The Hookup

Kristen Ashley — 2017

When the new girl in town, Eliza "Izzy" Forrester decides to hit the local drinking hole, she's not ready to meet the town's good, solid guy. She's definitely not prepared to engage in her very first hookup with him. Then Izzy wakes up the next morning in Johnny Gamble's bed and good girl Izzy finds she likes being bad for Johnny. Even so, Izzy feels Johnny holding her at arm's length. But Johnny makes it clear he wants more and Izzy already knows she wants as much of hot-in-bed, sweet-out-of-it Johnny Gamble as she can get. Floating on air thinking this is going somewhere, Izzy quickly learns why Johnny holds distant. He's in love with someone else. Someone who left him and did it leaving him broken. Whoever was up next would be runner up, second best. Knowing the stakes, Izzy will take what she can get from the gentleman that's Johnny Gamble. And even knowing his heart might never mend, Johnny can't seem to stay away from Izzy. Until out of nowhere, his lost love comes back to town. He's not going back, but Johnny still knows the right thing to do is let Izzy go. And Izzy knew the stakes, so she makes it easy and slips though his fingers. But that's before Johnny realizes Eliza moved to town to escape danger that's been swirling around her. And that's why Johnny decides to wade in. That and the fact Eliza Forrester makes breakfast with a canary singing on her shoulder and fills out tight dresses in a way Johnny Gamble cannot get out of his head.

Reviews

Lover of Romance @addictedtoromance

Jan 1, 2023

This review was originally posted on Addicted To Romance The Hookup is the first book in one of Kristen Ashley's latest series "Moonlight and Motor Oil" I am not sure why it took me so long to take up this book but I had so many great feels while listening to this book. The Hookup is available in the Romance Audible Package which is a plus. I honestly think KA is one of my favorite authors to read and love what she has done with her books. The Hookup is very typical KA, so if you love her writing style and the way she develops her instant love, I couldn't recommend this one enough. The Hookup begins when our two main characters: Izzy and Johnny meet up at the local bar and end up having a casual hookup and Izzy is out of her element. She has never had casual sex like she has done with Johnny. but Johnny isn't your typical man that Izzy is used to dealing with. There is a strong connection between Johnny and Izzy, and as these two slowly work their way figuring out how to explore what is between them, their pasts will haunt them. Johnny has a painful past and has been hurt horribly by another woman, and is having to learn to adapt and come to terms so that he can be with the woman Izzy that is capturing his heart. There is quite a bit of goodness in this story, it is a mix of "fling" and "instant love connection" tropes that we have here. I have always enjoyed the way that Kristen Ashley writes instant love romances. They really work for me, because there is such depths of emotion from the very beginning. And if you love a HOT alpha male, Kristen Ashley does them the best. Because you see the emotion that the hero really feels and it isn't about trying to control the heroine. So I really gravitate towards these heroes and how devoted they are. Johnny is going through a inner battle and I really admired seeing the vulnerability in him and seeing him trying to work towards being open again to love with Izzy. Overall I found The Hookup to be a stunning display of vibrant emotion, a truly sensual love tale of redemption, loss and the journey in finding yourself. HEARTFELT IN EVERY WAY!

Samantha Emery@samj

Oct 17, 2021

Check out this and my other reviews at My Blog, Facebook, Google+, Twitter and Pinterest ★Book Basics★ Genre : - Cont. Romance Series : - First in the series. Love triangle? - (view spoiler)[No (hide spoiler)] Cheating? - (view spoiler)[No (hide spoiler)] HEA? - (view spoiler)[Yes (hide spoiler)] Would I read more by this author/or in this series? - Yes Rating - 4 stars ★Review★ KA is finishing 2017 off with...ok, maybe not a bang, but certainly not a pathetic whimper. Two in a row, read it.. ..... were good for me. So anyway, this is a re read for me. After the whole alpha sub-a-ma-horriffa-never-thingy that I refuse to read. And **shudders** Jussy, and the "How to restore a lighthouse in 677576576 easy steps" I am absolutely giddy with this book and Complicated that I enjoyed. I loved both main characters (Johhny was pretty upfront about everything, and Izzy was not a pushover), and loved their story. It just made me happy reading it. I was not sure how I would handle Johhny being in love with his ex, and this book felt like it was a mix of a couple of her other books, but in this one the character that would have been the heroine is just not. I honestly thought that the ex would feature more as a character, and I do wonder if the fact that she did not was because she is a future heroine. (She is a typical KA heroine tbh, a pretty perfect mix of several KA heroines actually) But overall a good 4 stars and a KA book I can see me re reading.

Lacey@laceybooklovers

Aug 26, 2021

3-3.5 stars! I'm just not feeling KA's writing anymore, but this did give me similar feels to her older books. And if you're worried about a love triangle, you honestly don't have anything to worry about! The hero is very much into the heroine and only the heroine.