Munitions, missiles, and mayhem are Frank's way of life. The last thing the ex-SEAL wants is for one brash blonde to come within fifty feet of anything that goes boom. Yet it's just his rotten luck when she ends up in a hostage situation at sea. Come hell or high water, he will get her back-whether she says she needs him or not.
Type: Romantic Suspense
Heat: 2.5 out of 5
Rating: 3 out of 5
I'll give her one thing, Walker really comes up with some unique storylines. I mean, really, how many heroines get kidnapped by Somali pirates? lol. In Rides Trouble was a fun little romantic suspense with great characters and an entertaining storyline but there were definitely some eye twitching things about the book.
I really liked Frank and Becky as individuals and as a couple for the most part. Becky's a pretty badass heroine and really pulls her shit together and keeps cool under pressure. She can kick some ass too and doesn't hold back what she's thinking. Definitely a heroine I could get behind. Frank was decent as well. A bit hung up on his age which got annoying but not bad.
One thing I wasn't a huge fan of was the slightly sleazy misunderstanding between them. Now, I'm all for misunderstandings between hero & heroine because honestly it makes things more interesting than if they always get along perfectly but what bothered me is they still hooked up before it was all dealt with and explained. Had a bit of a moral ick factor for me and nearly crossed over into one of my real no-no's for reading. [Highlight for spoiler: it was implied that Frank had another woman and was cheating on her with Becky] If I could ignore that though (since I knew it wasn't true) I really enjoyed them as a couple. Their drama and especially their bickering back and forth. I love couples that have that little verbal bite together.
Alright, so what's making this a pretty average read for me and keeping me from turning into a total squealy fangirl like everyone else is Walker's actual writing style. The series is creative and has all the right elements for a stellar read but the incessant use of cliched sayings drives me absolutely batty. Even the book blurb didn't escape and got a "come hell or high water" thrown into it. It really got to the point where it felt like entire conversations and inner dialogues were one huge row of strung together cliches and pop culture plugs and that just doesn't work for me. Especially when there are so many well written series that use a similar premise.
Damn if this won't make me sound a bit broken but even though her writing style really frustrates me Walker is still able to leave me wanting to read the next book in the series. She does an amazing job of sparking my interest in future characters & couples, like the mysterious Mossad agent that's joined the group. Would I recommend it? If you've got the time and nothing else on the tbr list, yeah, go for it. The storyline and characters are definitely entertaining. It's definitely working for a lot of people...
