Narrated by Jacob Morgan & Virginia Rose
Hitched is book 3 in the Happy Cat series featuring the O’Dell brothers, but stands alone fairly well. I didn’t really have any trouble following along. The setup is a little out there but after a while I just embraced it. I was assisted by excellent narration. By the end though, I thought the story was sweet and fun and just silly enough to entertain without being too ridiculous for me.
Blake O’Dell has been in love with Hope St. Clair for at least the past four years. They’d been friends for ages but when they stumbled across each other in Las Vegas four years earlier, a drunken escapade let to a quickie wedding and some glorious sex – and then, when Hope ran scared, an annulment the very next day. They didn’t tell anyone about it and have pretended it never happened ever since.
Blake is angry and hurt at Hope’s rejection, not really understanding why she left him, but the town of Happy Cat is small and they cross paths regularly. This is particularly so because Hope has some kind of weird electrical field thing going on; when she’s stressed (and sometimes at other times?) she shorts out all kinds of electrical equipment and Blake is often called upon to do odd jobs – like replace a fuse or repair her toaster.
Hope runs an animal shelter-farm and has been caring for her grandmother’s prize alpaca “Chewpacca”. Hope’s grandmother has died, and the terms of the will leave everything to the first of the grandchildren to marry. Hope loves Chewpacca and wants to care for him. Hope’s cousin Kyle wants only to breed Chewie and make megabucks.
So, Hope proposes a marriage of convenience to Blake. He will help her retain custody of Chewpacca and in return Hope, through her connections with the town regulators, will assist Blake get the license for his wine tasting room – something that he’s been rejected for twice now for small town reasons.
Against his better judgement, Blake ends up agreeing and they marry immediately. Blake thinks he will have fun messing with Hope for a while, but things very quickly turn around. I was glad of this because enemies to lovers is not my favourite. Instead of tormenting Hope, Blake decides to prove to her that they belong together.
Things become complicated – but in Blake’s favour – when Kyle also marries on the same day and there is some legal confusion about the terms of the will and who will inherit. Also, Kyle, who is wealthy already, puts a private investigator on their tails to sniff out whether Blake and Hope’s marriage is legitimate or not. So they have to move in together and spend time together and be affectionate.
At first I thought the whole thing was a little too much but then Blake began taking emotional risks to win his lady and I found myself invested in their story. Unlike Blake’s happy and loving family, Hope’s was extremely dysfunctional, with a lot of conflict. She received little attention as a child. As a result, Hope is convinced she cannot maintain a relationship because she doesn’t know how. This is rubbish of course – Hope is a very loving person. She rescues animals and has good, close friends (most of whom are married to other O’Dell brothers, as it happens) but she lacks confidence and finds it hard to trust. However, as Blake steps up and lays it all on the line for her, she comes to realise he’s worth it and maybe she’s not such a bad bet after all.
Add to that, many strange animal antics – there’s a raccoon called “George Cooney” often referred to as a “trash panda” who causes mayhem at “goat yoga” and an alpaca-napping complete with dramatic rescue. There are also multiple jokes about sex toys (“Dildo Shaggins”). Much of the story is an over the top romp. However, at its heart it is a sweet, sexy tale with a hero who is head over heels for his lady and that’s my favourite kind.
The narration was top notch. When I was wondering if Hitched was going to be just too silly for me (and it was at first), both Jacob Morgan and Virginia Rose kept me listening. They invested the characters with charm and heart, and I found myself caring about them.
Both narrators had excellent comedic timing and with just the right tone to keep things on the right side of “too weird for Kaetrin”. Their character voices, pacing and emotion were also very good.
To be honest, I’m not sure if the story would have worked as well for me in print as it did in audio. The performances by Mr. Morgan and Ms. Rose elevated my experience so much and brought a little gravitas to the tale as well; I thought of Blake and Hope as real people (if a little strange – well, in Hope’s case, a lot strange) and I cared about what happened to them and much of that was down to the narration.
Listeners who enjoy a good pun and don’t mind a silly frame may find Hitched is just the ticket.
Kaetrin
Buy Hitched by Lili Valente and Pippa Grant on Amazon
I loved listening to this book, it was fun and silly and sweetly heartwarmng. There are 2 previous books in this series, with the same great narrators, that are just as funny and charming. Hosed is the first book, which sets up the town of Happy Cat, GA and it’s citizens, both human and animal. It also explains all the sex toy jokes. Hammered is the second book. These are all exceptionally well narrated books with both humor and heart. Perfect for a blue day or just when you want a light and amusing read. I love them and have listened to them all more than once.
I think I have Hosed and Hammered on the TBR but I may end up picking up the audiobooks too as some stage.