Welcome to my dark romance haven, where we explore stories that mix love with danger, obsession, and chaos. If you’re a fan of books where the leads aren’t necessarily heroes, you’ve found your place!

I’m Summer, and today I’m exploring Hooked by Emily McIntire, book one of the Never After Series, a collection of standalone dark romances that reimagine classic fairy tales, where the villain gets the girl (or guy). This spoiler-free review will give you a taste of Emily McIntire’s reimagining of Peter Pan without revealing the twists and turns that drive the story.

He brings his attention back to me, and like a moth to a flame, I’m sucked into his gaze, the questions fading to the back of my mind.
“Are you alright?” he asks.
My heart skips. “Yeah, I’m fine. Thank you, though, for standing up for me.”
“He was a cad, darling.” His eyes glint. “Not worthy to taste the air you breathe.”

What Worked

Hooked was an adventure, full of plot twists and turns that kept me on my toes and kept me guessing. Emily McIntire is good at giving you just enough information to make you suspicious about what’s really going on, without giving away everything that makes a story worth reading.

Every character in the story had their own motivations, beliefs, traumas and character flaws, making each character feel dynamic and real. While most of the key cast are inspired by Peter Pan, they don’t feel like copy-paste characters like in some other works inspired by fairy tales. Some of the key character elements from Peter Pan (like Hook’s extreme reactions to the ticking of clocks) are kept and worked seamlessly into the character’s backstory without feeling forced.

What Didn’t

I mentioned characters above, in What Works, but there was one key character I had an issue with, and it’s more to do with the inspiration character than the reimagined one. I’ve always felt that Wendy was a fairly bland character (there’s a reason why people like Tinkerbell better, in my opinion), and unfortunately there wasn’t much that could be done about it in Hooked. In the book, however, I do feel that Wendy’s character development added more to Wendy’s character.

In addition, despite the number of people who do things to hurt Wendy, including friends, family and Hook himself, I don’t feel like any of it was resolved. It feels a lot like the issues were forgiven almost immediately, despite there not even being an apology or any form of groveling (some of us like the groveling).

My chest pulls, insides reeling as I stare down at her, realizing that I’ve never held such beauty in my hands. And in this moment, I’m not sure how I’ll let her go.

RATINGS AND FINAL THOUGHTS

Let’s Talk!

Have you read Hooked? What did you think of Wendy and Hook? Drop your spoiler-free thoughts in the comments, and let me know what you’re interested in reading next! If you’re new here, join our shadowy community for more dark romance reviews, and check out this duet for a thrilling escape.