Reviews

Hooking Him by Aurora Rose Reynolds

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jeandie_leone's review against another edition

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lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

anniecarp's review

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emotional lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

4.0

everythinginbetween's review against another edition

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hopeful mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

This book was ok, definitely the best in the series, though that’s not saying much as I rated the previous two books both two stars. This one was nowhere near as nauseating and lovey dovey, with only a few forehead kisses and no nose kisses whatsoever. Neither characters in this one waxed on and on about how rare and perfect their partner was and how they couldn’t believe that they were real, in fact the heroine often called the hero annoying and a jerk, and it was true, he kind of was one. The heroine was much better than Chrissie from that last book, she was just a weak, insecure cry baby. This heroine may have had more reason to be insecure but she had decided to make her own happiness a priority and seemed much stronger that the usual AAR damsel in distress. So this book was a decent read with a bit of push from the FMC, the male as per usual AAR was all in from jump and a condescending overbearing ass, but at least he was called out on it, not praised for it.

A few annoyances with the plot though:

1. The family drama on the heroine’s side was never really resolved in a satisfying way, we do get an update in the epilogue but there was no real closure on the awful way her parents treated her. For such a large part of the heroine’s struggle to find happiness this was kind of just left after the restaurant encounter.
2.

Spoiler

the murder mystery plot. Was this even necessary? It came out of left field at the 94% point with no hints during the story that the hero had a stalker. All of a sudden some chick he barely knew had decided IN HIGH SCHOOL that they were meant to be so she murdered people to get his attention? Like what? Why? Because he was a detective? She didn’t even leave him any breadcrumbs.... it was so far fetched and unbelievable and frankly dumb to include at all.

3. Calvin’s family: we are introduced to them through his overly involved mother in the beginning, seeming as a catalyst to pushing Anne towards Calvin. We then see his family at the bbq, and they are made very interesting. He was adopted at 5, has an adopted brother and his parents are a mixed race couple who also foster children in need. Cool right? But after that party we barely hear from or about them again. I was thinking there would be some cool meddling from the mom, some backstory from Calvin’s birth situation that would play out in the story, but nope. This whole part is abandoned quickly, leaving me to wonder why AAR even went to the trouble of building this out in the first place.

The golden girls were funny and crazy, could have had more of them and less of the above, especially the murder plot.
Other than that, the story was pretty conventional, it could have been interesting if the plot points above had been better executed. It just seemed like the author rushed to get this finished and didn’t fully flesh out the story.

romancebookloverinseattle's review

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3.0

Of all three How to Catch an Alpha books, this is my favorite and I wavered greatly over whether it should be a 3 or 4 star. I LOVED LOVED the first half - super compelling and I very much enjoyed it. I still liked the second half, but it went too quickly in some ways and it didn't feel like there was enough oomph to the "mystery" part of it.

kayladbruns's review

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4.0

Is there any surprise here? I love ARR and have enjoyed every book in this series. These characters were cute and I had a good time reading about them falling in love.

I really enjoyed our main character, Anna. I can respect a person who is willing to leave it all behind if they aren’t happy. She was an heiress who was engaged to a man she didn’t love and had a terrible family. She realized she wasn’t happy and walked away from it all. I feel like Calvin was really good for Anna. He showed her what being loved and cared for could feel like.

Besides our main characters, we were given some very funny side characters. This neighborhood had its own version of the Golden Girls. They were so damn funny and brought humor to the story.

Overall, I enjoyed this one! I don’t know if there will be more in this series, but I sure hope so!

I received an ARC via NetGalley for an honest review.

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charlottenw1's review against another edition

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3.0

Hooking Him had a much more humourous side to the story with the hilarious Golden Girls.

I enjoyed Anna and Calvin's story more as it had a bit more depth but was still missing something. Aurora has written another super easy romance with the insta-love trope. I did want to see the dog at the end because he seemed to disappear, this will be an answer I will forever crave.

This series is perfect for a quick and steamy romance, easy to read and has loveable characters from start to finish.