#Review: Wicked Ride by Rebecca Zanetti - 4.5 Wine Glasses

Title: Wicked Ride
Series: Realm Enforcers #1
Author: Rebecca Zanetti
Format: Kindle Edition, 279 pages
Published: June 23rd 2015 by Lyrical Press
ASINB: 00ONTR7I2
Links: Goodreads | Amazon | B&N
Reviewer: Crystal
Source: Netgalley
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Wine Glasses

If you love the Dark Protectors, these wicked hot Realm Enforcers are for you!

Alexandra Monzelle is a hard-fighting, heat-packing Seattle vice cop, and she’s not much interested in being protected. Her short skirt and sex-kitten heels are tools to lure her suspects into talking about the deadly new drug hitting the streets. She can take care of herself and then some. Unfortunately, she can’t seem to get that through to Kellach Dunne.

Kellach is a fresh import from Dublin, and he’s landed at the heart of a vicious motorcycle club that deals in guns, narcotics, and mayhem. He’s all male, all rough power—and all interference in her damn investigation. Maybe he’s one of the good guys. Maybe not. Lex knows an affair with an immortal like him would risk everything. No matter how delicious he looks… 

Crystal's Thoughts:
First, let me start off by saying that I have not read Rebecca Zanetti's Dark Protectors series. I know, I know, it's on my wish list! lol I have read and loved her series published through Entangled though which is why I picked up Wicked Ride. While some characters from the Dark Protectors series do make an appearance in Wicked Ride, I was able to read the story without feeling lost or confused about the paranormal background. I am more interested to start that series now though!

Alexandra Monzelle works the streets of Seattle as a police officer and takes her job very seriously thanks to a troubled childhood. When a new drug makes an appearance in the local bars and clubs,  killing it's users, Alexandra goes undercover only to find she's not the only one interested in this drug's origins. Kellach Dunne has left his home in Dublin to investigate a new drug that not only burns humans from the inside out, but has the potential to kill witches as well. Going undercover in the local motorcycle club, Kell is determined to uncover the source of the drug before it can make it's way to Dublin and to his family. Attraction flares between Kell and Lex from the start, but neither one of them ever expected the consequences of giving in to their burning chemistry...

Rebecca Zanetti has woven together an intricate paranormal world in Wicked Ride, with a dash of the grittiness you'd find in an MC novel and a good dose of (wo)men in uniform suspense, creating a action-packed story that I could not put down! Kellach, our hero of the story, is an Enforcer for the Coven Nine, the reining group in the witch community. Able to create fire with a thought he is hot, hot, hot! His character was a typical alpha for a paranormal story (and who doesn't love them?), gruff and protective, but he always respected Lex and her need to be able to protect herself. He supported Lex in her decisions, even if they hurt him, and he was there for her no matter what. Add in the sizzling chemistry and scorching sexual tension whenever these two got close, and there wasn't anything that I didn't love about Kellach.

Our heroine Lex, on the other-hand, was a tough nut to crack. With a drug-addict, abusive father and a mentally unstable mother, Lex has had to protect not only herself, but her younger sister, her entire life. Becoming a cop was her way to ensure no one else would have to go through what she did growing up. She has a hard exterior and doesn't trust easily but when Kell started making little cracks in the seemingly impenetrable wall of hers, I felt it. Her character was a hard-sell for me for a lot of the story though, and her waffling so much in her trust of Kellach nearly drove me mad. Honestly, if it wasn't for that constant throughout 99% of the story, this would have been a 5 Wine Glass read for me!

All in all though; Wicked Ride was an addictive ride with action on just about every page, scorching romance, compelling world-building, and intriguing characters. I'm looking forward to more from this series and it's secondary characters. Threads are left hanging to be weaved in and tied up later in the series, the mystery of the Apollo drug's origins being one of them. With a sexy witch that is just one in a cast of paranormal creatures, a down and dirty motorcycle club, and a heroine with a badge, paranormal romance lovers won't want to miss Wicked Ride!


Suggested Reading Order:
Wicked Ride (Realm Enforcers, #1) 

Wicked Edge (Realm Enforcers, #2) 

Wicked Burn (Realm Enforcers #3)