Amalie Whitfield is the picture of a blushing bride during her wedding reception-but for all the wrong reasons. Instead of proclaiming his undying love, her husband can be heard, by Amalie and their guests, getting off with someone else. She has every reason to freak out, and in a moment of insanity, she throws herself at the first hot-blooded male she sees. But he’s not interested in becoming … her revenge screw.
Mortified and desperate to escape the post-wedding drama, Amalie decides to go on her honeymoon alone, only to find the man who rejected her also heading to the same tiny island for work. But this time he isn’t holding back. She should know better than to sleep with someone she knows, but she can’t seem to resist him.
They might agree that what happens on the island should stay on the island, but neither one can deny that their attraction is more than just physical.
Filled with hilariously scandalous situations and enough sexual chemistry to power an airplane from New York City to the South Pacific, Hooking Up is the next standalone, laugh-out-loud romantic comedy from Helena Hunting, the New York Times bestselling author of the Pucked series and Shacking Up.
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Does Helena Hunting ever disappoint?
The answer is no.
5 Hooking Up Stars
We all met Amie in Shacking Up. We all met Armstrong. Did we all hate Armstrong? Thought so.
Just a little warning, you won’t like him at the end of this book either. Or the beginning. Or anywhere in between. You will continue with your hate-fest for Armstrong.
Now, on to Amie. Amie is fantastic. She’s fun, sweet, an amazing friend, and has a little wild streak which gave her the name Anarchy Amie. Seems reasonable that after her husband screws her over that she’d go a little crazy. I know I would.
Anarchy Amie comes out to play.
But who does she want to play with?
Going on the honeymoon of a lifetime–alone–Amie finds herself again. She gets back to what it means to be Amie and she finds a hot, sexy, tattooed bad boy to hook up with while she’s there. It’s just the thing she needs to get over her cheating jerk of a husband.
Helena will make you laugh and swoon and fall in love while reading Hooking Up. You’ll cheer for Amie and her Hottie Hook Up throughout the entire book. You’ll want more, but you’ll be completely satisfied with the end.
The perfect blend of romance, comedy, and finding yourself while losing yourself at the same time. You’re gonna love this book.
4.5 Stars
I’ve gone and done it…
I’ve Popped my Helena Hunting cherry with Hooking Up. Now I’m Hooked on her writing.
Lexington and Armstrong= cousins who have grown up as brothers. One event turned their friendship into a game of who is the best in everything they do. From sports, to their jobs, to their girlfriends. It’s a battle of who will win. At times, it gets down right cut throat!!!
Amalie has picked the wrong guy every time! The little voice in her head was telling her that this one wasn’t the right one either…. but did she listen? Heck no, she wanted to go for the opposite of what she normally picked and listen to what her mother told her. Not every marriage is perfect.
Well what an eye opener it was!!! Starting with her wedding day…
What a great funny, loving, story this was!!
#BookBistroBlogApproved
Great story
WOW, I did not want to put this book down once I started reading it!!! Steamy, entertaining, emotional and fun; the characters were phenomenal and I couldn’t get enough of them. I loved these characters in Shacking Up and was extremely excited to get their story.
Wonderful story line, great HEA!!!
Helena you did it again. Just like Sacking Up, I love this book so much!!!
If you are looking for a very sexy story with some good laughs, you MUST check this one out.
“No was the very last thing I wanted to say to you.”
I really have no idea why I didn’t read this book sooner. If you haven’t read it, let me tell you, that you are missing out! After reading Shacking Up I was quite interested in reading Amie’s story but I somehow got caught up with other stuff and Hooking Up got left behind. Then I read I Flipping Love You (book 3 in this series) and then the novella Getting Down (book 1.5). Last got me back on track and there was no way I would push reading Hooking Up anymore behind.
And let me tell you, I’m really really glad I’ve read this one now. I absolutely adored Hooking Up. As much as I loved reading Shacking Up, this one is perfection!
“And his voice is like sex. The naughty, dirty kind.”
Hooking Up has everything my romance reader heart wishes for. It’s funny, it’s deep, has a great storyline and character development. It has characters you fall easy for and start caring for them. You just want to keep reading about them, not wanting their story to end.
“It’s not a very coordinated kiss. It’s messy and teeth-clashing. It’s want and need. It’s possession. Hers and mine.”
Amalie and Lexington are quite a match. And I believe in fate: All they went through had to happen so that they were ready to start a new “us” together. Their connection and chemistry is stunning and they are so CUTE together. Lex is so caring. I totally expected him to be one of the alpha-males and even though he’s demanding, but in a good and lovable way, he’s just the right amount of everything: dark and sexy with a tender soul. His charisma charms you right off your feet.
“I came three times. During sex. That’s like being told unicorns are real. And then actually seeing one.”
Amalie is also not what she might look like. She’s just a girl wanting to love and be loved. She wants to please her parents and that’s were she stopped thinking about what she really wants/needs for herself. Amie is extremely good looking, stunning and you expect her to be full of herself. But she SO isn’t. And after what happened on her wedding reception, she’s broken and needs to find back to her old self. Lex has an amazingly empathetic way in helping her.
“I know all I am is a distraction from reality, but I still want her, even if I shouldn’t.”
Lex and Amie’s compatibility in and out of the bedroom – I don’t have even words for this. Except: I WANT THIS for me as well. That’s what every girl should be looking for and never settle for less!
“He kisses me, and I surrender to the control he seems to have over my body, aware that if he keeps this up, he’s going to have the same control over my heart.”
For me, Hooking Up is the best book in the Shacking Up series. Lexington so totally made it on my list of my all-time favorite book-boyfriends!
“She’s my sun and I’m her moon, connected by an invisible thread, bound but free.”
I loved Shacking Up by Helena Hunting so when i saw Hooking up i was super excited especially when i saw it was Amiela’s book i was even more excited and i finally got to read it and it exceeded my expectations.
This book was everything, i loved the story, i laughed, the writing was awesome it had me hooked from that first page and i couldn’t put it down.
We always knew Amie was not as conventional and put together as she seemed in Shacking up and i loved getting to know this character and seeing what was under her bravdo especially with being with someone like Armstrong.
Lex was so different to what i was expecting he was just a beautiful man, who i thought was going to be a bit of a prick which i am so glad he wasn’t and it was nice to see the guy put together well and the girl character be the one falling apart.
Well all my emotions came out in this book, i loved a character, another one frustrated me and i fell in love with another, even i wanted to get into the book and throw a few punches.
It was also good o see how Bane and Ruby were travelling.
Loved this book so much and a perfect follow on from Shacking up a massive 5 Stars from me
When Amalie really wants something girl just goes for it, “you’re going to let me eff you and you’re going to like it.” Amalie’s man is real nice on a girl’s ego, “he’s a effing idiot. He doesn’t deserve you, or your traveling *** shop.” He’s is always joking around, “what do you want to eat? Apart from the obvious.” He gestures to his crotch with a smile.” I loved this book, and I fell so hard for the man was everything.
First off I hate Armstrong. I got a look at him in shacking up and I wasn’t impressed. He is so wrong for amie and Ruby knew something was off. At her wedding she realized what a dirt bag he was. He wouldn’t leave her alone. She met up with Lex and they were on fire. Them two together is amazing. She is a little hesitant cause of the damage from Armstrong. Lex is the man. Loved this book!
Hooking UP is another sweet and sexy read from Ms. Hunting. Lord does the woman know how to bring the sexy times! But more than that, she writes such fun and endearing characters whose circle of friends I’d love to infiltrate. After meeting this group in Shacking Up I was really loking forward to Amie’s story. If you read that book, or even Helena’s short story in the Eye Candy anthology, you couldn’t help but notice the connection she had with Lex, even though she was engaged to that doucebag Armstrong. I just knew there there had to be something more between them!
Reading the prologue had me all WTF, What if, If only! Things sure could have gone in a completely different way for Amie if she had just had a full drink! I loved getting that background glimpse into how her relationship with Armstrong began- it just proved what an ass he was from the get-go. He was so awful and I just wanted to dick punch him myself. I wasn’t sure he could get any worse after what happened at the wedding, but that man is delusional! I haven’t felt such disgust for a character since Tash- someone should introduce the 2!
Amie deserved so much better than Armstrong and Lex was just the man for the job. What an absolute hunk of a man! Sweet, caring, considerate- nothing like what his cousin would lead you to believe.
Anarchy Amie was a force to be reckoned with and I wish that aspect of Amie’s character had shown itself more. I loved the time spent in Bora Bora, when we got to see bits of the real Amie. If only she had brought that confidence with her when they were back in the real world. There’s no denying the chemistry, but she and Lex had such a wonderful connection and I just wish we had seen that explored more, outside of the bedroom.
Hooking up will tickle your steamy brain around and leave you wonderfully satisfied.
I’ve only read the short novella Getting Down prior to reading Hooking Up and wow did Helena Hunting deliver and surprise me. I had to so much fun with Lexington and Amie. Their chemistry and connection was off the charts. Lex wooed and made me swoon numerous times with his loving and flirty personality. Amie could finally let herself loose and be Anarchy Amie in Lex’s company after Armstrong had held her down for too long.
There were many incredible, hot and laugh out loud moments in Hooking Up. I thoroughly enjoyed Lexington and Amie’s friendship and how they slowly fell in love.
Why I haven’t read a Helena Hunting book sooner is my mistake and I’m definitely going to remedy that now.
I don’t think you can ever go wrong with a book by Helena Hunting! Ever since I’ve discovered Pucked, I can’t seem to stop reading her stories. This book was funny, heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time. I’d suggest you read Shacking Up first so you get more background story but you don’t have to ‘cuz you can easily read it as a standalone.
Amelie is trying to do whatever it takes to keep out of trouble and live a life her family would be proud of and when she meets Lex, the instant attraction is there but it doesn’t go as planned.
She meets someone and when they marry, the wedding reception doesn’t go as planned when she busts her cheating “husband”! To get away from all the gossip, she ends up going on her planned honeymoon alone and when she gets to the airport, a little surprise is awaiting…
Lex doesn’t seem to be catching a break when his date seems to be the reason disrupting a wedding and when he is send abroad to be away from it all, the surprise he gets at the airport, will change not only the course of his life but also the course of Amelie… Will they finally have a chance to be together or will their own pasts get in the way of something more…?
One of my new go to authors. What do you do when your new husband has an amplified sexual encounter in the restroom with another woman at your wedding? You go on your honeymoon alone, or maybe not. A complex love story of a man who rescues his cousin’s wife and gives her support to rebuild her life. Except she doesn’t trust her head, but maybe she can learn to trust her heart. This one was an all nighter.
Amalie had a nightmare of a wedding! I honestly do not know at all how I would have handled my new husband being blown in a closet by some slut at the damn reception… but then for it to somehow be heard through the PA system! No way. And Armstrong has the audacity to track her down to tell her that she is overreacting! That this is how things work! And then for him to say that he did it for her so that he would last longer on their wedding night had me literally laughing my butt off! Then the chemistry that she has with Lex was undeniable from the very beginning. I love how they just seem to compliment each other so well. This was a great story! I think I need to go back and read the first one in this series. Absolutely worth a 5 star rating!
As Helena Hunting’s books tend to do, I was hooked within the first 10% of the book, so that I wanted to drive out of the way, take the long way to places, just to listen to a bit more before I had to get out of the car to go into work. This was such a hilarious story! The suitcase Amalie packed with her “toys” for their honeymoon, and when she accidentally tried to take it on carry-on instead of checking it? First off, I would be too embarrassed to even check my luggage with one of those in it, let alone the huge collection she was taking. And then there was Lexington, and how he saved the day that time, along with the other times he helped her out. Of course when she kind of threw herself at him the day of the wedding after cutting herself out of her wedding dress, that was hilarious. Her almost husband Armstrong was ridiculous, I couldn’t even figure out why in the world he wouldn’t give her up. Although we did get the clue on that later on in the story. So ridiculous how he expected her to be all pure and sweet because she was going to be his wife, instead of letting her enjoy sex the way he seemed to want to with all the women outside of his relationship. I totally loved Ami and Lex together. And it was great meeting the characters from the first book, which I’ll now need to go back and read, since I do own it. The nice thing about Hunting’s series is that you don’t necessarily have to read them in order, although some things will be given away, like obviously that certain couples do end up together, if you read later books first. But since you know that is kind of a given in a romance, that’s not that big of a deal in my book. Definitely another great series by this author! Although, as hot as the cover is, the guy needs some tattoos to be Lexington.
If you think about the worst thing that could happen on your wedding day, add in that everyone attending hears the groom getting it on with someone not the bride, it makes becoming a runaway bride seem like the perfect thing to do! A funny, sad but eventually happy ending kind of story.
I really love Helena’s writing and I was excited that I finally got to read this book! Shaking up was hysterical and I couldn’t wait to read about Amie!
I hated Armstrong from the moment we were introduced to him in the last book. I hated his personality, how he tried Amie and how she changed around him. That being said, I was devastated when we found out what he did for her. She took everything like a champ, and Ruby and Bane were THE BEST to her!
Then of course we have Lex. I love him soooo much. I was really curious about him before and after helping save her from the horrific event I couldn’t get enough of him! He was the absolute best throughout this whole book. I was 100% rooting for him the wholeeeee time.
I just loved every minute of this book. I found myself laughing and smiling so often!!!!
I really liked this book & will read others by this author. Very steamy!