Just a perfect hot girl book. This was truly such an original and unique book. Loved it. Thanks to Harper for the arc for my honest review.

The Hop is so much more than just another fiction story about a brothel!!!!!!!! I was hesitant about reading it at first because of the title but once I started I could not put it down!!!!!! This is a fascinating story about sex worker's, their lives, their work, & the way they take their lives back from their boss. It is an inspiring story that no one will be able to resist.

I was intrigued by the synopsis and I enjoyed the book. I liked getting the POVs from different characters; I thought it really helped flesh out the events of the story by allowing us to hear about it from multiple angles. My only complaint is that I found it very dark, it almost made me slightly depressed. But overall, I thought it was great and I would definitely recommend it!

. I have not seen enough about Diana Clarke’s phenomenal sophomore offering, The Hop. This book was 411 pages that I did not want to end. It will undoubtedly be one of my top books of the year. I can’t wait to go to one of Clarke’s virtual events. (Schedule is posted as second pic.)

Why? The writing, story and characters are just so fresh and different. The chapters are short and told from different characters points of view.

This is an edgy coming-of-age story and I love the main charecter’s strength. Kate Burns is a poor New Zealander living with her single mother who becomes ill. Kate and her friend Lacy, outsiders at school, make money from a kissing business and from there she ends up in Nevada as bunny Lady Lane at the Hop. Lady Lane is one of my favorite characters ever. (The speech scene!!!!)

Sex. Money. Power. Fame. Sisterhood. Anger. It’s all in this book with a beautiful and difficult story that kept me hooked. That’s all I’m telling. Go in blind.

Excuse me, Hollywood, THIS BOOK NEEDS TO BE A MOVIE.

I’m sad to be done with this book, but I will talk it up everywhere. I’m pretty excited to read Clarke’s debut, Thin Girls, which is on my shelf. One of my book besties @elizabookworm raved about it last year.

This book is over 500 pages long, and I read it in nearly one sitting. I could NOT put it down I was that captivated by the storyline and characters! It is set up interview-style, so each chapter is told by the POV of a character being interviewed.

This is such a complex story and brings up important discussions on sex workers and the sex work industry. Its compelling and draws you in so you want to keep reading, and the characters are likeable.

There are a lot of triggering things in this book, so please be aware when starting to read. Triggers include: sexual content, cancer, racism, transphobia, physical abuse, sexual assault, animal death, domestic abuse, bullying, eating disorder, pedophilia, ableism, misogyny, a suggestion of abortion, mentions of killings and shootings, and discussion of a sex act that depicts rape.

If you enjoy reading books about supporting women, supporting sex workers and the sex work industry, and found family/sisterhood then I recommend this book!

Thank you Harper and NetGalley for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

Clever, thoughtful, and occasionally heartbreaking, The Hop follows Lady Lane (née Kate Burns) on her journey to sex work. Clarke's work is nuanced and tender, and almost flies off the page - it's all done interview-style and I would have liked a little extra texture at the beginning of each chapter to ground it a little more. A fascinating read that you'll be thinking about for days.

What drew me to Diana Clarke's new novel The Hop (aside from loving her debut Thin Girls) is that it is obviously based on the Moonlite Bunny Ranch, a legal brothel in Nevada which I had previously discovered in a podcast. The podcast was so eye-opening because the sex worker it followed revealed that she was making upwards of one million dollars a year through her work at the Ranch. So when I learned that Clarke had written a book set against the backdrop of a fictional brothel, I had to get my hands on it.

The Hop follows Lady Lane, née Kate Burns, through her New Zealand childhood upbringing with a negligent mother who insisted that Kate would someday be a star, to her pubescent years when she exchanged sexual favors and lessons for money, to her time working as a legal sex worker at The Hop in Nevada, to a viral conversation that she had with a client that launches her into the national spotlight as a proponent of the feminist movement.

Told through a series of interviews with "Lady Lane" and those who know her best, The Hop is written in an easy-to-read expositional style that details her rise to fame. Readers are given anecdotes about Lady Lane's life and learn how her circumstances shaped the woman she would become. The sex industry is also given a spotlight, and while the book does go into some detail about her work as a prostitute, there is nothing incredibly graphic or offensive here. Rather, Clarke observes the industry with an opaque lens, giving readers a glimpse of what it is like to be a sex worker, but staying away from gratuitous territory.

I loved the majority of The Hop, especially Kate's account of her early life with her questionable mother, who is quite the colorful character. Kate herself, however, is quite bland and vanilla, and I found myself wanting more from her as a protagonist. She is dull and insipid, and while there are certainly plenty of people like that in the world, I questioned Clarke's choice to write her main character this way. Speaking of wanting more, I also expected some drama and flair once Lady Lane is employed at The Hop, but again, Clarke mellows out the narrative. These aspects greatly took away from my overall impression of an otherwise strong literary character study, and kept me from rating this book a stellar 5 stars.

Readers who enjoyed the documentary style of books like Daisy Jones and the Six will also appreciate the easy readability and compelling writing style of The Hop. Anyone who is curious about sex workers and legal brothels will also find this book intriguing and informative.

Thank you for the advanced copy of this book! I will be posting my review on social media, to include Instagram, Amazon, Goodreads, and Instagram!

A fantastic and surprising book, for fans of the TV show "The Girls Next Door" - but only if you liked that show for the feminism and pathos and hair extensions.