Book Review and Giveaway: Hell on Wheels by Julie Ann Walker

Hop on and hang on tight to this great, entertaining ride!

Hell on Wheels (Black Knights Inc.)

by Julie Ann Walker 

• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca (August 7, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1402267134
• ISBN-13: 978-1402267130

Genre: Romanctic Suspense

My Rating: 4.5 of 5.0

Book Description
Publication Date: August 7, 2012

Black Knights Inc.—Behind the facade of their tricked–out motorcycle shop is an elite special ops team assigned the jobs too hot for anyone else to handle.
Hold On Tight...
Ex–Marine Nate "Ghost" Weller is an expert at keeping his cool—and his distance—which makes him one hell of a sniper. It's also how he keeps his feelings for Ali Morgan in check. Sweet, sexy Ali has always revved his engine, but she's his best friend's baby sister...and totally off limits.
Rough Road Ahead
Ali's never seen anything sexier than Nate Weller straddling his custom Harley—or the flash of danger in his eyes when she tells him she's in trouble. First something happened to her brother, and now she's become the target of a nasty international organization. With Nate, her life is in the most capable hands possible—but her heart is another story altogether.

Review:

Ali thought she was close to her big brother, Grigg.  She and her parents are devastated when Grigg’s best friend, Nate, delivers the news that Grigg was killed in a freak accident at the motorcycle shop where they worked.  Ali has suppressed a crush for Nate since he seemed to always ignore her or dismiss her.

There is a lot Ali doesn’t know. Grigg and Nate are part of an elite black ops team and Grigg was tortured before being killed in action. Also Nate isn’t immune to her, but he does his best to ignore his attraction to her since Grigg warned him off years ago.

Nate is dark and quiet and apt to respond with one word sentences, especially if faced with Ali. Ali on the other hand gets nervous around Nate and tends to run off at the mouth.

Shortly after they learn that Grigg is dead, Ali starts feeling like she is being followed. After barely escaping a mugging she speeds off to Chicago to seek help from Nate. As soon as she enters the high tech machine shop with the ultra level security Ali suspects that this is more than a designer motorcycle shop team. It is discovered that Grigg took part in an 'off the books' operation and apparently sent secrets on a zip drive to Ali. She insists on going along to retrieve the drive as she really wants to uncover all the secrets.  But there is one secret that Nate will never reveal.

I loved the fast paced action of this story. The mob participation and bungling is a little bit of a stretch but it provided opportunities for danger and action.  The intense chemistry, resistance and passion between Ali and Nate makes a great romance. Ms. Walker's style is sleek and intense with a side of humor.  There was some rough language but not so much that I couldn’t read right on past it. 

There was a good secondary tension between Becky, the top notch mechanic and operative wanna be, and the team boss, Frank, who won’t allow himself to think of her beyond her great fix-it skills. They just rub each other the wrong way and I expect there will be another revved-up story for those two.

I would be glad to read more in this fast, tense series. If you like suspense, action and strong romance elements you will want to check out this book and the Black Knights series by Julie Ann Walker.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ali's reaction to being stalked and nearly mugged:

She felt like her life had taken on the relative dimensions and kinetic energy of a tsunami, and she had nothing but her own two hands as protection against the coming onslaught. Page 78.

Nate stays on alert:

So yeah, the best thing for him to do would be to stay exactly where he was. Watching. Waiting. With five rounds of angry lead that could quickly affect an attitude adjustment in any unfriendly individuals.   Page 179.

Thank you to Sourcebooks for providing this book to read and review.

This is set in Chicago and Jacksonville, NC for my Where Are You Reading Challenge. I will also add this to my New Author and ARC challenge lists.

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