When Agent Liam Scott recruits a beautiful hacker, Allison Trent, to find a leak within the FBI, he uses her cousin’s criminal record as leverage. As they try to deny their growing attraction, the computer program Allison developed is stolen. Liam helps track down the thief while protecting Allison from continual harassment and attempts on her life. I genuinely enjoyed reading this novel. It's been several years since I have read anything by Julie Garwood, but she hasn't lost her touch. The characters were captivating, and their relationship was intriguing. The whole book was tightly plotted and well written. This is a story I would highly recommend to romance readers, especially those new to the genre.

I really enjoyed this fast paced romance between Allison, a computer hacker with principles, and Liam, a sexy FBI agent who needs Allison's help. Allison's family and secret life are taking a toll on her and it gets worse when the FBI approaches her. Liam is struggling to remain professional but his attraction to Allison is powerful. Great read!

Two years, I have been waiting for two years for this book and I got an early read ............ thank you ARC via NetGalley. WOOHOOO.... Love Julie Garwood, loved this book; it is a great story with interesting characters. It's a stand alone novel but some of our fav characters from previous books make an appearance.

Allison is a hacker. She has stolen money from crooks and returns it to the FBI. Now the FBI has come to her to ask for her help. ARC from NetGalley.

A story about a computer genius that grabbed me from the start. I really enjoy this series and the fresh introduction of characters here was wonderful. The plot is all too realistic and easy to relate. Any fan of romantic suspense and intrigue will enjoy this book.

Action and romance in Garwood's signature style. I enjoyed it from beginning to end.

This is the first book I've read by Garwood and I will be peddling it to patrons for the following reasons:
1. Tech language is simplified so readers get the gist without getting bogged down with jargon.
2. Romance builds nicely without being too racy.
3. Popcorn read for the weekend - nothing memorable but a pleasant read.

The downside:
1. I can't remember most of it even though I've just read it.
2. Characters were well developed, but I was disappointed that the female lead was both a tech genius AND a supermodel who was raised by an evil aunt and uncle. It was just too much to put together. The worst part was how humble is she was throughout - her godfather figure is a famous designer and she was never spoiled by that?
3. I knew very little about the male lead - she also knew very little but she agreed to marry him anyway. Seems odd. I doubt the marriage will last.

The author is a star. Her books have long wait-lists. Of course we'll buy and I'll recommend to patrons who enjoy similar authors.

Thank you Netgalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the opportunity to read Julie Garwood's Wired, releasing in July 2017. This is such a fun beach read! I haven't read other titles by the author and although this is the 13th book in the Buchanan-Renard series had no difficulty following along and will without a doubt read her prior work. Wired is a definite read!

College student, model, and hacker Allison Trent has been harassed and taken advantage of by her Uncle and Aunt for years, particularly whenever her no-good cousin gets into trouble. When FBI Agent Liam Scott needs to utilize her particular skills, he lures her in using her desire to help her cousin as leverage.

Allison ends up working, temporarily, for the FBI, but it's not just her family that's trying to bring her down, an ex-roommate is also causing trouble, and Liam is the man to help her work through all of it, all while keeping her safe.

Maybe it's because I haven't read any of the other stories in the series, even though I was repeatedly assured by many that each book works a standalone and I didn't have to read the others, but I felt like I was missing something.

Mostly I felt like I was missing a connection to the characters, who I found to be too cookie-cutter. The "good guys" are populated by women who are all excessively brilliant AND gorgeous, with perfect bodies and wonderful personalities (for the most part), and the men are all gorgeous, buff, and brilliant in their own rights, while also being super protective, but in that awesome Alpha male way. The "bad guys" were...annoying for the most part and laughably clichéd for the rest...and it all just didn't work for me.

I found much of the story to be exhausting, and I was honestly just happy I finished it.

Julie Garwood was one of my favorite authors when she was writing her historical romances, but the magic, for me, just isn't there in her contemporary novels.

Allison is close to finally graduating and after carrying the weight of taking care of her aunt, uncle, and cousin, she is ready to move cross country and start her life anew. Her life seems on track until the FBI comes knocking on her door wanting to know just how good of a hacker she really is.
Special Agent Liam has been so dedicated to his job, he wouldn't even know how to have a normal relationship but when he sets eyes on Allison, he wants some changes. Her brains and beauty pack a punch while her sweetness has his protective side flaring to life.
Cousins, jealous colleagues, and traitors try to derail these two but Allison and Liam make quite the team.
 
The thirteenth installment in the Buchanan-Renard series, Wired, immerses us back into the world of FBI agents and life and death action. There were a couple appearances by past couples but newcomers to the series could start here and be ok.
 
The beginning starts the reader right off into the action but with a timeline that fast forwarded awkwardly, it all felt a bit jumbled. We get some information dumps to thrust us into the story and with some repeats, the editing felt a bit off. As the story went on, it started to smooth out as our leads and characters took over.
 
Being with him even topped writing code, and how freaky was that?
 
Allison is a likeable heroine but with every reminder about how gorgeous she is, models high fashion on the side, and how amazingly brilliant she is at hacking along with her overly sweet "I must do everything for everybody" attitude, she became a bit eye-rolling. Her awkwardness is cute and empathetic to a point, about the millionth time I heard about her amazing legs and how she doesn’t need make-up point. Her inability for most of the story to stand-up to her over-the-top villainous aunt and uncle was also a bit much; it started to feel like unnecessary conflict that was dragged out.
 
Letting out a low whistle, he shook his head.
"She's gonna be trouble."
 
Liam for all his protective man in charge attitude still came off somewhat wooden. I never felt like his personality was too delved into, he was always on the go without the reader having time to really get to know him, let alone Allison. After I finished the book I can't even say for sure if they had an extended conversation. They did have moments of chemistry but their interactions were such hit and runs, nothing ever felt flushed out. The beat in their relationship just felt off.
 
Allison and Liam were two very analytical characters and that could be why they were harder to connect with as their thought patterns were pretty decisive but it also had them coming off a bit stiff. The over abundance of villains and obstacles thrown in their way was too much and clogged up the story. Allison had to battle her aunt and uncle, a jealous fellow student, and the FBI, all too much for only 300pgs.
 
Even though I felt the heroine was too sweet, the hero was a bit cardboard cut-out, and one too many bad guys running around, Garwood's writing still has a readability that can't be denied. The story was interesting with action and intensity but our hero and heroine didn't get a chance to rise a bit above the antics and emotionally shine.

Man, this book was a huge letdown for me. I had high hopes since I’m a coder and I thought a coding/FBI/romance/thriller book just sounded AMAZING. But it wasn’t what I hoped it would be. :(

It sounded like it was written someone who didn’t know code.

I don’t expect all authors to be experts in what they write about, but a certain amount of research would be nice. To be blunt, I felt like the author just threw around the same words over and over again and hoped that would be good enough for a book about a “coder”. They all sounded like this though:

“she and Jordan had plenty of time to sit and talk about languages and codes, and writing programs, and bugs, and hackers.”

We never got any details into what they were actually talking about. Just, “Oh then we talked about codes and bugs and hackers.” Those same phrases were all that were repeated over and over again.

Two things:

1. Something about that word and “codes” (plural) felt really unnatural. I’ve just never heard coders talk like that.

2. This was literally the extend of the coding and technical stuff in the book. Even when the character was doing actual coding there still wasn’t any other technical descriptions or explanation of how things got done. It was just, “I threw on my headphones, hunched over my laptop, and chased the puzzle.” The author could have at least thrown in ever-so-slightly more advanced technical words like “SQL injection” or “traceroute”. It didn’t feel like it was read by anyone technical at all.

And here’s another quote:

“there are some people who have sold various bugs and viruses for a lot of money.”

You can’t “sell a bug”. You can sell knowledge of a bug (or exploit), but you wouldn’t sell the bug itself. It doesn’t really make sense.

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I saw zero chemistry in the romance.

The romance was a huge part of the book. In fact, given the lack of depth in the coding part, the romance was arguably the whole point of the story. So it was a huge bummer that I didn’t connect with it AT ALL.

I just couldn’t see any chemistry there. From my perspective, there was nothing drawing the characters together. Honestly I started skimming through the romancey bits.

Plus, it turned into major insta-love. Allison and love interest didn’t really spend all that much time together. In fact, Allison spend half the book complaining that Liam was never there and never calling or texting her. Even when they were together, a lot of the time was purely businessy stuff. Then, in the last 5% of the book, Liam comes back after an absence, rescues Allison, then tells her he quit his job because he wants to marry her, and they literally sit there talking about what they’ll do when they’re “old and gray”. WHAT???

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The plot seemed unfocused.

There were four major plot points:

1. Finding a leak in the FBI.
2. Dealing with a testy person in the FBI who’s upset about Allison finding said leak.
3. Someone stealing Allison’s computer program.
4. Allison dealing with her horrible family issues.

I don’t know if there were four big plot points to keep us guessing or what, but to me it just felt unfocused more than anything. My brain didn’t know which event to focus on or which was supposed to be the main part of the story (and #2 ended up being pretty pointless if you ask me).

Parts of the plot were actually quite fun to read, despite the lack of actual technical stuff. I do think there was some potential there, but it could have been much stronger and more interesting if they just picked ONE (two tops) event and really focused in on it.

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The format was kind of jarring.

The book has two main points of view:

1. Allison’s
2. Liam’s

But there aren’t neatly organized chapters where it switches between the two. Nope. Instead, it just switches randomly from paragraph to paragraph. I hate this format in general; I prefer neatly organized chapters that swap back and forth. But it was made even worse in this case because the voices between the two characters weren’t distinct at all. The book often switched points of view and I didn’t even realize, then I’d get confused and have to backtrack a little to find out when it switched.

Also, the book sticks to those two points of view for 90% of the story, then randomly switches to a different character’s point of view for like one useless page. That REALLY confused me. I had to reread the first paragraph of that chapter like three times before my brain realized what had happened and who’s point of view I was reading from. Then it did this again with a different character a few chapters later. I thought these two chapters were unnecessary and just made the book weirdly inconsistent.

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After all that, two stars probably feels like a generous rating… and maybe it is. But to be honest, until the last 10% of the book I did kind of enjoy reading Wired. I was unsatisfied with it—sure—but I was actually fully intending to give it three stars until the ending. Allison became annoyingly sympathetic to EVERYONE who did horrible things. “Oh I feel so awful for my cousin who keeps beating people up and robbing stores. I really want to keep him out of prison.” and “That poor guy who stole my computer program and tried to sell it and then held me at gunpoint. I feel bad for him because he’s in with some bad people now.” Maybe I’m just not that nice of a person, but damn… Allison was way too nice to people who didn’t deserve it. At least Liam kept calling her out on that. Then there was that whole ridiculous thing with Allison and Liam deciding to get married at the end… totally randomly.

So much potential in the plot, but turns out it wasn’t for me… *sigh*

I Love this book Ms Garwood wrote a wonderful story. I enjoy Liam story and also seeing how the other couple are doing.

3.5 stars

Allison was the genius/hacker/model heroine. She didn't have a lick of sense when it came to her own greedy relatives, however, she could hack her way into a highly secure system in hours. She was introverted, but could walk the catwalk with no hesitation. She was a puzzle to be solved, but unfortunately, one I was hard pressed to finish.

Liam was the broody/protective/ FBI agent hero who talks Allison into working for the FBI to discover an internal hacker. He's the tall, handsome guy who came and went like a shadow. He'd pop up at the right time, right place, and he would say all the right things, but he was superficial. We never got up close and personal with his character on a personal level.

Liam and Allison struck me as friends, or rather friends with benefits. Their chemistry was lacking the zing I normally take away from a Garwood novel. I don't think they reached their full potential as a couple, much less as individuals, and frankly expected more from them.

I love Garwood's writing and have been anticipating this book since it was first announced well over a year ago. Overall, Wired was a good read, but the story didn't work for me. WIRED leaned more towards contemporary romance than it did romantic suspense. I was expecting more "oomph" on suspense and more "sizzle" to Allison and Liam's chemistry and was disappointed when it never materialized. I did, however, enjoy catching up with Jordan, Alec, and Noah. They definitely provided some levity to certain situations!

I voluntarily reviewed an advanced copy of this book that I received from the Berkley via NetGalley.

Julie-Alphas Do It Better Book Blog

Julie Garwood never disappoints! Another book hard to put down. It has it all. Very hunky, strong, sometimes guarded aloof leading man....very smart, savvy woman solving cyber crimes. Family conflicts involving the law. And of course lots of passion!

Allison Trent is a genius when it comes to writing computer code and hacking into supposedly secure systems. In her last year of college, she has become sort of a Robin Hood by taking money from criminal hackers and giving it back as well as diffusing the nefarious bugs and viruses that plaque the computer world. Not only is Allison a genius nerd, but a fashion model as well which makes for an interesting contrast. Through her best friend, Jordan, who has family ties to the FBI, she catches the attention of special agent Liam Scott who is trying to track down a dangerous leak in his department. Allison is reluctantly recruited as temporary help to find the guilty party. The mutual attraction between Allison and Liam adds the romance angle to the plot.

Allison has several problems besides being worried that her illicit hacking might result in jail time including a loathsome aunt and uncle who continually shake her down for money to keep their worthless son out of jail. Others who realize the potential of her brilliant mind want to steal from her as well and some of them are dangerous people.

This is a pleasant enough although sometimes slow, read and while I liked Allison a lot, her tendency to let others steam roll her and take major advantage got a little old. It’s true she is young; however, Allison knew what these people were doing but continued to allow it. The plot and bad guys are predictable so there is not much of a mystery; it’s really almost a coming of age story for Allison. The story line is certainly current with hackers holding the world hostage from one day to the next. This book is part of a series that can be read as a stand-alone.

I'm used to romantic Suspense from Julie Garwood but this is not so much a mystery but a love story and the story of a woman who learns to stand up for herself and see her self worth. Allison is a college student/ and a hacker. Except she hacks for good, she fixes viruses, returns embezzled money and returns it to the FBI. Liam is an FBI agent that talks her into working as consultant for the FBI, to help trace a leak. Allison comes from a rough home life but has a gentle heart and tends to help people but not herself. Her childhood guardians (Aunt and Uncle) treated her and her sister very badly and she has a cousin that is constantly in trouble with the law. There are a few plot lines that add to the suspense of the book but the story of Liam and Allison getting to know each other and fall in love is the main plot line. I enjoyed this book because Allison was fun. She learns to stand up for herself and get things done her own way. She's a strong woman, she just had to figure that out.

Ms Garwood never disappoints regardless of the genre she writes in. This series has been a winner from the beginning...Wired is no exception. From page one I was hooked and couldn't put the book down. This author has a unique way of drawing you into her characters, to the point you hate for the story to end.

Liam and Allison were quite the pair. With their subtle humor and captivating personalities, how could anyone not be pulled towards these two. I enjoyed the different, yet parallel stories running throughout. This kept the story interesting, intriguing and moving rapidly. Allison's quirkiness and Liam's protectiveness was endearing and at times pulled at the heartstrings...especially towards the end.

This ARC book was a complimentary copy provided by the Publisher and Netgally, I am voluntarily providing my honest reviews.

I love Garwood and this series. I liked the story and it was another solid title in the series.

Excellent read! It was a lot of fun, and I enjoyed the characters. There were a few inconsistencies, such as characters having the same conversation twice and one instance where the main character was supposed to graduate in a month, but she was still in school after a two month time jump. Hopefully, these issues will be worked out before publication.

I have such mixed emotions on this book. I don't know where to begin. First off there are mistakes in the timeline in the book that I hope get corrected, and I reread them to make sure I wasn't the one who read it wrong. There is a scene where Liam is talking about it being her first time and they have already had sex once. Very sloppy. I was waiting for Liam for so long. I loved him. I thought his was going to be the book that brought the old Julie back out. I feel like he was this cardboard cut out of a guy. We didn't find out anything about him. I don't know how she could have fallen in love she knew nothing about him.. His character kept leaving for weeks. If it was my daughter I would have told her to dump him. I have loved Julie since I was in my 20's she is absolutely by far my favorite author. I have even gotten my daughters generation of customers to start reading her earlier books. They lover her just as much as I do. She has been such a phenomenal writer that I can't imagine what is happening in her life that these books keep coming out poorly. The last couple have been so bad, it make me unbelievably sad. I saw glimpses of the old Julie in the quirkiness of Allison's actions I wanted to smile. But throwing in Alex and Noah as well as Jordan here and there does not make for a good book. I read it once and disliked it, I reread it to give it a more objective view, I still disliked it. So much time is spent on Allison's issues that we never see or really get to know Liam the way we should. Also i really started to dislike him and didn't care if he came back, I really wish one time she would have just let him have it instead of just rolling over like a doormat. This is the problem with making the heroine out to be a lot younger than the male character. They have no spine. The sex in the book was not steamy at all, it was just meh and kid of sad every time he jumped out of bed after. I really really wanted to just escape with this book instead of picking it apart but its just like her others that have not done very well in the past. I want the old Julie back. Heres hoping she shows up one day. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to review this book.