Hooked by Liz Fichera

 
 

Pages - 368

Published by Harlequin Teen in January 2013

Copy obtained via Net Galley

I believed that my ancestors lived among the stars. Whenever I struck a golf ball, sometimes the ball soared so high that I thought they could touch it.

Goodreads Summary

When Native American Fredricka ‘Fred’ Oday is invited to become the only girl on the school’s golf team, she can’t say no. This is an opportunity to shine, win a scholarship and go to university, something no one in her family has done.
But Fred’s presence on the team isn’t exactly welcome — especially not to rich golden boy Ryan Berenger, whose best friend was kicked off the team to make a spot for Fred.
But there’s no denying that things are happening between the girl with the killer swing and the boy with the killer smile...

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I enjoyed Hooked more than I thought I would. To be honest there is something about the cover that I find off putting. I think it might be the colour; the black and white aspect of it. Shallow I know! Luckily I read the blurb before I made my decision to read it and that literally had me hooked.

Firstly I can’t remember ever reading a YA book about golf, so hats off to the author for originality there. I was surprised how much I loved the golf aspect of the story, seeing as I have never picked up an iron in my life. One of the main characters Fred is an American Indian girl playing on an all-white, all male golf team for the school. This girl has got guts! She goes up against Seth, with his psychopathic tendencies, who hates her intensely because she took his spot on the golf team. He goes out of his way to make her life a misery. I loved Fred because she was so strong even though she wore her innocence like an extra layer of skin, she wouldn’t let them defeat her and pull her down. She continued to believe in herself.

Secondly, I loved the fact the author let us delve into the world of the American Indians.  We were privileged to be allowed access to traditions that they hold sacred. I don’t think there are enough books featuring American Indians, the only others I can remember are the Twilight books by Stephanie Meyer. I think they are such interesting and vibrant people that they should definitely feature in more YA books.

The book is told from alternative perspectives between Fred and Ryan, who is the All American boy, who gets everything he wants, delivered to him on a shiny silver platter. Yet his family is dysfunctional and he plays up against that fact. You want to hate him to begin with, but he falls so hard and so quickly for Fred, you find yourself nodding in approval at this blossoming yet fragile romance.

This book looks strongly at relationships that go against the odds. When two people come from such different backgrounds, this book shows it isn’t impossible for their relationship to work. Fred and Ryan couldn’t be more opposite to each other, yet it was lovely to see their love grow. I did struggle a little with the romance, as both characters struggled to get it right. There was a lot of will they, won’t they going on, which got a tad annoying.

This book reminded me of Pretty In Pink but with golf!

I thought this was a really good start to the series and I can’t wait to read the second book where we see Riley, Ryan’s younger sister find romance with another character already featured in this first book.