Review: The Hookup List by Dakota Madison

The Hookup List
by Dakota Madison
Publisher: Short on Time Books
Release Date: January 19th 2014
Rate: Average (3 stars)

Synopsis:

A FRESHMAN, HER ROOMMATE, A GUY and A LIST...

THE FRESHMAN: Ana Alves came to college for one reason--to be the first person in her immigrant family to earn a degree. She doesn't want anything to derail her from her pre-med studies, especially a guy.

HER ROOMMATE: Nicki Payne is ready to party and she doesn't waste any time hooking up with a guy in a frat house bathroom. Her motto: College is a time to be young, wild and free.

A GUY: Christopher Knight is the easy-going English major with a sexy smile and killer body who sits next to Ana in her Shakespeare class. Ana finds Christopher intriguing. She just doesn't want to admit that she's falling for him.

THE HOOKUP LIST: A list of freshman girls who are ready for action that's circulated to the freshman guys via a weekly Listserv. When Nicki Payne is one of the first girls featured on The Hookup List, guys start knocking on her dorm door at all hours of the day and night looking to score...

But what happens when one of those guys is Christopher?

This NEW ADULT ROMANCE contains language and content intended for adult readers (18+).

The Hookup List brought my attention for having such a juicy name. It read scandal all over the place and when I saw who the author was, I didn't hesitate. I've read the Matched series also written by Dakota Madison and I really enjoyed them, so reading another of her stories was in my list of priorities.

What I liked about The Hookup List was that the author based her story in a real story she read in a newspaper and that The Hookup List really exists. She explains briefly that after reading an article in the New York Times entitled "Sex on Campus: She Can Play That Game, Too.", aside from being horrified, she was intrigued as a writer and that's how The Hookup List was born. And I have to agree with the author: both by being horrified (I also searched for the article) and by the great idea of doing a story about this. The story has the perfect opportunity to be simply scandalous and epic.

However, what I didn't like is that The Hookup List it's not the main topic. It's briefly used to bring conflict between the two main characters and once the problem is solved (and it's solved really quickly) The Hookup List is not mentioned any more in the following pages of the story (and there are a lot of pages left).

Honestly, after reading the title I wanted to know more about this book and the synopsis promised scandal: group of friends, college and a hookup list? That has all the potential to be juicy, scandalous and totally worth reading! So, my point is that the author had an excellent topic and her idea was incredible, but she focused more on Ana's life and not in the hookup list.

The two main characters, Ava and Christopher are really mature. If you compare them to the other characters that appear on the story, they are like ancient souls, with the perfect level of morality and values. It's like they were reading my thoughts when they criticizing the hookup list or Ana's roommate's behavior. They are also very responsible, showing one of the things of being a college student means. 

However, other characters such as Ana's roommate and her best friends and Christopher's roommate, gave me the impression that everyone in that college in Dakota's story was there just to drink alcohol and to hookup. And all the background people? It gave me the impression to have the same thinking as these characters. 

I think that what I ended up liking the most about this story was the romance between Ava and Christopher. It's sweet, romantic and credible. It shows us that there are second chances to everyone and that love and passion can be two different things. But when you mix those two things? That's when you know you have found someone worth fighting for. 

Another thing I truly liked aside from reading how these two fell in love was that the author did a great show of trying to send the message to all readers that girls should respect themselves and their bodies and that being part of something as the hookup list is not something to be proud of. I would feel offended. It's true that you need to live your life when you're young, but there's no need to scream out loud in a piece of paper what you can do in bed or who do you sleep with or how many you sleep with. 

The Hookup list shows us how the boys are not the only ones pursuing a "only-hookup" relationship. And that sometimes the roles are reversed and the men are the ones suffering from a broken heart rather than breaking a girl's heart. As hard as it is to picture it. 

Plus she uses this controversial story to show the consequences of unprotected sex. 

Overall, the story was a good one. The romance was credible, sweet and something you would expect after reading Ana and Christopher's stories and got to know them. I liked the message the author tries to send with her story and also liked the main idea, that's why I gave this book three gorjuss dolls.

Romance novelist, Dakota Madison, has been writing since she learned to read and fell in love with books. When she's not at her computer creating spicy stories, Dakota is traveling to exotic locales or spending time with her husband and their bloodhounds.