Review: Too Hard to Handle by Julie Ann Walker (Black Knights Inc. #8)
Note: This ARC was provided by Sourcebooks Casablanca via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
And that was all he needed to hear. All he needed to know. Even though he still wasn't sure what was between them, whether it was nothing more than an intense physical attraction that would burn bright and extinguish itself quickly once they gave themselves over to it, or if it was something more, something previous and rare and lasting, he was sure that whatever it was, he wanted to see it through to the end.
Too Hard to Handle is the eighth and latest novel in the bestselling romantic suspense series Black Knights Inc. by author Julie Ann Walker and this story is one that I've been waiting for ever since the events in the series starter, Hell on Wheels, which saw Patti Currington becoming a casualty when the Black Knights Inc.'s headquarters on Goose Island in Chicago was infiltrated. Her death was a terrible blow to the BKI crew, but nothing compares to how it affected her husband, Daniel "the Man" Currington. The loss led to Dan becoming an alcoholic though after a year, he went into rehab and is now recovering. Dan's love story with Penelope DePaul began in the seventh book, Full Throttle, and is told more fully here and takes place three months after events in the previous book and is set in Cusco, Peru and Chicago.
Dan Currington will never stop loving his late wife Patti, but meeting Penni DePaul while working together in Malaysia provides him with the unexpected opportunity to open himself to something new and wonderful. They've both experienced loss--Dan with his wife and fellow Black Knights Inc. operative Grigg Morgan and Penni with her father and fellow Secret Service agents--and have had to deal with those losses yet have come out on the other side stronger and more resilient. Their time together in Malaysia was special for both of them but they went their separate ways afterward, Dan to Chicago and BKI and Penni to Washington DC and the Secret Service. When Penni goes looking for Dan , BKI sends her to Peru where Dan is on a mission and she ends up working with him, BKI's Dagan Zoelner, and the CIA's Chelsea Duvall.
While it's clear who the villain is, the person he works for and the fact that he has a history with Black Knights Inc. makes him a far bigger and more intriguing villain and one that I suspect will be rearing his ugly head in the next book or the one after that. Another interesting point that this eighth book points out is the fact that the current US president's term in office, his second and last one, is ending, leaving the future of BKI in question, especially because it was POTUS and his Joint Chiefs of Staff who got the ball rolling on the whole thing. Along with the side stories involving Dagan and Chelsea plus Ethan "Ozzie" Sykes and television reporter Samantha Tate, it appears that there are more things for fans of the Black Knights Inc. series like me who have a lot more to look forward to when it comes to all future installments.
There's a bit of a twist regarding Dan and Penni but it's one that isn't difficult to figure out and simply adds to the whole happy feeling I got for Dan the Man. If anyone deserves to have a happily-ever-after, it's this guy, but it didn't go the way I expected, which is always a bonus because then I'm caught off-guard but left pleasantly surprised. I know I've mentioned two other books in the series as my favorites, but after having read this eighth one, Thrill Ride and Born Wild have been edged out, though each of the books has been a joy to read. It took me all of two days to read the eight books in the series and I have truly become a fan of both the series and Julie Ann Walker's. For my fellow Black Knights Inc. fans out there, Too Hard to Handle will be so worth the read and will leave you excited for what else is in store for us. Five-plus stars! ♥
Release Date: 01 September 2015
Date Read: 30 August 2015
Learn more about Julie Ann Walker here.
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