Hard Code: A Laugh-Out-Loud Workplace Romantic Comedy

Such a fun, smexy read with plenty of geeky references. Fanny was so easy to like. She’s got aspirations but along the way she’s involved in the testing of toys for the bedroom that are being manipulated by someone elsewhere. Things get a little crazy when her test subject can’t follow through and that’s when this story really takes a jump into smexy shenanigans. Since we don’t get Vlad’s point of view, I wasn’t able to connect with him, but I enjoyed imagining what he was thinking or why he was reacting in certain ways. There were definitely enough situations to give me a strong idea of what his intentions were. While this is a rom-com with a bit of raunchy humor, I found this to not be of the offensive variety. And I usually do not enjoy such books but this was pure fun and sizzling chemistry. I’m curious if there will be other books including some of the secondary characters. They were not predominate in the story, but they still added so much more to the laughs.

You have got to read this phenomenal romantic comedy! I absolutely loved this hilarious and well written novel! The book features Fanny, a computer coder and program researcher, and Vlad (The Impaler) who assigns her to a special project involving sex toys which requires an internet app. When her research subject is unable to participate in the research, Fanny finds she must participate in the research as the subject. However, all does not go well when she is trying out one of the toys which requires Vlad to come to her rescue. The characters are fun and have great banter and self-talk. I highly recommend this hilarious romance and can hardly wait to read the next book in the series entitled Hard Wire. I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Warning, while I try my best to make sure there are no spoilers in my review, there is always a chance that something any review says could count as a spoiler for you. If you want to just know my overall opinion on the book, and if I recommend it, please visit my blog at Bookish Creation and skip to my Overall and Would I Recommend It section. I received an ARC copy of this book from the author for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. This Hard Coded red light fun is what happens when you mix the insane attraction of both the mind and body, with some swoon worth love, a dash of humor, and a truck load ice not included high tech bedroom toys. When I first picked up Hard Code, I knew it might make me giggle, but I never expected to go on such an amazingly fun ride. Our witty heroine, Franny, is officially my new best book buddy. I adored this character so much and connected with her right away. To start, she’s a computer science major whose dream is to be a developer. I can not express how much I love seeing a female in this area of expertise. Her determination and dedication to her complex craft was both inspiring to me on a personal level, and gave her character a level of complexity that really showed just how professionally bad ass she can be. I am so used to seeing women being represented in books as super soldiers who can kick butt just as well as any man. While I honestly don’t mind that, and I do see how that can further the point of women power, it’s honestly not the only way, not the most practical way, and by far not the most difficult. I love seeing women go into positions where their intelligence and creative capabilities are challenged, and Franny tackles each and every one of these obstacles in a way that was so realistic and powerful. These strong on the inside heroines are always a favorite of mine, and Franny is in my top five all time favorite list for my personal “I am woman back the heck up or get your head bitten off list.” How Franny wound up approaching the romantic aspect of her situation, had me grinning like a fool. I do not want to give anything away, so I’ll just say that I found her handling of the toy testing situation with her boss to be a perfect mixture of shy ambition and confident nerves. Honestly, I loved the interactions she had with Vlad while their testing phase commenced, as well as while their relationship developed. Vlad, our hero, is also a character that is easy to fall in love with. I know that he wasn’t supposed to be an alpha male type, and I suppose when you compare him to some of the heroes, or antiheroes in other romance novels he’s not. However, he is still very much so an alpha male in my book. What I loved about his brand of alpha male though is that it’s so much more realistic. Vlad is exactly how I would picture a real CEO of a successful developing company to be, and this made it all the easier to fall in love with him. I think one of the most swoon worthy things about him is how protective of Franny he is, and how he goes about showing that. I really enjoyed the small moments when this side of him came out. It showed how much he cared for her, even early on. The lack of the usual push we get from protective heroes in romance really puts a softer, more sweet taste to his character. I can say, I also really loved just how smart Vlad is. His mind worked at the speed of sound and his problem solving was on par too. The two characters were so well matched in every way honestly, but in this way I viewed them as being an eventual dynamic duo that the world has never seen before. The similar interests and drive really helped push their relationship and almost immediate chemistry. I talk more about this on my blog Bookish Creation.