Reviewed by Larissa
TITLE: Hitched
SERIES: Licking Thicket: Horn of Glory, Book 2
AUTHOR: Lucy Lennox and May Archer
NARRATOR: Michael Dean
PUBLISHER: Self-published
LENGTH: 11 hours and 24 minutes
RELEASE DATE: May 25, 2022
BLURB:
Former marine Percy “Champ” Champion has never encountered a problem he can’t handle. Flying bullets? Daring jungle rescues? Building Champion Security from the ground up? Making people seriously regret using his hated first name? No problem. He’s gotten the job done without a hitch each and every time.
But it turns out there are some situations Champ can’t handle alone, like:
- Going undercover as a wedding planner to retrieve some missing cartel data in time to avert an international crisis.
- Keeping his jerk of an ex from threatening his business.
- Preventing Quinn Taffet, Licking Thicket’s gorgeous, charming new wedding planner—and Champ’s fake fiancé—from getting into danger…or from getting the wrong idea about their relationship.
- Fighting the pull that lands him in Quinn’s bed night after night, despite his very best intentions.
- Stopping the pun-happy matchmakers of the Thicket from destroying the sane, well-ordered life he’s built for himself.
- And, most troubling of all, protecting his traitorous heart from all the romance in the air.
In short, Champ needs an extraction plan ASAP before he finds himself well and truly…hitched.
REVIEW:
Hitched, the second installment in Lucy Lennox and May Archer’s OTT, raucous, rom-com Licking Thicket: Horn of Glory series, tones down the crazy and invests in a more character-centric love story. Oh, there are still plenty of preposterous events and some caricaturish people. But this story spends less time on the pursuit of the missing Horn and more on the pursuit of Champ’s common sense in acknowledging his feelings towards wedding planner Quinn Taffet.
Champ and Quinn make a colorful couple, seemingly opposite in every way. Yet, they meet each other’s needs and come together as if destined for each other. Neither wants to admit it, though. Anti-relationship Champ is the primary offender, willfully deluding himself into thinking Quinn is just a hookup – albeit the world’s longest hookup with some dog co-parenting, cohabitation, a fake engagement, and a professional partnering on the side. Yup, that’s right … just a hookup. You keep telling yourself that, Champ.
To be fair, Quinn engages in some willful blindness as well. But his is borne from wanting more but not believing he can have it from Champ. Men are dastardly after all – so says Quinn’s Aunt Cherry – and he staunchly recites to himself, like a mantra, don’t let men in or they’ll hurt you. So hookup it is and hook up only, and no one and nothing will convince him otherwise, or give him hope that he can have more.
There are many thematic similarities between Hitched and book one, Hijacked, but the primary one stands out clearly: Love eclipses business, work, money … everything Champ (Hitched) and Riggs (Hijacked) thought was crucial to their lives takes a back seat once they find love. These two anti-relationship, job first, tough guys struggle to recognize love, understand that they deserve it, and acknowledge they have room for it in their lives.
Both books also feature love interests Carter (Hijacked) and Quinn (Hitched) who are seemingly opposite, have successful careers in their own right, and don’t realize that they belong in Licking Thicket with its quirky, welcoming, kind-hearted, nosybody residents who consider them one of their own. Lennox and Archer effectively dovetail these similar elements by weaving Riggs and Carter into Champ and Quinn’s journey. We get some found family goodness in this story too as Lennox and Archer probe the dynamic between Champ’s ex-marine buddies/members of his Champion Security business. Carter and Riggs play an essential role in this story, so we get to see them after their HEA which is a welcome added bonus.
Although a minor feature in the vast story presented in Hitched, as in Hijacked, Kev gets some of the wittiest quips, and his acrimonious sniping with Hux is inspired and hysterical. Despite only passing glimpses of their hate/love (we have to wait for book three Hacked for the love part), their verbal sparring is one of this book’s highlights and sets us up for their story, coming next as the final book in this series.
Hitched is a behemoth of an audiobook, clocking in at eleven and a half hours of listening. Michael Dean’s excellent vocal acting remains consistent throughout. His embodiment of Quinn’s sauciness and righteous indignation is a delight, and he deftly contrasts it with the very apropos low, smoky, growly tone for Champ.
Lennox and Archer are in their wheelhouse with the banter, humor, sexual tension, and steamy, emotionally connected scenes between Champ and Quinn. But despite their terrific writing, two well-drawn, really likeable leading men, another great performance from Dean, and a more grounded storyline, I (shockingly) had difficulty engaging with the story.
The first half focuses on Champ and Quinn’s confusion about their feelings and their “relationship”, or purported lack thereof. Champ puts the job first. Quinn does too and seemingly gets it. But at heart, he wants more, and many, many pages are spent with them going around in circles. The pet names are hysterical, and their chemistry is off the charts. But the story felt like it was stuck in park, and I just wanted them to start driving it forward.
Dean is always terrific, but like Hijacked, this isn’t his best work. It’s a solid performance, and he aptly captures the quick wit and humor while also communicating Champ and Quinn’s emotional confusion. Like the story itself, Dean’s performance gets increasingly better throughout the audio. His strength in delivering content through thoughtful, well-executed intonations and inflected phrasing is spot on.
Despite my slow engagement with the story, I ultimately liked Hitched a lot. I also liked that Lennox and Archer mixed it up by including wedding drama relating to Quinn’s business alongside machinations associated with the pursuit of the Horn. Not everything in this story clicked, but Champ and Quinn sure did, and the listening experience is one I overarchingly enjoyed.
RATING: 
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