Wild Ride

Reporter Samantha Tate knows that the motorcycle shop “Black Knights Inc.” is hiding a story worthy of her ambitions. However, nothing could be worse for the President’s personal black-ops team than her curiosity. After being sidelined with an injury, Ethan “Ozzie” Sykes finds it increasingly difficult to push Sam away. Beresford’s peppy delivery matches the flash-paper dialogue rife with word play and geekiness of their initial encounters. When Sam’s investigations lead to her being hunted by a gun-running biker gang, Beresford ratchets up the adrenaline. She masterfully changes tempo and tone to convey a range and depth of emotions, from mirth to lust to self-doubt, while also naturally matching the rhythms of spoken and show more internal dialogue. Sam and Ozzie’s sizzling chemistry is damped by moments of suspicion, guilt, and fear. However, Beresford’s delivery engages all the senses when their relationship turns explicitly physical. Each of the many characters, including cameos from families developed throughout the series, has a unique, recognizable voice. Beresford’s pitch lightens for the women’s dialogue, while dropping gravely for the alpha males. She also deftly handles accents from British to South Chicagoan. Beresford also electrifies the verbal sparring which foreshadows the romance to come next. This intense yet delightful series mixes the sense of community from Suzanne Brockmann’s Troubleshooters with the scorching heat of Lora Leigh’s Tempting Seals.

The improved review was published in Booklist Jul 2017 issue. show less

Wild Ride by Julie Ann Walker
Black Knights Inc series #9. Romantic suspense.
Samantha Tate, of the Chicago Tribune, has been assigned to write a story on the motorcycle repair shop. It’s a well kept secret that the shop is actually an undercover black ops group working directly for the president and it’s up to Ethan “Ozzie” Sykes to distract Samantha from the business. The tour turns into friendship and lots of other get-togethers.

Ozzie feels guilty for not sharing his real life with Samantha and is then hurt when she looks to someone else to keep her safe when a story goes wrong.
This story has all the feels along with the danger and action. Her surprise at figuring out she loves him is funny and poignant. Even better is the show more Oval Office scene and then their reveal to each other.
Thrilling, steamy, heart touching scenes, and bad guys. show less

I love Ozzie and I've been so excited for his book since the series started. That said, maybe my expectations were too high. I was kind of disappointed in this. It just fell flat for me. I didn't mind Samantha but I didn't love her. She was kind of an idiot. The whole thing at the start where she thinks Ozzie is trying to kill her because of the gun is so freaking absurd it just made me angry. The romance was so back and forth between them and it mostly just annoyed me. If they had of just talked they could have solved most of their issues. Although I seem to be in the minority. I also didn't find it as funny as the other books. Still maybe I just got my hopes up way too high and it was impossible to deliver such a book, sometimes it's show more easier when you go into a book with no expectations. show less

Wild Ride is book nine in the Black Knights Inc. series by Julie Ann Walker. Though this book could be read out of order I feel you should at least read Full Throttle first. A big life altering event happens in [b:Full Throttle|18837484|Full Throttle (Black Knights Inc., #7)|Julie Ann Walker|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1409150408s/18837484.jpg|26779712] to affect our lead hero Ozzie.

I had a pleasant time reading Ozzie and Samantha’s story. It had action, mistrust, secrets, danger, and passion. Our leads had good chemistry and we get to see previous characters. I loved the banter between Ozzie and Christian. It was so much fun and Samantha showed that she could hold her own with Ozzie on the silly comments, 80’s bands, and show more more

I did have a few issues:
- First, that Ozzie and Samantha didn’t really talk honestly or openly until close to the last 20-25% of the book, having this happen made things drag. They could have wrapped up some issues sooner and since they didn’t it took away from the romantic relationship. At least in my eyes.

- Second and my main issue was Emily and Christian. I loved having them in the story, don’t get me wrong, secondary characters are great and gearing up for another couple even better, but so much page time was spent on these two instead of the main couple Ozzie and Samantha. And, to top it off the next book [b:Fuel for Fire|30166742|Fuel for Fire (Black Knights Inc., #10)|Julie Ann Walker|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1485011398s/30166742.jpg|50606294] isn’t about Emily and Christian, it’s Dagan and Chelsea’s. Why waist so much page time on a couple that won’t have a book next?

Wild Ride was a delightful read in the Black Knights Inc. series and I do so love Ozzie.

Rated: 3.5 Stars

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