The Hookup Artist

by Tucker Shaw

As a good-natured gay teenager, Lucas happily serves as his high school's matchmaker, but finding true love for himself is proving to be much more difficult. By the author of Flavor of the Week. Reprint.

Genres: Young Adult, Romance, LGBT, Contemporary, Queer, Fiction, Gay

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 24, 2006

About the author

Tucker Shaw's novel, WHEN YOU CALL MY NAME, follows two gay teenagers during the height of the AIDS crisis in New York City in 1990. In hard times, nothing is more powerful than friendship.

Reviews

[Mira Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Some ableist language, a little biphobia, disappointing ending. But I did fall in love with the characters and appreciated the conversations Lucas had in his head about queerness.

[Dylan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of eh, loved julian though!

[Judyth · Rating 2 out of 5]

~2/5

I was expecting to like this more. I found it, very cheap, at a (somewhat) local bookstore, thought it sounded interesting, and got it. Given that the main character is a gay boy, and the not-totally original idea, I thought that it would add a little twist. And, in a way, it did, I suppose. Also, I found out after buying it, that I had read (and reviewed) another book by this author, which I enjoyed. That made it seem even better. And then I started it and wasn’t so happy.

Firstly, the beginning bits of the book aren’t very interesting. It just didn’t keep my attention very well. Then I pushed through, and it got better. And then it was just… eh, mostly.

Lucas, the main character, is a hookup artist. He’s recently decided to give up on his own love life, and keep helping other people. One of his friends, Sonja, tends to fool around with lots of boys. Sonja and Lucas also tended to joke around a lot, somewhat crudely, but I just don’t think it was pulled off very well. It was probably for comedy relief or something, but it just didn’t sound as natural as it should have. And their other friend, Cate, who doesn’t seem to care too much about boys, but they’re both trying to fix her up with the new boy in school, because they think that’s a good way to help her get over her previous boyfriend.

I think my biggest problem with this book is how centered it was on everyone needing a boyfriend/girlfriend. I guess I should have seen it coming, but it was so pushy. Sonja is always looking at guys, Lucas is trying not to but also pushing his friends toward certain guys. Cate doesn’t want a boyfriend, but then does want the new guy, and then is mad at her friends because of something they did. I just… I don’t know. I wanted someone to think that, hey, they can be fine on their own, too. They don’t have to be in a relationship. But no one ever really thought of that.

Also, there was quite a bit of crude language, and some mentions of sluts, and wanting men to change for the girl, that was all rather annoying and eye-rolling at times. This quote, for instance: "'I don't know. I just figured that since we had soccer in common, maybe he'd change. For me.'" I just don't understand that reasoning, and it almost pisses me off, by a lot.

Slut-shaming stuff would probably offend other people more than me, as I just found it annoying. The boy issue, as I mentioned above, also really annoyed me in how it was handled. And the some of the crude language just didn't seem necessary or flow very well, and I'm not really the type of person who gets offended or bothered by much crudeness or cussing. Also, the gay issue was handled rather badly a couple of times, in ways to hurt the protagonist and in the heat of the moment, but those really got on nerves. Also, I want to make it clear that I'm pretty sure it was solely the characters who were being jerks in those moments, and had nothing to do with the authors thoughts or anything.

One of my main reasons for keeping reading, I think, is that I wanted to know for sure how it was going to end. Because it was either going to end with everyone happy in a relationship or no one. And I guess I have to give it another half star because it ended in the latter. Only, none of them seemed particularly happy with that. And I didn’t really believe that everything should be fixed so easily.

I mean, both Cate and Lucas were in the wrong. I don’t really think anything got resolved with Derek (the new guy). I guess how things ended with Julian (Cate’s brother, who was probably my favorite character) were okay, but I’m not totally satisfied with it. I’m just… not really satisfied with any of it, I guess.

I liked Julian. Sonja is probably second on my list, although I don’t think I got to know her enough. I found what was, or could have, been happening with her and this Alex guy could have been nice, but nothing there was really shown to have blossomed. I didn’t really like Cate. At points I thought Lucas was alright, but then he did something dumb, and it was just... dumb and he shouldn’t have done it and I don’t think he really redeemed himself. Derek was okay, but I don’t think what he was doing was really explained in any way.

I wanted to like this book. A lot more than I did. But I didn’t really like it at all. I’m left feeling rather unsatisfied. Most of the characters weren’t very good, the ending was iffy, the writing wasn’t very good or capturing at all. I’m just… I don’t know. Done with this book, I guess.


This review is also available on my blog, among many others.

[Brittany Sweeney · Rating 1 out of 5]

What do you do when your own love life is in shambles? According to Lucas, you're supposed to use your gifts to hook up other people who are unlucky in love. And that is what he does. Lucas is gay, and doesn't mind that everyone in his high school knows it. What he does mind is that the guy he is trying to set his best friend Cate up with is actually showing more attention to him than to her! And what's worse, he is also falling for the chiseled soccer player as well. As Lucas tries to navigate the fine line between friendships and relationships, he finds that hooking up is easy, but love is where things get complicated. This book is really not even a book; it hardly has a plot and it relys on shallow stereotypes of gays as only having girls for friends and only being able to watch other people have successful relationships. I haven't been so disgruntled reading a book since I turned the pages on a Lurlene McDaniels novel. The situations presented in the book are just awkward; the author has no sense of flow or presence. Don't read this book, if you can help it.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Don't you hate it when you're about halfway through a book and you suddenly remember that you've read it before? And that the reason you didn't remember until now that you'd read it was because you didn't particularly care for it in the end? This is certainly not a bad book by any means--the characters are well-drawn and sympathetic, as are the settings and the situations--I just didn't love it. Didn't love how it played out, didn't love how it ended, however realistic it might be. I guess when I first read it I was expecting something different--something lighter and less realistic--so you could say my expectations were 'unrealistic.' Now, 'My Most Excellent Year,' that's a book I will never, ever forget, because of how much I loved it. This one? Not so much.

[N · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an Ok book.
Lucas is a genius matchmaker, and everyone at his high school seems to need his advice and help in finding "true love" . When it comes to finding his own true love, things aren't so easy. Lucas's best friend Cate has just been dumped and he has to find her new Mr. Right. And right on schedule, on the first day of their senior year, a new guy shows up at TJHS. Derek is friendly, athletic, and the hottie of the century. As the matchmaker tries to work his magic, it seems like Derek is flirting with Lucas more than with Cate. Which makes everyone wonder—who is Derek interested in, anyway?

[Sandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Also fairly predictable, about a gay guy who usually plays matchmaker, and how he and his best friend fall for the same guy, who sends out mixed signals to the both of them, etc, etc. Kind of cute, but there's a part in there where the two friends have a big huge fight about the guy, and the girl just like, goes off the deep-end with her accusations, and the gay guy believes them. I'm not sure I thought like that while I was a teenager, so it seems really out there to read about it.

[Sarah]

A humorous look at a gay teen and his female friend both struggling with the attentions of the same guy. While it was interesting and funny, it wasn't as good as other YA lit out there on the same subject (Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List was better). However I liked that the ending avoided some of the coming out cliches of other queer YA novels and it would probably appeal more to teen girls then gay guys.

[Tami · Rating 2 out of 5]

there is good teen books, and there there is other stuff. this was not good. it was ok. people mocked me when they opened it up and read some of the words.

i thought it was a story that is not often told. and one that is quite confusing as a teen. not a waste of my time. but when compared to what else I have read this week, this was disappointing.

[Eunice · Rating 4 out of 5]

so far, this book us great. its a crazy book too. its about a girl that gets dumped by her man and her gay best friend is trying to hook her up with the cute new boy..but then her gay best friend might just be falling for him too...

[Gracie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmmmm, it's okay. the scenes dicussing gay relationships were a bit awkward. But i learned some tips on how to be a matchmaker. heheh...watch out, Brittany Woods....

[Tawnie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Grades: 8 and up Genre: Realistic Fiction

[Luru · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

[Rene · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gay teen Lucas is in love with new boy in town. Is new guy gay or not? Friends battle over who will end up with the guy. This book is okay--not great.

[Mari Cuthbert · Rating 1 out of 5]

I beyond hated this book. It was about a gay guy who helps his straight friends to find love. Awful. Pure Awfulness.

[**aShLeY**RiP PAPAW**]

this book is really good soo far haha i forget what its about but i will keep reading !

[Chrissy · Rating 4 out of 5]

i thought it was a pretty good book, but i thought that it was kind of unnatural at some parts.

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really probably 2.5, gets 3 stars because it has a small goal and it achieves it. Fluffy predictable story.

[Izzy]

The ending to the story is TERRIBLE!!!!! Because I always juge a book by the ending after reading it of course;)