The story
London is a paediatric surgeon resident at an Austin public hospital. At her 15th high school reunion she meets up with Drew Sullivan, her arch rival from school. No matter how well she did, he challenged her every step of the way. Now he is coming to work at her hospital, but he doesn’t share that information before their one night stand. Things are about to get interesting!

My thoughts
This gorgeous series follows three women that meet up after being stood up by the same guy that was “three-timing” them. Each of the three books in the series tells the story of each of the women. London is just as kickass awesome as Samiah and Taylor. She is self aware, honest and has a kind heart. She struggles paternalistic chauvinists daily, whether it’s her father or her superiors, but it’s all about her patients and their families. Drew is a worthy suitor, if only she would trust her heart and body on this one. There is steam, but the relationship that develops between London and Drew is the star of this show. Loved it!

Rounding out the trio of 'Boyfriend Project' novels, 'The Hookup Plan' is, IMO, has truly saved the best till last. I loved 'The Boyfriend Project', I was iffy on 'The Dating Playbook' and this one brought it all back together again. It should be noted you don't have to read the other books to fully understand what's going on in this novel - but it helps.

Following London, a paediatric surgeon, this book is a sort-of enemies to lovers (they don't stay enemies for more than a couple of chapters) about two former high-school rivals who become hookup buddies while one is in town for work. When that work involves her hospital, they become closer and obviously - feelings.

What I really enjoyed about this book was there wasn't conflict for conflict's sake. So many romance novels introduce jeopardy in the third act that has no time to get resolved, whereas Rochon carefully weaved lots of different lines of conflict through the whole novel. There wasn't a sudden breakup or betrayal - it was good development of the relationship all the way through. Also loved the steamy sections when they appeared. They were just a little tease-y - rather than giving us straight porn it left a bit to the imagination which I liked.

I also loved that the story wasn't 'change yourself for a man' and whilst we got to see London finding her love story, we also got to see her change and develop as a person. Whether it was cutting off a toxic parent or reducing stress at work, she really changed for the better as a character and you felt great about watching those changes happen. Of all the novels in the trio, this has the most depth to it.

And of course - it remains a fun romantic comedy with plenty of incredible food and drink descriptions that'll make your stomach growl.

I really liked both of these characters, especially our FMC, London; I thought that she was a really compelling and interesting character, working as a paediatric surgeon in a hospital where, due to her race and gender, she is constantly being underestimated and undermined by old white men. I did also like the MMC, Drew, I loved the way he treated London, he was very sweet and I love a good guy-falls-first story.

However, I did find the story to be quite slow, which I think is pretty unusual for a romance novel, and I found the whole enemies-to-lovers part to be quite frustrating. I'm not a lover of that trope at the best of times, but these two had been "enemies" for over fifteen years, when they hadn't seen each other in fifteen years since leaving high school, and the whole reason they were even "enemies" was not something that I think you'd still be holding onto when you are in your thirties and haven't seen them for that long. Is that just me? I don't know, I just found that part of the plot to be lacking. Also, the first spicy scene was fade to black, whereas every one afterwards was on page? Maybe it's a personal thing, but I find the first spicy scene to be the one I actually care the most about, because you know, it's a romance book, I want to see the couple get together!

Other than that though, it was a fun romance, I LOVED that there was no miscommunication in here, that they actually talked to each other about everything, that they included each other in their decisions when they realised that this was more serious than just hooking up, that they didn't just make wild and crazy life choices without checking in with each other first.

(I did think we were about to get a surprise pregnancy trope thrown in here with how much London and her friends brought up babies/being pregnant, but thank goodness that was not the case).

I really enjoyed this book. I thought it was funny, fresh, relatable, sassy and enjoyable. It had a great cast of characters and a feel good storyline.

so i did nothing in the last week just read the boyfriend project series. and let me tell you it’s criminally underrated and it deserves more hype. i mean, 3 three badass black women, all are clever, all flirt, funny, feminist and absolutely amazing. no need more.

even though the hookup plan is my least fav, i still had a good time reading it. can you believe it that my main problem that it was fade to black? like multiple times? in the first two books there was nothing like that and in this one i was kinda sad about it. and i found the story a bit flat in the middle part. but like i said the three women and even the three love interests 10/10🫠. i can’t and i won’t say a bad word about them. the chemistry, the spice , the flirt between the couples just amazing. and i love to see feminism in books and women who can rule the world.

thanks for the arc. absolutely worth it.

Enemy's to lovers is probably my favourite trope right now, so on the surface I should have loved this book - but I came away feeling it was just OK.

I think the main problem I had with it is that right from the beginning is that it never felt as if  the MC were ever really enemies. London never really hated Drew; in high school she competed with him in order to be the best at everything & gain her dads attention, and Drew had always admired & idolised London, even saying at one point that he had done everything in high school to impress her. It felt more like he had been in love with her since he was a teenager - not quite enemies at all!

We do find out about both characters backstory later in the book, and because of that I definitely enjoyed the second half of this book more.

Overall this book was OK and a nice easy read, and although is the third book in The Boyfriend Project series, it also read well as a standalone.

With thanks to Netgalley and Headline for my eARC copy.