Love Hacked: Knitting in the City, Book 3

Finally a book in which the narrating voice and central figure is a mature, positive one-- a woman with a healthy self esteem and a optimistic view of life! I adored Sandra, the main female character. I loved her mixture of maturity/depth--the psychiatrist healing the world--with the touch of child-like naughtiness in her. It was wonderful for once to meet a romance heroin with a great sense of humor that was non-sarcastic. Her funny Pearl of Wisdom about "Owning the Wooky costume" is something I will always remember.I loved Alex. I loved his nearly brutal honesty and his aloof unconventionality. Penny Reid did an amazing job portraying someone with high functioning Asperger's/Autistic Spectrum Disorder and STILL manage to make him super sexy. His "woundedness" was very believable, and makes you want to cradle him in your arms.I loved the huge amounts of laugh out loud lines AND also of heart tearing deep lines as well as the ultimate message: that the only effective healing for our wounds is unconditional love.Finally: I loved the way the author has evolved in her comfort level with erotic scenes since her first book. I praised her first book "Neanderthal Seeks Human" for relying on non-explicit narration of sex scenes. Then I praised the second book "Friends without benefits" for offering an alternative more subtle version (PG-13 to R rated) in addition to also offering the explicit (R rated to kind of X rated) version of the sex scenes. This book is non-apologetic and generous on steamy, sexy scenes. Yet, she does such a great job building the sexual tension during the first half to three quarters of the book, that when the moment of the truth comes you are BEGGING for the explicitness.Yet again, my favorite part is the so-well crafted characters. Other romance authors I have read before tend to recycle the same main characters with minimal variation. That is NOT the case with Penny Reid. This is the third book I read from her (and my favorite so far) and the main characters could not be more different from each other. I am very impressed.I'm hooked now. I look forward to continuing to read more and more from this author.

I thought I was going to love this book but I think it's my least favorite of Reid's books so far. It started out well: typical Reid funniness.The problem was that as the novel progressed I realized that I didn't like Sandra that much, and that I found Alex's feelings for Sandra to not be credible. Sandra was nice enough at first but as she and Alex started to get involved I really felt like she treated Alex like garbage. She was frustrated that he wasn't ready to have sex with her, and she got all snitty about it. If a male hero had pulled that same schtick on a heroine who wasn't quite ready to get physical, I think most readers would have been mad. So why is okay for Sandra to do the same to Alex? It really made me dislike Sandra.The other problem with this romance is that Alex was madly in love, and declaring his love, to Sandra before he really knew her. All he'd heard werre snippets of conversation. So for him to start making these passionate declarations very early on in the relationship just seemed off. (This may be my personal preference but I like my romances to be a little more Slow Burn. Perhaps that's why I loved Reid's Dating-Ish.) Also, Alex's career and criminal history seemed like a cobbled together pastiche, not a serious plot element.So yeah, I didn't like this one that much. But you can't win 'em all. I've really enjoyed so many of Reid's other novels that it's okay.

I am really not sure what to think of Penny Reid's books at this point. I absolutely adored Neanderthal Seeking Human, so I thought the rest of her books would be great as well. I read the second book in the series, and it was okay... nothing to write home about, but I just figured it was a swing and a miss. After reading this one, though, I'm totally stumped. This is the most disappointing book I've read in a very long time.The first few chapters were fairly interesting, but it went swiftly downhill as soon as the two main characters went on their first date. I really didn't feel the attraction between them, honestly, though they certainly talked about it a lot.Regarding the hero so many people seem to be swooning over; Alex was troubled, yes, but not in an intriguing way...more in an obnoxious way. Even in the closing pages, he severely lectures Sandra for trying to use her psychiatrist powers on him. He was the one who brought the subject of his troubled past up, and she simply went with the natural flow of the conversation and tried to help him talk out some of his problems. Sounds logical to me, but he totally lost it on her. Of course, she sees his point (what point?), and is totally remorseful. So... I guess in the future they're just going to sit in silence when they have a problem, rather than trying to talk it out? Seriously, this is something I could see happening halfway through the book... but in the final pages? It totally reinforced my impression that there is NO way this couple could last in real life.Honestly, I think that the author just lost control of how she was trying to portray her male character. He was younger than Sandra by quite a few years, but the author made it a point to mention how he 'seemed' so much older. Unfortunately, just saying that doesn't make it so. He came off as incredibly young and immature in comparison to the heroine, and it truly made me wonder why she'd even be interested in him. Besides wanting to bang him, of course, which she mentions a lot. As in, A LOT. Frankly, her pushiness for a sexual relationship was a major turnoff. Instead of recognizing that Alex is not very experience sexually and taking her time to make sure he's comfortable, she instead chooses to whine and yell pretty much every time the evening ends with both of their pants on. Sorry, but I can't imagine ANY person working in the mental health field would feel so free to push physical boundaries past what their partner is comfortable with.It just all comes down to the fact that I don't see these two as an actual couple with a chance at happiness in the future. I get that they are into each other physically, but that really seemed to be the only level they connected on. I thought Neanderthal Seeking Human was so great, partially because the author didn't just tell the reader what was going on...she made me feel it. That seems to be something that she's moved on from, though. Here, we get told time and again how perfect the main characters are together, but at no point do the characters thoughts and feelings actually support her assertions.

Plot: Dr Sandra Fielding is good at her job. So good in fact, that her dates of late have ended up crying (literally) on her shoulder instead of clamouring to take her home. She loves her job as a psychiatrist but can’t seem to turn off the shrink switch when it comes to potential romance.To make matters worse, the hot waiter Alex is witness to her poor track record in the dating department. Every Friday night she ends up dining alone over butter chicken. He can’t figure Sandra out. Does she get a thrill from reducing all these men to tears? What’s her angle?Sandra is attracted to Alex. He’s so…intense. And weird. And very very sexy, and when you haven’t been kissed in over 2 years, you notice these things. Some things in Sandra’s life need shaking up, and maybe the enigmatic Alex could be just what the good doctor needs…Why you should read it: God I love this series – like, really love it. The heroines are smart, weird and engaging. The heroes are surly, complex and hot at hell. I loved the dynamic between Sandra and Alex. He’s the ‘younger’ man and a tough nut to crack. Sandra is patient, self-sufficient and very funny. They come from very different backgrounds which makes their story so interesting. This was a slow burn too – you’ll have to wait for those sexy times, but the wait is worth it!What you might not like: I don’t honestly know – I guess if you’re not a fan of Penny Reid’s style of writing or innate quirkiness, this may not be at the top of your tbr list, but it has humour, heat, familiar fun characters and knitting!Rating: 4/5 for a truly enjoyable read. Think I’ve read every book in the series so far and loved every one.

I have now joined the Penny Reid obsessed fan group, and am slowly getting all of her books as books having started on Kindle. this is awesome and unputdownable, and oddly topical as bitcoins are so in the news (don't ask). Yes they are fairy tales because all the characters are so OTT in terms of talents and capabilities, here with the heroine Sandra a child psychiatrist as well as a knitter, a happy person except she sucks at F/M personal relationships for herself as she always becomes the therapist, and a flawed younger man, Alex, who happens to be a waiter and with an appalling personal back history involving foster care and violence but it also turns out Alex is the world's super computer hacker, and is being pursued by the NSA. all very topical (surveillance an issue etc and etc) and what is so fascinating is these super OTT characters also have profound flaws. Alex is emotionally frozen, Sandra cannot stop trying to fix people, etc. We also see the other characters in this Chicago based group, so it is a novel about friendship too, and there are to be links with the Tennessee based Winston Brothers and sister Ashley, the knitter/nurse based in Chicago. (I do keep saying to myself, do keep up), I can only say that I read enormous amounts of high falulting books for my work, but that I have become obsessed with romance because you can count on some kind of HEA.....but Penny Reid shows us people working things out and you know they will have to work things out in the future, so however middle class most of the characters are, there are genuine problems and glimpses into American horrors.....(I am a New Yorker but in London for half a century....) Finding an author of near genius (yes!) of wit and elegance and interest in the morass of romance writing is like finding a needle in a haystack, and here she is; the next two novels already preordered, I don't think Ms Reid can keep up with demand. You do have to suspend belief a bit, but the characters are so fascinating ---- and you learn so much and you like them so much. You so want it to work, and the intricacies are hypnotic, so no more plot details. Chicago snow is very well done too. And I don't even knit.

I’ve got quite a lot of this author’s books and I’m slowly making my way through them. I like to know I’ve got them to read when I’m looking for something a bit different, humorous, and intellectually written.“Adorable didn’t begin to describe him, but manlicious sexy genius might.”Sandra has a pretty disastrous dating life. All her dates end up being pseudo patients/friends. However, there IS one guy who she’s attracted to but has never dated – Alex. Alex is the hot waiter at the Indian restaurant where she has all her first, and usually only, dates. In all the time that Sandra has frequented the restaurant, they are just on each other’s peripheral radar. Until one humorous and heated encounter later, and they are firmly in each other’s sights.“He wanted me. I wanted him. This was a frightening and thrilling prospect, because when I pushed him, he pushed back.”Alex looks like a sex god but there’s an oddness about him. He is a little bit hostile, a little bit secretive, and a whole lot of mysterious. He seems to blow hot and cold. Plus, he’s somewhat younger than Sandra.“Because I like the way you look at me, and I don’t want that to change.”“How do I look at you?”“Like you want me.”This was a such a fun, funny, sexy, and clever story. I loved the development in the relationship between Sandra and Alex, and the slow revelation of Alex’s backstory and the startling truth about his current situation. I loved the push and pull between them. Their relationship was fraught with questions, although it’s very clear that Alex desires her more than anything, and is deliciously possessive and protective of her, and Sandra wants to be with him, in spite of her doubts and ignorance about who he really is.Fabulous, witty story!

This book just hit all the right notes for me. It had a sexy and ultra smart independent woman that is fiercely loyal to her friends, a brooding hero, a complex plot about bitcoins and cyber-security, a great supporting cast, and a LOT of vulnerability.The pacing was perfect and the story had me completely immersed, I was rooting so hard for these characters and they just made me swoon.

I really loved this book. It was hysterically funny...particularly look out for the reference to balls, fishing boats and aircraft carrier comparisons and also rhythm (or lack thereof), and reinforced steel. I'll say no more as I don't want to spoil it but I will say that I had tears of mirth leaking from my eyes and my belly hurt from laughing so much. It's a while since a book has had me ringing friends to read the quotes to them. The fact that they were in hysterics as well, from just a few select pages says it all. The book was also very touching and had me sniffling a couple of times. It takes a special kind of author to have you buy into the characters and their emotions to that extent.I love Sandra...she's a bit brash and extremely inappropriate, and says what she thinks but has a very soft and vulnerable centre and puts other people first. Alex is a sexy, cute genius with huge secrets and a complicated past. There is an interesting plot, alongside a sweet romance, and of course the backbone that is the Tuesday night knitting club girls.I've thoroughly enjoyed all of the books in the series so far...off to read the latest one...I'll be sad when I've finished them.