Well, I kind of knew what to expect. I mean, I read the warnings lol. But I still don’t think I was ready for this one. In fact, I don’t think anything could have prepared me for twenty pages in when he’s fantasizing about screwing her on top of her father’s corpse. It made me question whether I truly even like the dark and the despicable because this just went a little too far for my tastes. Perhaps the upfront shock and awe is simply to weed out the weak of heart. But nevertheless, somehow I persevered.

Part of me doesn’t like the instant, and seemingly insubstantial, feelings that develop. But the other part of me couldn’t get enough. It is heady in a way. While I knew this book was said to be dark, nothing wholesome or good about it, I was still a little taken aback at times. Maybe I’m just growing out of the whole ‘defile and ruin me’ stage, or maybe I’ve just gotten more cynical. I don't really like the virgin thing. It just didn’t make sense to me in this story, when all of her actions and desires speak otherwise, and it really had no bearing on anything else within the story.

Everything is pretty cliché, it's all a combination of overused tropes. And while it comes with the bad, it also comes with all the good too. There is a reason we love that possessive, alpha male character, and it’s common because it works. And I have to admit, I ended up really loving Hook. I felt for his tragic past, and I swooned when he opens up with her more than he ever has with anyone else. Wendy and James have their soft and tender moments and I’m here for it. The spicy scenes are okay, nothing earth-shattering or breathtaking. And some of the lines of dialogue are so cringy and eye-roll inducing that I was laughing so hard.

At first I felt the book to be completely plotless, completely lacking in characterization, and completely lacking in world-building. It feels like the bare minimum of narrative. (I think I learned my lesson with this book, that I don’t like smut for the sake of smut.) However, by about halfway through it starts to get some momentum and depth, and I found myself invested in the outcome and the characters. It does start to pick up and with the turn of events I changed my mind about it. I really like the whole mob boss culture aspect, and I thought this was an interesting twist.

Despite everything, despite all the things, I still found myself inexplicably turning the pages. We’ll call this one a guilty pleasure because I just couldn’t help reading it. I’m sticking with a solid three stars. I have a love-hate relationship with this book. Maybe I love hating on it, or maybe I hate that I love it. Probably some of both. I’m glad I read it. I can see why all the hype has built around this book.

I am so obsessed with this book it isn't even funny. James and Wendy's story was everything. It was dark and twisted and hot and I loved every second of it. The spice was top notch and the romance was even better. Hook was the perfect "I'll give you the match to set the world on fire and watch it burn with you" MMC. I predicted some of the twists in this story, however, I was still eager to see how everything wrapped up.

Thank you #Netgalley for a digital arc of #Hooked in exchange for my honest review.

I've always loved Peter Pan. Reading an antihero from Hook was everything! I loved the plot and the spice. The chemistry was great. I really enjoyed the characters. I wish Wendy would have held out a little longer in the end but that didn't keep me from reading this in less than 5 hours. I will definitely be reading the rest of the series.

Villains and happy endings? Just up my alley!! I loved this captain Hook retelling, and I'm excited to see what comes next in this series as well. A dark peter-pan retelling, Hook is actually the love interest, Wendy is Peter's son and Peter is his worst enemy. This book wasn't as DARK as I expected it to be, but it was good nonetheless. I would definitely recommend it!

An entirely predictable story line that didn't leave me gasping in shock at the plot twist.
I can see why it has blown up all over tiktok, it is a booktok book. No real plot but pages and pages of "spicy".

Peter Pan fans will fall in love with this story focused on the villain of the tale, Captain Hook. McIntire has taken the dark figure and turned him into a deeply misunderstood character with lots of sizzle.

James has always wanted revenge on Peter. His opportunity comes when, Peter's twenty-year-old daughter Wendy shows up in James's bar. He will seduce her and finally destroy Peter. But the closer he gets to Wendy the more his intentions crumble and his plans fall apart. For Wendy, she is drawn to the dangerous and brooding James. She can't seem to get enough of him but she doesn't know the real reason he is showing her so much attention. But as she falls hard for him she starts to uncover the truth about the man who seems to be more of a monster.

This is a dark romantic retelling. The characters were all deeply flawed, and Wendy was written as an extremely naïve and sheltered girl. Sometimes it was a little frustrating with some of her choices but it all lent itself to the overall plot. The pacing was good, the steamy scenes were very spicy and there was great tension. Fans of Hook and retellings of Peter Pan will like this. This is a great guilty pleasure, weekend beach read to get your skin flushed and blood pumping.

The was a great retelling of Peter Pan. It’s not the first one I’ve read where Hook isn’t the villain but definitely the first dark romance with the switch. Peter has hurt people in Hooks life so as revenge Hook goes after Peter’s daughter Wendy. But she essentially falls into his lap when she shows up to his bar making his revenge that much easier for him.

I was slightly disconnected with the characters when reading. James/Hook did seem to be as bad as he self proclaimed. And I expected Wendy (though sheltered) to be a lot smarter than what she turned out to be. During the spicy scenes Wendy really enjoyed breath play. Breath play in these situations are extremely dangerous and I felt both Wendy and Hook to not have enough knowledge about it to execute it properly. Wendy essentially passes out and that is well beyond the appropriate stopping point of breath play. I’m worried people will read this and think that that is OK and incorporating it into their own lives with detrimental consequences.

Apart from my few issues with the characters I very much enjoyed the story. Wendy’s devotion to her brother. There’s little throwbacks to the original Peter Pan story and that’s always my favourite part of retellings. I thought it was a great idea for Hook to own a bar. And the settling of the bar is one of my favourites in the book.

We special ordered copies of this book to our store and they were gone within days. This is definitely a genre people are looking to read from and having good steamy books to recommend make this sell easier.

#netgalleyarc This was definitely a for me read and not a for my high school library read. This isn’t my usual “cup of tea” but I can’t resist anything to do with Capt. Hook. Overall a good snd quick read. I will probably continue the series. I will say the story built up at a decent pace and then seemed to peak rather quickly. Overall, a decent read.