HOT PURSUIT (Black Knights Inc. #11) by Julie Ann Walker-Review, Excerpt & Giveaway
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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date October 3, 2017
He puts the hot…
Christian Watson, a former SAS officer and current BKI operator, never thought he would return to England after a terrible turn of events forced him to abandon his homeland. But now he’s back on British soil where old enemies are determined to do him in. Fighting for his life is pretty much SOP for Christian. Doing it with the beautiful, bossy Emily Scott in tow is another matter entirely.
In hot pursuit.
Emily lost her coveted job at the CIA because of a colleague turned rogue, and now she has just one rule when it comes to men: they’re for recreational purposes only. But when she and Christian are thrust into very close quarters while evading two mysterious men who want Christian dead, she can’t help but question all her ideas about love and life lived on the edge. Battling the bad guys is hard enough, battling her feelings for Christian just might prove impossible.
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REVIEW: HOT PURSUIT is the eleventh installment in Julie Ann Walker’s contemporary, adult BLACK KNIGHTS INC romantic suspense /military, action series focusing on an elite group of ex Navy SEALS, FBI, CIA and military heroes headquartered at a custom motorcycle shop in Chicago known as Black Knights Inc. The men and women of Black Knights Inc. are so far under the radar that they are blacker than Black Ops. This is former British SAS agent Christian Watson, and former CIA employee Emily Scott. HOT PURSUIT can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story lines is revealed where necessary. Both Christian and Emily were introduced in earlier installments.
Told from several third person perspectives including Christian and Emily HOT PURSUIT picks up immediately upon the events of book ten FUEL FOR FIRE, and follows Christian, Emily, Jamin ‘Angel’ Agassi, former Navy pilot Colby Ventura, and former CIA operative Rusty Parker through Europe as they continue their search for the mysterious and elusive ‘Spider’ whose illegal business operations and ties have endangered the BKI team members both in Europe and back home. As the group endeavors to stay off the radar, the team becomes embroiled in a personal vendetta against one of their own. What ensues is the struggle to stay one step ahead of someone gunning for our story line hero; and the building but acrimonious relationship between Christian and Emily.
Emily and Christian have been dancing around one another for a sometime but our heroine is reluctant to get involved with Christian Watson. Christian’s past is darkened by memories of an abusive childhood, as well as time spent as a prisoner of war where he faced torture, and threats from his captors. Emily’s childhood and her parent’s numerous marriages have become the barometer against which she bases all of her own relationships and interactions, a barometer that refuses to allow our heroine to fall in love. Christian is a sexy, tattooed, and brooding well-dressed Brit who pushes all of Emily’s buttons- buttons she pushes back against Christian in return. The $ex scenes are limited, seductive and intense without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.
There is a building story line and relationship between Colby Ventura and Rusty Parker. Both men are attracted to one another but Rusty has yet to come out of the proverbial closet and in this Colby struggles with his attraction to a man who is unwilling to admit the truth. A history of love and loss forces Colby to reveal the how and why of his battle with the man to whom he is attracted but Rusty’s reasons are in direct conflict to Colby’s previous loss.
There is a large ensemble cast of secondary and supporting characters including Angel, Colby and Rusty; police officers and brothers Ben and Lawrence Michelson, as well as several members of the BKI Team-Samantha Tate and Ozzie Sykes, Mac and Delilah McMillan, Penni (Dan) Currington, and Frank ‘Boss’ Knight and his wife Becky.
The world building continues to follow the latest assignment as the BKI Team in Europe searches for a dangerous businessman and possible killer.
HOT PURSUIT is a story of friendship and love; heartbreak and painful memories; revelations, the truth, intrigue, betrayal and revenge. The premise is exciting and entertaining; the characters are colorful, charismatic and dynamic-there is plenty of sexually charged back and forth banter; the romance is provocative. The story line involving the person known as ‘Spider’ was virtually non-existent but new revelations and information reveal a possible connection to one of the BKI heroes. Julie Ann Walker’s BLACK KNIGHTS INC. is an addicting series with great character interactions that humanize the heroes and heroines we love to follow.
Copy supplied by the publisher through Netgalley
Reviewed by Sandy
What the bloody hell was he doing?
Emily didn’t realize it, but all her acts of caring, her selfless moments of kindness—from waking him from his nightmare to pulling him into the cab of the pickup truck—had torn open his chest, ripped out his heart, and served it up on a platter.
Then, when she had stepped in front of him, ready to take a bullet that was bloody well meant for him, he had stopped pretending that what he felt for her was lust mixed with a heavy dose of vexation. Stopped pretending that he wasn’t completely arse over teakettle about everything she did, everything she said. Each smile. Each laugh. Each witty quip.
In that moment, he had known. Heart. On. A. Platter.
All she had to do was take it.
Unfortunately, he was the one taking.
Taking a kiss she hadn’t granted. Taking a taste she didn’t return. Taking advantage of a beastly situation.
Had he lost his mind? Had he forgotten the unwritten rule? The one that was bold, underlined, and all in caps?
Not to mention, he’d lost control of himself, of the moment. He blamed it on the memory of Emily in that bastard’s grip. The sight of her there—a pistol to her head, her eyes wide with fear, but her jaw gritted tight because she refused to give in to it—was forever tattooed onto the backs of his eyelids. He knew he’d see it when he closed his eyes at night.
It took effort, but he ripped his mouth away from Emily’s and dropped his hands. Curling his fingers into fists, he locked his jaw until his molars begged for mercy.
“Whaaa?” She blinked up at him through the rain in confusion.
“Sorry.” He ground out. The word was guttural. Hard. “I shouldn’t have…” He shook his head, water flying from the ends of his hair. “Just…sorry, okay?”
Her mouth opened in a bewildered little O. That mouth that tasted like mint toothpaste with a lingering hint of buttered toast. His favorite flavor used to be Welsh cakes, but now it was Emily. Emily and her mint toothpaste with lingering hints of buttered toast.
“That won’t happen again,” he assured her before grabbing her hand and towing her toward the others.
He had thought for sure the man in the black pants and the white shirt was dead. Ben’s shot looked as if it had drilled the bloke directly in the heart. Which meant Christian felt like a total prat for stopping to ask Emily why she had stepped in front of him—for stopping to kiss her—when they arrived in time to hear the decidedly alive man whisper his name. “Philippe Dubois.”
“You’re Boss’s friend,” Ace said, applying pressure to Philippe’s wound. “You’re the former Armée de L’Air commandant.”
“Oui. C’est moi,” Philippe managed, water dripping from his chin and earlobes. He wasn’t wheezing. That was good. Meant the bullet hadn’t collapsed his lung.
“Don’t try to talk, Philippe,” Ace told him. “Rusty, call airport security.”
Christian was already pulling his mobile from his soaking hip pocket. The rain had let up. No longer a deluge, it was now more of a steady drip. “We don’t need security. We need an ambulance. This man needs to go to hospital.”
He dialed 999 without hesitation and waited for his call to connect. Dropping his free hand back to his side, he was startled when Emily grabbed it, threading her fingers through his. They felt dainty, delicate. And freezing wet. He desperately wanted to kiss them warmer, kiss them dry.
Glancing at her, he blinked the water from his lashes but couldn’t stop the questions in his eyes. So you forgive me? For taking without asking? For kissing you when you’ve given me no indication you were interested?
Before she could answer, an operator’s voice sounded in his ear, all efficient and bored. After explaining the nature of Philippe’s wound and what had happened in the vaguest of terms, he gave the operator their location. When she asked for his name, he growled, “That’s not what’s bloody important. What’s bloody important is a man’s been shot and needs help. Hurry!” He abruptly hung up. “Help is on the way,” he announced.
Philippe’s white shirt was soaked with blood despite the pressure Ace applied.
“Damnit,” Christian growled, looking around for something to stanch the bleeding. Nothing else for it, he decided, dropping Emily’s hand—he really, truly hated doing that—and shrugging out of his coat. Next came his sweater. He tossed both pieces of clothing to her.
His white cotton undershirt was wet and sticking to his skin, but it would have to do.
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