Glass Paper Ink Bookblog: The Hook Up by Kristen Callihan

Wednesday, 21 January 2015

The Hook Up by Kristen Callihan - Review

Blurb:

The rules: no kissing on the mouth, no staying the night, no telling anyone, and above all… No falling in love

Anna Jones just wants to finish college and figure out her life. Falling for star quarterback Drew Baylor is certainly not on her to do list. Confident and charming, he lives in the limelight and is way too gorgeous for his own good. If only she could ignore his heated stares and stop thinking about doing hot and dirty things with him. Easy, right?

Too bad he’s committed to making her break every rule…

Football has been good to Drew. It’s given him recognition, two National Championships, and the Heisman. But what he really craves is sexy yet prickly Anna Jones. Her cutting humor and blatant disregard for his fame turns him on like nothing else. But there’s one problem: she's shut him down. Completely.

That is until a chance encounter leads to the hottest sex of their lives, along with the possibility of something great. Unfortunately, Anna wants it to remain a hook up. Now it’s up to Drew to tempt her with more: more sex, more satisfaction, more time with him. Until she’s truly hooked. It's a good thing Drew knows all about winning.

All’s fair in love and football…Game on

Kristine's Review:

Reviewed: October 2014.

I threw down a challenge to a book group I'm part of, to find me something laugh out loud funny, something with heart, nothing to angsty and as the suggestions started rolling in The Hook Up kept getting mentioned. I knew it sounded familiar so I searched my kindle and there it was staring at me, begging me to pick it up.
My kindle read it to me on the way to work, then at lunch I forgot to eat because I was too invested in Drew and Anna. My day was filled with sneaking to read another chapter, and driving home I had audio playing once again so I wouldn't waste a second that could be spent finding out more about this couple.
There's so much I want to say about The Hook Up, I'm guessing you've read the blurb so I'm not going to give you my version of it. I connected with this story on so many levels, I've always been the chubby girl, in high school I wouldn't say I was invisible but I was definitely one of the boys, I was the girl the hot boys talked to about other girls not the object of their affection, and that stays with you, in a way that leaves a mark on your soul, it wasn't that boys didn't eventually notice me, but that I never felt worthy, never felt quite enough. When one of the "popular" boys finally did, I found myself sabotaging it, because one day he was going to realise he had made a mistake and I'd be left shattered and alone. So from almost immediately I was transfixed with Anna because I got her, truly soul deep got her, I understood her fears, her past, her self doubt with a heartwrenching clarity.
Drew, the jock, the man on campus, the star QB, he's the kind of guy, girls fall all over and guys want to be. He was so much more than just the sum of his parts, he was, he is wise beyond his years and the moment he set eyes on Anna there was a carnal attraction he felt to her, like a moth to a flame he wanted her, in anyway he could get her, but more than that, he wanted all of her, her light and laughter, her love and affection, her darkness and self doubt, he wanted everything with her.
The visceral reaction I had to Callihan's words left me spell bound, speechless, it was as if I felt his fingers ghosting along my skin, when he spoke to her, spoke of her, I felt that zing of wanting, need, I felt all of it, and I truly lost myself in this book, in their story.
There's a line in The Hook Up, when Drew talks about what having Anna's love feels like, "it makes me feel as weak as a fucking kitten, and as big as a fucking mountain" - that line right there encapsulates everything I feel for this story, because as raw as I felt connecting with Anna and her fears, this story touched me in a way not many others have, it left me feeling secure and whole. If there's one thing you take from this review, it's to go out and 1click The Hook Up, give yourself over to the experience that is Anna and Drew.