The Hookup (Moonlight and Motor Oil Series Book 1) by Kristen Ashley

Posted January 17, 2018 by Nerdy Chic in Romance / 0 Comments

by Kristen Ashley
Genres: Contemporary Romance, Favorite
five-stars

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.

I’m going to open this review with a caveat and say that I am hopelessly and irrevocably in love with Kristen Ashley’s alpha heroes. I simply can’t get enough of them. If I could worship the ground this writer walks on, I would. Every time I read one of her books, I rotate my book boyfriends. I’m a bookslut. What can I say?

I hated it that I totally could fall in love with this man . . . but I couldn’t. I hated it that he was all mine and I was all his . . . but only when we were having sex. I hated that I knew when it was over that I’d miss this and miss it badly . . . but I’d rather have it while I could than not have it at all. But I had it now and it was beautiful.

Johnny Gamble. Yummy, delicious, broken-hearted Johnny Gamble. Le sigh. I don’t know if it was because it was 2am when I was reading this, the PMS, or just how much I loved the character but he made me cry. When you think you finally found the one, only to have her screw you over and break your heart, it takes a strong person to learn how to love again. It also takes a very strong woman to mend that broken heart. Izzy was a character that you just can’t help falling for just as hard as Johnny. A childhood that molded her into this strong woman who cares for others before thinking of herself. But when the opportunity comes along to walk on the wild side with Johnny Gamble, she’s all in. And while their relationship is a “just s**” at first, they both can’t help develop feelings for one another. Johnny, unsure if he can be what she needs, pulls back (hello tissues, I had a good cry here) leaving her heart broken. But he can’t resist Izzy and when he finally wakes up and decides that what he feels for her can be even more, he’s willing to risk it all for love.
Intermingled with family drama, alpha male stubbornness, and a lost love from the past, this was everything a Kristen Ashley book is and so much more. This is definitely one I’ll pick up again and again because these were characters that grabbed my heart and latched on. My first 5 star read of the New Year.

“You named your cats after Charlie’s Angels?” he asked.
“They don’t fight crime. They mostly just shed, eat, nap and make me feel inferior. But they’re still beautiful.” 

five-stars

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