diff --git a/packages/hxtorch/package.py b/packages/hxtorch/package.py
index a99b2895c880977975a0c13f886b79adb6179bfc..fdb1b883cc860cb22a14ee8ff6670fbb0c8853ca 100644
--- a/packages/hxtorch/package.py
+++ b/packages/hxtorch/package.py
@@ -89,14 +89,16 @@ class Hxtorch(WafPackage):
             print("libs: manually adding ", self.spec['llvm'].prefix.lib)
             library.append(self.spec['llvm'].prefix.lib)
 
-        # explicitly add googletest library if it isn't found above
+        # explicitly add googletest library if it isn't found above;
+        # adding in front of the list of libraries is a hack to circumvent
+        # issues from vendoring packages like pthreadpool
         if not any('googletest' in lib for lib in library):
             if os.path.isdir(self.spec['googletest'].prefix.lib64):
-                print("libs: manually adding ", self.spec['googletest'].prefix.lib64)
-                library.append(self.spec['googletest'].prefix.lib64)
+                print("libs: manually inserting at front ", self.spec['googletest'].prefix.lib64)
+                library.insert(0, self.spec['googletest'].prefix.lib64)
             if os.path.isdir(self.spec['googletest'].prefix.lib):
-                print("libs: manually adding ", self.spec['googletest'].prefix.lib)
-                library.append(self.spec['googletest'].prefix.lib)
+                print("libs: manually inserting at front ", self.spec['googletest'].prefix.lib)
+                library.insert(0, self.spec['googletest'].prefix.lib)
 
         env.set('CPATH', ':'.join(include))
         env.set('C_INCLUDE_PATH', ':'.join(include))