Reviewed by Ro

TITLE: The Hookup Mix-up

SERIES: Franklin U Season 2

AUTHOR: Riley Hart

PUBLISHER: Self Published

LENGTH: 243 Pages

RELEASE DATE:  June 7, 2024

BLURB: 

Perry
I moved to San Luco to get to know my brother, and so far, it’s been great. Working as a bartender at Shenanigans, a bar close to Franklin University, there are beautiful men and women everywhere. When a hot guy falls into my arms at a party, I’m down for some naughty fun. Until I realize he’s way too drunk for anything to happen. Thankfully, we agree to meet up the next day.

One near-kiss later, I discover Theo has no idea I’ve been hitting on him. He thinks we’re hanging out as buddies, and to my great regret, says he’s straight. How did I misread this situation when I thought he was giving me all the right signals?

Theo
Perry thinks I’m a nine…a nine! Sure, I’m not into dudes, but it’s flattering that someone as attractive as him thinks I’m hot. Despite the confusion, Perry and I click and agree to keep hanging out. The more time I spend with him, the more I realize there’s a part of myself I’ve been ignoring. One that’s super bi and wants Perry as more than a friend.

Trying to study with him makes things hard for me…below the belt. Unfortunately, his abandonment issues have him open to a fling and nothing more, while I’m catching feelings in a big way. Can I be satisfied with a hookup? Or should I find a way to convince him to take a chance on making this something real?

REVIEW:

This starts with Theo, a straight boy who believes he’s a 6 and has a girlfriend, Whitney, who’s a 10. “My friends aren’t the biggest fans of my girl, and she wishes each and every one of them would die a fiery death.”  They’ve been apart most of the summer, and Theo is so sweet, bringing her flowers, planning a date to her favorite Italian restaurant, and trying to hold her hand when they are finally reunited. Except…she waits for him to spend money he doesn’t really have on the flowers, the dinner, and all, and then drops the bomb that it isn’t working. So the straight boy goes to a party, gets super drunk, and nearly falls off the table he is dancing on. Luckily, someone is there to catch him.

That’s the meet-cute of Perry and Luke.  Perry is Ty’s brother (from the first Franklin U series), and he has moved to San Luco to get to know his brother. There’s a lot of baggage from his family situation, in that Ty is the son of Montgomery and his wife, while Perry is the son of Montgomery and his mistress. His father provided money to Perry’s mom but never wanted to be part of his life and Perry has a lot of bitterness about that. “Our dad chose to be in Ty’s life and not mine, so there are complicated feelings there.” Because of this, Perry does not have relationships and he keeps almost everyone, except Ty and his mom, at a distance. Walls are there for a reason. “Giving someone the chance to not want me? To walk away from me? Not really my thing.”

When Perry swoops in like a Knight in Shining Armor (Theo’s title for him), he saves Theo from a fall, realizes he’s too drunk to hook up, and just puts him to bed. When later he asks if Theo wants to hook up, Theo mistakenly thinks that means hanging out. It was funny to see the misunderstanding happening. Perry is flirting and hitting on Theo and Theo has “such a great friend” thoughts about Perry.

“I just want to have funnnnnnn. Stop poking at my insides.” He smirks. “Belive me, if I was poking at your insides, you’d know. Hopefully I’ll get to though.” I can’t deny that’s a weird way to say it, but maybe Perry just really wants me to be able to talk to him.”

These two becoming friends made me smile. Perry may have those walls up but right from the start there is something different about Theo. They open up to each other, ask each other vital questions and really get to know each other like no one else knows them. I loved that. Perry helps Theo with his studies, even though Perry hasn’t gone to college. The one thing Perry is passionate about, coding, is what his father does so he wants nothing to do with that.

We also have amazing side characters in Jack, Avery, Brax and Casey. Perry’s mom is so awesome (and her revelation of dating again seriously made me happy). This is a very low angst, sweet, funny story.

RATING:

BUY LINKS: 

Amazon