Rating:  3 stars out of 5

Home on compassionate leave for his brother’s funeral, Navy SEAL Garrison Matthews needs to blow off a lot of stress and grief before he returns to active duty. In honor of his brother, he takes Bettie, the brothers’ souped-up vintage truck, out for a spin. A bit of an adrenaline junkie, Garrison has no problem finding trouble. This time trouble’s named Walt, and he happens to be Garrison’s sister-in-law’s brother.

Neither man expects their fun to amount to anything else, but after an injury sends Garrison home for good, he turns to Walt, hoping to start a new life. Walt is a closeted sheriff’s deputy, and while he adores Garrison, he isn’t sure he’s ready to come out… or for such a big commitment. Being fresh out of the service isn’t easy on Garrison either. To find their happy ending, Walt and Garrison must overcome their trust issues and get ready to settle down together

Drive Your Truck is pretty simple story, not too angsty but unfortunately to me not sweet at all. Reading the blurb, I liked the premises of it, so I was enthusiastic when I started reading it. Sadly some things didn’t work for me.

Gar and Walt hooking up on the wake for Gar’s brother was the first thing I didn’t like in this book. I’d be so pained to losing my brother, I honestly couldn’t think about sex. I didn’t see the act as a way to forget for just a moment a deep grief. It came to me as a shallow scene.

And going on in the story, this feeling of levity is a steady point in the book. I couldn’t feel emotions, between Gar and Walt, neither in the second characters. The author made me wait till the end to see Gar and Walt really into each other, making plans for a future together. I’d have liked to have that kind of emotions from the start. Moreover, I didn’t appreciate the author’s choice at the end of the book. Spoiler-  click here to view.

I’m still wondering about the title. Ok, Gar and Brandon bought a cherry red 1966 Ford pickup when Gar was seventeen. They called it Bettie and Brandon fixed it whenever he could. The author showed us some scenes where Gar took Bettie for a ride while looking for adrenaline and a way to ease the stress. Still I don’t think the title fits the story. Maybe I missed something.

I have a word for this book: craving. Drive Your Truck left me craving for more. More background about the characters, more moments between Gar and Walt, more scenes with the second characters, more sweetness, more hot sex and more courage.

It seems I didn’t enjoy this book, it isn’t true. I gave it three stars because I liked the story, but it didn’t live up my expectations. I heard great things about Julia Talbot. I think I simply chose the wrong book to start reading her works. I’ll definitely check her books, I’m sure I’ll find the one to love.

Cover Artist Brooke Albrecht.
The cover was eye catching to me, absolutely well done, it fits the title but as I said earlier, in my opinion not the story

Sales Links:  Dreamspinner Press    All Romance (ARe)    Amazon   Buy It Here

Book Details:

ebook, 130 pages
Expected publication: January 28th 2015 by Dreamspinner Press
ISBN139781632163981
edition languageEnglish
url http://www.juliatalbot.com