Title: The Hitman’s Guide to Making Friends and Finding Love
Series: The Hitman’s Guide: Book One
Author: Alice Winters
Publisher: Amazon/Kindle Unlimited
Length: 375 Pages
Category: Contemporary Romance
At a Glance: I had so much fun reading this book. The writing style is a little frenzied, but it worked because it kept things moving at a good pace. I really did laugh out loud on several occasions, and Winters kept me engaged from beginning to end.
Reviewed By: Jules
Blurb: What happens when a snarky hitman and a by-the-book PI cross paths?
Leland
Being a hitman has its perks, but I never thought getting an accidental mooning by an attractive PI while he’s caught on a fence would be one of them. While it’s not exactly love at first sight, he’s captured my interest and won’t let go.
Suddenly, I find myself caught in a game of cat and mouse, determined to attract the attention of Jackson, the PI who should be my enemy. He pretends like he’s not flattered by my flowers and the mentions of my totally-not-fictitious blow-up doll Randy (or was it Dandy?), but I know better. Why else would he be teaming up with me to bring down Hardek, one of the city’s most ruthless criminals?
Jackson
Even though the cops are telling me that the hitman is a notorious contract killer, I can’t help but admit that I’m drawn to him. He’s funny, charismatic, and attractive. There’s no way this ridiculous man can be the person the cops are after.
But when Leland ends up at my doorstep injured, I’m faced with a tough choice. It’s my duty to hand him over to law enforcement, but my heart has other plans. I want to keep him. To protect him. To be with him.
Though one question remains: why in the world does the man have so many d*mn guns?
Review: This book was…ridiculous. But in a good way! And, when I say ridiculous, I mean laugh-out-loud funny, yet cringe-worthy. I mean romantic, yet also…cringe-worthy. I mean suspenseful and action-packed, but also what-the-hell-am-I-reading levels of wacky. Alice Winters’ The Hitman’s Guide to Making Friends and Finding Love is, I’m sure intentionally, absurd and ridiculous, and I loved just about every minute of it. Leland was hysterical, i.e., hysterically inappropriate, and he and Jackson were pretty damn funny together. I was sucked in pretty much from page one.
Jackson is an ex-soldier turned private investigator, who works out of the agency he runs with his friend and business partner, and also occasionally consults with the local police department. One night, Jackson is on a case—trying to track down a human trafficker/arms dealer named Hardek—when he takes a bad spill over a fence and attracts the attention of Leland, a notorious hitman nicknamed the Sandman, who is also on the Hardek case. The two are coming at the job from very different angles, however, as Jackson has been hired to find and save a group of teenage girls that Hardek is suspected of taking, and Sandman simply wants to find and kill Hardek himself.
Leland finds himself becoming distracted from the job once Jackson is in the picture, though. It turns out, he really liked what he saw the night he saw Jackson hanging by his ankles over that fence, so he decides to “court” him. I use the term court loosely here, as Leland’s methods include everything from shooting his rifle toward Jackson to get his attention, to sending him flowers. He is determined to win Jackson over so that they can get married and have babies. Babies they can train to be tiny hitmen. Ha! These are the kinds of thoughts that go through Leland’s head. He. Is. A. Nutjob! At least he is most of the time. But we do find out over the course of the story that he often uses humor to cover up and deflect when he is having any real emotions. His upbringing was far from ideal, and he isn’t used to having anyone actually care about what he’s doing or worry about whether he’s being careful.
The story is further complicated by the fact that Jackson’s contact at the police department is the Chief, Henry, who is also Jackson’s good friend, and whose partner was killed by the Sandman many years ago. So, when Jackson starts to fall for Leland, who he knows is also the Sandman, he makes a deal with him in order to keep him out of prison, but that also means lying to Henry.
I had so much fun reading this book. The writing style is a little frenzied, but it worked because it kept things moving at a good pace. I adored Leland, even though he was a hot mess, and also loved Jackson, who was super dry and funny at times. I have to admit, though, that even though I loved Leland, sometimes his completely over-the-top behavior and comments were a bit much. And sometimes the dialogue did make me cringe; I don’t know if I’ve ever read an adult book that used the word ‘willy’ so many times. Heh. But I really did laugh out loud on several occasions, and Winters kept me engaged from beginning to end. I will absolutely be snapping up the next book in the series to see what Leland and Jackson are up to now!!
You can buy The Hitman’s Guide to Making Friends and Finding Love here:
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