Hooked by Catherine Greenman

Publication Date: 8/9/2011

Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers

Pages: 288

Format: Hardcover

Source: Purchased

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Goodreads Summary:

Thea Galehouse has always known how to take care of herself. With a flighty club-owner mom and a standoffish, recovering-alcoholic dad, Thea has made her own way in her hometown of New York, attending the prestigious and competitive Stuyvesant High School. But one chat with Will, a handsome and witty senior, and she's a goner—completely hooked on him and unable to concentrate on anything else.
Always worried that she loves Will more than he loves her, Thea is pleasantly surprised when their romance weathers his move to college and Will goes out of his way to involve her in his life. But then, Thea misses a period. And that starts Thea and Will on a wild ride that neither of them could have possibly prepared for. When they decide to keep the baby, their concerned parents chip in what they can to keep Will in school and give both teenagers a comfortable place to raise their child. But when a freak accident leaves Thea shaken and threatens to upend their little family altogether, Thea is forced to turn to the last place she would have chosen for comfort: her stiff, uncompromising father.
This smart, touching first novel brims with realistic, beautifully drawn characters, and reminds us that love is never as easy or predictable as we might like it to be.

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Thea Galehouse is madly in love with her boyfriend Will.  He is a year ahead of her in school, and leaving to attend college and live in the dorms.  Thea has an image of the two of them being together forever and gives herself to him completely.  She's hooked.  She can't imagine life without him.  

Thea and Will are caught in her room with Thea half-naked, and Will naked under the covers, by her mother.  Her mother just walked by and kept on talking like it was nothing.  She did, however, ask Thea if she felt she should be in the pill.  Of course, Thea is put on the pill and continues her relationship with Will at home and while he is at college.  Then, one night Thea forgets to take her pill when she spends the night with Will.  She doesn't think much of it, but a few weeks later she realizes she has missed her last period.  The unthinkable has happened.  Thea is pregnant, a senior in high school, and doesn't have a job.  Her boyfriend Will is also jobless and in college.  These two young teenagers need to figure out what to do and how they are going to make the crazy decisions that only adults should have to make.

Thea decides to keep the baby and Will agrees to step up and take responsibility.  They get a place together after Thea graduates, and their parents decide to each contribute $10,000 to their little family to help support them.  Thea and Will seem to be okay until one little accident makes Will think they made the wrong decisions.  Maybe their baby was better of being adopted by another family.  Thea is forced to make another decision and stand up and be an adult on her own.  She needs to be a mother and forget about having a happy little family.  This story is about growing up and becoming an adult.  It is about the struggles a girl faces when she becomes pregnant and decides to keep the baby.  It is also a story of how things can turn out for the better if the right decisions are made.

This book was a little slow going at first.  I wasn't captivated and entranced by it as usually happens with books I enjoy.  I just kept on reading until the book picked up a little and became slightly more interesting.  There were some parts that bugged me, like when Thea's mom walked in on the two of them half-naked and just kept going like nothing was amiss.  I don't know about your parents, by my mom would have killed me if she discovered a boy in my room half-naked.  She wouldn't have walked away.  In this sense, I think her parents have neglected their responsibility to keep their child out of trouble when they can.  Anyway, I loved the story once it began to pick up!  I was on Thea's side most of the time, but could totally see where her parents were coming from in wanting the baby to be given up for adoption.  Thea had no work experience and no way to support herself.  She had done some stupid things in the past and they didn't know if she could take care of the baby.  

I was so excited when Thea stepped up and became the mother I hoped she would be.  She was put through some tough situations, but had a lot of family support (although weird at times) that helped her keep on going.  This may not be a perfect portrayal of what a teenage mother would go through, but it does highlight some of the tough situations. Of course it has that happy ending that we all want to see when reading a book.  It's a cute read that ultimately made me feel happy for Thea.  If you're looking for a book to read that talks about some of the struggles in teen pregnancy, this may not be for you.  Just be aware that not all teenage mothers have such supportive families or have everything workout in the way that Thea did.  I don't think this in any way would encourage a teen to get pregnant, but it may help them along the way to see it may not be as bad as they thought.