In Rides Trouble by Julie Ann Walker

Romance novels about men in high risk operations are everywhere.  Cops, firemen, military personnel, special ops….you name it.  Those books are just escapist fantasy and pure fun.  That’s how I felt about In Rides Trouble by Julie Ann Walker.  In real life, I was as busy as could be, but in reading this book, I was transported to a much darker world (with hot men!)

            Becky Reichhert is a mechanic with a bad-ass reputation for her ability to customize motorcycles.  Her brother, Bill, is a member of a quasi-military/covert operation that needs a cover.  She agrees to let her shop be used as a convenient base for the operatives for two reasons.  She is secretly in love with Frank “Boss” Knight, and she would like to be an operative herself. 

            Frank keeps Becky at arms length as much as possible.  He is reluctant to get involved with a woman so close to the operation, he is friends with Becky’s brother, and Becky is a lot younger than him.  But when Becky goes sailing in the Seychelles with a friend, Eve, she runs across into trouble and Frank goes to get her.

            Becky and her friend, Eve, are captured by Somali pirates.  (How much fun it is to read about pirates!)  Becky is confident that Frank will come to the rescue, so she tries to survive the best she can until the team arrives.  She tries to keep Eve calm, all the while avoiding the scariest pirate of all.  But when she sees her chance to help herself using some of the skills she has learned from the team, she does.  Frank arrives just in time to save Becky’s life, but unfortunately for her, Sharif (the scariest pirate of all) escapes and is going to keep coming for her until he finds her.

            During most of the book, I was under the impression that Frank was in a committed relationship to someone other than Becky.  He went away for periods of time often, and his attachment to another woman was known to the team in the book.  This is a no-no in my romance reading world, so I was not completely on board with the Becky and Frank romance in the beginning.  Becky was under this assumption as well, but she finally decided to throw caution to the wind and make Frank an offer (wink-wink) that he couldn’t refuse. .  Frank, who is nursing an injury through much of the book, finally gives in to Becky and his feelings for her.  This misunderstanding dimmed a bit of the romance for me, but it was a misunderstanding that was cleared up later in the book.

I do wish there would have been more dialogue between the characters.  Walker writes some great dialogue, so when it was absent, I noticed.  In some parts, I felt as though I was reading an internal monologue when I wanted the characters to interact more together.  Becky was a great character—tough but vulnerable.  And Walker was able to make me envision Frank as mature, but not too old for Becky.  I was interested in all of the Black Knights, and I hope the series continues with Angel, another operative who piqued my curiosity.

            I enjoyed this installment of the Black Knights series, and though I have not read the first book in the series, this one was easy to follow.  It was funny, a great escape, and I really want to go back and read the first book.

*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.  Regina