bookchickdi: The Hookup Dilemma by Constance Gillam

Tuesday, November 23, 2021

The Hookup Dilemma by Constance Gillam

The Hookup Dilemma by Constance Gillam

Published by Entangled ISBN 9781682815724

Trade paperback, $15.99, 322 pages

From the moment Elliott Quinn sees gorgeous Rashida Howard get out of an Uber in front of his father's office, she catches his eye. He is sitting in a booth at the bar across the street, head down in on his phone, paperwork capturing all his attention. So begins Constance Gillam's The Hookup Dilemma.

Rashida is angry that her appointment with Marcus Quinn has been canceled yet again. She sees that Elliott has an open seat across from him in his booth and asks if she can sit there, her feet are swollen and she needs to sit down.

They talk and flirt, and Elliott offers to take her to dinner at the Four Seasons nearby. The flirting is hot and heavy, and they end up in a room after dinner. While the sex is amazing, Rashida sneaks out early without leaving her number or last name.

Rashida is concerned that her grandmother's Millhouse neighborhood near downtown Atlanta is heading toward gentrification, leaving the elderly people who have called it home for decades behind. She wants to meet with Marcus Quinn, an architect who bought a building and wants to bring in Whole Foods and Starbucks, and eventually buy up homes and build McMansions in their place.

What Rashida doesn't know is that the Elliott she had hot sex with is Marcus Quinn's son, and with his father out of commission after having had a serious heart attack, Elliott is now the point man on the Millhouse project. If he can't make this project happen, his father's company will be bankrupt.

Although Rashida and Elliott are on the opposite sides of this issue, they can't fight their attraction to each other. They are thrown together, and Elliott has become so entranced by Rashida, he wants to find a way to make both this project work and find a solution for Rashida's grandmother and her neighbors as he has come to know and like them.

If Elliott and Rashida can't find a compromise, any future together is unlikely. I liked the theme of gentrification, it seems to be a growing problem in many large cities, like my own of New York City. I also liked the multiracial aspect of the story. There is a lot of explicit sexual content, so if that is something that you don't like, this book is not for you.