Wired

I love all Garwood books and this one is no different. The heroine is an extremely talented hacker . Hero is a hunky FBI agent. The is also a connection to the Buchanan clan she writes about. The book is hot, plot is well written, and also makes laugh. The world will miss this talented writer.

The book kept my interest and did not take me long to get through it. I like the way the author developed the characters and I enjoyed the plot line.

This book doesn’t seem to have been received very well. While the majority of its ratings are four- and five-stars—the percentages on Amazon and Goodreads are almost identical right now—the reviews are mixed. My personal opinion is that this is a good book, not a great one—but I have certainly read far, FAR worse. It’s been a few years since Garwood released something new. I believe there were health issues, hers or a family member’s (I can’t specifically remember), that kept her from writing and screwed up her schedule. Wired was pushed back again and again, and fans were getting frustrated. Some left horrible reviews that had nothing to do with any of Garwood’s books, simply because they were selfish and impatient. But here it is, the book we’ve all been waiting for—and it’s just okay, which certainly didn’t do it any favors. Neither did the beginning of the book. We all learn in grade school that stories have to have a hook to gain the audience’s interest, and Garwood made an effort by making her heroine sound like she was about to be thrown in prison…but it was hollow and didn’t hold up for long. Accompanying the flimsy hook were pages filled with gigantic paragraphs of exposition, and I understand the reviewers who said they were bored from the start and stopped before getting far. We learned Allison’s life story right off the bat, and I really don’t think that was necessary; learning the relevant pieces as the scenes played out would have sufficed. It was also confusing and a bit tangental, and I never did figure out for sure how old Allison was supposed to be. The only way I guessed (23) is because she’d been in college for five years. If that fact hadn’t been thrown out, I’d have had no idea. The timeline and explanation of it wasn’t crystal clear. There are also reviews stating that this was not up to Garwood’s writing standards. I can’t give a definitive opinion on that charge, because it’s been a long while since I reread any of her books, so I’m not immediately familiar with her mechanics and style. But I will say that the writing was…straightforward, I suppose. Sentences were simple and lacking a certain finesse. That’s not to say it was bad, and I did recognize some of the tongue-in-cheek Garwood humor peeking out from time to time. Allison tried to be a spunky, strong, independent Garwood heroine, but didn’t quite manage it. Actually, now that I think on it, Garwood tried to make Allison strong-willed and timid at the same time, and the traits were at cross-purposes. Allison would stand up for herself (proving to the condescending males that she could whip their butts at coding), then turn around and be meek and humble (begging Liam and Phillips for immunity). She couldn’t be completely strong-willed or the subplot with her aunt and uncle would have been unfounded, and she couldn’t be completely meek or the audience wouldn’t respect her. It was an odd mix of emotions to follow. But overall, I liked Allison—though I did get sick of hearing how beautiful and perfect she was. “Perfect” is a word that only wins over the superficial, which most readers are not. Liam was a domineering, possessive, typical Garwood hero, but came across as more manipulative and egotistical. He cut it close, realizing he loved Allison just as I was thinking, “If he walks out on that girl again, I’m gonna—” I think it was supposed to be humorous that Allison would decide to tell him no, then give in as soon as he was actually present, but it wasn’t. It was an example of Allison’s mixed personality—wanting to be strong-willed but in reality humble and just grateful for scraps of his attention. Also, I’m not sure why Liam was Australian, it didn’t matter to the story at all—his background in general didn’t matter to the story at all, we never even learned what he actually did for the FBI, which could be considered a cop-out—but I guess I perceived him as extra-sexy because he was an Aussie (all I could think of were the Hemsworth brothers.) The supporting characters did what they were supposed to do. It could be argued that there were far too many characters running around, but I kept them straight. SA Phillips and Dan and Mark were sweeties. Allison’s friends Alec, Jordan, and Noah all have their own books; I didn’t detect any blatant fan service, which was nice. They didn’t gush about how blissfully happy they were, no one announced they were pregnant. I liked that they suited the story; the story didn’t suit them. Though I did notice that Jordan was supposed to be Allison’s best friend…but Allison always had an excuse not to tell her anything. I thought it was kind of strange. As to the plot… It depends on how you look at it. Imagine roads that look like a chicken’s footprint: three separate roads from different directions meet and become one highway. That’s how I understood it. The main plot is the romance between Allison and Liam, and the suspense subplots serve that one by moving it along and giving Allison and Liam outside antagonists to react to and mature by. Subplot One: the leak in the Bureau that causes Liam to meet Allison. Subplot Two: Allison’s aunt and uncle stealing her money. Subplot Three: Allison’s stolen program. Each one of those subplots provided misdirects, and honestly, I had no idea who was behind what. It could have plausibly been any of them, and I would call that a well-structured mystery. But someone could say there was too much going on, or someone could be upset because the FBI suspense plot he was sold on was pushed aside, anticlimactically resolved, and ultimately just the reason for Liam and Allison to meet. But I liked it. Overall, I think the long delay and the anticipation that festered in the meantime likely hindered the book’s reception, but the criticism isn’t completely unjustifiable. (I vote for another historical set in Scotland!) noapologybookreviews.com

I've been reading Julie's books since I was a teenager and have always loved them. I will admit when she switched to contemporary novels I stopped reading after the 4th FBI novel. I guess I was in denial over the loss of her earlier works which I would reread constantly. About a couple of months ago I got back into a reading frenzy that I had lost quite a while ago. I decided to check back with Julie's novels. I bought the FBI novels 5 to 12. Of course some I liked more than others and Wired is one of them. I love Allison and Liam. There is a lot of filler with Allison's childhood and I tend to gloss over most of it. I wish Liam had more background into his character. I love how Allison is very smart but also naive when it comes to her cousin. I will say that one of the reasons I love Julie's books so much is because she adds humor to them that you don't find a lot. When a character says "how long will it take" referring to the job and the answer is (while the other person is unlocking a door) "once I put the key in and turn it..." I'm paraphrasing, but its still funny as heck. I've never been disappointed with one of her books. Wired is a good read.

I have all of Julie Garwood books in hardback. I often re-read them. It’s like visiting old friends. Wonderful author, we will miss her. God bless Julie

I wish Julie Garwood would go back and re-read her own first few books in this series to remember what was magical about them. I would love to see characters with well-developed personalities and quirks again, not just the man who bosses the woman around and the woman who protests half-heartedly for no real reason and eventually gives in. (I always find that lazy and off-putting--being a strong woman doesn't mean you have to object to getting a ride. There are so many real, substantial ways to show strength and independence, and none of them involve putting up a stink about something trivial just to show you can.) I feel like I'm reading the same characters with different names every time I read one of these books now. I did like the plot, and I actually did reasonably enjoy this book overall, but the magic of a Julie Garwood book has always been the characters and their unique banter and chemistry. And that was just lacking. It was all exposition, with characters and dialog too similar to what we've read in her other books. There were also a lot of missed opportunities with this book. Liam was introduced in a previous book as basically the new Noah, now that Noah is married. So I was surprised that he got his own story so quickly after being introduced. There wasn't the same buildup and gradual character development that worked so well with Noah. Liam was basically a shell. Speaking of Noah... I was excited when he and Jordan were in this book... but then they weren't. Not really. It's almost like two random characters were written, and then at the last minute someone suggested replacing their names with Jordan and Noah. But without bothering to give them their personalities. There's a scene where Allison goes out with Liam and Noah, and I was thinking, okay, here we go! Let's get some Liam\Noah banter and see how Liam holds up to Noah. I was geared up for something amazing. Not only did he not hold up, but there was no banter. At all. They went out, met up with Noah, did what they needed to do, and then Noah disappeared. And that was it. I'm trying to remember if he even spoke more than 2-3 times. Why bother to put Noah in this book at all if he isn't going to be Noah? So disappointing. We also finally made it to the Buchanan family home in Nathan's Bay. We've been hearing about this dynamic, lively family home since Heartbreaker, the first book in the series. Again, I was anticipating something good, maybe a reunion with some previous characters, or an introduction to a Buchanan we haven't met whose story is still forthcoming, or even just an interesting group conversation with the Buchanan parents, to give us a glimpse of what it was like to grow up Buchanan. But absolutely nothing happens there. Allison does a puzzle and then has to leave right away. Even though it's mentioned at one point that this is supposed to be her graduation party? It was such a missed opportunity for something witty and interesting to happen at the legendary Nathan's Bay home. But there was nothing. What was the point of being there for that brief moment? I feel like these books are getting churned out, maybe out of a sense of obligation, whereas Garwood's writing used to be something that brought her joy. Maybe she's going through the motions now, and that's what many of us can feel lacking in the characters. I'd love to feel like she's in love with her characters again, and not putting all her effort into the plot but leaving the characters as shells. I miss Julie Garwood. I hope she gets her heart back in it soon.

I love all Julie Garwood's although my favorites are the historical ones. She's my go to when I need me time

Okay, I debated buying this book for a long while since some of the lower reviews left me leary to wanna spend the $14. I have read all of Julie Garwood books and enjoyed her books. I have to agree with the other reviews this one was slow in capturing my attention. I didn't start enjoying the book until at 30% right after she started her job with the bureau and met Liam. The plot flowed and the action was reasonable with the suspense of who will cause the h harm. Here are what I liked about this book... Hot and sexy Alpha male Having a strong heroine and a model while being a genius Enjoyed the reintroduction of the Buchanan characters Slow build up on the romance development Finally, the sex scenes were steamy but not overdone Cons on why I am giving this a 4... Too much telling on her childhood upbringing Slow on the h dumping her money hungry relative The part where the h giving her paychecks to her aunts even though she's over 18 and not living with them was unrealistic. Overall this book wasn't bad. The main plot is a build up on the romance between the main characters and how Allison had to learn to not be a pushover anymore. I liked how the author focused on the characters development than having a mystery to solved which was nice. I'm glad I gave this book a chance. I would recommend this book highly even though it did have a slow start.

As normal unable to put down until the end. Would prefer to have more details about liam's job. Love the way characters from other books are included in the story.

C’est un livre que l’on peut lire facilement qui fait passer le temps

Well written, engrossing read. Julie Garwood comes through yet again. I love how she keeps bringing her old characters around

Julie garwood is one of my top 5 favourites author and the Wedding book was my first book I read and enjoy reading. So thank you julie I have loved reading all your book's for the last 19 years and for though people's who haven't read any of her books give it a try. This book was fantastic again and hoping for another book soon

Me encanta Garwood, aunque en este caso, la protagonista flaquea con demasiados desencuentros e inseguridades a pesar de ser una genio y espectacular.