Book Review: Hooked

I have been hearing about the Never After series by Emily McIntire for months and it sounded so good so naturally it’s been on my tbr for months. The series are standalone dark, contemporary romances that are fractured fairytales. They’re a spin on classic tales or fairytales set in modern times and main love interest is the villain in the original story. The first book in the series is Hooked and is a twist on Peter Pan.

The novel follows James Barrie aka “Hook”, a powerful and dangerous man in town. He and his mentor, Ru, own most of the town and one of their endeavors is their drug empire of pixie dust. His arch enemy is Peter Michaels, due to something from years ago when James was a child. Peter, a wealthy businessman, has a darker side than the public realizes. He moves to Boston with his children – Wendy, a young woman in her early 20s, and Jon, a teenager. While his kids think it’s a simple move due to work, he is really encroaching on Hook’s territory.

To get to Peter Michaels, James slips into Wendy’s life and they quickly begin a passionate relationship. Of course, Wendy has no idea the connection between James and her father nor does she know the truth about her father’s business.

Will Wendy choose her father or James?

I really liked this dark romance. It definitely kept my attention the whole way through and I liked Hook and Wendy together. I was able to sort of guess who the bad guy (other than Wendy’s dad being Hook’s enemy) was so it wasn’t too surprising or full of twists and turns, but entertaining nonetheless.

I will definitely keep reading the series!

One of my favorite quotes/exchanges in the book is below:

“You want to watch the world burn?”

“Let me guess, you’ll set it on fire?” I ask.

He chuckles, the sound vibrating through me settling into my bones.

“No, darling. I’ll hand you the match, and stand at your back, watching you become queen of the ashes.”

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