This one was okay for me! I’m not a big fan of insta love, but I did love the banter between the MCs. There were definitely parts I enjoyed and thought were fun! Even though there was a decent amount of spice, I’m glad the author took the time to also show the connection between the MCs. If you like sports romance with spice and college settings, you will likely enjoy this one!

A super cute rom-com! Fun and engaging with just the right amount of spice. I love a good sports romance and The Hook Up delivers.

The Hook Up by Kristen Callihan is EVERYTHING I want in a sports romance! If you love insta-love/lust, off-the-charts banter, and spice that’ll leave you blushing, then this book is for you. The chemistry between the characters is immediate and undeniable, and I was hooked from the first chapter!

The MMC, Drew, is the star quarterback, and I’m here for all the campus hottie, famous athlete vibes. His connection with the FMC, Anna, is electric—opposites attract, and their banter is top-notch. I loved how their relationship started as just a hook-up, but the tension between them made things so much more swoon-worthy.

There’s so much spice in this book—seriously, SO MUCH spice—but it’s balanced perfectly with their developing connection. It’s fun, it’s steamy, and the chemistry is just off the charts.

If you want a book that combines sports, banter, sizzling chemistry, and a little bit of everything to make your heart race, The Hook Up is a must-read!

2.5 stars....This was ok, but nothing too exciting or intriguing. The beginning was rough for me to get into. I am a big mood reader, and I need books to grab me right at the start or my mind wanders. So this took me longer to get through than I would've liked.

College setting
Sports romance
Insta-love
Angst
Break-up drama

To be extra honest, I pretty much forgot everything after reading and almost DNFd, but I skipped through to the end to keep my Netgalley percentage high 🤷‍♀️.

Thanks to the publisher and author for the gifted copy.

This was a good read with fun characters. I liked their banter and chemistry, and I thought the overall pacing worked well.

✨ The Hook Up ✨

This was such a fun, spicy, sweet college sports romance. Drew and Anna had such a great dynamic. I loved their flirty banter and how their "instant attraction" and hookup grew into so much more. I also love all the angst while they were both trying to navigate their feelings and fought the urge to be together. Drew was such a good main character- you expect him to be a typical jock, but he was relentless in his pursuit of Anna and had so much more depth than expected. I'm normally not a huge fan of a college romance, but I was pleasantly surprised by this one.

Check it out if you like:

✨ College Sports Romance
✨ Football Quarterback
✨ Hookup to More
✨ Opposites Attract

📚 Book: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Hook Up by Kristen Callihan was an okay read for me. The chemistry between the characters was there, and the romance had its sweet and steamy moments, but I struggled to fully connect with the story. Some parts felt a bit slow, and the push-and-pull dynamic got a little repetitive. It wasn’t a bad read, just not as engaging as I had hoped. Still, if you love sports romances with emotional depth, it might work better for you!

If you're looking for your next NA Romance that's guaranteed to make you swoon, make you sweat, and make you smile, then you have definitely found your next read. Kristen Callihan is a new to me author, but will now be gracing my auto-buy shelf because she weaved a story that technically should have been 'been there, read that', yet managed to suck me in so thoroughly that I couldn't bring myself to put it down.

Now if you're a half-assed blurb reader and occasionally make assumptions like me, you probably read this:
The rules: no kissing on the mouth, no staying the night, no telling anyone, and above all… No falling in love.

and just assumed that this was referring to another man-whoring hero as opposed to the heroine. No? That was just me then? Well...this is awkward. But I digress...

Meet Anna Jones

Anna just wants to finish college and figure out what she wants to do with her life. She's not looking for a relationship, and she tends to have a type...of the poetic and emo variety. So when the school's football golden child and resident playboy starts sending her the lusty eyes, she wants none of it...or so she tells herself.

Meet Drew Baylor

Star quarterback, and the hot commodity on campus that can have any girl he wants without even trying...except Anna. Inexplicably drawn to the prickly redhead, Drew finds himself tongue tied and blushing whenever their cross path, and it certainly doesn't help that Anna never spares any feelings to cut him down at the knees. He's not her type, he gets it, he just can't seem to stay away from her.

But chemistry like the one they have, can only be denied for so long, and when something burns that hot it's bound to explode eventually, right?

What first begins as a scorching hot hookup, soon begins to develop into something so much more, something that Anna is not ready to face.

The author did an amazing job building a sexual and emotional tension and chemistry that is so palpable you can almost taste it. It's not often when I'll pick up a book where the MCs are going at it pretty much straight away, but that sexual tension continues to not only remain but build between them. The writing was that good.

Drew was such an endearing character, I fell for him straight off the bat. He wasn't perfect, and he wasn't at all what he seemed. He was not the asshole playboy that Anna assumes he was, he's sweet and charming and at times his emotional struggles never failed to pull at every heart string I had.

Anna was a different story. This is a girl that due to her dysfunctional family dynamic avoids relationships as a rule...especially with guys like Drew. Throughout much of the book she attempts to keep him at arm's length and with a very clear 'hook up only' label. But before she knows it, she begins to see the man beneath her initial assumptions, and she can't help but start to fall for him.

I was not expecting this book to be as hot as it was, but the sex was never too much. The chemistry between Drew and Anna was absolutely sizzling, and the best part? It was like that every time they get together.

Their path to a real relationship was not easy and not without struggle, and I just gobbled it up. Luckily all of the emotion and angst was fitting and there was no manufactured drama that ever took away from the story. By the second half I was so invested in their relationship, I couldn't bring myself to put the book down.

This is definitely a book I would recommend to any fans of the NA genre, and a series I can't wait to continue with. Really looking forward to Gray's book next. But don't just take my word for it, read this book and find out for yourself what all the fuss is about. You won't regret it, I promise.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for this Advanced Readers Copy of The Hook Up by Kristen Callihan!

I love a relatable FMC, and the internal shame and inability to recognize your own hangups it totally relatable.
This sweet book takes place in the final years of college making the characters able to drink legally(which I appreciate). The love story is sweet with instant attraction blossoming into lasting love, has some bumps along the way mainly due to insecurities and lack of communication, a common theme in Romance. But the writing was good and you wanted to help them come together and I think that is an important mark for any good romance.

A great college sports romance! I enjoyed this book quite a bit. The characters had great chemistry together which number 1 to me when reading a romance. They also had amazing banter with one another. My only complaint with this book is that the characters are intimate early on in the book and I wish that got dragged out a bit to build more tension. Other than that, I loved this one!

After about 20%, I realized this book wasn't for me. Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an advanced reading copy, I know it is a well-loved book for many others.

I remember the buzz about this book when it was first released, and I'm happy to have the opportunity to read and review this title on its re-release. What a terrific college sports romance!

Drew is easy to fall for -- for everyone except Anna. But it's clear from the start that she's not really being honest with her feelings. When they finally hook up things get really interesting and quite steamy. I loved the progression of their falling for each other -- it was so realistic to me and it was just wonderful to fall into this story.

I also liked that there are a few bumps in the road to their HEA and they don't all happen in the final pages. They have some things they have to work through -- it's not all unicorns and rainbows in their relationship. I adore a good break up -- and Drew and Anna take some time to work their way back to each other.

5 stars for this college romance. It's going to be a comfort read for me.

The Hook Up is a charming, steamy romance that’s equal parts fun and emotional. Callihan’s witty dialogue and relatable characters make this a perfect choice for a light, enjoyable read.

4 stars.

Engaging, compelling, a little scandalous, and full of excellent character development, "The Hook Up" by Kristen Callihan exceeded my expectations. I am not a huge sports romance fan, but this one hit the spot. The hot quarterback jock destined for the NFL meet-cutes the hot nerdy girl and a physical relationship blossoms into more. What's not to like? I found this book to be a little long at times and a bit too dramatic toward the end, but overall, it's an easy read full of spice, fun, and banter. I found the character development to be excellent and deceptively deep for both characters, particularly Drew, the main male character. Drew and Anna's relationship was very easy to get invested in, and well crafted overall. It balances the sports talk, the spicy scenes, and the emotional moments perfectly. A great book that I definitely recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley, Kristen Callihan, Harlequin Trade Publishing, and Canary Street Press for the complimentary ARC of this book. All opinions are my own. I was not compensated for this review.

I am so glad this is getting a new edition. It's one of my favorite sports romances ever, and even makes football players seem hot and sweet (yep, that's my own personal bias showing). I've read this so many times and can't recommend it enough.

I loved this book. Drew and Anna are a couple I could read over and over. It took me a minute to get into the story but before it was over, I loved it.

I fell for Drew's character before Anna's. Their different stories were a good pairing for each other and it showed their journey into adulthood together.

A fun story that kept me interested! A fair amount of spice and a good read! I’ll keep an eye out for this author.

Spicy, male female, 1st person dual point of view, contemporary romance. The Hook Up is the first book in the Game On series. This was a fun perfect length read. I really enjoyed both main characters and they had fantastic chemistry. I'm looking forward to reading the next book!

This isn't my usual type of read, but I did get all the way through this one. This is a new adult title, and takes place on a college campus. Star quarterback and hot nerd girl. But there is more to the story than just the tropey jock falling for the nerd. These two characters each experience, and their connection is one they make naturally while learning to rely on one another. This will definitely resonate with the intended audience.