3.5 stars - It's a wicked hacker ride that ends with a cliffhanger. I dread cliffhangers, and if you do too, beware. It's a tech thriller and does have you paying close attention, but the hero didn't work for me. He's an amazing guy, which I'm all for, but he's a fool. He annoyed me because he constantly had gut feelings that he ignored. I’m pretty sure I know who the villain is and, with reluctance, I’ll likely cave and read the next one just to confirm my suspicions. That being said, if you're not in the mood to be frustrated, you may want to give this one a pass. Or at the very least, wait until part two is available before heading down this rabbit hole.

I received an ARC of this book, from the publisher, via NetGallery, in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Wow. At first I didn't know if I'd like this book. It was slow in the beginning then the attacks started coming fast. Hannah was many different people but when her heart got in the way her life started to crumble. The question is what happens when it gets tough and can she make it out

Exploited is a fast-moving techno romance (is there such thing or did I just make up a genre….lol) that will keep you glued to the book. It is a page turner and you never know where this book will lead you and I loved it.


I am going to say this right up front, I didn’t like Hannah. Did I feel bad for her, sure. What happened to her family was pretty crappy and I can totally get why that pushed her into hacking. But her relationship with Mason took the cake and when it was revealed why she was with him, I was a little upset. That’s when I became “Team Mason” and started cheering on his investigation of Freedom Overdrive. What bothered me also about her was that she didn’t have any friends, work or personal. She explained it as a lack of trust but I wonder, as I do with fictional characters, if her lack of friends was because she had no personal skills. The only “friends” that she has is her fellow online hackers.

I liked Mason, even if he was the equivalent of a human stress ball. He made a mistake by sleeping with one of his fellow agents, who happened to be his superior, and things got a little, how do I phrase this, stressful at the office. He also has major issues with his parents. They are playing the blame game with him. When Mason’s brother, Dylan, was dying of brain cancer, he never got down to see him before he died. So, Mason’s mother and father blame his job and himself for not being there for Dylan. Which is pretty awful and those phone calls with his father just broke my heart.

While I didn’t like Hannah, I did like the romance between them….even if Hannah originally went into it under false pretenses. Their romance gave me major feels. And the sex was hot. Burning hot!!

The hacker plotline was very interesting and I can see the allure in it. I mean, Hannah got pulled into it by a friend because she was going to fail our of college. I am still not sure how she went from small time to big time and I am sure that they will explain it more in book 2.

This book does not have a happy ending and none of the plot lines got wrapped up. I can’t wait to see where this story ends up in book 2.

Now I went ahead and created a playlist for Exploited. These songs are just suggestions and feel free to let me know, if you have read the book, what other songs would fit.

Playlist for Exploited:

Hannah

Believer by Imagine Dragons

Name by The Goo Goo Dolls

Choices by B-Side

Breathe Me by Sia

Mason

Trouble by Coldplay

Brother by Anna Pancaldi

Boombastic by Shaggy

Cry Me A River by by Justin Timberlake

Father of Mine by Everclear

How many stars will I give Exploited: 4

Why: Fast, intense storyline with great, layered characters and great sex scenes

Will I reread: Yes

Will I recommend to family and friends: Yes

Age range: Adult

Why: Sex, language

**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**

The chase between cat and mouse has just begun!

Enter the world wide web full of lies and deceit with Exploited by A. Meredith Walters! Hannah is a hacker on a mission for revenge, redemption, and justification. Taking down the evils of our world behind a computer screen. Mason is on a mission to track and bring Hannah in for her illegal crimes. This is a story that will keep you on your toes, secrets are revealed one after another. No one is safe, but it's one hell of a ride. My hands are extra grabby where Exploited ended. I must know what happens next!

I received this book as an ARC from netgalley. I love a good romantic mystery, and really had high hopes for this book. I went in knowing that it was a cliff hanger. However, I had hoped more would be revealed by the end of the book. I guess I'm spoiled by reading Tiffany Snow, who's work is often continued, but there is more of a tie up at the end of the book before moving on to the next book and adventure. For my taste there were too many unanswered questions at the end of the book. Will I get the next installment, most likely, because I'm curious to see what happens

Holy hell what did I just read? A story so intense and mind bending with secrets, lies, revenge and so much more.

Hannah Whelan lost her father in a car accident that rendered her sister physically incapable of caring for herself. She lives in a long term care facility, one that with Hannah's job helps pay the bills. Hannah has an extreme talent for IT and is part of an underground hacking group in the larger picture but operates alone. Her name is well known in the hacker community. She serves justice where needed. She's virtually untouchable.

Mason Kohler has just transferred to the Richmond office of the FBI in cybercrime. He's as computer nerdy as Hannah. Because of a brief interlude with a co worker that did not work out, Mason is on the shit list of the whole group. They are a tight knit bunch, he's not only the new guy but he's not welcome and well, you don't shit where you eat. He's assigned the freedom overdrive case, his boss knowing he'll never solve it and the guy really makes his life hell. Worse he partners him with a new agent who is so ineffective and hired on because his father is up the chain in DC.

Hannah and Mason meet and begin to develop a relationship and for the first time she pairs with another hacker to take down the law firm that represented the bad highway that was responsible for her fathers death and accident. He/She has also drawn her into hacking into another place that's on his agenda, great risk. Hannah and Mason are getting into each other deep but as things evolve Mason begins to see things he doesn't want to see. Hannah seems to smooth them over, but suspicious by nature Mason isn't letting go.

This book was one hell of a ride. The last third of the book had me white knuckling my kindle because the tension is so palpable. The writing is nothing short of fantastic and Meredith doesn't leave one little innuendo out. It's all there. She leaves a trail of bread crumbs, you just have to pay attention.
This book does end on a cliffhanger. Book two called Aftermath is slated to be out in July. (last I heard) and I have grabby hands for that one. I am certain the conclusion will be nothing short of amazing.
I'd give this 10 stars if I could.

**arc from NetGalley and Publisher in exchange for a fair review**

Slow read. Great writing but the pace is so slow. The story is predictable.

You know it's a good book that when you aren't reading you are still thinking about what's going to happen next in the book. Very intriguing story kept my interest. Twist and turns you just won't believe. I definitely can't wait to read the next book to find out what happens. If you like a good mystery this book is definitely one a would recommend. It has everything that makes it a perfect intriguing story.

Received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review by Net Galley and Loveswept.

All I can say is OMG! I've never read a book by this author, but I've wanted to. This book was absolutely amazing! It kept me guessing the whole way through. I can't wait to buy and read the second one. Read it, you won't be disappointed!

Enter the dark web with Exploited! Hannah Whalen who had once been a good college student was beginning to slip. After tragedy struck she was left feeling numb when it came to her school work, to the point of flunking out. She was also filled with rage and helplessness at the circumstances that had left her and her mom devastated. But then Rose, Hannah's elusive roommate gave Hannah hope when she began to teach her how to become one of the best hackers around. With precision and perfect timing Hannah began to plot her revenge and then put her plan into action. While what Hannah was doing was illegal she justified it because she was exposing corrupt corporations and people who were cheating those in need.
But part of her plan began to fall apart when she began to seduce FBI agent Mason Kohler. Hannah needed Mason to find out if they were getting close to catching her. She had been put at the top of their list of cybercrime unit because of her high profile hacks. But even after 4 years of chasing her nobody had been able to track her down. She was the best. Always one step ahead. The problem...Hannah begins to fall for Mason. The guilt of deceiving him was overwhelming. And to top it off despite Mason falling for Hannah he felt in his gut that something was off.
This book is a game of cat and mouse. You will be on the edge of your seat as the author leads you down one path but then throws you a curveball leaving you reeling because what you thought you had figured out was now in question. The book leaves you hanging. You'll feel as if you've fallen over a cliff and you're barely hanging on by the tips of your fingers.
I loved both of the main characters and I'm actually frightened at how things will turn out for them in the next book, which can't come out soon enough!
I voluntarily reviewed this book.

This book is all about deceiving the person you care for right in front of their face. While I found the theme to be frustrating and irksome, the author managed to spin an intricate tale of deception. The cliffhanger is obvious, but still draws the reader to wait for the next round.

The romance ‘verse of hacking is a relatively unexplored one and diving into ‘Exploited’ was an absolute treat as I’ve always wanted a story that really dug into black hats, the mentality under which they operate and the scrutiny they face.

That said, I do like A. Meredith Walters’s take on vigilante justice and the shadowy line that hackers often cross. Unlike the books that delve into them, ‘Exploited’
is a raw, honest take about the power trips that hackers take they dodge the law and the huge amount of pandering to ego that we see, as much as for Hannah as it is for Mason. But ultimately, put a law enforcement officer on the tail of the hacker (and vice versa) and Walters has a cat-and-mouse game going that you already know can’t end terribly well.

The thing about ‘Expoited’ is that there’s this bleak, eerie melancholy that I can’t seem to shake off somehow. The first-person narrative here isn’t one that only brings you closer and into the characters’ heads; it suffocates you just as Mason and Hannah live their suffocating lives, twisted and burdened by tragedy and circumstances not of their own making. Anger and the burning need for revenge has driven Hannah to her double life as a hacker who doles our her own brand of criminal justice by being one herself; Mason’s own dysfunctional family has brought him down a road where he’s hemmed in both at home and in the office.

In an odd way, I found myself wholly invested in the intrigue and the characters by extension, though Mason and Hannah were a pairing that I could neither get into nor like. Mason and Hannah weren’t protagonists I could root for—the callous way they treated others around them for one—and the games they played felt more like they belonged in an erotic thriller like ‘Basic Instinct’ that has deceit underscoring the action both at work and in the bedroom. I couldn’t quite get Hannah’s connection with Mason, at least because the depth of her manipulation makes her a difficult protagonist to like, but I found myself fascinated with how she was going to twist her way out of her whole setup thanks to her mysterious hacking partner, whose motivations are equally suspect. Mason’s dalliance with a work colleague and that constant comparison to Hannah (his ability to jump between women so quickly) grated on me and that gullibility that he had with Hannah was sort of laughable.

In short, this felt more of a parody of a romance than a proper one, yet that was in itself, a fascinating layer to the suspense that kept the pages turning for me. I found that I could objectively look at two people on the opposite sides of the law playing each other and not quite have an affinity for one or the other while enjoying the tightening of the noose on Hannah’s neck. The pace-perfect cliffhanger ending is predictable though unsatisfactory and more than anything, I want to see how a HEA is even possible in the sequel to this book.

ACK! I'm hooked and on the edge of my seat! I need more, I need ...gah....I just need more.

Secrets and lies, twists and turns. Destruction is the only ending with a life built in the shadows. He's a target, he's the enemy, so why is he her salvation?

She twisted inside herself. One goal. Revenge, justification, punishing the wicked.
He's the one assigned to bring her down. Find her, track her, stop her.

I was on the edge of my seat, devouring these words. I was sure there was no way for an HEA in this twisted world of lies and deceit and I'm still holding on to find out where it will, how will it end? Such a wonderful hangover and pulse pounding ride. I can't wait to see how this one will end.

A suspensful world of wanting what you shouldn't and splitting yourself in too many ways! Fabulous! Absolutely magnificent!

Well this book had it all! Suspense, intrigue, romance and of course some sexy time (not too much though). It follows infamous computer hacker Hannah Whalen as she navigates a relationship with Mason Kohler, the FBI agent who is assigned to find her alter ego, Freedom Overdrive. There are so many twists and turns in the plot line of this story, I had no idea who to trust (except of course Agent Kohler, I'd trust him with my life). I make no bones about the fact that I adored Mason, he was a strong, sexy, true alpha male with insecurities that made him even more ideal. Hannah however, I found to be manipulative and harsh with a slight 'god complex' that annoyed me no end. Both of them seemed to be naive and trusting in the wrong people, I wanted to bash their heads together. The chemistry between them was palpable and even with all the lies and deceit I found myself rooting for them to get their HEA. Sadly I never got to find out because their conclusion is in book 2. A cliffhanger, who knew? I was devastated, I have months to wait, and I can say without a shadow of a doubt I'll be reading the next book. I have to know how this story plays out, just a shame I've got to wait. Excellent writing, a brilliant storyline told in dual POV, I loved t. I was provided with an advanced copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was first introduced to A. Meredith Walters with her stunning and flawless book, The Contradiction of Solitude. It blew my mind and ever since then, I've been reading everything she has put out. Exploited was amazing. It was full of suspense, twists and turns. I was on pins and needles the entire book. Every single page was perfect and as usual, her words were mesmerizing. Seriously, reading her books is like floating on a raft in the ocean, so calming, yet so dangerous. I love it. I loved every part of Exploited and can't wait for more!

This is a nice book, but it has some issues.
First, I didn't really like Mason, he was a mix of alpha male and idiot agent, I mean, who trust so much someone you just met? Also, I didn't really feel empathy for him, his story didn't make me like him not even a bit. For me he was just predictable and boring.
Hannah, otherwise, was a nice character, she was smart and confidant and kept loyal to herself and her family.
Other problem was that the story is really predictable, I could see every single thing coming miles before it arrived. For me, there was no plot twists, no surprise, no tension.
It wasn't a bad book, but I've already seen this a thousand times.

loved this book