Actual Rating: 3.5

This was an enjoyable read. The storyline was cute and short. I did think that the story could have been long. The writing style was good, but could have been better. I thought the characters were good. I thought Josie was funny and smart. I thought Spencer was sexy and smart. They had great chemistry together. I thought the ending could have been better. Overall, a great read.

I thought this book was really good. I don't like mushy romance novels, I prefer when there's a bit more substance and mystery to them, and for me, this one fit the bill. This is the second book in a series, but it works just fine as a standalone novel.

This story is about Spencer, a new hire at the tech company Afire Industries, who is brought on to work as a security analyst after a recent hack to the company's systems. On his first day, he is introduced to program manager Josie, who he'll be working closely with. Unfortunately, Spencer is your typical tech geek with social skills that are somewhat lacking, and he has trouble functioning when he's around Josie, which I found quite endearing. Josie begins to have trouble with an ex posting photos of her online, and this is where Spencer is able to shine, working behind the scenes to thwart her ex's attempts at blackmail.

I enjoyed the storyline, it was suspenseful, and as a bit of a computer geek myself, I found it interesting. The book didn't go into too much detail about the hacking side of things, but I think that's okay because it's a complex topic, and just brushing over the surface reduces the possibility of factual mistakes that would annoy me and/or jar me out of the story. I didn't find the plot to be overly predictable, and it held my attention until the end. I thought the romance aspect of it was very good and...well, exciting.

There were a couple things that could have been better...I did find myself rolling my eyes a few times in the first few pages, but it improved greatly after that. Of course there were some details that weren't quite so believable, but it's a romance/erotic novel, not a guidebook or instruction manual, and the details were small enough for me to overlook. I'm normally very easily irritated by errors, so the fact that I'm able to overlook them is not something to scoff at.

This is the first book I've read by this author, and I am looking forward to reading more!

A new introduction to this author for me. I enjoyed the characters and the storyline. The author has a unique writing style.

Hot book! While this isn’t one that I’d be telling students to read it’s certainly one I’d tell friends to read. When a computer geek joins a new company he quickly falls for a woman struggling to make a clean break from an ex boyfriend who doesn’t want to let go. As he helps her with security issues they fall for each other.

I think I expected too much from this book. It wasn’t terrible, I promise, but it just wasn’t what I was expecting. I don’t think the author did much research on topics that she talks about, because she doesn’t go into detail, she just skims the surface on hacking. For a short story, the book was good. Maybe I just wish it would have been longer? I don’t know. I liked the book, but I didn’t LOVE it. Know what I mean?

A nerdy computer geek and a beautiful lady at a tech firm meet and get instantly hot for each other. . . of course. She’s got an annoying ex, and in what was probably an earlier entry in what feels like a series, there was a major computer intrusion that the company is still recovering from.
There’s some excellent writing here. During a scene where they’re making love by a fire, the paragraph about their shadows joining in was superb.
The plot was relatively simple, the ending obvious, but it doesn’t matter when the characters are both relatable and special, and the writing this much fun. . . at least that’s how I felt before the last twist, which was completely out of character and forced, just for the sake of. . . I don’t know why. It was the very textbook definition of anticlimactic. Perhaps there’s some blueprint, some book on writing these types of novels, that says they can’t live happily ever after just yet; there must be some other obstacle to overcome, after one or both act stupidly in some manner. That probably cost what was otherwise an excellent book a higher score.
Fun note: I think this author is a Judy Greer fan. First there’s the “Hi-Lo” line from The Big Bang Theory—which could also be an Evanescence/Lindsey Stirling shoutout—and then there’s the huge planner/organizer right out of 27 Dresses.
3.5 pushed up to 4/5

It was a sweet story, as I love geek hero and heroine, and Spencer awkwardness was chuckle ready at the next corner. It is a must read if you love geeky dorky hero or heroine.

Cant wait to read more from this author!

This was a cute, short romance story and I did enjoy reading it. However, it was kind of anti-climatic and insta-love. I didn’t expect much going into it, so I could ignore all the cheesy aspects. But the sex scenes were hot, which made up for the other failing aspects.

I love this book. It was a sweet story, as I love geek hero and heroine.

I really enjoyed this book. It was the first time I have read this author. The characters were very well developed and their relationship was believable. I wasn’t ready for it to end and that’s always a sign of a good book!

I do like books about nerds so this one caught my attention. There was a lot of humour in the book which was entertaining. But overall, it felt unrealistic to me. The attack on Josie was too easily contained. The quick friendship between the new guy and the boss was unlikely. And Spencer's journey from dork to confident stud was ridiculously fast. It was a quick read, and wasn't bad, but I won't search out more in this series.

This is an honest review for a book provided by Netgalley! I really liked this book, this is my first Kimberly Dean and I would for sure read her again.

This the the second in a series but I never felt lost or that I was being "caught up" on previous info. I loved the tech terms and humor that did go so far into the tech world that it went over my head. I enjoyed the puppy to guard dog transformation as well.

Thanks for the read! Will be looking forward to more!

Thought this book was ok. I don't normally read this kind but thought I'd try a couple. I liked reading about stereotypical 'nerds' and how Spencer didn't look like one!! Story line was ok, went into too much about her ex, Nolan and not enough about her and Spencer but was an ok read. Thank you for letting me read and review this book.

This is an honest review for a book provided by Netgalley! I love this book, this is not my first Kimberly Dean but it had been a while, so I was delighted to read her again.
Onto the story, this is the story of Josie and Spencer, they both work at Afire Industry, a online security company. Josie is an organizational manager, and Spencer is their new security expert, Spark fly the minute Spencer met Josie, in fact, he became so tongue tied he was barely making sense. Sensing he had no chance with her and seeing her eyeing more muscular guy, Spencer decide to brave the one place self-respecting geek would be caught dead in: the office gym. His efforts were rewarded when after doing her a particularly huge favor, she plant one on him. And Spencer being a geek not a moron, carpe diem and run with the ball with all it was worth.
It was a sweet story, as I love geek hero and heroine, and Spencer awkwardness was chuckle ready at the next corner. It is a must read if you love geeky dorky hero or heroine.

I really enjoyed this story. I love that the nerd was the hero.

Love Hack was a nice little surprise! I definitely didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did.

The book follows Spencer and Josie, two employees at a tech firm who fall for one another. When Josie's ex-boyfriend posts revenge porn of her, Spencer jumps into action to help her out, and their crush blossoms into a full-blown romance from there. The romance was cute and straightforward, which I liked. The book definitely isn't overtly angsty or mopey like a lot of romance can get, and the leads kept their heads around one another, even though they fell into a relationship pretty quickly.

I think what I enjoyed most was the fast, efficient writing style. I would have enjoyed seeing Spencer and Josie fleshed out a bit in their own rights as opposed to just as love interests for one another, but at the end of the day I can't complain; I really had fun with this read! If you're looking for something hot that will also make you laugh a bit, this is it. If you're looking for a deeper read, maybe try something more literary.

I fully admit that I probably had way too high expectations for this book. I’ve previously worked in both network security and as a project manager, so when the blurb had characters with those careers, I practically broke my keyboard requesting it. Alas, there were no raunchy firewall jokes. This is the second book in the Hackers series (the first was Kylie and Luke’s relationship), but I read it as a standalone.

“Pages in her day planner flipped this way and that. He didn’t know if she was truly looking for notes. He couldn’t make heads or tails of her system with all those Post-it flags, page separators, and various colors of ink. ‘What is that thing?’ he finally asked.
[…]
She turned to another page. ‘My day planner.’
It was like something out of the Jurassic period. ‘It’s paper.’
She shot him a sideways look of surprise that slowly narrowed. ‘I know. I write on it with this thing. It’s called a ‘pen.’”


Spencer is the new security hire for Afire, and part of his job is working with Josie, the program manager for Start ‘er Up, Afire’s startup accelerator. While he doesn’t appear to be particularly socially inept with most people, when he first meets Josie, he can’t even get a word in English out – he greets her with “Hi-lo” (instead of “hello”) which becomes their own private joke. He’s completely bowled over by her at first sight, and while obviously he doesn’t make a great first impression with Josie, his expressive puppy-dog eyes and sweet goofiness soon have her thinking about him in a different light. I enjoyed that Spencer was the ugly duckling in this book, though after a few weeks of working out and a haircut, suddenly he’s beefcake material. Josie, on the other hand, prides herself on her organization and problem-solving skills, interfacing between the various startups at the accelerator, venture funds, and Afire itself. Cutely enough, Spencer loves the managerial way she handles things, and calls her “Strawberry” because of her red hair. While it’s obvious to everyone else that Josie is the essential piece in Start ‘er Up, she constantly feels the need to prove herself – Afire is a geeky company, and she isn’t a geek, and she’s a woman in tech, on top of that.

“’I’m not so different from you, Spencer,’ she said in a quiet voice. ‘I’m geeky in my own way. I like structure and schedules. I work with people and form connections, but I’m about as far from a party girl as you can get.’”


One of my main problems was that Spencer was a Big Bang Theory kind of geek. He’s a good guy, just completely socially awkward, especially around the woman he’s interested in. At one point, he talks about reverse-engineering his boss’s relationship to figure out how he, as a geek guy, can be in a relationship with a “normal girl.” It was initially charming and funny, but after a few jokes about hacking his relationship, it got a bit old. Some of the “geek jokes” were a bit too twee for me. For instance:

“‘Oh God, Spencer.’ She clutched his muscled back. ‘You’re too good for me.’
For a moment, his hips stopped plunging. ‘You’re sweet, Strawberry, but I’m the one who’s leveling up.’”


If you can’t tell – that was in the middle of a sex scene, and it was jarring enough that I put the book down for a while.

Overall, this was enjoyable, but hit somewhat short of the mark for me.

I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Spenser Weiler is a security expert on software industry and the story begins when we shows up for his first day in Afire Industries. Luke McAllister is his new boss and he shows him around the building and introduces him to Josie Johnson the program manager with whom Spenser will work closely.

Spenser is the kind of geek with not so much social skills while Josie is the stunning beauty standing out. Spenser loses his words in front of her and when his boss Luke asks about his development plan, he will ask to help him work out on the gym. As Spenser starts building muscles, Josie will be receiving texts and threats by her ex-boyfriend, who will even end up publishing naked pictures of her on internet. Will Josie be able to handle the situation? How will things turn out between her and Spenser?

An interesting story about the software industry, though the author will touch only in the surface the subject of hacking. It is obvious that she did not do much of a search in the field. The story is quite fast-paced with enough hot scenes but in general not something special or unique. One of the things I missed in all the love scenes is that the author left completely out the topic of safe sex. The lovers are not using condoms, they do not even ask if both of them are clean or if the girl is on the pill. I would prefer to read stories conveying the rights messages to their readers.

I love my nerds and this was a cute story with a bit of suspense. Both main characters were nerdy but Spencer was adorable when he got completely tongue tied around Josie.

For a short story, you get to see Spencer’s character growth from the tongue tied geek to a more confident and dare I say Alpha persona. When Josie’s ex threatens her, Spencer becomes her protector.

Josie is a sweet woman. She’s the shy bombshell who doesn’t know she’s pretty. She’s avoiding her ex until he blackmails her which ends up giving the push to her and Spencer’s attraction to each other.

You don’t need to read the first book even though the characters are in this book as well. ARC provided by NetGalley.

This is the first time reading a book by Kimberly Dean. It was good. I love how Spencer was very protective and took care of Josie. He would go to any length to protect and show his love for her. With having a relationship with a coworker fail Josie is hesitant to try with Spencer but once he has her back she realizes she can't fight it anymore.
I received a copy of Love Hack on netgalley.