Hardwired – book review

Hardwired
by Meredith Wild
Release Date:  September 2, 2013
Publisher:  Forever
Book #1 in the Hacker series
Number of pages:  281
Kindle Edition
Source:  MCL
Contemporary Romance/New Adult M/F
Rating: XXX
Read 2/11/18 to 2/12/18

First, I want to admit that I don’t remember where I got the recommendation for this book.  But I do know it was from an email or newsletter from one of the authors I love, so I took the plunge with this author.  I swear, I’m trying to get better about noting where I get my recommendations from.

I really enjoyed this book and it’s very well written.  But, I hate to say this, I felt that the author was extremely influenced by the Fifty Shades books.  Wait, wait, wait!  Don’t leave this review yet.  Hear me out.  Please read this whole paragraph before making any decisions on this book or whether or not you want to read my whole review.  I absolutely hate when there is one book that does great and everything even remotely similar gets likened to that one book, like it’s the one and only.  (If you liked X you’ll love Y) More times than not if I liked X a lot I find these Y “recommendations” not even in the same zip code. But I read a lot of erotic romance and this is truly the only time I can remember feeling a story was influenced by those books.  That being said, I found this story so much better written.  If you look at my reviews of the Fifty Shades books on Goodreads you’ll see I rated them pretty high.  I’m sure if I went back for a re-read I would be changing those ratings.  Where I enjoyed the storyline immensely, I can’t say the author is a very good writer.  Whereas the author of this book, Meredith Wild, seems to be a stellar writer from what I’ve read so far.  (After all, I’ve only read one book so far!)

Blake is such a romantic hero, even when he’s being a bit of a misogynistic jerk.  Erica’s need to pull away often left me frustrated, but I understood her motivations.  Plus, what woman can’t understand the need to prove to herself she can stand on her own two feet.  When Erica and Blake are on they are on.  They work so well together.  But when they’re butting heads things seem to fall apart.

Although I mentioned Fifty Shades, this is a sweeter story.  I think I know where the story is going when it comes to the sexual appetites of Blake, but he is slowly introducing those appetites to Erica instead of demanding she go all in right away.  Is this realistic?  I don’t know…I don’t live that lifestyle.  But it sure gives me a soft spot for him.  Like I said, Blake’s a romantic hero.

Heads up, this is not a story that is wrapped up by the end of the book.  I wish I had know that from the get so I could have had the other book on standby for when I was done with this one.  Ah well, live and learn.  At least I can pass this info on to you!  I can’t wait to read more about Blake’s background and see where things go with Erica’s current situation.  This author did a great job of reeling me and getting me to stick around.

4 stars