King is a determined billionaire… posing as a professional cuddler to get close to me.
He’s the type of man who always gets what he wants, and right now, he wants me—the socially awkward, plus-size model with intimacy issues.
I’ve never had anyone hold me, hug me – or even love me – and my therapist thinks a professional cuddler will help break down the walls I’ve built to protect my heart. I’m skeptical at best…
But King is so good at holding me together that the line between professional and personal quickly blurs, igniting a passion I’m not prepared for.
King and I might be fifteen years apart, but our connection is undeniable.
When his true identity is revealed, I feel betrayed. Until he proposes an irresistible deal: a fake marriage. He gets what he desires, and I get what I need. I reluctantly agree… with boundaries of course.
Now, I just have to keep reminding myself that this isn’t real.
| Title: | Hire a Cuddler |
| Author: | Hope Ford |
| Series: | How To Win at Love (Book 1) |
| Pages: | 304 |
| Genre(s): | Contemporary |
| Trope(s): | Mistaken Identity Obsessive Hero Insta Love Virgin Romance |
| Point of View: | First Person, Present Tense, Dual Viewpoint (H & h) |
| Location: | Whiskey Run and Jasper, US |
| HEA: | ✔️ |
| Release Date: | 12th August, 2024 |
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Come for the cuddling, stay for the romance
I’ve always enjoyed Hope Ford’s quick, fun, insta romances and one about hiring a cuddler? I was absolutely in. This one is a bit longer than many of Hope Ford’s books coming in with a page count of 304 pages. This is the first book in a new series – How to Win at Love – but does seem to reference other books and series also set in the towns of Whiskey Run and Jasper. It stands completely alone with a HEA.
The premise of the book – hiring a cuddler – is 100% what drew me to this story and it’s how we start our tale. The heroine of our story, Haven, has a pathological fear of being touched in any way so, as a last resort, she has come to cuddling therapy. (I’ve just looked it up and it’s actually a real thing.) That’s when King sees Haven and decides he needs to get to know her – by pretending to be her cuddling therapist.
It’s always great to see mental health rep in a romance but where it tends to fall down is that these things are not clean, neat nor ever actually fixed in a person. I’m not saying that the subject wasn’t treated sensitively by our author, but after the first quarter of our book, the problem that Haven has been dealing with her whole life, is barely mentioned and somehow not as debilitating. So while I wouldn’t want Haven to spend the whole book, and end the book, unable to touch anyone, it does a bit of a disservice to those that the book was attempting to represent.
“It might not be much about the cuddling but I came for the cuddling and stayed for the romance.”
The cuddling therapy is the meet cute and a way to introduce King and Haven. After that, it doesn’t feature as part of the story. That’s more about a fake marriage – that I didn’t really understand the reasons for – and King coming to the realisation that he is capable of love – just as he makes a mistake that could jeopardise his life with Haven. Again, I suppose, since he already did that with his cuddling stunt!
Both Haven and King were likeable characters and had great chemistry. Both have traumatic pasts but other than how it affects how they deal with each other and their feelings for each other – this isn’t really delved into in any great detail. With it being a longer book for this author, I would have liked more detail into their past and especially King coming to the realisation of his feelings. There were definitely some parts that felt superfluous to the story that I would have cut out.
But this is a Hope Ford story so you know you’re going to get a hero that’s all in with his heroine – bordering on obsessive but in a good way. There’s going to be a great connection between our couple and some very hot sex to go along with it. Despite my moans, I did enjoy this book and was always keen to pick it up and start reading again after I’d had to put it down. The storyline moved quickly, the writing was good and at the end I was happy. It might not be much about the cuddling but I came for the cuddling and stayed for the romance. 4 stars.
* I received this book in exchange for my honest review.
Bestselling Author Hope Ford loves writing steamy, sweet stories of curvy women finding love. With over ninety books, she feels that she has found her calling.
If you love your romance books with insta love, hot love scenes, and a sweet story, then please give one of her books a chance. You will be happy you did.
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