Early Review: Hell on Wheels by Julie Ann Walker

Title: Hell on Wheels (Black Knights Inc.)
Series: Black Knights Inc, #1
Author: Julie Ann Walker
Release Date: August 7, 2012
Pages: 380
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Source: NetGalley
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Rating: C+
Reviewed by: Ellie

Favorite quote: “You guys are like....what? The Expendables?”
“Yeah we’re like the Expendables. Just younger, better looking, with cooler bikes and real bullets.”

summary from Goodreads
He’s the bad boy she’s always wanted...

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.

She’s the good girl he’s kept at arm’s length...

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?

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Ellie's thoughts:
Ali Morgan knows there’s more to her brother’s death then his best friend Nate “Ghost” Weller is telling her but getting Nate to talk is like getting a pitbull do talk. Three months after her brother Grigg death Ali is certain someone is following her. After a mugging gone bad Ali is positive she is being followed and drives straight from North Carolina to Chicago to get not only help but answers from the only man who can give them to her.

Nate “Ghost” Weller took one look at seventeen year old Ali Morgan and fell head over heels in love but her older brother and his best friend made sure he stayed away from her. Now twelve years later Grigg is dead and it’s Nate’s fault and he is positive that if Ali discovers what he’s done she will hate him forever. When Ali comes to him for help he can’t turn her away even if it means finally admitting his true feelings to not only Ali but to himself.

Hell on Wheels started out fantastic and I couldn’t put it down. From the first page Julie Ann Walker sucks you into a world of a crooked senator, a kindergarten teacher and a group of highly intelligent and deadly ex-special forces who make custom bikes on their off time. There are a lot of different sub-plots going on which I understand are needed to bring in characters to the Black Knights and to set up future books but I found there to be way too many points of view for my liking.

I liked Ali and Nate but I never really connected with them. I felt that a lot of the time that was spent with other characters could have been spent with them talking and getting to really know one another. Nate never and I mean never spoke so besides being hot and very attracted to him, I never got what Ali loved so much. I also felt that Nate was a huge jerk to Ali and she had to be the one to fix things because he was too stubborn and afraid. I wish that these two had gotten more time for me to have really liked them.

Besides the many POV my other problem was Ali. Ali is a wuss in my opinion and whenever she got upset she threw up. She does this over and over again and it got to be not only very uncomfortable to read about but downright disgusting. I like my female characters to be of the Bad Ass persuasion and Ali did not fit in this role at all. Yes she goes out and does dangerous stuff but she hurls through most of it and is always on the verge of crying. This was a big issue for me and why I gave the book a lower grade.

The amny points of view did set up future books which I do want to read. Hell on Wheels spent so much time setting up Becky and Frank’s book, which is the second book in the series, that I feel that I know them better than Ali and Nate. I am very excited to see what happens between the two and see if this series can give me characters that I have to read about. This series is off to a good start but I’m hoping with future books it will get even better.