The Hook Up by Kristen Callihan

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If you've been with me for awhile, you probably know that I'm a big fan of the Smart Women Read Romance podcast and am a patreon member. Every month they have an exclusive patreon live review. April's theme was New Adult and the book that won the poll was The Hook Up by Kristen Callihan. This is the first book in her Game On Series.

I haven't read too much new adult, but looking through a lot of new adult lists I feel like most the new adult I read is also sports romance. I don't usually read New Adult, because even when I was in that time myself, I never really went through the normal issues that a typical New Adult goes through and I struggle connecting to the books. I was pleasantly surprised by this book and am definitely interested in reading more from the series. I think it helped a lot that they were both seniors in college.

Our heroine is Anna, a fiery red-head. At the start of a philosophy class, she meets one of her new classmates, Drew the star quarterback. They instantly feel a connection, but Anna fights it for a good chunk of the book. I really Drew and how into Anna he was. He was constantly getting shut down and rejected, but he stayed patient and persistent without turning into a stalker. I really enjoyed Kristen's writing and could feel the visceral connection between the two. 

I also really enjoyed the choices that Kristen made throughout the book. It took some turns that I wasn't expecting. I also really enjoyed that it was spread out over a longer time than previous books in this sub-genre that I read. It just felt more realistic. Drew was 100% all in on Anna from the first time their eyes met and I loved how sure he was that she was it. It was also a nice change of pace that it was Anna pushing that they were just "hooking up" and avoiding the relationship word. They were still so drawn to each other despite her reservations. 

I found it interesting as well that she wouldn't let him kiss her on the mouth. Anna knew it was too personal and that as soon as she let him, she would be completely lost. I found myself rooting for their first kiss (despite having slept together quite a bit before it happened) and really enjoyed the scene that led up to it as well as when it finally happened. It was so sweet and steamy and you could feel the connection growing that much stronger. It just was written so well and was definitely swoony. 

What brought this down to 4-stars for me was mostly Anna. I completely understood her reservations and insecurities, but I wish that she would've opened up to him more earlier and not let him misunderstand things so much. Like I said, I understood it and could see it coming a million miles away, but since I was get turns I didn't expect throughout the book I almost wish that she would've done the same when it came to those scenes. Another issue I had is just the stereotypical "hot girl." I loved Anna a lot, but it bothered me a little bit that she was very well endowed, had a tiny waist, but then a big butt. I don't know, but people aren't shaped like that naturally very often. It also didn't seem to fit with her being chubby in high school. I know that a lot of times there's some growing into your body, especially if you're a late bloomer, in the late teens and early twenties, but it just seemed unrealistic to me. I 'm glad that it was too focused on, but every time one of his teammates or other jocks mentioned it, it rubbed me wrong. At the same time though everyone was all confused on why he was with someone that looked like that. It just was too opposite ends of the spectrum.

I also enjoyed Anna's best friends and really want Iris to get her HEA. I glanced through the other books in the series just to see if Iris was in a pairing, but I didn't see her mentioned. Maybe Kristen has a connecting series or something? If you know please let me know, because Iris needs to be with someone that will support her love of Bieber. Even though I am not into Bieber at all, I am a boy-band fan and still absolutely adore K-pop and J-pop boy bands. We all need someone that will accept our fandoms. I connected to her on that aspect and need Iris to find her person. I will probably pick up other books in the series and had other Kristen Callihan books on my tbr already, so I'll definitely move them up my list since I enjoyed her writing so much. I can't wait for the live tonight! I also should mention this book definitely helped keep me from entering a slump after DNFing Shanna earlier that morning.

Have you read The Hook Up?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: The Hook Up, Kristen Callihan, 4-stars, eBook, 0 days, 362 pages, published in 2014