Review: Born Wild

Title: Born Wild
Series: Black Knights, Inc., #5
Author: Julie Ann Walker
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Release Date: November 5, 2013
Pages: 384
Buy Link: Amazon (Kindle) | Amazon (Paperback)

Blurb:

TICK...TICK...
"Wild" Bill Reichert knows a thing or two about explosives. The ex-Navy SEAL can practically rig a bomb blindfolded. But there's no way to diffuse the inevitable fireworks the day Eve Edens walks back into his life, asking for help...

BOOM!
Eve doesn't know what to do when the Chicago police won't believe someone is out to hurt her. The only place to turn is Black Knights Inc-after all, no one is better at protection than the covert special-ops team. Yet there's also no one better at getting her all turned on than Billy Reichert. She has a feeling this is one blast from the past that could backfire big time...

Review

This book had such an interesting premise and idea behind it. I definitely enjoyed the way Eve would be extremely and painfully shy one minute, and then badass, gun shooting female the next. This might have happened in a previous book, but she was captured by pirates and after that experience, she decided she needed to take self-defense lessons and shooting lessons. Reading about her fighting skills was definitely a treat.

On the other hand, Bill was the man that'd been in love with Eve since over a decade ago. Even after he thought she'd betrayed him, he couldn't stop thinking about her. He was also a former Navy Seal which added to his sex appeal. Any guy who can take care of himself and others is definitely sexy. Not to mention the tattoos of stars on both his arms. I've never seen/read about a guy who had them, and I agree with Eve, they were pretty, even if the story behind them wasn't.

"In case you haven't noticed, you life is on the line here, Eve. Which means I'm not just willing to bend the rules; I'm willing to break every last one."

"Okay Dale, I'm going to ask you a series of questions. If you don't answer them honestly, I'll end you. If you try anything funny, I'll end you. And lest you think I'm bluffing, let me first inform you that I did two tours in Iraq and three in Afghanistan. I killed and maimed my enemies and I did it with a song in my heart. So rest assured, I have no problem pulling this trigger and turning your greasy head into nothing more than spatter patterns."

I also liked Ace - the self-proclaimed gay of the group. He made Bill's blood boil by being himself and being nice to Eve. Perhaps being a cave man didn't discriminate in Bill's book ;) I mean, who wouldn't be jealous if an "intimidating glitter unicorn Muay Thai expert" is hugging and comforting the woman you've dreamed of every night?

....and that was about all the good things I can say about this book... Negative things? Click the button below. If you don't want to read it, then this is the end of my review :)

• Internal monologues and sarcasm - I thought it was just going to be in the beginning, maybe the first chapter. I was WRONG. This continued on for the ENTIRE book. At some point, I started feeling offended by the internal monologues because it didn't feel like self-deprecating humor on the character's behalf anymore. It felt like the author was attacking her characters.
• Where's the mystery? - Along with the internal monologues was an explanation for every statement made in the book. I thought it took away the mystery of the story and the imagination of the reader. Since everything was explained, there was no room for me to form my own opinions.
• Name calling - there was a term for everything whether it was "buddyville" or "friendtown" or "shit-hat". I can't remember all the rest since I had to learn to just ignore them if I was going to somehow enjoy the beautiful story that was in the book.
• Onomatopoeia - this was just... UNNECESSARY. Every sound and grunt was spelled out. Not only that, there were Gulp, Double Gulp, and Triple Gulp used as expressions? Bottom line, the character's thoughts were incredibly unnecessary for the progression of the book.
• Curses and Religious References - "goddammit", "shit. shit. shit." and basically the list goes on. There's also "Christ", "Sweet baby Jesus", "Holy Mother Mary and Joseph", etc. At least one of them were in each page. Eventually, I just learned to overlook these words/phrases or I'd start infuriating myself again.
• Repetition for emphasis - there were many examples of this, but one that stood up was about Eve's nipples. The word "nipples" were repeated probably 5 times in a span of one paragraph, if that. In my opinion, one time was enough. There was no need for emphasis.
• Italics - every little thing was emphasized on top of the repetition. Isn't there some kind of rule about using too much?
• Editing - I am utterly disappointed that the book that I received was supposed to be the FINAL copy, and yet so many errors were glaringly obvious. I mean, if you're read everything I just said above, add to that missing words in sentences, you wouldn't think it was a finished copy either. I was also disappointed because I absolutely love the books from this publisher and I've always received such amazing books from them. I guess we can't always have it all.