ARC Review: Against the Wall by Rebecca Zanetti

Against The Wall is the first book that I have read by Rebecca Zanetti. After reading the blurb, I couldn't wait to get started on this one as it is the first book in her Maverick Montana series. At first glance this book sounds so promissing. Unfortunately as much as I was hoping to like this book, it just didn't happen for me. There were things from the book that I did like, but overall I had quite a few problems with this one.

Sophie goes to Montana with the hopes of swaying the Kooskia tribe to back her golf course project for her uncle's struggling company. She is literally swept off her feet by a sexy cowboy named Jake and the attraction is instant. After a brief introduction they go their seperate ways, but little does she know that she will be seeing him again soon. Jake is a member of the Kooskia tribe and also happens to be their lawyer. As Sophie tries to gain support even though the tribe and Jake oppose her development, she starts receiving threatening notes with the suggestion that she leave town. Sophie refuses to let the notes or anyone dictate to her what she will do with her life.

I kept waiting for this story to really develop, and it just didn't happen. Often times while reading I would go back a page or two to see if I had missed something because the story just seemed to jump around. I'm not one for reading a story where the author has to take you by the hand and lead you through the story as if you are a child, but I do like to at least know how we get from one place to the next. Because of the way the story seems to skip ahead without any kind of connection at certain points, I just felt lost while reading the majority of this story. I really was never able to connect with the characters at all, or see their relationship growing. I just couldn't buy into what the author was selling.

Although Jake and Sophie are hot together and really steamed up the pages, it seemed to me as though that was all there was to them. I never really felt as though they were emotionally invested in each other. I found myself caring more about the secondary characters than the main characters of the story. While Sophie had started off to be an independent woman who wouldn't let anyone run her life, it seemed that she just relinquished control of everything to Jake even though she hadn't known him long. As far as Jake goes, I like a dominating and confident man as much as the next girl, but Jake seemed to be that way one minute and then completely insecure the next minute. I found myself getting annoyed by both Jake and Sophie.

Another problem I had with this book was that there were several things brought up and dropped. There were also things that I felt were left completely unexplained. It just seemed as if this book was filled with inconsistencies and very easily could have been a rough draft needing to still be edited. Even though I didn't care for this book as much as I was hoping, I really did start to get invested in several of the secondary characters. They are the reason that I finished this book. I still plan to read Under the Covers, the second book in this series about Jake's brother Quinn and im hoping that the author takes the characters in that book in a better direction.

**ARC provided by Publisher**

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