{Book Review} Hooked by Catherine Greenman

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Thea Galehouse has always known how to take care of herself. With a flighty club-owner mom and a standoffish, recovering-alcoholic dad, Thea has made her own way in her hometown of New York, attending the prestigious and competitive Stuyvesant High School. But one chat with Will, a handsome and witty senior, and she’s a goner—completely hooked on him and unable to concentrate on anything else.
Always worried that she loves Will more than he loves her, Thea is pleasantly surprised when their romance weathers his move to college and Will goes out of his way to involve her in his life. But then, Thea misses a period. And that starts Thea and Will on a wild ride that neither of them could have possibly prepared for. When they decide to keep the baby, their concerned parents chip in what they can to keep Will in school and give both teenagers a comfortable place to raise their child. But when a freak accident leaves Thea shaken and threatens to upend their little family altogether, Thea is forced to turn to the last place she would have chosen for comfort: her stiff, uncompromising father.
This smart, touching first novel brims with realistic, beautifully drawn characters, and reminds us that love is never as easy or predictable as we might like it to be.

Hooked is such a believable and real book. Nothing is sugar coated, nothing is too far of a stretch. It is all real life, and that is what I enjoyed most about it. I am not a huge fan of teenage pregnancy so I wasn’t sure how much I was going to love Hooked, but Catherine Greenman does not try to glamorize pregnancy. But what she does accomplish is paint a very accurate picture of the situation and how it affects everyone. Hooked is the story of not just Thea and Will, but of their whole families.

Thea is a likable character. I went into the story ready to dislike Thea. I know that is awful, but I imagined her to just be one of those people that thinks pregnancy would never happen, so they don’t take any kind of precaution against it. But that was not Thea at all. She was so strong, and moral and darn it, she even crocheted! I loved that her talent/hobby was crocheting bikinis! How cool is that?? Such an original and random idea. She was adorable and I ended up really liking her.

Will was just kind of meh, for me. I was kind of indifferent to him, even before Thea got pregnant. I couldn’t really see the appeal of him at all. And then after Ian was born, Will just started going downhill in my eyes. I am still undecided on my final verdict as far as he goes.

The real selling point for Hooked is the writing. It’s so wonderfully written, that you just can’t help but want to read more and more. Catherine does a great job describing everything, and she is awesome at developing her characters subtly. She doesn’t just come right out and say every thought on every characters minds, she plays around with their body language and subtle cues to help get at what their feelings are, and I loved that so much! I think that is the mark of great writing, and Catherine has it down.

Hooked also has a really satisfying ending. Not everything is wrapped up, but hey that is real life. Things can’t always be neatly wrapped up at the end of the day. Thea and Will and Ians journey is still ongoing, but I the ending of Hooked was just perfect. Any fan of contemporary and realistic fiction will really enjoy Hooked.

3.5/5 Gavels

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