Thursday, September 20, 2012

Hell On Wheels (Black Knights, Inc #1) by Julie Ann Walker

Nate “Ghost” Weller has loved Ali Morgan nearly half his life. But he’s done something so heinous he’s convinced she’ll never forgive him if she discovers the truth, so he keeps his feelings and his secrets to himself. Then she blows into town with a mother lode of bad guys on her tail and Nate can’t deny she’s in serious trouble. Unfortunately, he’s the only one who can help her.

Ali knows Nate as the most solemn, aloof man on the planet. Sadly, he’s also the sexiest. For years she’s avoided him, unable to stomach his dark scowls and brooding silences… especially when she secretly yearns for his touch. Now she must rely on him to save her from the malevolent shadows ghosting her every move. When the bullets explode, so does their passion. But can love really conquer all? Or are some things just too terrible to forgive?

Type: Romantic Suspense
Heat: 2 out of 5
Rating: 3 out of 5

I finally decided I had to give Hell on Wheels a try. It kept popping up everywhere and has all those luscious thing I love to read about. Hot, dangerous alphas, motorcycles, secret agencies, action packed suspense and a case of unrequited love (one of my favorites!). Yeah, I'm all over that. And damn that eye catchingly hot cover didn't hurt either. I ended up a little torn on it. Was it a good read? Yeah. Did I find it as mind blowingly awesome as so many others seem to think? Nah. It's got a lot of really good stuff going for it and I loved the concept of the series and for the most part enjoyed the characters but in the end this one was just an average read for me.



I did really enjoy Ali and Nate as a couple. I'm a total sucker for couples that have a history and done the whole secretly lusting after each other for years thing. The snark and fire between them was fabulous and I loved that it wasn't always smooth sailing for them. There's a good bit of humor as well. And the two are definitely hot together. There weren't nearly as many sexy moments as I expected or would have liked but what was there was good. ;)
"Unfortunately, due to a septic issue, our choices were this room or the Trophy Buck room. We're going to be treating a gunshot wound, so I didn't fancy the idea of being watched by all those mounted deer heads with their sad brown eyes. You know, considering they'd fallen prey to a similar fate."
Ali and Nate are good people you can root for but for me they were a little hard for me to connect with. Especially Ali who is a kindergarten teacher and definitely sounds like one with her kid-friendly language. There are time when letting loose with a hell, shit or fuck are just called for, especially in a romantic suspense, so her popping out with an 'h-e-double-hockey-sticks' instead had me rolling my eyes on multiple occasions. The girls got a seriously weak stomach too which got to be a bit much for me. 

Alright. So, what really didn't work for me was that for the first time I was really aware that a woman was writing the book. Lord. Okay so this was a pretty bit problem for me and what took it down to 3stars. These men are supposed to be big bad ass alphas, exSEALs, etc and they think things like "getting old not only sucked, it suckety-suck-suck-sucked." or "Didn't the world know it'd lost one of it's greatest men? Didn't it's molten heart bleed?" Really now? I like my men to sound like men and more often than not Walker's men just didn't ring true.

On the other hand Walker writes excellent action scenes and flashbacks. For me that's actually where her talents shine the most and I'm not sure why that doesn't carry over to her men. When Nate was having nightmares of old missions he endured my stomach was in a horrible knot. It was gritty and raw and incredibly emotional to read his experiences and see him struggling with the memories.

So, I wasn't blown away with Hell on Wheels but I do think it was a decent debut novel by Julie Ann Walker. She's got a lot of potential as an author and I'm looking forward to reading more from her in the future and seeing what she's got in store for us.

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What did you think of Hell on Wheels?
Have you ever read a book that was raved about and ended up being an average read for you?

2 comments:

  1. hmmm...I've heard this somewhere else around the blogosphere, that it wasn't an easy connection to the characters. I'm still going to try it though...not sure when.

    Great review Anna ;)

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    Replies
    1. Yeah, it was a little hard but still one to check out. It's a nice solid read and start to a series but not quite up to the same place as Jaci Burton and authors who have done similar themes. I did like the heroine in book 2 a lot more :) She's got a mouth on her and I LOVE that :)

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