Rating: 2 stars
Buy Link: Amazon | iBooks | Amazon UK
Length: Novel
Carter Rogers is the interim doctor in Licking Thicket. He’s used to being on the move, traveling to different countries to help with medical needs in remote areas. His grandfather wants him to stay and take over the family medical practice, but Carter has plans to go to South America. However, he didn’t count on his grandfather hiring him a bodyguard to follow his every move while out of the country.
Riggs is ex-military and working for a security firm. He gets along well with his boss, but although Riggs claims to be professional, he gets himself into “situations.” Which is exactly how he lost the firm’s largest client and finds himself “babysitting” Carter in South America. Riggs can see that Carter is good looking, but Riggs immediately hates the posh doctor, well, just because he can.
Riggs stays close to Carter in South America and the heat between them is fierce. Riggs knows better than to get involved with a client and he knows better than to break protocol, which is exactly how the men find themselves being kidnapped by the cartel and taken to face a drug lord. It’s a good thing the men can find the lighter side of being held hostage and, if they can get back home, there might be a future for them together.
Hijacked is the first book in a spin off series to the authors’ Licking Thicket series. We do meet Carter in that series as Tucker’s ex-boyfriend (from Fools), but the setting here then moves to South America and Riggs is new to the series. Carter was presented in a different manner here than he was in the prior book and, while I liked him there, I didn’t like him much here. Riggs also didn’t give me much to work with as he too felt unlikeable and we learn little about him. I found every character that appeared on page became more irritating than the next for me.
Riggs gets taken off of his work detail because he has little professionalism and his only option is to go to South America to guard Carter. Riggs is not pleased about this and hates Carter on sight. Riggs then wants to make Carter’s life as difficult as possible.
After hearing all about how Riggs is the best at what he does, the men get kidnapped. They are cracking jokes, which weren’t funny at all to me, while getting kidnapped and if they can’t take the danger seriously, how was I supposed to? Then, in a hostage situation, where there are armed guards watching them, Carter is so chill that he’s getting turned on while seeing Riggs’ bare calf. Then there is an ill cartel guy that Carter has to give medical attention to and maybe that had something to do with heartburn and that man came off as a cartoonish “monologuing” villain. There was also a storyline with Carter’s cousin and a video game and it was all farcical and chaotic and not funny or entertaining at all for me.
With pun after pun and one not funny joke after the next, this entire book was a chore to read for me. I will own that comedies have to land a certain way for me, but I found absolutely nothing entertaining about the dialogue here or the story itself. Even being as objective as possible to the style, this book brought me no enjoyment. I didn’t care for Carter and Riggs as a couple and this new spin off series (where the next book will feature Riggs’ boss) is clearly not the series for me.
