Blogmas Day 8 – Hook Shot by Kennedy – Book Review; a beautiful tale about trust, forgiveness and faith 🥺💕

Hello lovelies! 🥰

Today I’m going to review a book I fell head over heels in love with and I hope you give it a chance, too. Enjoy!

Synopsis: A deeply emotional standalone romance set in the worlds of professional basketball and high fashion.

Divorced. Single dad. Traded to a losing squad. Cheated on, betrayed, exposed.
My perfect life blew up in my face and I’m still picking up the pieces.
The last thing I need is her.
A wildflower. A storm. A woman I can’t resist.
Lotus DuPree is a kick to my gut and a wrench in my plans
from the moment our eyes meet.
I promised myself I wouldn’t trust a woman again,
but I’ve never wanted anyone the way I want Lo.
She’s not the plan I made, but she’s the risk I have to take.

A warrior. A baller. The one they call Gladiator. Kenan Ross charged into my life smelling all good, looking even better and snatching my breath from the moment we met.
The last thing I need is him.
I’m working on me. Facing my pain and conquering my demons.
I’ve seen what trusting a man gets you.
I. Don’t. Have. Time. For. This.
But he just keeps coming for me.
Keeps knocking down my defenses and stealing my excuses
one by one.
He never gives up, and now…I’m not sure I want him to.

Review and Ratings

5 stars: Persephone – Queen of the Underworld and Goddess of Spring. Persephone is my favourite goddess because she is full of contradictions – she represents both strength as queen of the underworld and a softness as a floral maiden. She teaches me how it’s okay to be both. If Persephone appears, that means that the book was one of the best books I’ve ever read, that it holds a particular place in my heart and that it is now part of my favourite books ever

Medusa – Gorgon. She is mostly known for being a monster, but before she was a monster, she was a beautiful mortal woman with beautiful hair who has been sexually assaulted by Poseidon in a temple dedicated to Athena. As a punishment she was transformed into a monster. This goddess will be featured whenever sexual assault is mentioned in a book. It will also be a trigger warning.

Athena– Goddess of wisdom, poetry, art, and the strategic side of war. I will feature the goddess whenever there is a BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, Person of Colour) because they are a symbol of resilience, strength and wisdom to me. I also want to put forth African folkore, myths and gods and since Athena is the goddess of poetry and art I thought it was fitting.

---

My one-sentence review as soon as I finished this book was « they don’t make them like these anymore ». And they really don’t. I read a lot of romance novels and I have also figured out the tropes that I love so I give books 5 stars easily but this book is one of a kind. Hook Shot is not a « five-stars given by Karla » book but a « everyone who reads this book has to love it because it’s so special and perfect ».

I have never read about a couple that are more in symbiosis than Kenan and Lotus. They have the healthiest, purest relationship. They have met before and felt instant chemistry which is why they had been avoiding each other. This time, when they finally decide to give into their attraction and give their couple a chance, it is electric. I am not a fan of love at first sight, or instalove but for the two of them, their connection was painfully so obvious that it made sense. I finally understood why some people love the trope.  Both characters were fleshed out and had a purpose outside of their relationship. They had their own struggles and fears and I loved reading about how they navigated them. I also enjoyed the dual point of view and seeing how each of them were losing their mind over the other and fighting their initial attraction. They were both incredibly supportive and mature and their intimacy was unique. I am a seasoned steamy reader

The atmosphere of the book was excellent. It mixed fashion, basketball, art, reality tv, witchcraft and drama, – elements that seemingly don’t go together but ultimately made  for a coherent and entertaining story. They allowed the reader to be constantly surprised and entertained by aspects of the story and allow some levity amidst the darker themes of this book. This book fought the presumption that romance novels are only « porn with plot » or not a a « real and legitimate » form of literature. Some books are, and that is also fine, but this book deals with hard and painful topics (childhood sexual assault, and childhood abandonment), which can ultimately be triggering. The topics are not handled in passing, but seriously talked about and explored and it nearly brought me to tears. The book highlighted the importance of therapy, communication and trauma. I love how open and healthy everything was, while still maintaining the perfect amount of angst to keep the reader engaged. 

I think all of the topics were handled beautifully because of the writing style; the author conveyed a sense of warmth and intimacy like I’ve rarely seen before. I absolutely loved the link with poetry and scriptures. I’m a sucker for characters professing their love through other published works and I loved the way the characters used the Song of Salomon here. I couldn’t stop smiling and swooning.

 I just had an incredible time reading this and I sometimes felt like I was watching a movie. Things were detailed perfectly and I could see it perfectly in my head. 

Let me also highlight how amazing the audiobook narrators were and how it made for an even better reading experience.