The Hookup (Moonlight and Motor Oil, #1)

by Kristen Ashley

When the new girl in town, Eliza “Izzy” Forrester decides to hit the local drinking hole, she’s not ready to meet the town’s good, solid guy. She’s definitely not prepared to engage in her very first hookup with him.

Then Izzy wakes up the next morning in Johnny Gamble’s bed and good girl Izzy finds she likes being bad for Johnny.

Even so, Izzy feels Johnny holding her at arm’s length. But Johnny makes it clear he wants more and Izzy already knows she wants as much of hot-in-bed, sweet-out-of-it Johnny Gamble.

Floating on air thinking this is going somewhere, Izzy quickly learns why Johnny holds distant.

He’s in love with someone else. Someone who left him and did it leaving him broken. Whoever was up next would be runner up, second best. Knowing the stakes, Izzy will take what she can get from the gentleman that’s Johnny Gamble. And even knowing his heart might never mend, Johnny can’t seem to stay away from Izzy.

Until out of nowhere, his lost love comes back to town. He’s not going back, but Johnny still knows the right thing to do is let Izzy go.

And Izzy knew the stakes, so she makes it easy and slips though his fingers.

But that’s before Johnny realizes Eliza moved to town to escape danger that’s been swirling around her.

And that’s why Johnny decides to wade in.

That and the fact Eliza Forrester makes breakfast with a canary singing on her shoulder and fills out tight dresses in a way Johnny Gamble cannot get out of his head.

• ISBN10: 1975750381
• ISBN13: 9781975750381
• Publish Date: 23 August 2017
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 358
• Language: English

Reviews

[Eve1972]

I'll be honest I have pretty much given up on KA ever writing a book that comes close to some of her earlier ones. She used to be an automatic buy for me, but now I pretty much pass them by without a second look. That said, a lot of people seemed to like the is one. Said it was "old school" KA etc. So I figured I would give it a go...and SURPRISE...I liked it. As much as her early stuff...NO. Would I re-read it? NO. But it was an enjoyable read for the most part. It wasn't overly long and drawn out (although the over-description of EVERYTHING was still there). The sex scenes were hot. All the characters were likable. I do wish there had been less harping on the ex and that Izzy had made Johnny work a little harder to get her back after having sex with her and pretty much dumping her five minutes after --- douche. But compared to some of the utter crap she has put out lately, this one came closet to the KA out old.

[stacey_is_sassy]

Well hello, Johnny...

I didn't read my review, the blurb or anyone else's review before I started my re-read/listen of The Hookup. To be honest, I'm a little surprised at how much I enjoyed it. This was a fairly tame and low angst listen, that flowed easily. If anything, I spent most of this listen waiting for the bombs to drop, hearts to be broken or for some major douchewaffle moves by the hero. It just didn't happen. Sure, there was stuff, but it was all pretty chill and the drama swirled around the main characters instead of between them. I think this was because Johnny was a fantastic hero. He has his head screwed on and isn't scared off from committing to the right woman.

I loved the female narrator and really struggled with the male narrator. His voice reminded me of a newsreader, a little bland and monotonous. I would have happily listened to Stella Bloom the whole way through.

This was me doing my due diligence in preparation for The Slow Burn which is due out at the end of this month. Can't wait to catch up with Johnny and Izzy to see how they're going.

**********

A new plan...

New releases on work days suck. Not that long ago, I worked from home and set my own hours which gave me a wee bit of leeway when my favourite author released a new book. Now, I actually have to walk out my door to go to work and manage my reading time around work (hand to my forehead…the burdens we carry). A couple of hours in the morning and then trying to read after work, without doinking myself on the head with my Kindle when I nod off, is not a lot of reading time. So, it was time to adjust.

I decided to listen to The Hookup as well as read. This worked really well for me. Morning reading, listen while in transit to and from work and then a mix of reading and listening when I got home. SUCCESS!! It was actually a really enjoyable way to experience this story.

You know how sometimes you’re reading a book and you are stumped how to pronounce a name or a foreign term? Well, the narrators do the hard yards for you. I thought that was pretty cool.

Anyways… I really enjoyed The Hookup. The storyline was interesting, the main characters were my favourite type of Alpha meets Quirky, and it was HOT!! Seriously, these guys do not take long to show us that they are very, VERY well suited to each other.

I loved that Johnny was pretty straight with Izzy. He had baggage and didn’t hide it. Johnny knew that his heart was damaged but pretty quickly realised that Izzy may be the person to fix it. He made it clear he was interested, kept the communication open and always tried to be considerate of her feelings.

I’m a sucker for a blokey bloke that likes to look after his woman. I have no problems with a hero who steps up to help with chores whether they are mowing the lawn or washing the dishes. When he states that *He’s her man, and she better get used to having him do...* BE STILL MY HEART!! I dream of my hubby saying something like that to me.

Now, Izzy, she’s the kind of quirky that I like. She’s independent, strong and determined while also an animal lover, protective of her family and loves a good bargain. Izzy’s had some bad things happen in her life but she always picks herself up and moves on. She’s a self-confessed prude who steps out of her shell for the first time with Johnny because she just couldn’t help herself. He brings out the sexy in her…and she likes it.

The Hookup was a very easy story to settle into. Most of the drama is around the couple with them fighting it together, which is the way I like it. I can't wait to meet them again hopefully soon.

I’ll be honest, Stella Bloom did a fantastic job narrating and I probably would have enjoyed it more if she did it by herself. I’ve listened to Lance Greenfield narrate before and enjoyed it but this time his voice was a little overdone. I also struggled when he did two males having a conversation as he didn’t change his voice which made it hard to tell when characters changed and who was speaking. It was mostly OK, just not the best I’ve ever heard.

Kristen Ashley is still my favouritist author in the whole entire world and I loved stepping into Matlock, Kentucky with the characters she created. I was desperate to start and unfortunately read it too fast which means I was sad when it was over too quick. The trials and tribulations of a Kristen Ashley Addict.

I can't wait for more of the Moonlight and Motor Oil series.