Tracey Garvis Graves

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.

Heart-Shaped Hack

Megan Williams

5 Amazing Stars!
Heart-Shaped Act by Tracey Garvis Graves feels like a completely unique romance novel that hits on some of the basic romance elements without becoming cliche.
So confession time: I was trying to get a sample of this book on B&N and accidentally instant purchased it in my attempt to sign in on my computer coupled with my new laptop which I still have trouble working. So let’s just say that I was praying that this book was as amazing as it sounded and I could work with the writing style and characters. Usually I get the sample of a novel and then I if the sample drives me absolutely crazy with want of the book, that’s when I purchase the novel. With this one, I was kind of thrown in the deep end in hoping the book lived up to its hype and the characters or plot didn’t fall short of expectations.
Okay, this book was the absolutely best “accidental purchase” ever! I am super glad that I bought the book whether it was on purpose or not because this novel surpassed expectations and I definitely fell in love with it and most definitely the characters.
Heart-Shaped Hack is told from the perspective of Kate Watts who abandoned her law career to open a food pantry and help those who didn’t have the necessary meals and items to survive Minnesota. Unfortunately, the food pantry struggles to provide all of those who are needy with the proper items so Kate goes on a local news station to bring in donations. Little does she know, this changes her life in a drastic way.
This book is told mainly from Kate’s POV with a sprinkling of chapters/thoughts from Ian. I do really like this in books I read because there remains this unknown element to the novel which is actually pretty critical for this book to be successful. (And if you like an alternating POV, don’t worry, the next book in the series has the switching perspectives).
Ian was one of those characters where I wasn’t sure if he was “the guy” for Kate or just a distractor. And then once his character became more prevalent in the story, I wasn’t sure if I liked his character because he comes off as kind of a creeper at the beginning of the book. The reason for this was because Ian definitely doesn’t know about personal boundaries and the expression, “ask for forgiveness not permission”. What did balance this philosophy of Ian’s was Kate’s reaction to his actions and how she put him on a probation period in their relationship (actually she really thought that they would never be more than friends after finding out he snooped).
My favorite part of this novel was the strength and uniqueness of the characters. Kate definitely holds a powerful female lead and she is only thrown off track in times of great loss. Ian on the other hand has a very charming personality that comes with a lot of confidence and knowledge of who he is as a person which is kind of a nice change from the usual male lead which needs a female to fix their lives. Both of these characters mashed really well together and I liked how they had this easy dialogue and how the author focused not only on the steamy parts but also building up this relationship through dialogue.
In building the relationship to where it was made the heartbreak of the book that much more potent and allowed me to be more engaged into the emotions of the characters and their struggles. I didn’t feel as if these characters knew each other for five minutes and then fell in love, instead I felt like these characters knew their partner and were able to fully be themselves in the relationship and hold onto their own person and not get lost. I really loved this aspect of the book and hope to see more of it in the next book.
Overall, this book was amazing! I loved the characters and the depths of emotions they had for each other. The way they meet and interact is really interesting and I love all the things Ian does to show just how much he loves Kate throughout the novel. The author created authentic characters any reader will enjoy and connect to and I can’t wait for the next book in the series to see where these characters will be taken next.

razan 

more like 3.5/5
I find it to be a bit slow at some parts especially at the middle and i wasn't big fan of the writing style either, but overall i liked the concept of the story, it was fun and enjoyable read .

Nia C

Four Stars and a C for this cute as f novel. 

I loved loved loved Ian and Kate. The writing style kinda took some getting used to but then it was smooth sailing. Loved the banter between the two, their dynamic and the refreshing plot. 

God, this is how romance novels should be written. What a book. The feels are still with me.

Heart-Shaped Hack

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