Reviews with content warning for Adult/minor relationship - Hooked

Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

Hooked by Emily McIntire

22 reviews

eagleshouse's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

1.25

if I wanted to see a raging misogynistic edgelord talk about how women are beneath him only for him to somehow win the girl with mediocre sex and weird pet names, I'd read fucking Andrew Tate fanfiction, and I reckon I'd still somehow enjoy that more than this book.

I'm sorry but if this is their idea of good smut/relationships, then I am so sorry for straight women.

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stitchof's review against another edition

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dark mysterious fast-paced

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

2.75

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myinvinciblesummer's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced

Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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koistyfishy's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced

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

3.5

Did you know the word darling appears 61 times.

This little Fishy was hooked...to lean completely into the cliche. This was unique, exciting and deliciously dark and I was enamoured by it. But in the words of my Daddy Darling, "if you didn’t land it, you didn’t catch it". And as much as I was initially hooked, I broke free in the final struggle to reel me in!

I have never read a story with a premise like this, so I was instantly sold and from the polarising reviews and hype of these books, I needed to see what all the fuss was about. This is a fractured fairytale and while at first, I didn’t understand what that means... it makes so much sense now that I’ve read the book. Much to my initial chagrin there is no fantasy in this, but I put my big girl panties on and decided to just enjoy the contemporary romance for what it is.

This is not a Peter Pan retelling, so if that is what you’re looking for, you’re not gonna find it in these pages. It is mostly just taking the names and characters from the fairytale and mish-mashing them together into a plot. Yes, some quotes or nuances from the story are mixed in the batter to make this work, but that’s about where the similarities end between the original Peter Pan story and this.

The story is dark and while I normally prefix books like these to say, “make sure you read the trigger warning before you start”. There is actually a request at the start to go into this blind because it adds to the enjoyment of the story. Just note that it is not the smut that is awfully dark. If anything the smut is borderline vanilla but still on the slightly kinky side. You would only have a problem with it if you are horridly offended by "breath play" and being told what a good girl you are and believe me if any British man wanted to call me Darling and say I was a "good girl", I would be begging him to use me too!

No, this is dark in terms of...imagine a Mafia Boss who really likes to use knives and has no qualms about killing people, so if you’re okay with that and don’t mind mixing in some drugs, murder and kidnapping...this is just for you.

I did enjoy this, REALLY...but I have two main problems. First, I am petty and I cannot take a book seriously when a man, "reaching his peak" is described as "I coat her womb with my seed" or "rubbing his seed into my skin". It’s an instant turn-off and to me reads like it’s a woman writing about a man who doesn’t actually know what a man thinks about when he’s having sex… I’ve read a lot of smut in my life and the minute the word seed or milk (which is also used in the kicky scenes) appear...I instantly deduct a star.

The second is the book was about 100 pages too short. As a result, the love felt very Insta-lovie. It never really had a chance to develop. The pacing in the plot just felt a little off, and as a result, the ending felt super rushed compared to the almost slow buildup from the start. I believe that if an extra hundred pages were added we could’ve seen a more fleshed-out ending. We could also have delved a little bit deeper into Wendy’s character because at the moment she was a little bit a wishy-washy-one-dimensional-insufferable-baby at times... which you know can be frustrating. There was also not a lot of communication and conversation that happened between Wendy and James. Quite a lot of what they’re thinking and feeling happens in their internal monologue. The minute they start talking to each other he is basically already kissing her neck and seducing her, and things go naughty very quickly from there…

I don’t mind this book. I don’t mind that Hook doesn’t get his redemption arc because that’s not why I read this. I read it for some escapism and to see the hype. I can see why some people absolutely adore this and why some people are absolutely appalled.

From my perspective, I would recommend it because whilst James might not have hooked me and successfully landed my catch, Emily McIntire sure has and I cannot wait to jump into the rest of the books in the series and I wouldn’t be doing that if this book wasn’t enjoyable

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literarycryptid's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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rdmoreland0801's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

This is definitely not a fairytale retelling, so please keep that in mind if you choose to read. The characters we know from the story of Peter Pan are reimagined, but some of those themes are similar.

James “Hook” Barrie is out for revenge and plans to attack the man responsible where it hurts - his daughter, Wendy. Unfortunately for Hook, he starts to realize he loves her and can’t go through with his initial plan.

There were a few things that I wasn’t a huge fan of. I can’t wrap my head around Wendy wanting to stay with him after he kidnaps and threatens to kill her. She feels she can trust him because he allows her to be herself and make her own decisions, unlike her father.

I think I like breathing too much to be engaged by the sex scenes. To each their own, but did she need to be strangled every time they had sex?

Also, we can’t forget the unnecessary twist at the end revealing Jon (Wendy’s brother) to also be Hook’s half-brother. They say it like “we share a brother”, but does that not also make them half siblings? Wendy and Jon share one parent, and that same parent also birthed Hook. Seems a little suspect..

Very early in their relationship, Stockholm Syndrome was discussed. Coming back full circle to that was a little on the nose.

Overall, the writing was good and was able to hold my attention, but the storyline wasn’t my favorite.

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