Review: Heart-Shaped Hack by Tracey Gravis Graves

Title: Heart-Shaped Hack
By: Tracey Gravis Graves
My Copy: Ebook from Publisher
The BookWhisperer's Rating: 

When Kate Watts abandoned her law career to open a food pantry in Northeast Minneapolis, she never dreamed it would be this difficult. Facing the heartbreaking prospect of turning hungry people away, she is grateful for the anonymous donations that begin appearing at the end of each month. Determined to identify and thank her secret benefactor, she launches a plan and catches Ian —a charismatic hacker with a Robin Hood complex—in the act.

Ian intrigues Kate in a way no man ever has. But after learning he’s snooped around on her personal computer, she demands retribution. Impressed with her tolerance and captivated by her spirit, he complies and begins to slowly charm his way past her defenses. Time spent with Ian is never boring, and Kate soon finds herself falling for the mysterious hacker.

But Ian has enemies and they’re growing restless. In the hacking world, exploiting a target’s weakness is paramount, and no price is too high to stop an attack. And when Kate learns exactly how much Ian has paid, she’ll discover just how strong her love is for the man who has hacked his way into her heart.

I signed up for the blog tour based on the synopsis, which sounded amazing, and I was very excited to see it pop up on my reading app.  I dug in and became slightly concerned if I was going to like this book.  For the first few chapters, I felt that Kate was just a one-dimensional character.  She didn’t strike me as anything besides being kind-hearted.  And it further stood out in my mind when Ian came along.  He was filled with quick wit, mystery, and sexiness.  Ian’s character had so many dimensions that it started making up for the lack of Kate’s.  But slowly Kate’s character came out of her shell and started showing what a well-rounded character she was (and how I hoped she would have been in the first half of the book.)

Ian and Kate’s love was adorable – considering the hilarious but slightly creepy way they met.  Their banter was perfect. Where one had a weakness, the other had strength.  And once paired together, it was quite perfect to read how their growing love bloomed.  Just at that pinnacle peak of their relationship, danger strikes and a once strong love starts to crumble.  I knew this part was necessary but it still didn’t make it hurt any less.  I felt the pain right along with the characters and longed for the good old days in the beginning of their relationship. 

The biggest thing for me, that really made me enjoy this book, was the way that Ian expressed his love for Kate.  Even though this book is told through Kate’s POV, how the author wrote Ian’s actions and expressions nailed his growing love.  You walked away knowing that he would do anything for Kate, no matter what price.  I think it would be interesting to have a book (or small novella) of the book told through Ian’s POV.

I will say that the transitions between scenes were a little hard for me.  I don’t know if it was because I received an ARC, which may have a lot to do with it, but things would skip without any warning.  I am hoping that this is the case and that the file version of the book will be formatted appropriately so it won’t leave the readers utterly confused at moments.