Hooked by Christine Manzari Blog Tour: Review + Giveaway

Hey everyone and Happy Monday! I've got an awesome post for you guys today! A blog tour stop for one of the, hands down, BEST novels I have read in a very long time, Hooked by the incredible Christine Manzari! My tour stop will feature some awesome info about the novel and my 5-star review! Before we get going, here's a bit about Hooked:

Title: Hooked
Author: Christine Manzari
Age: NA
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release date: February 3, 2015

If you ask the confident and snarky skater girl, and she’s in the mood to share, she’ll tell you her name is Cat. She might even tell you that she’s hooked on graffiti, 80s movies, and having fun—the riskier the better. Cat will share a good time with you, but she won’t ever trust you enough to share her heart. It’s protected by secrets and she’d like to keep it that way.

Cat knows one thing for certain: Love isn’t really her thing.

If you ask the confident and rich pretty boy, he might tell you his name is Huck. He might even tell you he loves a challenge and is used to getting his way. He won’t tell you that his life is a mess because he risked his heart by trusting the wrong girl. Huck is ready for a change, he just wasn’t ready to get hooked on someone like Cat.

Huck knows one thing for certain: Love hasn’t done him any favors, but Cat just might be worth the risk.

Cat and Huck think a one-night stand seems harmless, but when all the little secrets they didn’t share turn out to be toxic truths, they realize how easily a one-night stand (or a few) could ruin everything.

The thing is, you can be ruined in more than one way. Once you’re HOOKED, what wouldn’t you risk for the chance at more?

About the Author

Christine Manzari

The first thing Christine does when she's getting ready to read a book is to crack the spine in at least five places. She wholeheartedly believes there is no place as comfy as the pages of a well-worn book. She's addicted to buying books, reading books, and writing books. Books, books, books. She also has a weakness for adventure, inappropriate humor, and coke (the caffeine-laden bubbly kind). Christine is from Forest Hill, Maryland where she lives with her husband, three kids, and her library of ugly spine books.  

Facebook | Twitter | Website | Goodreads 

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My Thoughts:

Okay, I know you guys are sick of hearing this, but I'm going to say it once more. Ethan does not like romance. And damn it. He's about sick of these incredible authors changing his mind. I'm looking right at you Christine Manzari. You've made the list lady. *shakes fist*.

Guys, I'll be completely honest with you. I have read a plethora of New Adult reads. Ranging from romance to zombies, NA has pretty much controlled my life over the past year. This up and coming genre needs all the support it can get if it hopes to make it. And why shouldn't it? I'm a 'New Adult', why shouldn't I be pimping it? I'm a huge advocate for NA and would love to see it branch out beyond the contemporary romance spectrum. That being said, my, now two, favorite New Adult reads are contemporary romance. After devouring Chelsea Fine's Best Kind of Broken several times now, I never thought an NA would ever come close to hitting that mark for me. And then I read Hooked. Sweet Jesus. Someone get this woman an award. I loved each and ever second I spent with Huck and Cat. Honest to Goodness, I couldn't put this read down. I read it in one sitting. It was that great people. You know a book has to be good if I'm comparing it to Chelsea Fine. Seriously you guys. Seriously.

Setting. So Hooked takes place in Southern California. The city. The glitz and the glamour of SoCal. I've never been to SoCal, but one of my very best blogger friends, Christine from iHeartBigBooks lives there and she loved how accurate Manzari was with her locales. For me it was just plain fun! From the Boardwalks on the beach to the outdoor parties and summertime bars, I got such a fun vibe from Hooked. Everything about the settings Manzari used are fueled with emotion. You get the happy beach-side fin when we're learning all about Cat and the beginnings of the relationship. We get the strict professionalism when we're in Huck's corporate world. Later in the novel we get... other sad emotions... when we're other locations. Manzari played off of her characters' emotions with the settings in this novel better than any novel I can think of. It was incredible! 

Characters. I don't even know where to begin. I had so much fun with these characters. I think my favorite part about this NA was that it was so different than other in a few important ways. The main characters in this novel, Cat and Huck weren't looking for love. They don't need each other. This was certainly not an insta-love story and they sure as hell don't have it easy. Cat and Huck have one of the most memorable stories I have ever read. Sure it was fun and sure they had some... steamy moments, but honestly, Manzari has written such raw and emotion filled characters, that I couldn't help but fall in love with their story. Every twist and turn was incredible. Every triumph made me cheer and every heartache broke mine as well. I fell for these characters, hard. In addition to Cat and Huck, my favorite characters were Jay and Anita. Jay is Cat's room mate. He was hilarious. Not only was he funny, we also see some incredible character development with him as well. Jay comes across as a a little bit of an oddball in the beginning (or to me, anyway), but by the end of the novel, it blew me away how he could be Cat's best friend and yet be so close to Huck as well. It was all very real. I enjoyed that a whole lot. Anita is Cat's mom with a backstory all her own that I won't get in to here. I will tell you that she may be my favorite character in the whole novel. Get ready for the feels people.

Sidenote. Cat likes The Wizard of Oz. How could I not love her?

Theme. In addition to the romance and love thing, Hooked has several important themes that kept me 'hooked'. #punsftw Anyway. Cat's character development was incredible in itself, but she gave us a couple of important themes: 1) growing up, 2) the importance of family, and 3) having a fun side to offset your professional self. With the whole growing up thing, we see Cat mature from a fun loving girl with a professional job to a full blown woman with huge responsibility and grown up feelings. It was an awesome character transformation that really hits home with the fact that while being young can be fun, maturity comes with a whole lot of responsibility. Family is a big one in this novel. Cat and Anita's relationship is one huge roller coaster in this novel. By the end, I think we can all agree that we should all hold family to a little higher esteem. Lastly, and most importantly (in my opinion), was Cat's insistence that she could maintain a rocking personal life and it not interfere with her professional life. I love this. Most people think you have to either be 'young and dumb' or 'old and boring'. Cat shows everyone that balancing a lifestyle is do-able! I need to take a page out of Cat's book! 

Plot. This is hard to critique without getting into spoiler territory, so I will just tell you that you have to read it! Seriously guys. Like I said before, this story is unlike any other NA I have read. While it does focus on the romance between out two main characters, the story offers so much more. If anyone can finish this cover to cover without tearing up at least once, they don't have a soul. You read that right. No. Soul.

Conclusion. I know this is one of my shorter reviews, but honestly, I don't know what else to say. I'm not kidding when I say that this has been my favorite read of 2015 so far! Christine Manzari has really blossomed with this novel. I am a huge fan of hers. Her YA series, The Sophisticates, is one of my favorite YA series on the market, so I wasn't sure how I'd feel about her transition to NA. I have to say that I was completely blown away. After seeing her jump from YA Paranormal to NA Contemporary Romance, there is no doubt in my mind that this absolutely incredible author could tackle any genre she puts her mind to. I cannot say enough great things about her or her works.

All-in-all it should come as no surprise to anyone that I am granting Hooked a perfect 5+-star review. Is it crazy that I'm already excited to re-read this one? Because I am. Once some time has passed and I don't have to worry about being careful with the spoilers, I'd love to come back and add more to this review, because trust me, there was a lot I left out. Just trust me on this one readers, you will NOT want to miss this. 

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a Rafflecopter giveaway

Alright readers, that's all I have for you on the topic of Hooked by Christine Manzari. Like I said before, this is one of the best New Adult novels I have ever read. You guys will probably remember that I was a huge fan of Manzari's YA series, but I wasn't sure how I'd like this. Well, I loved it! Woohoo! I cannot wait to see more NA from this lady! Are you guys excited about Hooked? Let me know in the comments below! Huge thanks to the author and the team at Wordsmith Publicity for allowing me to participate! Until next time, Happy Reading!

-Ethan