Book Review: Hooked
“Just remember that whenever things feel bleak, all situations are temporary. It’s not your circumstance that determines your worth, it’s how you rise from the ashes after everything burns'“
You know what? I do love a retelling of a fairy-tale. I do! You get a fresh look at say, the villain, or that random character that no one initially really cares about but is kinda crucial to the story. But nothing gives me greater pleasure than a villain origin story. Or in the case of ‘Hooked’ we get to see them win! But crucially, not become the hero. Like this story HAS a hero. Heroine, yes. But hero? Nah. Heroes are overrated.
But which villain are we exploring this time? Hooked is a retelling of ‘Peter Pan’ but in the 21st century with a dual POV from both our Heroine: Wendy and our Villain: James ‘Hook’. It somewhat starts as a revenge story with some quite troubling trigger warnings. But honestly, anything after Haunting and Hunting Adeline is nothing too damning.
The long and short of the book is that James ‘Hook’ Barrie considers Peter Michaels to be his enemy and will stop at nothing until that man is dead by his hands. It’s not until Wendy Michaels, Peter's daughter, walks into James’ club that he finds a way in. The aim: destroy him personally by ruining his precious daughter and then twist the knife in further (quite literally) by killing him. What he didn’t bank on was growing to care about Wendy, or the fact that Wendy has daddy issues. Interesting dynamic? Sure. Spicy? Oh, most definitely! What? I got this book recommendation from BookTok, what did you expect?
Was this the most ground-breaking book I’ve read this year? No – not by a long shot. But I do love a little ingenuity, a change of perspective or upcycling (at least I think that’s the term) of a fairytale and the villain, no less! I definitely enjoyed it and the little twists and turns that were thrown in that made the journey, the tropes, the bad-boy-winning-the-girl formula much more interesting.
One thing I must say, this whole notion from the 18th century of ‘women's fiction’ (dark gothic romance with a touch of dangerous men) really has evolved over the past few years. It is as delicious now as it was back then. Every girl loves a bad boy and I highly doubt that that particular trend will end anytime soon, at least according to BookTok.