Hard Knox Review

Hard Knox

(The Outsider Chronicles Book #1)

By,

Nicole Williams

3 Stars

Knox Jagger. The name inspires resent in every male at Sinclair University, want in every female, and contempt in Charlie Chase.

Charlie can be summed up in three words: independent, independent, and independent. To Charlie, Knox epitomizes everything that’s wrong with college males: prolific one-night stands, drunken senseless fights, and a body that hints at prioritizing gym time over study time.

As an up-and-coming writer for Sinclair University’s newspaper, Charlie’s tasked with getting to the bottom of who’s been dropping little white pills into girls’ drinks at parties. In an ocean of All-American boys sporting polo shirts and innocent smiles, Knox is the obvious suspect. As evidence piles up against the bad boy of Sinclair, Charlie becomes more and more certain it isn’t Knox. But when her drink is dosed at a party and she wakes up on Knox’s couch the next morning, Charlie’s left with more questions than answers when it comes to Knox Jagger.

How can Charlie ever hope to uncover the truth behind a guy so closed off he’s become . . .

Hard Knox.

“Somewhere along the way, his soul had attached to mine, and mine to his, and they’d become a part of the other person”

This is a new NA series by Nicole Williams. I love Nicole Williams’s books and I was really excited to read this one. The book focuses on some major issues that woman face in college. The use of Date Rape drugs at college parties. I really appreciate that the author made a book that the romance was not the main focus but a social issue that is sensitive. The romance was a slow burn and I loved that but the romance was in the background. It wasn’t the main or even the most important part of the story.

I usually like her main characters but I could not find any to really like about Charlie. She was really hard to connect with in the story because she was so irritating most of the time. She spent the majority of the book passing judgment on people she didn’t know. She had already decided if she liked them or not based on seeing how they acted at a party. Some people would read the things she would say and think she was being blunt but they just come off bitchy to me. She seemed to think she was better than everyone else because of how smart she actually was. Don’t get me wrong, Charlie is very smart and very strong but her personality got in the way of me actually liking her.

“Because I don’t want to give you any reason to be mad at me. I don’t want to give you a reason to hate me because, as much as I might have begged you to do that, you’re the single most important thing to me, Charlie Chase. You’ve become my world. And how do I live in a world where you don’t exist?”

While I didn’t really like Charlie’s character it was a completely different thing with Knox. I loved his character. He showed people the bad boy exterior. He let people believe what they wanted to about him when he is actually an amazing guy. He got that way from making bad choices but he turned it around. He cares about people he hasn’t even met. He was a really smart but he didn’t feel the need to rub it in his face. I wish we had gotten to know him a little better than we did. We finally learned about his past but for me it wasn’t enough.

The writing was great in this book. I loved the story line and the slow of the book. While I found it somewhat predictable not everyone would have. This is probably my favorite thing that came out of Charlie’s mouth. The way Nicole Williams had her explain fairy tales was beautiful.

“Ever-after promises that no matter what comes or what has been, no matter who I become or who I was, no matter who you become or who you were, nothing can break us apart. Ever-after means forever means no matter what. Ever is the glue that brings two broken pieces together, and the after is the bond that keeps it that way.”

I am definitely going to be picking about the next in the series!

Amazon ~*~ Barnes and Noble

Facebook Giveaway