Title: Hooked (Never After #1)
Author: Emily McIntire
Publisher: Bloom Books 2021
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 397
Rating: 4/5 stars
Reading Challenges: Unread Shelf; Romanceopoly - Velvet Room (Dark romance with walking red-flag love interest); Fairytale retelling - Peter Pan
Where I Got It: Under the Cover, Kansas City, Retreat Weekend 2025
Spice Rating: 6
James has always had one agenda: destroy his enemy, Peter Michaels. When Peter’s twenty-year-old daughter Wendy shows up in James’s bar, he sees his way in. Seduce the girl and use her for his revenge. It’s the perfect plan, until things in James’s organization begin to crumble. Suddenly, he has to find the traitor in his midst, and his plan for revenge gets murkier as James starts to see Wendy as more than just a pawn in his game.
Wendy has been cloistered away most of her life by her wealthy cold father, but a spontaneous night out with friends turns into an intense and addictive love affair with the dark and brooding James. As much as she knows James is dangerous, Wendy can’t seem to shake her desire for him. But as their relationship grows more heated and she learns more about the world he moves in, she finds herself unsure if she’s falling for the man known as James or the monster known as Hook.
I picked this up last Bookish Retreat at the romance book store, I do love a morally grey love interest and a romance filled with dark themes. I was excited that this was a Hook centered romance. But somehow I completely missed that this was a straight romance, no fantasy elements at all. Thankfully I still really enjoyed this one. Hook is out for revenge and thinks Wendy is going to be the perfect tool to achieve that revenge. Instead, Hook finds himself drawn to Wendy. On the other side, Wendy breaks out of shell and figures out what she wants. I loved the twists and turns and all the murdery bits. I love the combination of murder and romance. I think the genre mashup is my sweet spot. This volume ends with a HEA, but I’m excited to keep reading McIntire’s redone fairy tales.
Never After
#1 Hooked
#2 Scarred
#3 Wretched
#4 Twisted
#5 Crossed
#6 Hexed
Next up on the TBR pile:
