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This is Not a Love Story: the Hacker and His Hero
Ever since Gran’s death, Zander’s been using his skills as an elite computer hacker to help put criminals behind bars. Surprisingly enough, there’s also another vigilante running around his city helping folks out in the more traditional way. The press likes to pretend they’re rivals, but Zander likes to think that he and the Night Angel are working together; they want the same things at least.
When a tough case forces the two vigilantes to actually work together, Zander’s insistent fascination with the Night Angel becomes powerful attraction. It wouldn’t be a problem, except Zander’s also fooling around with his boss at the day job, Reese. They both give him something the other can’t, but both of them are also holding something he needs back from him. Zander knows he has to choose, but he just doesn’t see any way to make a good choice.
A break in the case reveals not only the master plot, but more about Zander’s true nature than he ever expected to learn. Afterwards, Zander is seeing the world in a new light and realizes he may not have to sacrifice anything he needs; he may not have to make a choice after all.
When a tough case forces the two vigilantes to actually work together, Zander’s insistent fascination with the Night Angel becomes powerful attraction. It wouldn’t be a problem, except Zander’s also fooling around with his boss at the day job, Reese. They both give him something the other can’t, but both of them are also holding something he needs back from him. Zander knows he has to choose, but he just doesn’t see any way to make a good choice.
A break in the case reveals not only the master plot, but more about Zander’s true nature than he ever expected to learn. Afterwards, Zander is seeing the world in a new light and realizes he may not have to sacrifice anything he needs; he may not have to make a choice after all.
350 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 29, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
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January 4, 2015DNF @ 20% or around 23,000+ words (of 118k+)
It's hard to cut out of a thriller early. (Who is the villain? Will there be awesome action scenes ahead?) And normally I love a good long read, but I found the author's style frustratingly over-written, where scenes would drag on with details, characters repetitively pondering, or not very interesting dialogue. If I could recommend something, it would be to work with a heartless content editor and cut at least a third (or much more) of the writing to help tighten the pacing.
It's hard to cut out of a thriller early. (Who is the villain? Will there be awesome action scenes ahead?) And normally I love a good long read, but I found the author's style frustratingly over-written, where scenes would drag on with details, characters repetitively pondering, or not very interesting dialogue. If I could recommend something, it would be to work with a heartless content editor and cut at least a third (or much more) of the writing to help tighten the pacing.
August 9, 2015
****Reviewed for Prism Book Alliance****
4.5 Stars - This is definitely not a love story. It is not sweet, kind or lovely. It is not beautiful. It is dark, twisty and violent. Our guys are not nice but they have a morality that is this side of good and lines they won’t cross. But the lines the do cross…get the job done.
Zander was an interesting character, a strange mix of good and evil, strength and vulnerability. Angel and Reese both had things he needed and I could see the twist a mile away, but that was ok. The sex was rough and dirty, especially between Z and Angel.
Really, this sums up the romance part of the book:
This wasn’t a romance, some gentle love affair; both of their souls were too full of shadows and inky blackness for that. What they had was barbaric—rough and raw and jagged in all the right ways.
If you are looking for something different, edgier, but still giving a happily-ever-after, give this a try!
4.5 Stars - This is definitely not a love story. It is not sweet, kind or lovely. It is not beautiful. It is dark, twisty and violent. Our guys are not nice but they have a morality that is this side of good and lines they won’t cross. But the lines the do cross…get the job done.
Zander was an interesting character, a strange mix of good and evil, strength and vulnerability. Angel and Reese both had things he needed and I could see the twist a mile away, but that was ok. The sex was rough and dirty, especially between Z and Angel.
Really, this sums up the romance part of the book:
This wasn’t a romance, some gentle love affair; both of their souls were too full of shadows and inky blackness for that. What they had was barbaric—rough and raw and jagged in all the right ways.
If you are looking for something different, edgier, but still giving a happily-ever-after, give this a try!
November 11, 2014
I enjoyed this story. It's a bit of a superhero concept with a hero without any real "super powers" other than their pure intelligence and genius tech savvy. I love long stories and this is definitely a long story, however, I do think it would have been an even better tale if it was about 50 pages shorter. There is a lot of Zander's inner monologue weighing in on whether he's being too obvious about his genius that could have been shortened. There is a plot twist that really is not that much of a twist, I was able to see it coming almost immediately but it didn't take away from the story. For me, it was even more intriguing to see just when the characters would figure it out as opposed to whether or not my guess was right. I definitely enjoyed the extremely well written banter/flirting between Zander and Reese, not always something easy to convey. I will definitely be checking out the author's other works.
January 18, 2015
wow. Not perfect, not at all - the twist was only too obvious, and Zander's inner musings bugged me some- but wow, what a story. It's so well written that I only realized in hindsight those were basically good guys I was to be made believe were basically feral animals by being told they were and by being shown how they did brutal things. But did I care? Not at all. I thoroughly enjoyed the ride.
Not for the faint at heart
onpage physical violence/ torture
but the title is still misleading. Like hell this ain't a love story, even romantic in a twisted, ass-backwards kind of way.
Not for the faint at heart
onpage physical violence/ torture
but the title is still misleading. Like hell this ain't a love story, even romantic in a twisted, ass-backwards kind of way.
March 9, 2015
Not going to say much but this was a pile of pants. The idea could have been good, but the author over wrote everything. This needed twenty editors and someone holding a hammer to the author's keyboard. Just no.
It's a shame because Zander and Reese are decent characters. The back story's are so pedestrian and someone is trying too hard to copy Arrow - but it could have been good.
Essentially it was pretentious.
It's a shame because Zander and Reese are decent characters. The back story's are so pedestrian and someone is trying too hard to copy Arrow - but it could have been good.
Essentially it was pretentious.
February 15, 2015
Review can be read at It's About The Book
Zander is a genius, a hacker, and a vigilante. He puts the bad guys in jail. End of story. Of course he does it via various illegal methods and with horrible invasions of privacy upon people who may or may not be guilty. Even without the appreciation of the police and local judiciary, Zander knows his Gran would be proud if she could see him now. He’s using his talents for good and bringing little girls home after they’re taken by their creepy uncles. At the same time he’s solving crimes, Zander starts a new job. Zander immediately falls into a pattern of flirtatious banter with his boss, Reese. The job is easy enough Zander can dedicate his free time to fighting crime. Part of his crime fighting is done in conjunction with another vigilante. Night Angel has also captured the imagination of the city. He’s a bit more flashy than Zander, who uses the moniker Z, but he does everything in a purely hands on and low tech way. Zander finds himself riveted to Night Angel.
After another fatal incident in his town, Z ends up on the trail of a hacker on the FBI’s most wanted list. He’s known as Mentis. Mentis is actually good and manages to lure both Z and Night Angel into a trap. Z has to get them out of it. Good thing he’s better than Mentis. Afterwards, Z and Night Angel begin to develop a bit of a working relationship. In his other life, Zander begins to have a physical relationship with his Reese. It’s so very good. The best part is neither man seems to be looking for more than the occasional physical encounter.
Z and Night Angel actually find themselves talking to each other. They discuss what has made them vigilantes. Things they’ve never had the opportunity to discuss with anyone. While it is incredibly deep and personal, they still only know the most basic information about each other. They only see each other while wearing disguises. They also start to uncover a rather large plot with which Mentis is involved. As I said, Mentis is good, but Z is better. The biggest surprise of the case for Z is how close to Zander some of the people involved already are.
This was an incredibly fun story. Personally, I thought the twist was rather obvious. I also think that is not at all a bad thing. Knowing who was whom merely added to the tension. How were they going to find out? When would they find out? How would they react? So, despite the big plot twist being decidedly untwisty, the story was great fun.
I really felt Zander was an over the top character. To be more specific I felt he was too far over the top. For me, the genius thing went too far. He was a genius who constantly thought about his own genius. Did I mention he was a genius? ‘Cause he’s a genius. I was more appreciative of Night Angel’s character. Yes, he was over the top as well, but more subtly. He was constantly performing deeds of derring do and would have likely needed a steady supply of Ibuprofen to handle the chronic joint pain from jumping from great heights, but I wasn’t in his head hearing him talk about his great deeds of derring do.
As I said, though, this story was fun. There were villains to vanquish and a city to save. It was good action. I also really enjoyed that these two guys were in no way black or white characters. Z had no qualms whatsoever invading a person’s privacy. He’s the NSA, crawling into your personal information at the merest hint of guilt. Night Angel will extract information from a target via any means necessary. These guys are creeps even if the bad guy ends up in jail. In addition to that they made a great couple both on and off the clock.
Zander is a genius, a hacker, and a vigilante. He puts the bad guys in jail. End of story. Of course he does it via various illegal methods and with horrible invasions of privacy upon people who may or may not be guilty. Even without the appreciation of the police and local judiciary, Zander knows his Gran would be proud if she could see him now. He’s using his talents for good and bringing little girls home after they’re taken by their creepy uncles. At the same time he’s solving crimes, Zander starts a new job. Zander immediately falls into a pattern of flirtatious banter with his boss, Reese. The job is easy enough Zander can dedicate his free time to fighting crime. Part of his crime fighting is done in conjunction with another vigilante. Night Angel has also captured the imagination of the city. He’s a bit more flashy than Zander, who uses the moniker Z, but he does everything in a purely hands on and low tech way. Zander finds himself riveted to Night Angel.
After another fatal incident in his town, Z ends up on the trail of a hacker on the FBI’s most wanted list. He’s known as Mentis. Mentis is actually good and manages to lure both Z and Night Angel into a trap. Z has to get them out of it. Good thing he’s better than Mentis. Afterwards, Z and Night Angel begin to develop a bit of a working relationship. In his other life, Zander begins to have a physical relationship with his Reese. It’s so very good. The best part is neither man seems to be looking for more than the occasional physical encounter.
Z and Night Angel actually find themselves talking to each other. They discuss what has made them vigilantes. Things they’ve never had the opportunity to discuss with anyone. While it is incredibly deep and personal, they still only know the most basic information about each other. They only see each other while wearing disguises. They also start to uncover a rather large plot with which Mentis is involved. As I said, Mentis is good, but Z is better. The biggest surprise of the case for Z is how close to Zander some of the people involved already are.
This was an incredibly fun story. Personally, I thought the twist was rather obvious. I also think that is not at all a bad thing. Knowing who was whom merely added to the tension. How were they going to find out? When would they find out? How would they react? So, despite the big plot twist being decidedly untwisty, the story was great fun.
I really felt Zander was an over the top character. To be more specific I felt he was too far over the top. For me, the genius thing went too far. He was a genius who constantly thought about his own genius. Did I mention he was a genius? ‘Cause he’s a genius. I was more appreciative of Night Angel’s character. Yes, he was over the top as well, but more subtly. He was constantly performing deeds of derring do and would have likely needed a steady supply of Ibuprofen to handle the chronic joint pain from jumping from great heights, but I wasn’t in his head hearing him talk about his great deeds of derring do.
As I said, though, this story was fun. There were villains to vanquish and a city to save. It was good action. I also really enjoyed that these two guys were in no way black or white characters. Z had no qualms whatsoever invading a person’s privacy. He’s the NSA, crawling into your personal information at the merest hint of guilt. Night Angel will extract information from a target via any means necessary. These guys are creeps even if the bad guy ends up in jail. In addition to that they made a great couple both on and off the clock.
November 18, 2014
I felt invested in the characters and really liked the "thriller" aspect of the storyline. It kept me interested and reading from start to finish (I'm not going to summarize the plot again, the book has a summary and the other reviewers did a good job of fleshing it out). In addition, the sex scenes weren't overdone, but when they were there, they were well done. An author's ability to make a hot, believable, wanna read sex scene shouldn't be underestimated when they are writing a romantic book, not matter how good the rest of the plot line. But because I did feel invested in the characters, I wish she had delved into them a bit more. For as long as the book was, I didn't feel I really got to know the characters very well. A lot of the book's length was because of the underlying storyline, which I'm not really complaining about, because that's pretty rare in this genre, and it was a gripping storyline, it's just that... I didn't feel like I knew what was going on in the characters' heads a lot of times. So besides that thing in the spoiler that kind of deflated my enjoyment, it was really quite a good book. **I am editing this to add that I have read her other two works, and while they are short stories, they were quite enjoyable and also very "hawt." This seems to be her first longer work and I hope she continues to write novel-length works. Definitely will pick the next one up.
January 23, 2015
This is a smart, action packed, sexy thrill ride. There’s also a bit of super-hero tinge to it that doesn’t incorporate super powers, ala the ‘Batman’ vigilante angle. Zander, the hacker, doesn’t wear any goofy costumes, but does disguise his identity. Night Angel’s ‘costume’ comes across as more ninja-like and he’s also disguised. The allusion to the fantasy ‘Grand City’ being overrun with criminals also pays more than a passing homage to the Batman franchise.
The story begins with a tension filled sequence of trying to save an abducted child. While very well-written - and again, very smart – the build-up to the romance is a bit too drawn out for my tastes. If I’d been reading something like one of the Bourne novels, I would’ve been more on board with that approach. Even though the title suggests that this isn’t a romance, in truth it is. A hard won romance, but one nonetheless. There’s also a lot of fat that could’ve been trimmed in terms of inner dialogue and description. Sometimes it felt as if the same thing was being repeated, but in a slightly different way.
As the story develops, Zander and Night Angel are unwittingly drawn into a conflict where they both are forced to work together to save the day. This doesn’t seem to ruffle Zander’s feathers too much, since he also has a bit of a super-hero crush on Night Angel. In addition, as the action heats up, so does Zander’s illicit affair with his boss at his day job. There’s also a smidgen of D/s going on with their dynamic that I found very appealing and smokin’ hot.
In the course of this thrilling adventure and lusty sex, there’s a surprise reveal, which wasn’t much of a surprise to me – and I doubt it will be to most readers. The fun was more in watching vicariously as the characters figured it out.
Overall, I found this to be a very enjoyable read and I would happily read this author again. It could have used some tightening in the edits, but that might just be me. I would highly recommend this to readers who enjoy flawed heroes, lots of suspense, action and steamy man-on-man sex. This is a well-written, intelligent book that is most certainly a love story.
Reviewed by Michele for Crystal’s Many Reviewers
*Copy provided for review*
The story begins with a tension filled sequence of trying to save an abducted child. While very well-written - and again, very smart – the build-up to the romance is a bit too drawn out for my tastes. If I’d been reading something like one of the Bourne novels, I would’ve been more on board with that approach. Even though the title suggests that this isn’t a romance, in truth it is. A hard won romance, but one nonetheless. There’s also a lot of fat that could’ve been trimmed in terms of inner dialogue and description. Sometimes it felt as if the same thing was being repeated, but in a slightly different way.
As the story develops, Zander and Night Angel are unwittingly drawn into a conflict where they both are forced to work together to save the day. This doesn’t seem to ruffle Zander’s feathers too much, since he also has a bit of a super-hero crush on Night Angel. In addition, as the action heats up, so does Zander’s illicit affair with his boss at his day job. There’s also a smidgen of D/s going on with their dynamic that I found very appealing and smokin’ hot.
In the course of this thrilling adventure and lusty sex, there’s a surprise reveal, which wasn’t much of a surprise to me – and I doubt it will be to most readers. The fun was more in watching vicariously as the characters figured it out.
Overall, I found this to be a very enjoyable read and I would happily read this author again. It could have used some tightening in the edits, but that might just be me. I would highly recommend this to readers who enjoy flawed heroes, lots of suspense, action and steamy man-on-man sex. This is a well-written, intelligent book that is most certainly a love story.
Reviewed by Michele for Crystal’s Many Reviewers
*Copy provided for review*
February 10, 2015
I don’t want to give a re-cap of the story because it’s a “mystery” and any summing up could give away key elements.
In deciding if this is the book for you, you should consider the following:
Do you mind on – page violence/torture?
Do you need lovey dovey emotional scenes and “I love yous”?
Do you mind long-winded tales, with perhaps a bit too much writing and not enough editing?
Do you want a romance that is more about the relationship than the mystery?
If you answered yes to the above, this is not the book for you.
On the other hand:
Do you like complicated, dark characters?
Do you like intelligent writing and complex plotting?
Do you like twists and turns and a romance that relies heavily on the “mystery”?
Do you like longer stories?
Do you like flawed MCs?
Do you like rough, hot sex?
If so this is the story for you.
As for me – it was ok. There were parts I liked (the alpha characters, the sex scenes, the intelligence of the characters, their flaws). There were parts I didn’t (the length – I felt an editor would be a great thing here), the “mystery” didn’t compel me, the violence wasn’t my taste and there weren’t enough emotions between the MCs for my taste, either.
These are preferences, however.
So, to rate it:
Writing/Editing 3.5/5
Romance 2.5/5
Storyline 4/5
World Buidling/Characterization 5/5
I will definitely look for more from this author in the future.
Overall 3.75 of 5 hearts
In deciding if this is the book for you, you should consider the following:
Do you mind on – page violence/torture?
Do you need lovey dovey emotional scenes and “I love yous”?
Do you mind long-winded tales, with perhaps a bit too much writing and not enough editing?
Do you want a romance that is more about the relationship than the mystery?
If you answered yes to the above, this is not the book for you.
On the other hand:
Do you like complicated, dark characters?
Do you like intelligent writing and complex plotting?
Do you like twists and turns and a romance that relies heavily on the “mystery”?
Do you like longer stories?
Do you like flawed MCs?
Do you like rough, hot sex?
If so this is the story for you.
As for me – it was ok. There were parts I liked (the alpha characters, the sex scenes, the intelligence of the characters, their flaws). There were parts I didn’t (the length – I felt an editor would be a great thing here), the “mystery” didn’t compel me, the violence wasn’t my taste and there weren’t enough emotions between the MCs for my taste, either.
These are preferences, however.
So, to rate it:
Writing/Editing 3.5/5
Romance 2.5/5
Storyline 4/5
World Buidling/Characterization 5/5
I will definitely look for more from this author in the future.
Overall 3.75 of 5 hearts
January 8, 2016
I don't usually give books 3* at all because I love the books all the time. I really liked this book. The sex was good and I love the concept of the story but it felt like a tedious book because of so much description that it bored me. I might give this book a try someday but I don't know when.
November 22, 2014
Its was not bad reading material. I wont say its perfect but still, not bad at all.
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