Hug It Out by Davidson King

Hug It Out by Davidson King

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Buy Link

Amazon

Blurb

Riordan Darcy has spent the last fourteen years building a name for himself as a notorious assassin. He travels the world taking the lives of some of the worst humanity has to offer, leaving his signature on every victim.

Riordan becomes unhappy and withdrawn from the world after a job goes horribly wrong and he makes the decision to get out of the life he was forced into, so long ago. When his meddling, older sister gives him a birthday gift that’s impossible to refuse, his plans to leave his life of crime take a backseat when he’s forced to protect the life of a veritable stranger.

When professional hugger and TLC provider, Teddy Harris, is offered a month-long companionship contract, he’s hard pressed to turn it down. Cuddler by day and a video game reviewer by night, Teddy’s need to make people feel loved and cared for is what drives him. When he meets Riordan Darcy, professional challenge and personal temptation collide, making it nearly impossible for him to endure a whole month with the gorgeous, enigmatic man without falling head over heels in love.

When a mole is discovered within Riordan’s organization, relationships are compromised, and people’s lives are in danger. Time isn’t on their side, and they discover answers can’t always be found by hugging it out when someone is hell-bent on eliminating each and every one of them. Can Riordan and Teddy survive long enough to fall in love, or will they die trying?

Review

When I first saw the blurb, I laughed. I’ll admit it. I thought this was the most ridiculous thing I’d ever heard in my life. Professional hugger/cuddler?  Seriously?  Imagine my surprise when I learned this was a real, actual thing. And as I read more about Teddy and what he does, I found I was impressed by him and his dedication to helping people in this way.

I don’t think I’d ever use his services, don’t get me wrong. I tolerate touch from immediate family, and that’s pretty much it. But even Teddy acknowledges that not everyone benefits from the same level of physical contact.

Anyway, while Riordan and Teddy have this whole polar opposites thing going on, the story is actually kind of fun. It is distinctly lacking in murder, despite one of the two leads being an actual assassin. I did find that disappointing, and I should probably get therapy for that or something, but anyway. There are murders that happened in the past, and murders alluded to, but no one actually gets killed on screen and there are some people who desperately deserve it.

This is the second book in a series. (I bought the first book, Snow Falling, after I bought this one. Unfortunately or maybe fortunately I realized I’d been on a kick of reading series out of order, and decided to fix it with this series.)

The point is, it’s part of a series and we do get to see characters like Snow and Christopher in this book. It’s not necessarily about them, and I kind of felt Snow’s depiction was a little off from how he was shown in the first book. It was still enjoyable, and we got to meet Poe. I’m in King’s reader group, and I know how much other fans of the series adore Poe so I’m looking forward to getting to know him better. I’ve been looking forward to meeting him for months now.

Teddy is a cinnamon roll. He’s that guy. He’s even got the soft and gooey center. He’s not stupid. He makes good choices, at least initially, but his need to help and his willingness to see the good even in hired killers sends him back to Riordan. (This is not a spoiler. It’s a romance.)

Riordan is an interesting character. I can’t say I liked him, but I could wrap my head around him and empathize with him. He was a well-crafted character and I certainly didn’t hate him. It’s complicated, I guess. He didn’t have the characteristics that usually make me love a character and I definitely didn’t like him for Teddy, but I didn’t necessarily dislike him.

The language was a little stilted in a few places, better suited for a fantasy novel than something in a modern setting. It didn’t throw me out of the story, and I enjoyed the book. I didn’t love it as much as Snow Falling, but that’s okay. I’m looking forward to the next installment.