Walk Tall: Assassin's Claw Book 1, Susi Hawke

An assassin, a boy who just wants to be loved, and a whole lot of sappy declarations make this a cute story with a side of action.  The action that makes it hot is memorable while the action that is more dangerous becomes humorous when you add in a herd of ninja rabbits.  Overall this was a sweet book with a whole lot of steam and quite a few surprises for the MC's that were predictable yet fit the vibe of the story.

Clay and his brothers are a tight-knit group that share a profession, one that puts him on the path to find his true mate.  Not just a man to bond with, but one to share his long life, to love and cleave to for generations to come.  I liked the take on mates here, that the idea that mates are one thing, but the idea of "true mates" is a relatively unknown entity so we get surprised right along with him and Nick with all the implications of what they've found in one another.  I liked Clay in a general way.  A big Alpha with a bigger heart knowing he will do the right thing no matter who's paying him goes a long way with me when there are secrets to be had.

As for Nick, I got a pretty good sense of who he is and he was pretty average for me.  Predictable and slightly boring.  Not that he wasn't a good character or a good match for Clay, just that he didn't really stand out for me.  He was impulsive and reactionary and his dream to have love and a family didn't really excuse the way he acted without thinking the consequences through.  His age is something to consider regarding his maturity level for sure and because my dream life is the one he describes for himself I'm absolutely not faulting that, it's how he's passive about some things that matter and impulsively naive about others.  So he wasn't bad, dumb, or intolerable, just young and not my favorite type of MC.

The one thing I had the biggest problem with was the text.  No handler, no operative, no client would EVER send something that detailed about what was supposed to go down, what changes were made, or what precautions to take.  Having everything spelled out was not only implausible, it felt like the reveal was forced and utterly ridiculous.  Other than that, most issues were excusable.  The cheese level was super high, but since both MC's acknowledged it it became a part of their romance and not something for the reader to roll their eyes at.  Surprising us and all the characters with what happens when one of the true mates is human was pretty good too.  There were a lot of little gems here that give me hope for the series to come and I'm actually looking forward to seeing where we go from here and how each brother finds their own HEA.

*$2.99 on Amazon

Watch out for the Assassin’s Claws… 

Clay Moreno is a paid killer, just like his four brothers. It’s the family business—they fight together, they die together. Whether they’re working as a group or alone, they are a tight unit who protect their own. 

Clay drew the short straw on their latest mission: assassinate the American president. He knew the case was going to be tough, but the last thing he expected to find was his mate… the president’s own son. The fact that he began the case with plans to seduce his way into the White House via that same son is beside the point. What his mate doesn’t know shouldn’t hurt him… 

Nick Jackson is lonely and ordinary in a family of overachievers. He doesn’t want to do photo ops for the press, prep for the next year’s tests over the summer or any of the hundreds of other things his mother hassles him about. All he wants is to relax after his first year of college, work on his tan… and maybe find a boy to flirt with.