Mini Reviews - The Hook Up & The Friend Zone by Kristen Callihan

Title: The Hook Up (Game On #1)

Author: Kristen Callihan

Publisher: Self-Published

Release Date: September 7, 2014

Source: Purchased

Buy the Book: Amazon / B&N / Indigo

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.

All’s fair in love and football…Game on.

At the same time that I heard about The Deal (which I reviewed earlier this week), I also heard about Kristen Callihan’s The Hook Up. And much like with The Deal, everyone seemed to be raving about The Hook Up so I knew I had to read it. And so I did. And no surprise there, I loved it.

So. Drew Baylor. Can someone please point me in the direction of where I might find myself one of those. Because, for real, I need one in my life. I’m not gonna lie, I fell for Drew pretty hard while I was reading The Hook Up. I mean, it was kind of hard not to. Because apparently, when it comes to boys in books, I have a major soft spot when it comes to athletes, especially football players. And I’m not even that much of a football fan in real life, so why I have that soft spot, I don’t know. But that’s not the point right now. The point is that I freaking loved Drew Baylor. And just as much as I loved him, I loved Anna. And as you might have guessed I freaking ADORED the romance between these two. And it was HOT. And stuff started getting hot, pretty damn fast and I loved it. But it wasn’t and didn’t feel like insta-love. In fact, I’m pretty sure Anna didn’t like Drew all that much at first. But I loved their relationship and the way it developed over the course of the story. It was great and I don’t really know how to describe it other than saying it was awesome and great and fantastic (and other similar adjectives). 

So yeah, Kristen Callihan’s The Hook Up was fantastic. If you love romance, NA and football and you haven’t read this book, GET ON THAT. Seriously. If you like all those things, The Hook-Up is sure to be a major hit with you.

'Title: The Friend Zone (Game On #2)

Author: Kristen Callihan

Publisher: Self-Published

Release Date: May 5, 2015

Source: Purchased

Buy the Book: Amazon / B&N / Indigo

Gary doesn’t make friends with women. He has sex with them. Until Ivy.

The last thing star tight-end Gray Grayson wants to do is drive his agent’s daughter’s bubblegum pink car. But he needs the wheels and she’s studying abroad. Something he explains when she sends him an irate text to let him know exactly how much pain she’ll put him in if he crashes her beloved ride. Before he knows it, Ivy Mackenzie has become his best texting bud. But then Ivy comes home and everything goes haywire. Because the only thing Gray can think of is being with Ivy.

Ivy doesn’t have sex with friends. Especially not with a certain football player. No matter how hot he makes her…

Gary drives Ivy crazy. He’s irreverent, sex on a stick, and completely off limits. Because, Ivy has one golden rule: never get involved with one of her father’s clients. A rule that’s proving harder to keep now that Gray is doing his best to seduce her. Her best friend is fast becoming the most irresistible guy she’s ever met.

Which means Gray is going to have to use all his skills to get himself out of the friend zone and into Ivy’s heart. Game on.

If I thought I loved The Hook Up, I ADORED The Friend Zone. Don’t get me wrong, I loved Anna and Drew and their story. But it was nothing compared to how I felt reading all about Gray and Ivy.

I knew from the moment that I read the opening text message exchange between Gray and Ivy that I would love The Friend Zone. For starters, I’m a sucker for any story where the love interests are really good friends before becoming more. And Kristen Callihan didn’t disappoint me with her version of this trope. I had seen Gray in The Hook Up and he came across as this giant goofball. And that’s one aspect of who he was. But that’s not the reason I loved him. I loved Gray because of everything else I found out about him while reading The Friend Zone. He was so much more than a hotshot football player who had goofball tendencies. He just didn’t know how to be those other things while also being the hotshot football player. And that’s where Ivy came in and I can’t even begin to explain how much I loved Ivy. As the daughter of a sports agent and former professional basketball player, let’s just say that she was a little wary of high level athletes. And understandably so at the end of the day. But I loved that she was willing to give Gray a chance, even if she wasn’t sure about him. And like I’ve already said, I loved the fact that Gray and Ivy basically became best friends before they took it to the next level. The chemistry between them leapt off the page even when they were just friends and I was just smiling the whole time I was reading. And then they took things beyond friendship and my heart couldn’t handle all the happy and all the feels. So The Friend Zone? I adored it.

I will read all the books about all the football players especially if they’re written by Kristen Callihan, because it’s pretty much impossible for me not to fall for the boys she writes. Now I’ll just sit here and wait for Fiona and Dex’s story. But it’s going the wait until the fall is going to be tough.