Hooked by Emily McIntire is everything the previous warnings said it would be.

It is an adult fractured fairy tale. It is not fantasy or a literal retelling.

The similarities between McIntire’s story and the fairytale of Peter Pan & Hook are almost non-existent. So truly, if what you are looking for is a romantic fairytale, you will not find it between the pages of Hooked. But, on the other hand, if you are looking for a sexually explicit story that pushes the boundaries, Hooked may be for you.

Hooked on Hook.

McIntire starts the Never After Series with a bang; I was enamoured immediately after the prologue of Hooked. Although this is a tale of sex, manipulation, murder & torture, McIntire’s choice of wording throughout the novel is elegant. Throughout Hooked, McIntire has numerous heart-wrenching passages filled with deep dark thoughts that literally keep you hooked.

McIntire flows from Hook’s perspective to Wendy’s with ease as she weaves her tale.

James Barrie has grown up with nothing but thoughts of revenge to get him through life. Bolstered by the abuse he received at the hands of his uncle, James has transformed himself into Hook, and Hook has one goal in life; to remove the man who removed his family. Unfortunately, that man happens to be Peter Michaels, aka Pan, owner of NevAirLand.

Hook plans to use Peter’s daughter, Wendy, as a tool in his twisted revenge plot against her father. However, his plan comes undone when he realizes Wendy isn’t as valuable to Peter as he assumed, and she has no idea who her father really is. With Peter encroaching on Hook’s territory, he unravels and seeks solace in Wendy, no longer seeing her as just a tool but an equal.

Wendy falls apart as she realizes her father cares for no one but himself.

Wendy has grown up in her father’s shadow, often referred to as LIttle Shadow. But, slowly, she realizes Peter is not the man she remembers from her memories, not anymore. Since her mother’s death, Wendy has been left to raise her younger brother, Jon, alone. She mourns for the family she remembers and is tired of her father keeping her at arms-length. Wendy’s rose-coloured glasses are abruptly removed, and with the strength of Hook behind her, her confidence blooms.

Underneath all the sex and drama lies a mystery wrapped in a betrayal.

I thoroughly enjoyed the ways that McIntire combined Neverland with Hooked. Tiny details, like a drug named Pixie Dust & an airline called NevAirLand, were used masterfully. The underlying mysteries kept me turning the pages dying to uncover the next twist. & of course, there were numerous sex scenes to get hot and swoon over.

I get to enjoy watching every last second of his miserable life drain away, taking his pathetic soul along with it.

The living incarnate of his sins coming back to sow justice.

A life of not reacting has bled into my skin, hardening into an impenetrable shield; nothing allowed in or out.

She looks at me as though she’s trying to see the colors of my soul, and the feeling makes me itch..

…her pure-hearted innocence bleeds from her pores like oil, shiny and impossible to look away from.

Fact becomes fiction, or at the very least, a warped version of the truth.

And while my blood still runs red, any soul once had has been eaten by the acid that runs through my veins.

His words sink into my skin and meld with the marrow of my bones, making me feel powerful.

It slices into my veins and bleeds me dry, leaving me brittle like fallen leaves.