The Rec League: Hookups

The Rec League - heart shaped chocolate resting on the edge of a very old bookA couple weeks ago, we ran a discussion post about what tropes would be the opposite of “friends to lovers.” Tara pointed out that a few of you mentioned “hookups to more,” where the couple enter into a sexual relationship as strangers and become friends over time.

So this one’s for you commenters!

Maya: OHHHHHHHH Beautiful by Christina Lauren ( A | BN | K | G | AB ). She lives in London and he lives somewhere in the US, but they start hooking up on a wine tour. It’s only 2 weeks long, so there’s a firm end date. But then they fall in LURRRVE. Last book in the Beautiful series. I totally hadn’t read a single one before grabbing Beautiful from my library and it was easy to jump into.

Amanda: I made a sangria for that release!

Maya: I’m pretty sure I read it because of that post!

Amanda: Oh my gosh! Well that makes me feel good, haha.

The Proposal
A | BN | K | AB
Shana: I like The Proposal, by Jasmine Guillory, where the hero and heroine slide from having no-strings sex, to justifying their feelings as friendly friends feels, to falling without even noticing. It was the first Guillory I read, so I have a soft spot for it…and I only picked it up when a bookseller at Brazos Bookstore in Houston (one of my faves!) recommended it fervently. I miss bookstores. And Houston’s pecan pie. Oh, this has certainly digressed…

Tara: Chelsea M. Cameron has two cute ones that I like, although in both cases it’s a hookup that happened years prior to the events of the story. In Unveiled Attraction ( A | BN | K | AB ), the owner of a bridal boutique hires a makeup artist for her shop who happened to be a one-night stand 5 years ago.

In Bring Her On ( A | BN | K | AB ), it’s about two rival high school cheerleading team coaches who had hooked up at cheer camp when they were in high school a decade prior and can’t stand each other now. I had a lot of fun with both of those books.

Catherine: A Match Made for Thanksgiving by Jacki Lau ( A | BN | K | AB ), starts with a really hot hookup… that becomes awkward when the hero goes home for Thanksgiving and discovers that his parents have set him and his siblings up with blind dates, and that his hookup has been matched with his brother. I’ve kind of fallen in love with Jacki Lau’s romances recently, because they are so funny and sweet and hot (and so full of lovingly described food), so I’d recommend this one for the trope and all her others for every other occasion…

Kiss and Cry
A | BN | K | AB
Aarya: The Hook Up by Kristen Callihan ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) is aptly named. College-set romance featuring a star quarterback. The heroine wants their relationship to remain no-strings-attached but the hero is after a stronger emotional attachment.

Kiss and Cry by Mina V. Esguerra is a book that I’ve recommended several times on this site. While the immigration/grief storyline is my favorite part of this ice skater/hockey player romance, there’s also a hookup. The hero Ram is leaving the Philippines soon to live permanently in the USA. Bound by time, he and the heroine strike a “casual sex/no-strings-attached bucket list” of all the things they want to do together, but they won’t let it get serious because of the hero’s move. Of course, fate has other ideas.

The hookup trope is also common in books where someone takes a vacation (it’s only sex at first because they don’t think a relationship can exist after vacation). The Write Escape by Charish Reid fits under that category (Shana wrote a review). American heroine runs into sexy professor in Ireland after a breakup.

A Big Surprise for Valentine’s Day
A | BN | K | AB
I’m not even a football fan but apparently I like football books! Scoring off the Field by Naima Simone ( A | BN | K | AB ) is friends-to-lovers AND no-strings-attached sex. Not an oxymoron; the latter exists because they don’t want to change/ruin their friendship. It’s deliciously hot and there’s lots of unrequited pining.

Sneezy: Straight off the top of my head, A Big Surprise for Valentines Day by Jackie Lau. We loved on about interfering grandmas last time, so the logical progression is to mention doughnuts being eaten off of a dick. Or at least the attempt was made.

Susan: …I BEG YOUR PARDON

Catherine: Ooh, speaking of Charish Reid, how did I forget Hearts on Hold, which starts as a ‘sordid affair’ and becomes more?

Which books would you recommend?

Comments are Closed

  1. Ren Benton says:

    Self-promo warning: Ten Thousand Hours by me starts with a one-night stand between strangers at a destination wedding. They run into each other back home and embark on a no-strings fling because he’s the only person who doesn’t know her as a bastion of responsibility and they both agree she deserves some fun.

  2. Emma Barry says:

    A Lady Awakened by Cecilia Grant. She needs a baby because she doesn’t want her late husband’s brother to inherit the house, so she pays a rake whose recently been exiled to the country for sex. At first the sex is awful and unsexy because she’s determined NOT to enjoy it because she hates what she’s doing. But then they slowly become friends and things between them change. I could not adore that book more, and I think it’s so brilliant on every level.

  3. DiscoDollyDeb says:

    It seems to me that the “hook-up that leads to something more” situation is the start of a lot of different types of romances: unplanned pregnancy/secret baby, the impossible no-strings-attached affair, discovering later that the hot hook-up was the new coworker/boss/landlord/secret billionaire/sibling’s best friend/member of a rival family, etc. The first book that popped into my head was Anne Calhoun’s LIBERATING LACEY: she’s a wealthy woman in her mid-thirties, newly-divorced after a long marriage, who goes to a club (that has a reputation for being hook-up central) just to see what all the “fuss” is about; he’s a hot cop, younger than her, and very much a hook-up guy. Their initial hook-up leads to a deeper affair—but will their age-gap and class/wealth-gap cause angst and heartbreak? Of course—this is Romancelandia! Although it’s over ten years old, I think (other than the constant references to the heroine’s Biackberry—look it up, you young-uns) LIBERATING LACEY holds up remarkably well. How I wish Anne Calhoun were still publishing. Sigh.

  4. SusanH says:

    I don’t read this trope a lot (I like the slow burn and yearning), but I did enjoy Alisha Rai’s Hate to Want You. It’s extra angsty, and I almost didn’t get past the opening, which if I remember correctly sets up the hero as more of a stalker than he actually is.

    I think Sarina Bowen’s first True North book (Bittersweet) fits. The hero and heroine had a brief hookup in college, then meet up years later. Oh, also Bountiful from that series. The couple has an anonymous summer fling, later she discovers she’s pregnant but can’t find him. So secret baby, if that is or isn’t your thing. That whole series is excellent.

  5. NT says:

    CHARLIE ALL NIGHT by Jennifer Crusie

  6. Jill Q. says:

    I don’t read a lot of this trope, but I think the THE WEDDING PARTY by Jasmine Guillory also fits the hook up to something more trope. I guess it’s also enemies to lovers, so it’s not a strangers/anonymous type hookup, but I liked how they went from “no this is not happening” to “okay, it happened once” “okay, but we’re doing this on the regular, but we’re not having *feelings* about hooking up” to “crap, we’re in love.” They’re also sneaking around and hiding it from mutual friends which adds for some funny, silly moments.
    Very fun and emotionally satisfying (to me).

  7. Caroline says:

    @SusanH Ohhhh, Bittersweet is a comfort read for me, I love it (reread last week.) You’re right, the whole series is great, but that’s my favorite.

  8. TinaNoir says:

    THE SLEEPOVER by Serena Bell – stars up with the H&H meeting and having a hot & sexy quickie outside a bar and both deciding it was just perfect that they’d never see each other again. And then oops… he is her new neighbor. Awkward! And they can’t ignore each other because oops… their two little boys become instant BFFs. Very charming and sexy.

  9. Carol S. says:

    There are two (I think) in Katee Robert’s O’Malley series that start as hook-ups. I recall a steamy scene in an alleyway near a bar?

  10. June says:

    Absolutely yes to Liberating Lacy. It’s not an arrangement, it’s not friends with benefits, it really is a meaningless hookup that turns into much more.

    I’ll add A Seditious Affair by KJ Charles, in which Silas (who is THE BEST) and Dominic spend a year having anonymous sex and becoming friends before even finding out each others’ names, and of course drama ensues.

  11. AndAnnaSays says:

    I’ve been on a Ruthie Knox kick lately, so my first thought for a hook-up premise was About Last Night. The heroine is an expert on not just art, but knitting, which was unexpected and awesome!

  12. mel burns says:

    One Forbidden Evening by Jo Goodman.

  13. Maureen says:

    Bishop by Sawyer Bennett-first in her hockey series Arizona Vengeance. I’ve talked numerous times about my love of her hockey series, this one is a hockey player and the coach’s daughter-a fun hookup that turns into something else once true identities are discovered. Fun read!

  14. Zyva says:

    Kimberly Lang’s THE SECRET MISTRESS ARRANGEMENT is uber this.
    They’re newly friends-in-law from different states who meet at the wedding prepping. It’s meant to be a weekend fling, but…best laid plans. (Which was the title Lang wanted, iirc)

    There are elements in MAGNATE’S MISTRESS… ACCIDENTALLY PREGNANT and WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS. In those cases the couple don’t know each other, not even by association, and their prejudgments are among the obstacles.

    Such obstacles are never exactly the standard sexist worldly standoff in category romance, ie:
    He: you must be after my money.
    She: you must be trying to control me and make us all miserable because you’re afraid of love.
    Lang writes hypercompetent heroines who are matter-of-fact about money and everything. Their men get to be treated as a complication to be sorted out.
    This has odd results for the gendering of classism depicted. The reveal reaction veers more to ‘I am dismayed by your surprise wealth because it makes it less likely you will fall in with my magnificent plans’, ie unsentimental reverse-classism, and it’s equal opportunity.

  15. Tina S. says:

    DiscoDollyDeb–I totally second your motion on LIBERATING LACEY and the fact that it has withstood the test of time. So sexshy!

    I do miss Anne Calhoun. Does anyone know if left publishing (which would be SUCH a great loss!) or is just taking a break?

    The same with Cara McKenna, another writer I glommed on to. Does anyone have knews of her?

  16. DiscoDollyDeb says:

    @TinaS: Anne Calhoun, Cara McKenna, and Jill Sorenson: all three in my pantheon of favorite romance writers and all of them no longer publishing. I read somewhere that Sorenson was publishing under another name, but I can find no confirmation of that. It’s my understanding that McKenna said writing wasn’t fun anymore and she stopped writing to focus on family and a new job. No one seems to know what happened to Calhoun: she apparently closed all her social media accounts and has been radio silent since her last published book (TURN ME LOOSE, 2017). I hope all three of these ladies are doing fine and that one day they’ll return to publish new work.

  17. Tina S. says:

    @DiscoDollyDeb: Thank you for the update! I’m sad that Calhoun and McKenna have left the writing scene, but they are entitled to a life. They were churning out some books at a pretty good clip for awhile, and I’m sure it’s easy to get burned out. I’ll join you in wishing them well and hoping they return to writing some day.

    PS Sorry for the typos in my previous message. Why can’t I ever see them before I hit send!?

Comments are closed.

By posting a comment, you consent to have your personally identifiable information collected and used in accordance with our privacy policy.

↑ Back to Top