Books & Spoons Review for BUILT TO LAST by Julie Ann Walker

25/6/2018

Masterful, mysterious, and completely ruthless, Jamin “Angel” Agassi joined the Black Knights Inc. after a mission-gone-wrong forced him to undergo extensive plastic surgery and change his name.

He's going to bring down the world's worst crime syndicate, and hopefully keep Sonya Butler, a love from his past, from discovering who he really is...

When a dark-eyed stranger gets caught up in Sonya’s latest mission, she starts to question all her hard-won instincts. Something about Angel tells her he's more than he seems, and sometimes, when she least expects it, he reminds her of a man she used to know.

As the bullets fly, she realizes that in love and war nothing is ever what it seems...

I felt like an end of an era is here as I finished the twelfth and last installment of Black Knights Inc. series. Somehow it is hard to imagine not to be waiting for the next installment, to see what Ozzie comes up with next, to hear Boss and Becky banter, to witness these loyal, honorable, badass women and men serve their country, uphold the law, and fall completely, utterly, blissfully in love with their soulmates while at it. Hell On Wheels, the book one, was one of the first books I reviewed when I started Books & Spoons four years ago. I binge-read the first half of the series over my vacation that summer and was hooked on the world the author created.
I noticed that I lingered with Built To Last, I didn't want to rush and finish it, because I knew it was going to be an emotional goodbye for me. Thankfully, the author created such an ending that it left me smiling, feeling good about the direction the gang's life was going to, with the knowledge that Black Knights Inc. is a series I will be re-visiting, re-reading, in the future.
Julie Ann Walker, I just want to put it in writing, something I haven't done before but feel compelled to do now - thank you. For the fun, excitement, passion, turmoil, drama, and joy this series has brought to me (and thousands of other readers). Stories that provide escape, thrills, and entertainment when we need it, characters that become friends over the years, the protagonists that you actually think about off and on as time goes by, these kinds of books save and enrich lives, at least mine.

An enthralling, exciting, and emotional ending to the epic series. We get not one but two happily ever after's - if not a dozen - with lots of intense suspense, up close and deadly battle, drama, trouble, and turbulent relationships. But also we get to witness the kind of soulmates that have a lasting connection that holds despite the circumstances or years apart, forgiveness and redemption, new chances and benediction, a fervent devotion that took my breath away.

Angel has been an intriguing character in the series for some time now. He has been like a shadow coming and going in the dangerous situations in the previous books, spiking up my curiosity about him, his past, who he is now, and what had brought him into the folder of the BKI. His story turned out to be so much more complex and rough around the edges than I imagined. Years of living and existing under different covers and made up personalities have shaped him to be the person he is today. But those years have not shaved off his basic loyalty, dignity, honor, the need to protect and serve, or the love he has for Sonya Butler.
Sonya has mourned for the loss of the love of her life for ten years. While grieving and trying to move on, she has excelled on her career at the Interpol, always standing up for the law, rules, and regulations. So it is a wonder what she is doing working for and with the dangerous crime lord, in what seems like a very close relationship.

While Ace and Rusty both admit the palpable attraction they have for each other, Rusty is not ready to come out of the closet and tell his parents about being gay. The strain from the rejection, from the burning, forbidden desire, from the fear and hurt of having himself or his feelings shunned takes a toll on both Ace and Rusty, as well as the team working with them. It comes to a near-death situation until these two brave warriors dare to face the deeper emotions and desires of their hearts.

The secrets, the layers of deception, the danger, the deadly force of the attacks, and the ruthlessness of the villain gave not only deeper depths to the tale but also searing, fierce tension. Add to that the two parallel love stories, with jilted hearts, hurt feelings, fear of acceptance, and rejection, and the knowledge that this will be the finale, the crescendo of the epic series, and I was on pins and needles through the tale.

If you want to binge-read an intense romantic suspense series with deadly danger in fierce, hazardous international situations, that is mixed with ardent, heartfelt, passion-filled romance, spiced up with quirky humor, fun banter, held together by tight teamwork, a large family of hearts that would do anything to each other, to protect each other, and the country they serve, Black Knights Inc. will definitely deliver.

Powerful, unforgettable, unputdownable saga of legendary warriors, of their lives, loves, and battles for justice
~ Five Spoons

Julie Ann Walker is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of award-winning romantic suspense. She has won the Book Buyers Best Award, been nominated for the National Readers Choice Award, the Australian Romance Reader Awards, and the Romance Writers of America's prestigious RITA award. Her latest release was named a Top Ten Romance of 2014 by Booklist. Her books have been described as "alpha, edgy, and downright hot." Most days you can find her on her bicycle along the lake shore in Chicago or blasting away at her keyboard, trying to wrangle her capricious imagination into submission.