Hooking Up - Book Review

By Helena Hunting

Synopsis

Amalie Whitfield is the picture of a blushing bride during her wedding reception–but for all the wrong reasons. Instead of proclaiming his undying love, her husband can be heard, by Amalie and their guests, getting off with someone else. She has every reason to freak out, and in a moment of insanity, she throws herself at the first hot-blooded male she sees. But he’s not interested in becoming her revenge screw.

Mortified and desperate to escape the post-wedding drama, Amalie decides to go on her honeymoon alone, only to find the man who rejected her also heading to the same tiny island for work. But this time he isn’t holding back. She should know better than to sleep with someone she knows, but she can’t seem to resist him.

They might agree that what happens on the island should stay on the island, but neither one can deny that their attraction is more than just physical.

Review

After meeting Amie and her fiancé, Armstrong, in SHACKING UP, I was really looking forward to Amie’s story, because I knew Armstrong was a cheating douchebag and I wanted to see Amie find a man worthy of her. While I don’t remember Lex from the previous book, in this book he proves he is definitely that man.

Helena Hunting has a great way of writing characters that you’ll love, and characters that you’ll love to hate. I really liked Amie, who was strong and comfortable with her sexuality, but she also had just the right amount of insecurity that made her relatable. I loved that she stood her ground against Armstrong, physically and mentally. Speaking of Armstrong, he’s a huge douchebag. Yes, I know I’ve called him that twice already, but he’s such a big one that it deserves being mentioned more than once. Finally, I loved Lex, who is definitely a keeper with his playful personality and kind heart, and I’m very glad that he got the girl.

“Why’re you being so nice to me?”
“Because I want to. Because you don’t deserve what’s happened to you.”

I enjoyed HOOKING UP, but it didn’t have the same amount of humour that SHACKING UP did. Sure, there were scenes that had me smiling and laughing, but they were few and far between, and thanks to Armstrong’s disturbing and delusional behaviour, it was quite a bit more serious than the previous book. I liked reading how Lex and Amie met in the proglogue, and how Chapter One really draws you into the story by making you feel a wide range of emotions. Unfortunately, I did feel that the story dragged a little after Lex and Amie left Bora Bora, and it didn’t really pick up again until towards the end.

HOOKING UP is told in dual POVs and comes with a HEA for Lex and Amie. While it is listed as a stand-alone—and it can be read as such—its characters are connected to SHACKING UP. If you haven’t read SHACKING UP yet, I highly recommend it. Will there be another book after this one? Maybe. There’s a little scene at the end that involved a much-hated female character that got my spidey senses tingling. Time will tell.