The rules: no kissing on the mouth, no staying the night, no telling anyone, and above all... No falling in love.
Anna Jones just wants to finish college and figure out her life. Falling for star quarterback Drew Baylor is certainly not on her to do list. Confident and charming, he lives in the limelight and is way too gorgeous for his own good. If only she could ignore his heated stares and stop thinking about doing hot and dirty things with him. Easy right?
Too bad he's committed to making her break every rule...
Football has been good to Drew. It's given him recognition, two National Championships, and the Heisman. But what he really craves is sexy yet prickly Anna Jones. Her cutting humor and blatant disregard for his fame turns him on like nothing else. But there's one problem: she's shut him down. Completely.
That is until a chance encounter leads to the hottest sex of their lives, along with the possibility of something great. Unfortunately, Anna wants it to remain a hook up. Now it's up to Drew to tempt her with more: more sex, more satisfaction, more time with him. Until she's truly hooked. It's a good thing Drew knows all about winning. The Hook Up (Game On, #1)
Kristen Callihan É 1 CHARACTERS
One of my all-time faves. Love this hero so much! English
[image error] English Re-read on 10/12/2021
Listening Length: 12 hours 37 minutes.
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HOOK, LINE AND SINKER - I ♥ THIS ONE!
I was hooked from the first chapter with this college romance. The Hook Up had the right mix of drama, sexy times and swoony moments. It’s been a long time since I’ve read a college romance because they all seemed to be very similar. But this one reminded me of why I love a well written new adult book.
The Hook Up begins with an opening scene where it seems to be ‘lust-at-first-sight’ but we quickly find out that our heroine, Anna, is a sassy girl who doesn’t take any crap from cocky football players. Drew has been hit by the dumb stick when it comes to Anna. His mother warned him: ’My mother once told me that the most important moment in my life wouldn’t be when I won the National Championship or even the Super Bowl. It would be when I fell in love.’
Well, Drew’s first words to Anna proved his mom’s point:
“Hey there, Big Red.”
I actually laughed when I read that because I knew this boy was in trouble when those words fell out of his mouth. But no fear, Anna, isn’t a pushover girl.
”What did you just call me?”
Poor Drew. Now, he is trying to fix what he said.
”Ahh… If I say ‘nothing’, can we move on and pretend it didn’t happen?”
Anna
”No.”
Drew
”Relax, I was only trying --”
Anna
”Do not, tell me to ‘relax’ when you’ve insulted me, bud.”
Drew
”Bud?”
Anna
”I’m not big.”
Drew
I wasn’t trying to insult you. Believe me, I was referring to the best places.”
Anna
Eyes up, asshole.”
Drew
”Sorry. I’d like to say it won‘t happen again, but I honestly can’t promise that, Red.”
Anna
”Jesus, you’re unbelievable.”
After that interaction, in the first few pages, I knew I was going to love The Hook Up. I was digging the whole vibe of this story.
Drew is a big deal. He’s the QB and the town worships him and his team mates - The Church of College Football. Anna is struggling with not wanting to live in his shadow and also feeling like she doesn’t belong in his world.
I was in heaven reading this story. It was one that I didn’t want to end. And I’m happy to see that Ms. Callihan has plans for more books. I got a sneak peek at the first chapter of the next book and I’m so happy we are getting Gray’s story. Yay!
SERIES:
| The Friend Zone | The Game Plan
Can be read as standalones. Each following book is secondary characters from the first book. To find out when more will be released click here.
**Complimentary copy courtesy, from the Publicist, in exchange for an honest review.**
English You'll see Drew. One day, love will creep up and smack you upside the head. Then you'll understand.
Never force something, Drew. A bolt, a pass, a game, whatever. Force it and you'll lose. Patience and persistence is how you win in life. Take your time, look for the solution, and if it doesn't come to you, fall back, reassess, and try again.
I was rereading this one to prepare myself for Glamour Gray and got a little ashamed that I haven't written my review earlier because, clearly, I forgot how freaking amazing it was. It was even better the second time around. I knew I highlighted the shit out of this one the first time and I was surprised to highlight even more while rereading.
No need to say about a plot here because there are so many wonderful reviews out there so I'll just stick to what I loved about it.
First and foremost - Drew Battle Baylor.
For realz, Ultimate. Fantasy. Boyfriend.
Oh yes, he was a popular, hot jock, but a smart one to that. He not only succeeded on the football field but was also a good student. He had his goals and life planned and strived to make it happen. Once he had his sight on Anna, he didn't give up, he was patient in getting what he wanted. When Anna was guarded, he unnoticeably staked his claim. What I liked the most is the fact that he wasn't whoring around. Did I mention that he was a sexy beast? Oh yes, he was and such a dirty dirty talker, YUM! Absolutely swoon and drool worthy. But you won't let me kiss you. Why won't you let me kiss you, Anna?
It's too much.
Not when I want everything. And I want everything with you, Anna. What people see? That is only gloss. But, Anna, you light me up. Drew. Not the player. You didn't know how to live under my light? I don't have a light anymore unless you're there.
Second, Anna Banana Jones.
She was such a likeable heroine, every girl's best friend material for sure. She was sassy, witty, smart and sweet-natured. Curvy, red hair girl, who used to be invisible, didn't believe that a guy like Drew would choose a girl like her. She had insecurities and let them rule for a while, she even pushed Drew away because of them. She wasn't annoying though, when she finally got her shit together, she fought for Drew and helped him through rough times, she was there for him when he needed her most. You shine so brightly, Drew. And it's beautiful to me, but I didn't know how to live under your light.(...)
Don't you understand? I felt like an impostor. I kept waiting for you to realize that you'd got it wrong. That I was the girl you were never supposed to see.
And third, their relationship.
Now, there was insta lust here, but it worked so perfectly. There was such a great chemistry between those two, you could literally feel sparks flying. I'm not going to say it was love at first sight. No, it was more like oh, hell-yes-please, I'll have that. With a helping of right-the-fuck-now on the side.
They had fantastic banter going on, there was so much humor and warmth in their interactions. Not to mention that the sex was off the charts hot and steamy. They slowly, but consequently moved their relationship to next levels. Apart, they were both lacking something, but together, they were so strong and perfect, so intense. That fighting scene at the end, so epic! And that first kiss, OMG that first kiss! Holding his gaze, I lean in. My lips brush his. So gently it's barely a touch. But it's everything. I feel it down to my toes. Drew sucks in a sharp breath, his body going tight. So I do it again. Stronger. More sure. Clinging just a bit to his lower lip. And then he groans.
You're it for me, Anna Marie.
I can honestly say it is one of my top books ever! If you're into college sport romances with sassy heroines and amazeballs heros you can't miss this one. The writing was refreshing and outstanding, a real gem amongst NA books. I was simply amazed, stunning job Kristen Callihan, keep this up and you have yourself a new admirer/stalker.
You're my home Drew.
Buddy read with my favorite hoochie Nikki. <3 you girl. English 4%
This is a new low for me...
Insta-love of EPIC PROPORTIONS
Anna:
The second our gazes connect, hot tingles zap through me, making my breath catch and my nipples harden. The sensation is so unnerving that I can only sit there, my hand fluttering to my chest where my heart struggles to break free(...) Stranger still, it feels as if I know him, have known him for years.
Drew:
“Anna Jones.” Just her name. That was all she’d said. It was like a hot finger stroking down my spine. My head snapped up. And there she was, so fucking pretty that I couldn’t think straight(...) One word was playing a loop in my head: mine.
Ummm...NO. This was in the first 2%. Just NO.
And then every time she sees him her nipples get hard, her thighs clench, gets hot and achy, can't breathe right, her pulse skyrockets...
And I just can't...
Why you ask? BECAUSE THIS WAS ALL BEFORE I HIT 5%.
I refuse to submit myself to 352 pages of this. I'm not a masochist by any means. English
Re-read: 1/25/22
Re-read: Continuing my book/life slump re-read extravaganza...
Re-read: 5/22/15
What a satisfying read! I really enjoyed this one. Drew and Anna were both great characters and I really enjoyed their story. They had a lot of chemistry and a lot of passion.
I liked Anna a lot. She was pretty level-headed and didn't act like a dumbass and do dumbass things.
And I always consider not hating or being irritated to death by the heroine to be a win.
The writing was also very good and you could really tell the author did her research. It was nice to read a collegiate sports romance that seemed to more accurately reflect the life of a collegiate athlete.
So many times you read college sports romances and the athlete seems to have all this free time broken only by the occasional big game, which is definitely not the case.
Or they have the athlete also being a member of a frat.
*
*
*
I was a college scholarship athlete and pretty much across the board, coaches prohibited their athletes from rushing or pledging.
It might be different depending on the school, but typically coaches think it would be too much of a distraction and, quite honestly, it would be veritably impossible to do both.
I knew ONE person in ALL my years in college that tried both. And she was pretty much an Alpha Phi (or whatever she was) in NAME only. She was NEVER there and was NEVER able to do anything with the sorority house - because PRACTICE, CONDITIONING, WEIGHT TRAINING, REQUIRED STUDY TABLES, and oh yeah, GAMES - and she ended up just quitting.
There just isn't enough time in the day or energy in the body.
And if you're on scholarship, you are being paid to play your sport, not attend toga parties and haze freshman.
So, like I said, college athletes being depicted as dual athlete/frat peeps?
As much as it kinda worked in books like Sweet Home, which I LOVED?
S.T.U.P.I.D.
Here the author mentions Drew's early morning weight/conditioning sessions, afternoon classes, game film study sessions, and heavy class load.
So I found that to be refreshing.
Also refreshing was that Drew wasn't a raging man-whore up until the very moment he meets oh my God the one. Yes, it's mentioned he was skank at one point, but that he had supposedly shown no interest in that behavior long before meeting Anna.
Sometimes it gets old having leading men that have their dick in one girl before breakfast and in a different one after dinner. I get it, they are supposed to be SO desirable, SO magnetic, and oh SO awesome, but sometimes it's nice to have a little less dick swinging and a little more dick zipping.
Anyway, I loved this and I'm definitely looking forward to reading more from this author. English 4.5 Stars
Love, when it came for me, did not creep. No, it walked up to me, bold as you please, you know, just in case I wasn't paying attention. It did, however, slap me upside my head.
If you're looking for your next NA Romance that's guaranteed to make you swoon, make you sweat, and make you smile, then you have definitely found your next read. Kristen Callihan is a new to me author, but will now be gracing my auto-buy shelf because she weaved a story that technically should have been 'been there, read that', yet managed to suck me in so thoroughly that I couldn't bring myself to put it down.
Now if you're a half-assed blurb reader and occasionally make assumptions like me, you probably read this:
The rules: no kissing on the mouth, no staying the night, no telling anyone, and above all… No falling in love.
and just assumed that this was referring to another man-whoring hero as opposed to the heroine. No? That was just me then? Well...this is awkward. But I digress...
Meet Anna Jones
Anna just wants to finish college and figure out what she wants to do with her life. She's not looking for a relationship, and she tends to have a type...of the poetic and emo variety. So when the school's football golden child and resident playboy starts sending her the lusty eyes, she wants none of it...or so she tells herself.
Meet Drew Baylor
Star quarterback, and the hot commodity on campus that can have any girl he wants without even trying...except Anna. Inexplicably drawn to the prickly redhead, Drew finds himself tongue tied and blushing whenever their cross path, and it certainly doesn't help that Anna never spares any feelings to cut him down at the knees. He's not her type, he gets it, he just can't seem to stay away from her.
But chemistry like the one they have, can only be denied for so long, and when something burns that hot it's bound to explode eventually, right?
What first begins as a scorching hot hookup, soon begins to develop into something so much more, something that Anna is not ready to face.
He's slowly carving his name into my heart. And it hurts.
The author did an amazing job building a sexual and emotional tension and chemistry that is so palpable you can almost taste it. It's not often when I'll pick up a book where the MCs are going at it pretty much straight away, but that sexual tension continues to not only remain but build between them. The writing was that good.
Drew was such an endearing character, I fell for him straight off the bat. He wasn't perfect, and he wasn't at all what he seemed. He was not the asshole playboy that Anna assumes he was, he's sweet and charming and at times his emotional struggles never failed to pull at every heart string I had.
Anna was a different story. This is a girl that due to her dysfunctional family dynamic avoids relationships as a rule...especially with guys like Drew. Throughout much of the book she attempts to keep him at arm's length and with a very clear 'hook up only' label. But before she knows it, she begins to see the man beneath her initial assumptions, and she can't help but start to fall for him.
Dizziness swamps me. There is no up or down, just Drew. I want to sink into him, drown in his touch.
I was not expecting this book to be as hot as it was, but the sex was never too much. The chemistry between Drew and Anna was absolutely sizzling, and the best part? It was like that every time they get together.
His mouth crashes into mine on the next breath. And my body goes supernova. His tongues slides deep, his lips bruise, and it feels so good that I moan behind it all. It's always like this. I can't get enough of him.
Their path to a real relationship was not easy and not without struggle, and I just gobbled it up. Luckily all of the emotion and angst was fitting and there was no manufactured drama that ever took away from the story. By the second half I was so invested in their relationship, I couldn't bring myself to put the book down.
This is definitely a book I would recommend to any fans of the NA genre, and a series I can't wait to continue with. Really looking forward to Gray's book next. But don't just take my word for it, read this book and find out for yourself what all the fuss is about. You won't regret it, I promise.
ARC courtesy of author in exchange for an honest review
For more reviews visit
English *****4.5 BATTLE BUTT BAYLOR LOVIN' STARS*****
{BR with Alice, Dee, Sophie, and Stephanie}
You shine so brightly, Drew. And it's beautiful to me, but I didn't know how to live under your light.
What people see? That is only gloss. But, Anna, you light me up. I don't have a light anymore unless you're there.
Now this is what I call NA at its best!!
I'm asking myself why in the hell did I wait so long to read this book??!! I was told that this was similar to The Deal. Yes, there were a couple similarities but the two stories are vastly different in my opinion. If it weren't for the insta-love factor in the beginning , I would have given this a solid five stars, but other than that I found myself laughing, swooning, and even shedding a few tears while reading this book. It took me on a very emotional and equally enjoyable journey.
I loved Drew from the get go. He's the golden boy of his college. The adored and worshiped Quarterback, Battle Baylor. One day he is literally knocked on his ass when he lays eyes on Anna Jones on their first day in Philosophy class.
While Drew is Mr. Big Man on Campus, Anna is one of those students who just blends in, or so she thinks. She is like so many young women these days who have experienced some sort of bullying or body shaming due to their weight and even though she's no longer that chubby, awkward teenager from her High School days, that is exactly how she still views herself. She caught her last boyfriend in the act of cheating on her. This guy was just a regular nerdy dude and so when Drew starts to make the moves on her, not only does he make her weak in the knees, he also has her keeping her defenses up. There's no way this beautiful man is not going to end up shredding her heart into tiny pieces.
They both end up having a series of hook ups, in which I swear I could literally feel my panties melting!!! Anna tries to keep things strictly physical and for most of the story she doesn't allow Drew to kiss her on the lips, as she feels that it would lead to intimacy and so much more. Never have I felt like I was almost DYING from anticipation for two characters to have that first kiss!! I was screaming from euphoria when it finally happened!!
This isn't just a light hearted tale of a popular jock falling for the nerdy plain Jane. There is deep tragedy that these two have endured, and I loved how they eventually end up turning to each other for comfort. Anna ends up becoming fiercely protective over Drew and eventually will find the strength to battle her inner demons in order to save their relationship.
The angst that develops in the story at times became unbearably painful but I actually live for the angst, so it only made this book that much better for me!! Gotta have that angst!!!
I didn't think much of Drew's best-friend, Gray, in the beginning of the story, and I wondered how I would even want to read his story, but towards the last quarter of the book he proved to be more than a one dimensional character and I am so very excited to be starting his book next!!!
Overall this was a FANTASTIC read and I HIGHLY recommend it to all of you who haven't picked this one up yet!!
English 4.5 daisy up your ass stars.
Really enjoyed this one.
First off, the cover for this book is totally off-putting. This is not at all how I imagine Drew to look like.
Second off, I usually avoid NA books. Why? Well I am a 48 year old mother of a son who just started university. Don’t want to be reading about that age group. But I do dip in, now and again, especially if I see some trustworthy friends have enjoyed - J*, Alexandra, Lana, being the case here.
I know some had issues with Anna - not me. Takes a lot for a heroine to annoy me but, hey, she was young, 22, give her a break.
I loved Drew. Yeah, he was a jock, obviously he was revered. I am not American but I know Football is BIG in America! My kids go to an International School with a lot of Americans and the fuss they make about Homecoming - Jeez! But you do get into it. Even if I haven’t a clue about the rules. I understand a Touchdown but that’s about it. And I love looking at the Cheerleaders - seriously, who would let their daughter be a cheerleader - no offense meant to anyone.
I was the fat kid in school, I didn’t have a boyfriend. It does mark you. I am now happily married to Tate Jackson - being the fat kid makes you kind of delusional.
As I said, I am not American and don’t follow football. But I have read about jocks. And jock bunnies. Yes, they have the world at their feet. But all could change in the blink of an eye.
Anna thinks Drew is a typical JOCK - cocky, full of himself, loves the ladies, puts out for the ladies.
She was insecure.
We had drama.
We had tears.
We had laughter.
We had HOT SEX!
A very enjoyable read. I look forward to Gray’s story, which is up next. English 4.5 stars
The Hook Up is one of those books that has been on my TBR for FOREVER! All my friends loved it, and here I am, picking it up well over a year after it’s release. This, my friends, is a fail moment for me. I seem to be having a lot of those in the book world. Too many books and not enough time I say. My point- if you are a NA fan and are in the same boat as me, READ THIS BOOK! It was swoony, sweet, and sexy. Everything I love in a romance.
Anna Jones is a dedicated college student and the last thing on her mind is a relationship. When Drew Baylor, the hottest guy on campus and star quarterback, starts showing her attention, she doesn’t know what to think. Anna is different than any girl Drew’s met and he’s enamored with her from the start. I love their relationship. How it starts as just a hook up (because that’s all Anna is willing to give) and turns into so much more (due to Drew’s unwillingness to back down and declare he wants more from her).
“You’ve destroyed me, Anna Jones.” I know exactly what he means, because he’s destroyed me too.
Drew and Anna have crazy hot chemistry. But their relationship is so much more than that. I loved the tension between them, the push and pull and their banter. Both Drew and Anna were great characters. Drew is super charismatic and you can’t help but to love him. He’s not your typical man-whore athlete. He has a big heart and is truly a great guy. Anna is a bit feisty and snarky and she is the way she is because of how she grew up. I loved seeing Drew tear down her hurdles. I loved that they were both there for one another when they needed each other.
Besides Anna and Drew, I loved Drew’s friend Gray. I know he has a book, too and here’s to hoping I don’t wait for forever to read it! Anna and Drew’s love story wasn’t easy. The path wasn’t always clear and things were bumpy at times, but aren’t the best love stories always a little rough at first? It just makes the ending that much sweeter!
The Hook Up is one of the better NA books I’ve read this year. It gets 4.5 stars from me and I highly recommend it to readers of this genre!
English