12 March 2014

Review: Love Hacked (Knitting in the City Series #3) by Penny Reid

Title: Love Hacked
Series: Knitting in the City Book #3
Author: Penny Reid
Purchase Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK | B&N | Kobo

Synopsis
There are three things you need to know about Sandra Fielding: 1) She makes all her first dates cry, 2) She hasn't been kissed in over two years, and 3) She knows how to knit.

Sandra has difficulty removing her psychotherapist hat. Of her last 30 dates, 29 have ended the same way: the man sobbing uncontrollably. After one such disaster, Sandra--near desperation and maybe a little tipsy--gives in to a seemingly harmless encounter with her hot waiter, Alex. Argumentative, secretive, and hostile Alex may be the opposite of everything Sandra knows is right for her. But now, the girl who has spent all her life helping others change for the better, must find a way to cope with falling for someone who refuses to change at all.
5 Zing-my-Fig Stars!!


Love Hacked: A Reluctant Romance is the third book off of Penny Reid's successful Knitting in City Series. Love Hacked is Sandra's reluctant romance with the mysterious Alex. And while I enjoyed reading the first two, this book is my favorite thus far.

The Story
Sandra is a successful psychotherapist who is unlucky in love. She's been dating for two years, trying to find the one. Instead, all she succeeded in doing was making her dates cry.


Enter Alex, "The Waiter..."


Alex the waiter was on my Spank Naughty list in third place, right after Henry Cavill the actor, then Henry Cavill as Superman. He was proof that God existed and that God loved straight women.

Alex is both gorgeous and mysterious. Sandra had been crushing on him for as long as he's been serving her on her dates. The catch is Alex is way younger than her and so not the type of guy she sees herself committing to. But love has other ideas.


While I thoroughly enjoyed the first two books in this series, Love Hacked is definitely my favorite thus far. It has everything that I needed and wanted in my romance novel. To say that this book hit all right spot for me would be an understatement. Everything just worked.

The laugh out loud moments...(So many of them.)
Sandra's penchant for psychoanalyzing her dates...
Alex's back story...(Sad...)
All the girls from the knitting group...
Nicoletta...(Oh yes, Nicoletta!!)

All the elements just came together for me and it made for one hell of an enjoyable ride from beginning to end!


“This is just your penis having the feels for my vagina. So your penis is making prank calls! And every time I pick up. Every single time your penis makes the prank call my vagina answers the phone. And then, you hang up. Or your penis claims wrong number or misdial or no hablo Ingles. It’s infuriating and it’s called genital call me maybe.”


Yeah,I already know Penny can write funny like nobody's business but she surprised me in this book. She actually made me cry. Okay. Maybe not the ugly sobbing one but kind of like this...


I just adored this book. I loved Sandra. I am a tad bit hard when it comes to heroine but Sandra was such a great character. She is my favorite heroine in this series bar none. She's funny, witty and her struggles were relatable. And of course, there's Alex. Alex...*sigh* There is nothing sexier than a man of intellect. And the way he loves Sandra is just...perfect! Swoooon!!


“I dream of your voice, daydream about it. I spend a good part of my day thinking up ways to make you laugh, counting the hours before I can hold you—just hold you—feel you breathe, your heart beat. I’ve memorized your walk, I look forward to your butchering of the German language, I look forward to your every occasion t-shirts. I want to tell everyone about you, how brilliant you are, how generous and kind and amazing and I will keep you safe.”

This book definitely deserves to be on my favorite shelf. A definite keeper.

Favorite Quotes


“And even though you think you want a free pass to walk inside my brain and fix me, you’re wrong. I am exactly what you need because I’m not going to give you that pass. All my broken pieces are going to love you, just as I am now, without ever being fixed.”



“You had me at wait, wait.”



“You’ve shown me joy where before I saw only despair. You’ve taught me hope where before I knew only hopelessness. I may be broken, but all my pieces are yours. And I’ll work every day of my life to deserve you.”



And why did men insist on buying the largest size? Didn’t they understand the concept of sizes? Did they think buying a magnum sized condom was going to fool me into thinking their Toyota Camery was an aircraft carrier?



Maybe I’m old fashioned, maybe it’s because my father brainwashed me, or maybe I’m a free-loading cow who is a blight on feminist principles, but I typically staunchly believe the man should pay for dinner. Especially if it’s early in the relationship.



“You are woman. You are lovely in every way—inside and out. But he will always have ugly balls and there is nothing he can do about it.”





So the final verdict??


An ARC was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review!


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