Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - Hooked

I started this book yesterday. I finished this book yesterday. I blinked, and it was over.

Hooked is on EVERY dark romance suggestion list I've come across, and I was honestly initially hesitant because I thought it was going to be a fantasy book, but that was not the case. The characters are veeeeeeery loosely based on the original set from the classic Peter Pan story we all know and love, and had a few other little Easter eggs pointing back to the source material as well. Reading this, I was quite literally smiling to myself, giggling and kicking my feet.

If you've been thinking of dipping a toe into dark romance, I would definitely recommend this as a jumping off point! Don't get me wrong, the MMC is 100% a villain through and through, but the writing on this one felt more like a beginners guide to the morally gray.

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sabrinakreads's review against another edition

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dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.5

This book was very entertaining.

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zynmana's review against another edition

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dark hopeful sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

This book was the just the right amount of spicy and storyline. It was a good fast read and I can see myself picking it up again and again. This isnt a retelling of peter pan. Its better.

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angelofthetardis's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I read this series of books last year (and reviews were posted at the time), but recently found the first four were available as audiobooks as part of my Audible subscription. However, they're being removed in a couple of weeks, so I want to try and get them listened to before then!

The audio version definitely adds a level to the story in bringing it to life, especially where you have a male narrator reading James' chapters and a female narrator reading Wendy's chapters. However, I still cannot understand why you would hire two narrators for that purpose, and then not have them speak the appropriate lines in the other person's chapter (I.e. have the male read James' speech within Wendy's chapters and vice versa). They don't do badly at putting on the opposite voices, but it just grates on my nerves!

I was less convinced by the voices/accents employed for the secondary characters - the male narrator had an especially tough job given that he's a Brit and most of the secondary characters Americans. I couldn't tell you whether the accent was right for the setting (Brit here), but it was quite harsh and didn't necessarily suit the narrators' natural tone of voice. But equally they managed to bring each character to life throughout with different voices for each and, for the most part, they didn't wander too much.

There were a couple of places where I felt the narrators could have 'acted' a bit more to get the point across, but generally it was a very enjoyable listen.

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bigfootsbiggestfan's review against another edition

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dark slow-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? It's complicated

0.25

most vile & disgusting piece of trash i’ve ever had the displeasure of reading.

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nursestern's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

3.75

I enjoyed the spice of this book and the play on a classic fairy tale. The focus is on a well known childhood villain who you previously would never have been attracted to…but now can’t stop thinking about. Can’t wait to read the second one of this series.

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thepeculiarlibrary's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I ATE THAT SHIT UP

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