Review: White-Hot Hack by Tracey Garvis-Graves

I have a few friends that read this and were underwhelmed so I was nervous going in. However, I’m honest enough to admit that this hit all my nerd girl buttons. The novel started off with a completely different vibe than the first right from the get go. Kate and Ian are now a married couple. They have relocated and changed their names to hopefully get away from anyone who may still be looking for Ian from the hacking community.

Ian is used to this type of transient life where he’s moving around and settling in remote areas with few friends and little but his work. After everything they’ve been through he would love nothing more than for Kate to be satisfied as a homemaker. He promised her father that he would keep her safe when they married and he means to keep his promise. Kate is used to having a support network of friends and fulfilling work where she touches people’s lives. So it’s natural that as time goes on she really struggles with her identity. Ian is trying to build a new company from the ground up since he gave up the task force for Kate after events in the last novel. He also is struggling because he’s in rebuild mode and he doesn’t get the same excitement as he did with the task force. In his own way, he was making a difference with his work there but understandably doesn’t want Kate to think she’s the only one giving things up to be together.

All of this builds to create some really honest moments. They are both so happy to be together and happy to married that they both feel almost selfish for still wanting more. And even though they both try to hide it, each can tell the other isn’t 100% happy but it isn’t until Kate starts taking some serious risks with her safety during her downtime that Ian realizes that something has to give. He reluctantly agrees to have Kate work with him in his business. Kate finds that she’s really great at the human interaction part of hacking and Ian uses Kate’s talents to expand his business in that area. I’m such a geek that I really loved all the details and minutia as Kate gets more involved in Ian’s work. It was fascinating how it all works! Plus the moments between Kate and Ian while they work together are by turns hilarious and sexy.

This book delivered great banter, hotter than hot sexy times and of course Ian’s boundary-demolishing hacker tendencies. 🙂 It also really showed the give and take of marriage. Sometimes compromise is a necessary evil. There was also a little suspense – will the hacking community really believe Ian is still dead? Can Ian keep Kate happy and safe? And what’s really important: an exciting career or being happy together and building a life with work being secondary? Check out White Hot Hack and find out!