March 4, 2021 - Staff Reviews

The Hook Up

By Kristen Ashley

Release Date: December 19, 2017

Ebook Available from WV Reads!

https://wvreads.overdrive.com/media/3604865

3 Stars - Wordy but heartfelt first in a series featuring two quirky sisters. Ashley's rambling prose is here as always but doesn't flow as well as other novels. Izzy was a cute heroine but not the easiest to connect with, in my opinion. Johnny's a hero trying to turn around his love life. Great for insta-love romance fans but a bit much for those who want more.

I think this book fell short of my expectations because Ashley has done all the things here better in other books. Izzy is an enjoyable heroine but her personality and lifestyle was a bit all over the place. She was a girly girl but she was also a farm girl and a working girl with an impressive office job. Johnny was a great hero of course, perhaps his best moments were telling Izzy about the kind of guy he was. I definitely could have done without his backstory heartbreak. That's just me but I didn't need the ex-girlfriend, father, and dog drama to make him sensitive.

Also Izzy's Kentucky home didn't feel all that different than say the Colorado home in "Play It Safe". No one really spoke with an accent, mentioned weather, or even had moonshine around. Something to distinguish this series more would have added a lot for relatively little. The messy scene with Addie and her ex and Toby also rubbed me the wrong way. It felt like such an obvious string of plugs for the next book. And almost overshadowed Johnny and Izzy at moments. I did like the sister relationship of quiet support. Deanna and Charlie were cool side characters, along with Izzy's menagerie of pets. A little excitement and suspense toward the end was a nice touch but might have been a little too late. Plenty of Ashley trademarks for long time fans and a satisfying story. While it's the first in a series, I wouldn't recommend trying this novel of hers first.

(NS)