Emily McIntireRomance · Fiction
Hooked
Synopsis
James has spent years plotting revenge against Peter Michaels, the man who took everything from him. When Peter's sheltered daughter, Wendy, drifts into his orbit, James sees the perfect weapon — a way to hurt his enemy where it counts. The plan is simple: get close, gain her trust, and use her against her father.
But Wendy is not the pawn he expected. Drawn to the danger James represents, she begins to see the man beneath the menace, even as she wonders whether he's a man or a monster. And as threats to James's criminal empire mount, the line between his scheme and his feelings blurs into something neither of them planned for.
Hooked is the first book in Emily McIntire's bestselling Never After series — dark, steamy contemporary romances that reimagine classic fairy tales and villains, giving the bad guys their own twisted happily-ever-afters. This one takes its cues from Peter Pan.
How it reads
- ⭐⭐ 2 Stars<br><br>I was missing Once Upon A Time's Hook, so I was very excited about this Peter Pan retelling. But sadly I didn't like it. <br><br>The references to Peter Pan were great, the places names, of course the characters names and small little things like clocks, boats, and crocodiles. But that's really it. That's all I liked. <br><br>James is described as this very dark and authoritative person, incredibly smart by surpassing his master and running a criminal organization, and yet he f••••• up everything and blames the wrong person, your deduction skills suck James. Wendy is incredibly naive and quite dumb. She gives herself a pep talk because she's a "badass” then proceeds to get kidnaped and forgive James way too easily after being chained to his basement for 3 days. I was expecting more anger, drama and conflict from her, especially since this criminal world was new to her and not something she grew up in. And I'm not even going to write about their relationship. Yes, this is a dark romance, but it was a mix between insta-love, toxicity and really weird sex descriptions that were supposed to be "dark".<br><br>The ending was predictable <details><summary>Spoiler</summary> example: Jon being James's brother was kind of obvious from how Peter treated him, but never explained since Jame´s parents are described as happy and very caring of him, when did the cheating occur then? And Smith being a villain was also foreshadowed since the clock incident but how did he end up being his cousin? Why did the uncle never introduce them? </details> It felt a very forced way to end the book. <br><br>The two stars are because I really like the cover and the references.
- Wow, just, wow - this book was amazing, I loved Hook and Wendy - there is just something when it comes to morally grey characters which I find super attractive. Hook is the dark, dangerous and slightly psychotic anti-hero who is ensnared in Wendy from the moment he sees her. Knowing she is the daughter of his largest enemy only makes her more desirable. I loved the forbidden romance aspect of this book, Hook who knew he shouldn’t fall for her and Wendy who knew her father would not approve. I really enjoyed how the two always gravitated towards each other - even after betrayal. Don’t get me wrong, neither of these two characters are perfect and they both make their fair share of mistakes throughout the book. Hook has enough emotional trauma to pay a psychologist for the rest of their life. However, this just makes the character development more, pardon my pun, hooking. I adored this book, and cannot wait to read more by Emily.
- 3.5 stars I wasn’t expecting a twist, so it was a nice surprise there was one at the end. Otherwise it would be a 3 star book. Doesn’t live up to the hype but I still want to continue reading the rest of the series.
- 3.5/5