Hard as Steel: Book four by Virginia Wine
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

3 and a half Stars

Hard as Steel is the fourth book in the Surviving series by Virginia Vine. This is my first read by Ms. Vine, but when I read the blurb I was immediately hooked and needed to find out what happens. I realise now that this being book four in a series, I would have been better reading the other three books before starting this one, as I feel that there was backstory and character information that I was missing, and that detracted somewhat from my enjoyment of this book.
I love the premise of the book, enjoyed the story, and liked the characters. But there were a few issues that prevented this book from reaching its full potential, and delivering promise held in the synopsis. I will get to these issues in a moment.
Nicole Lancaster is a seasoned FBI Agent who is focused of her career and moving up the ladder as high as she can go. A woman in a man’s world, she has to work twice as hard as her male colleagues, just to prove herself and gain any recognition. She’s up for another promotion, so she doesn’t need any distractions that may derail her plans. But what happens when a case pulls her in a lot farther than she expects? The more time she spends with the broken young woman, the more she pulls her in. What about the sparks and intense connection she feels towards a certain private investigator who’s also looking into the case? With danger an ever-present factor there is no room for error.
Steel Archer is ex-military, now working with PI Securities. He’s had some traumatic experiences that still haunt him. When a battered and broken young woman stumbles into his world, it thrusts him into an investigation that will test him and require him to draw on all his training to make it through. Nicole brings a calming and soothing effect on him- but she has a hard shell that he’ll need to crack in order to pursue anything with her. What happens when he’s targeted by an evil mastermind in a sinister plot? Is there a connection to the current case he’s working on? Will he break through Nicole’ defences and convince her that he’s worth the risk? When danger comes calling, can he keep everyone safe?
This story is told from several points of view, which gives the reader a really great perspective of what’s going on. There were parts of the story that really tugged at my heartstrings and had me feeling for what the characters had been/were going through.
The story was complex and multi-layered, with a lot of flashbacks that helped to build some backstory and move the plot on. There was a lyrical/poetic style to the writer’s style, especially in the flashback sequences. The story was detailed and descriptive- but there were times the story felt a bit abrupt or clipped.
Like I said previously, I think I would have enjoyed the story more if I had read the previous books first, because there seemed to be too much information and character details that I ‘should have known already’. This did take away from my enjoyment of the story. Also, it wasn’t always apparent ‘who’ was speaking, and I had to re-read some of the dialog to work it out.
Then there were quite a few editing issues that kept pulling me out of the story. Simple thing that could have been caught, and without which this would have been an amazing read. Things such as misused words, ie: mild stone, instead of milestone; acquittance, instead of acquaintance; manors, instead of manners- just as a few examples. Then there were words that should have been plurals and weren’t, and quite a few punctuation issues. Although these things were minor issues, they did interrupt the flow, and my overall enjoyment of the story.
I am intrigued to see what happens in the first three books, and whether, as I suspect, there is a bridging/underlying storyline. So, I will be going back to read the first three books to find out. I also really liked Grace and am intrigued by her and want to know more- so I will definitely be reading the next book, “Surviving Grace”.

Thank you, Ms. Wine!

Reviewed by @angelahayes

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