Gettin' Hooked

by Nyomi Scott

Click for your dream date

Could she go to the senior dance with just any guy? No way. Imani Lane has her heart set on Maurice, the hottest guy in town. But he isn't exactly asking. So she comes up with an idea to help herself―and everyone else, too. An online dating hookup site for local teens! Her friends and cousin can find their dream dates, and Imani can brilliantly engineer her own profile to match Maurice's. Problem is, the Web site is becoming too popular. Guys who are looking for hookups―say, with Imani's own impressionable cousin―now include some very sleazy types. So Imani has to get things unhooked and fast.

Genres: Romance, Young Adult, Young Adult Contemporary, Fiction, Urban

251 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2007

About the author

Nyomi Scott believes in mixing the hip with the hops, as long as it’s all funky. She’s the mix-master of her chill stories, workin’ them up in Northern Cali with her man and four beautiful children who keep weekends packed with sports, the house bass bumping, and her memory of the teen years fresh. It’s Nyomi’s belief that there’s nothing better than the NFL, Madden on Playstation II, bouncin’ beats, and that the quality of life is enhanced by the strength of your girlfriends.

Reviews

[Kenya · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was amazing. At first i did not really like it, but then it started to get a little interesting because the main character, Imani started to talk about how bad her life is, not knowing her mother, how her father is always working and she only has her grandmother that is always in her room. She had a lot of problems until she met this guy named Maurice. They started to go out and Imani realized that he really cared for her, especially since everything went out of control when she made a website called, "Gettin' Hooked.com". At first the website went really well, but it had gotten out of hand and she didnt have anyone except her boyfriend and her cousin, Kayla. I thought the very last sentene in the book was really good because not only did she have her boyfriend, and her family, but she had herself. This book was really good and i enjoyed it.

[Tamya Roye · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excerpt from Gettin' Hooked ...
"What if we could see this info about guys from each other's schools? And what if they could see ours?"
"They can."
"But only people on friends lists. And, that could be anyone, from across the country. That's whack and does us no good in finding prom dates. What if there was a way to keep this local? Just our two high school."
"Like our own locals-only MySpace?"
Imani Lane has a problem in finding a prom date because she does not want to go with anyone from her own school because she feels that she has known them for way to long. Imani has had this boy named Maurice in her mind for a very long time but she has not said anything to him because she does not know how he feels about her. Imani has an idea that if she makes a website for her and her cousin's schools that Maurice will make a profile and see that Imani wants a date and he will try and get hooked with her. However, as time progresses things start to change and people are fighting because of this new website that they have made.
The problems that

[Xiao Yan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imani is at the senior year of high school and prom is coming up but she doesnt have a date yet. But all these years, she had been crushing on Maurice, her best friend's cousin. They rarely talk so Imani decides to make a website gettinhooked.com to make dates and matches with the people from her school and her bestfriend's school. By doing so, everybody will have their own profile and they can find a date on the website. Will this work? Will Imani get "hookef" with Maurice? Read it to see what happens! THis book was very easy to read and it was a page turner. I would reccommend it to teenagers!

[Tan B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Originally reviewed - 4/7/08

The plot was great but I didn't like the dialogue to much. It seemed as if the author was trying too hard to connect with the readers which made the book very difficult to read. One word is all I have to say to Ms. Scott....RESEARCH. Research the way teens talk. Write down or tape what they say. You got a little bit of it right you just need to let it flow. Other than that your story was really good, I'd like to read more about Imani and Her mother's relationship.

[Sky]

i love the character and i hope she got to go to the prom with maurice because her personality and her sense of style.

[Tiffany Spencer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Getting Hooked
Plot: Getting Hooked is a website created by Imani Lane and her cousin Kayla. The purpose of the site is to find prom dates for the girls from either 's school that are sick of the same played out guys and their own schools. Kinda like a local MYSPACE (remember that website?) And everything goes great. People are getting hooked up in more ways than one. Imani while enjoying the success has an ulterior motive in mind. Maurice, the man of her dreams, friend, and neighbor of her cousin Kayla is who Imani wants to get hooked up with. And no other guy will do or even come close. Things start getting out of control with the site. Daily numbers are increasing that include guys that aren't local (and are out of the country). Guys start using the site to be players. And then a fight breaks out. So it's not long before Imani decides it's not worth it anymore and needs to shut the site down. Even though it's got her the attention of not only Maurice but another cutie from her cousin's school. But Imani's not the girl to just let a guy "claim her" with kisses to feed his ego. Even tho secretly she's feeling it (with at least one of them). Kayla however thinks the site should stay up cause it's jumping (jumping) and HOT! And she's met a honie of her own. Only he's far from local. In fact he's a college freshman at Arizona State. And that's where she's headed after a fight between her and Imani. Panicked (and rightfully so) that her cousin doesn't know anything about this guy (James) seeing that she meet him over the Internet and he could be anybody Imani decides to go rescue her cousin. Maurice can't let his shorty go out like that and off they go on a road trip to bring Kayla back to her senses (and back home).

MY THOUGHTS: This book was before its time. Now you have so many people hooking up with sites like Getting Hooked. I can't fault Imani's idea. When I was a senior I also didn't have a prom date until VERY CLOSE to the prom. And like Imani luckily the guy I was into said yes. This is the second book I've read where a girl sets up some kind of match-making website to get the guy. And it always amazes me that they're willing to go the LONG way around in trying to find out if he's interested. Although I know how hard it is to just ask and keep it hidden. And yes it is easier sometimes to message. Imani took a big risk setting up the site. Not just because even I saw the problem of how can you eliminate people from getting on it that weren't just high school students. Maybe today security measure programs are stricter. But if he hadn't already been into her already and he was fine how was she going to make herself stand out from all the other flood or messages he probably got? He might have got back but he also might have got with someone else first. I'm learning every day. He might have also hit her up but then been passing messages (and hooking himself up with not only her but someone else or elses). So while it was a bold idea maybe it wasn't the best idea to get next to him. I bet she didn't think of that either. Nor did she think that someone else might take her profile the wrong way, like the guy in the club. But those are the things you have to think about. What Kayla did was bold and dumb at the same time. It was bold because I admire her courage to follow her heart and meet this guy. She was lucky! It turned out good. But it might not have. And you can't just up and bounce like that to see someone you don't know anything about. She never seemed to fully get why this was so serious. Then to have went out on a limb for this guy in the end she doesn't even seem like she's that bothered that she won't see him again. She's even kind of nonchalant about the sex. She says it's good but then she talks about how she doesn't feel any different. If the sex would have been *that* good she would have been glowing and still trying to keep in touch and hold on to James. I know if she's just dumb for risking her life to get some or if she's smart not to be making too much out of someone that was obviously just a fling. It felt kind of anti climatic because there's all this build-up with Imani and Maurice trying to rush there and "rescue" her because you think she's going to be catfished or raped and when they get there she's just there chillin. Even though Imani emphasizes how careless she was, a teenage girl reading this might get the impression that this is ok. I remember a long time ago when my cousin was even younger than these girls she'd try to get on hook-up sites pretending she was much older than she was so I know how serious this can be. I did like Imani. She reminded me of another similar character in the Kimani True series (Indigo Summer). Same skin tone (although Indigo wasn't mixed). Same wild, long, curly, hair. Both had Nana's. Both have protective boyfriends that call them "shortie" Both have cars (and are willing to drive long distances to come to their girl's aide . She only need say the word). Both good dancers. I think I liked Imani better. She and Indigo also share the same style and potential for trouble. But Imani is a little more innocent. I wasn't even sure what age she was. They talked about the prom. I thought she was senior but then the book (I think) says junior also. The part about her mom was heartbreaking to read. When I first read this book, it read like there would be a sequel. The next book would be about Imani's mother coming back and giving her this explanation about why she left. And hopefully it had to do with her own immaturity and not about not wanting Imani. I wanted that kind of closure for her. But sadly that wasn't the case. I'm not a parent but I could never leave my daughter or my husband that way. ITS SELFISH! And it makes me mad when people do this careless BS! The mother doesn't keep in touch with her own daughter but she keeps in touch with her niece. Do you know what that says to me? It says the mother didn't want Imani because she's half black. Which if you didn't want a half-black child then don't lay your sorry behind down with a black man. It also made me mad how people are trying to force Imani on the mother (I shouldn't even call her that cause she's NOT). You can't make someone claim someone and they aren't interested. I had to find that out the hard way! I was kinda glad though to finish this book (and not because of the storyline about the mother). Imani and Maurice straight made me JEALOUS! If the hotel scene and party scene wasn't enough reason the line about how he was hers the moment he first saw her just shut it all down. It was OVER from there! Sometimes story couples don't make me feel anything. I felt nothing but waves of passion and tenderness between Imani and Maurice. The kind that took me WAY back to HS! This was definitely my favorite Kimani Tru book. From the cover forth I was already HOOKED! It gives a great message and the love story aspect is on point.

RATING: 10

[Janessa · Rating 1 out of 5]

I would really like to write in-depth explanation for all the reasons why I did not like this book, but merely thinking about it makes my head spin. So I'll make it as concise as possible.
First of all, as I'm sure the majority of all other readers have already expressed, the explicit use of slang made the book very difficult to follow, understand, like, etc. Very few, if any, talk in the same manner as the characters of Gettin' Hooked.
Another major fault was how the entirety of the novel was shallow and unrealistic. Imani goes through all the work of creating a web site in order to connect with a guy she knew nearly nothing about. Her crush on Maurice was based solely on his looks.
Characters were extremely underdeveloped; especially Maurice. He just folds into whatever Imani needs. While this is idealistic, it makes the reader, or at least me, dislike his lack of personality.
There was, however, and attempt made at further developing Imani's character by introducing multiple crises: a deserting mother, a constantly absent father, a secluded grandmother, and a wayward cousin. Nevertheless, I consider this effort a failure because of the way each topic seemed to be segmented, especially towards the end of the novel. Imani and Maurice arrive in Arizona to find things are not as grave as previously thought, closing the case on Kayla and reopening Imani's familial issues.
There were many other matters that diminished my opinion of this novel, but this review is already too long.
As for something that I did like . . .

[Doneisha · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very realistic and kept me reading. It's about teenage cousins; one white (Kayla), and one black (Imani), who starts an internet hook-up site to try and find someone to go to the prom with. Kayla ends up going out of town on a weekend when she was home alone, leaving Imani with no choice but to go find her, along with Kayla's neighbor.
This is something I would never do, keeping in mind that there are petafiles and just plain crazy, phsyco individuals on internet sites. And traveling out of town with someone I have a crush on, but don't really know very much about is something I would never even think about doing.

[Bniceygresham · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was about a girl named Imani, who is mixed. She likes her mom's sister's daughter's next door neighbor. They went to a different school so she had no ideahow to tell him that she liked him until she came up with the idea for an online site for the two high schools. Imani thinks its a great idea but then kids from everywher start to get onto the site. Her cousin goes to meet a guy she met out of state. Together, Imani and the neighbor Maurice drive together and go get her while being honest with themselves.

[Rayzin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Imani just can't go to the dance with any guy! She has her heart set on Maurice. The hottest boy in town. And she has and idea how exacly to do that. A dating site. But when things get out of hand and people aren't who they say they are and the site gets too popular. She has to figure out how to fix it. But how can she do that with her cousin running off to another state to meet a boy from off line.

[Bellagia8e]

So far this book is talking about a girl who is having problems with a prom. she Imani lane is a high school girl tryin to get one guy just one guy that she secertly has a crush on to go to the dance with. Just like her friends ahe cant find one

[Monie · Rating 5 out of 5]

2 girls trying to find a date for the prom and many guys they think are either ugly or not there lead.

so they go on to this website called gettin' hooked.com

[[not a real website]]

so they find a date but things go wrong...read more to find out

very good

[Reajanique Ridgeway]

not ao.good don't.like it beacuse its about girls thinking they going ton get hooked at a party but dont but still sits on they ass and thinks they are going to still find prince charming i really dont like this book im not into it but some ppl are

[Tatyana · Rating 5 out of 5]

i have learned that if you like someone you should just go on ahead and tell the person instead of going with somebody else to make them jealous

[kilah]

lets just say if you with the wrong crowd then you with the wrong people

[Lisa Mcn.]

Recommended in LJ Core Collection for Urban Lit

[Bernice · Rating 5 out of 5]

What I learned from this book is that everything online is not as safe as it should be or assumed to be.

[Bolanle · Rating 5 out of 5]

i loved thsi book sooooo much!!! I'm going to keep reading the series

[Dani · Rating 1 out of 5]

Blech. If wasnt sent by publisher never ever would have picked up. The slang in this book makes me want to bang my head against a wall. Ahhhh, someone give me a book actually worth reading and fast!

[Nisha]

Was A Really Good Book

[:..Renee'..:]

i loved the book.. i cant wait to read the next part

[Teresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing book i read it over more then once i just love it. One day i wish this book will be recommended to the moives :)

[Gianina · Rating 2 out of 5]

I abandoned the book because I didn't like or actually get where the book was going on from the page I left on.