Hook, Line, & Sinker

by G.P. Guarente

Fifteen-year-old Fiona Delmar gets carried away easily, especially when it comes to boys. She's got a full fish tank to prove it.

There's Ethan the Tiger Barb, named for her latest ex. Simon the Kissing Gourami, whose namesake was Fiona's first kiss. Her crush on bad boy Draz lives on in a Siamese fighting fish, and the list goes on. . . .

Whenever a boy disappoints, Fiona buys a fish to ease the pain. Now that Fiona's convinced she's met The One, will she finally find true love, or is it time for a bigger tank?

Author Biography: G.P. Guarente is an editor and writer for J-14 and Twist magazines. Hook, Line, & Sinker is his debut novel.

Genres: Young Adult

198 pages, Paperback

First published June 16, 2005

Reviews

[natasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fiona Delmar is your average 15 year old girl. Over-involved in school, fighting with her sister, worried about her parents arguing, and most of all: boy crazy. Hook, Line and Sinker follows her through a couple months in her life, and all the boyfriends who've come before.

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My mom bought me this book back when it was really big on Amazon to sell your books secondhand for like a dollar. My copy is from what I'm assuming was the down-on-money Louis County Library (which is sad for a whole host of reasons. VOTE FOR FUNDING FOR LOCAL LIBRARIES!)

Anyway. I loved it then! I was like, 11, and the idea of a cool, older, boy crazy 15 year old was so neat. I was like, is this my future? (Spoiler, it was not).

Now, older, it's still cute, though a tad outdated. Many of the typical tropes don't hold up in that it's been 15 years since it came out and there's way more variety in plot points now. Fiona doesn't make the best choices, but she's kind and honest. It's overall a cute tale. There's a bit of drama, which is spot on for 10th grade! And it's short, sweet, and causes a little belly flutter. Good enough for me.

This was one of my rereads for 2020 I specifically threw in to do a little check on my old faves. Not too shabby.

[Katrina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the first teen romance novel I ever read, I found it short and sweet and have read it numerous times. I recommend this book to anyone who likes those cheesy romantic comedies for this one is a good one :)

[khali ! ♡ · Rating 1 out of 5]

This clearly wasn't meant for me, so i wont be too harsh. The amount of ignorance surrounding fish was astonishing though. Burned afterwards.

[Meredithhubrich · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fiona Delmar is just like any other normal 15-year-old girl. If you consider normal as buying a fish that resembles every boy that dumps you. Fiona is definitely what some would call “boy crazy”. Throughout this book, each chapter is about each ex- boyfriend she has and what fish she buys when they break up. For example, her first kiss was with her first boyfriend named Simon. They broke up, so she bought a fish called the “Kissing gourami”. Ironic right? So throughout the book, Fiona goes through heartbreak after heartbreak. But, one boy always seems to stick around for her… She has this “guy best friend” named Ty. They have been best friends since elementary school. Fiona wrote her own version of Grease as a play to perform for the school. Ty helps her rehearse during this book, but in the play they have to kiss. They do, and they both “feel something click”. But she dismisses it and goes back to her ways of having other boyfriends. At the end of the book, Ty kisses her and they end up together. She calls him a “Great catch”.

I definitely do not recommend this book to guys because they would probably find it annoying, sexist, etc. This is because throughout the book, Fiona mainly talks about her feelings towards guys and disses them completely and calls them for what she truly thinks they are. I think girls around the age of 11-13 would want to read this because, even though it was written from a 15-year-olds stand point, Fiona’s character acted a lot less mature then a 15-year-old now-a-days would act. So, an actual 15-16-year-old girl would not find this as humorous or relatable as a younger, less-matured girl would.

I didn’t really enjoy this book as much as I thought I would. This is because I am 15, but I feel like I am way more mature than the character in this book acted throughout the story. Fiona Delmar was very boy-crazy and not very bright in this book in my opinion. I feel like most girls would learn from these types of breakups that consistently happens to her, but Fiona doesn’t learn and lets the heartbreaks continue. I also found this book kind of stereotypical because this is the reason why most people think girls our age are just “boy crazy” and don’t know what they’re doing or what they want or they can’t be “in love” because they don’t know what love is. Fiona portrays this exact stereotype of why people think this way of girls our age. Also, I still think it’s so random… Why fish? Also, this book was very repetitive and SO PREDICTABLE! I knew from the jump when she started talking about Ty as her “best friend” that they would end up together in the end.

[Lexi Faietta · Rating 3 out of 5]

To summarize the book Hook Line and Sinker by G.P Guarente, it's about a typical teenage girl who has a copious amount of boy troubles. Like any teenage girl, she puts herself out there all the time but always seems to be left out in the cold. Unlike other teenage girls, every time she breaks up with a boyfriend or a boyfriend breaks up with her she purchases a fish. The fishes that she buys from the store are similar to the past boyfriends in some way. For example, "Reed III is a Dwarf Chamelon." "Simon is a Cichlid." "Sashimi is a Madagascar Rainbow." But there is one boy who Fiona, the main character, has known every since childhood who doesn't have a fish named after him. She keeps all her fish in her little aquarium in her room. As the aquarium gets larger so does her problems.

I would rate this book a three out of five stars because though it is humorous it was very predictable and somewhat too childish. Right from the beginning of the book I predicted who Fiona would end up with in the end, and I was right. I would recommend this book to middle school girls because they could relate the most to it. Boys should definitely not read this because they would hate it very much

[Lauren Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this book, Fiona is a girl who is boy crazy. She has had multiple relationships, all of them ending the same way. In a break-up. For every boy she dates and dumps (or gets dumped), she goes to Pet Planet and buys a fish that represents them. Out of the blue, her childhood friend Ty shows up and looks better than ever. She realizes that she has a crush on him, and that he has a girlfriend. In an attempt to get closer to Ty, Fiona joins the community playhouse performing Grease. I think this is a good book for those who enjoy teenage romance novels. If not, I would stay away from this book. All in all, I would give this book 3/5 stars, based on the fact that it was written well, but not really my style.

[Ivy :] · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like this book. It's kind of weird in a way, but it's pretty good.I guess that I'm the only person who's heard of this book and have a copy of the book. Haha.It's pretty interesting. I recommend it, if you can find it that is. You'll probably can't. It says on my book, " Advance Uncorrected Proof- NOT FOR SALE".

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reviewed for VOYA.

[KaMiE-LEi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book... Easy to relate to I guess...

[Brianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

AMAIZNG BOOK!

[Sophie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a fun quick read. I feel like Fiona fits with Jonah really well, and the book sort of leads up to that final moment, which I liked.