Exploited: A Zero Day Romance

3.5* I was really intrigued by the premise of this book, it looked like it would be an interesting change of pace from the contemporary romance books I read. I've only read one other book by A. Meredith Walters, one that I absolutely adored, so I was excited when I was offered the opportunity to read and review this one. Exploited is suspenseful and mysterious, it's frustrating, and in the end it will leave you questioning everything you thought you might have figured out. I was hoping for a fast-paced, edge-of-your-seat, exciting cat-and-mouse type story. But instead, this was a much slower read than I expected. Hannah was a tough nut to crack. She wasn't very likeable, honestly. I never quite warmed up to her, and I think that kind of tainted my whole outlook on this book unfortunately. I'm hoping in the second book we'll see a different side of her. I really liked Mason't character, but felt zero chemistry between him and Hannah. I felt sorry for him, that he was so easily manipulated by her because he really just needed someone to love, and to be loved. I cried for him over his brother, and was mad on his behalf because of his parents. But for someone who is supposed to be such a killer agent he sure didn't prove it when it came to Hannah. I'm not sure what else needed to happen before he realized what was going on right under his nose. Although this book didn't quite live up to expectations I am invested enough that I am anxious for the second book. There's a lot more to explore with these characters, and of course the mystery that was left hanging. Hopefully all our questions will be answered!

This story had so much potential and I'll admit, when I read the preface, I was all kinds of excited about it. That small introduction pulled me in and I was ready to be wowed. It is very well written and Walters has a great writing style. Unfortunately, it didn't take long for the story to fizzle after the preface. The book is rather lengthy, which isn't a problem for me as long as the story keeps a good pace and holds my interest. While the book does have a steady pace for the most part, it's almost agonizingly slow and even a bit repetitive at times, to the point that I found my interest waning. The story is suspenseful and Hannah's crimes were intriguing, but it would've benefited from a faster pace. I did expect more of a romantic element, but honestly, I didn't feel the romance with this one. Hannah comes across as cold and calculating through much of the story and while we're told on the page that she's falling for Mason, I didn't feel that. Mason could've been a truly great character, but he has to be the most gullible agent in the history of fictional FBI agents. Not only does he accept Hannah's excuses for her lies, but he justifies them in his head. There were so many red flags waved in his face that it became eye-rollingly frustrating. The cliffy at the end was a big one, but between Hannah's coldness and Mason's gullibility, I wasn't left with enough curiosity to read to the conclusion to this tale. The author is talented and I would read other books by her, but this one just wasn't for me.

Excellent story with a major cliffhanger! This is just the first part of Hannah and Mason's story. Hannah by day works for an IT firm. At night she's a bit of a hacker. She's determined to make the company responsible for the death of her father and her sisters debilitating injuries and the lawyers who represent them pay. Mason is an FBI agent working in the cyber crimes unit. He's good at what he does but past mistakes have put him in the bosses bad graces. He's given a case no one thinks can be solved. He needs to find out exactly who Freedom Overdrive is and take him down. These two meeting and being attracted to each other never should have happened and when the truth comes out about their true identities everything could fall apart. Definitely a book I recommend.