavily into explicit and unconventional themes, which might not be everyone's cup of tea. You either love it or you don't. I personally did.

My main gripe with the book is its labeling as a "retelling." It doesn't align much with anything, apart from names. Hook, Peter, Wendy, John, Smee... the 'names' are all there but there's nothing else nodding to "Peter Pan". The characters could have been named entirely differently without changing the story at all.

Alas, I personally really enjoyed this book, it exceeded expectations. ( )

1.5/5 average floridian love story

169,423 ratings, average of 3.85 stars. what world do we live in??????

Hooked is a dark mob boss AU of Peter Pan, where Hook is a club owner/drug ringleader, and Peter is a competing drug lord threatening Hook's turf (and haunting his past). Wendy is Peter's daughter, and Hook is drawn to her both sexually and as a way to get back at Peter.

Drug being pushed? Pixie dust. Peter's business associate? Tina Bell.

This was mostly laughable, and to be honest, the reason I read this book was because I thought it would be silly to listen to the audiobook with my friend.

That being said. I am a feminist. I understand, when reading smutty romance, a lot of my principles will have to go out the window. This is simply rite of passage.

But this book?????

It felt like the weirdest male power fantasy. James' POV was dedicated to torturing people graphically for multiple minutes at a time(and getting off to it), degrading Wendy, and just exuding power in general. Wendy's POV is sex scenes, enjoying being degraded, and trying to justify liking Hook's behavior. Like, Hook hardly knows Wendy and then inflicts the most gruesome torture on a guy who calls her a bitch. It just felt so self-righteous and again, MALE POWER FANTASY???

Wendy being called Hook's "pet" happened one too many times.

The ending was fun. I enjoyed some of it for sure, but it was just soooooo over the top and cringe. Also, the big twist was so obvious that I thought it had to be a red herring. ( )

Hook wants revenge against Peter Michaels and is willing to go to any length to get it. Wendy is Peter's 21 year old daughter and Hook sees her as a tool to get to Peter. He plans to seduce Wendy and use her for his revenge.



Wendy has been hidden away for most of her life by her wealthy and distant father. When she meets James during a spontaneous night out with some girl friends, an addictive love affair begins to blossom. As James and Wendy's relationship become heated and intense, she learns about the mysterious world he lives in and is unsure if she is falling for James or his dark alter ego Hook.

I thought the overall story was done well and that the main characters had steady character development. The setting was well chosen, a large city with plenty of nightclubs for nefarious deeds. I found the pacing to be steady throughout the book until the end; the last 5ish chapters went by really quickly. There was so much buildup to the ending and then it felt like it was over in the blink of an eye. I also felt that the ending was fairly predictable and was not surprised by the twists.

My biggest issue was with the language and word usage. The description of a character's head movement was way over utilized. The words "tilt(ed/ing)" or "cock(ed/ing)" were used constantly to describe that head movement among other things. By chapter 12 I was thinking "somebody please give this author a thesaurus." There were other descriptions that I thought were over used as well but those two words occurred the most.

The spicy scenes were spicy and included some kink. 5 peppers on my scale: full, anatomically correct, step by step descriptions of sexual activity are given significant space in the story. They were well done and the author used good descriptions, but again certain descriptions and words were excessively used. ( )