A review by redhairedashreads
Hot Pursuit by Julie Ann Walker

2.5

 

2.5 stars

From the first moment we saw Emily Scott and Christian Watson together they have been sniping at each other and it has yet to stop, and I have loved it from the very beginning. Sadly, while I loved these two characters I think their book fell short for me.   

First I will start with the plot. I think this was probably the weakest BKI book in regards to suspense and the overall Spider plot. There is literally only a sliver of progress against Spider because most of the plot is focused around Christian and the group trying to get out of the UK and back to Chicago. Also a big issue for me was that the group breaks into a historical house that is used for tours and uses the furniture like it's modern and nothing gets broken. My archivist brain was screaming at the damage being done in this house and it just pulled me out of the story. 

Emily is a character that I have loved since she was introduced but while I love her snark, I found she didn’t have much personality outside of that in this book. While she does mention her parents neglecting her, she barely talks about her childhood but pressures Christian into telling everything, which I found to be a bit ridiculous. Emily’s reason for pushing Christian away was stupid and made me very irritated at her. Also the dialogue and banter from Emily in this book was sometimes cringy. While I still like Emily, her actions did limit my enjoyment of this book. 

We finally get to learn more about Christian and why he left England for BKI. Christian’s story was very heartbreaking and explains a lot of his actions, and his wardrobe. I actually really liked Christian in this. He had more personality and wasn’t just the well dressed BKI member. I also really liked that once he admitted his feelings he didn’t hold back and was determined to win Emily over. Christian and Emily’s relationship was not my favorite. It felt a bit drawn out, probably because they just keep getting interrupted by attacks, other members of BKI, or their own stupidity. 

This book also gives us a bit of a second relationship with Ace and Rusty flirting it up for at least a little while. We do learn a little of Ace’s backstory and why he is so upset about Rusty being in the closet. Their story is still not resolved by the end of this book so hopefully we will see some resolution in the next book. I can’t wait to see what happens in the next book and see the final BKI member, Angel, fall in love. 

CW: torture, violence, child abuse, brief mention of conversion therapy; homophobic parents; gun violence; alcoholic parents mentioned; death of parents mentioned; death of a spouse mentioned;