It's actually much easier to hook APIs in your own process (actually when you want to hook in another process you need to DLL inject into that process anyway, so basically when you're hooking in your own process you can just skip that step). It might be a bug with the library you are using. Try Microsoft Detours or if you're up to it, patch the memory yourself, it's not that hard actually, a few hours work if you're new to the subject.
What you need to be wary of is that some C++ compilers will in some cases (I think debug builds) use some jump stub or something like this, which can interfere with the hooking process. In that case you must take some extra care when hooking - MS Detours probably does this properly. You can try debug/release builds if that affects your success.
What I mean is to get the proper address of the API. If the function is in a DLL like is the case with WinAPI you can be sure you are getting the right address if you use LoadLibrary and GetProcAddress.
On a side note I don't think API hooking is a proper way to avoid mocking/stubbing for testing, although it should work.
If you are interested more in how hooking works you can check out my paper on it here: http://lkm.fri.uni-lj.si/zoranb/research/berdajs-bosnic%20SPE%202011.pdf