Love Hacked

Knitting in the City, Book 3

By: Penny Reid

Narrated by: Joy Nash, Zachary Webber

Length: 13 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

There are three things you need to know about Sandra Fielding:

1) She makes all her first dates cry,
2) She hasn't been kissed in over two years, and
3) She knows how to knit.

Sandra has difficulty removing her psychotherapist hat. Of her last 30 dates, 29 have ended the same way: the man sobbing uncontrollably. After one such disaster, Sandra gives in to a seemingly harmless encounter with her hot waiter, Alex. Argumentative, secretive, and hostile, Alex may be the opposite of everything Sandra knows is right for her. But now, the girl who has spent all her life helping others change for the better; must find a way to cope with falling for someone who refuses to change at all.

Love Hacked is book three in the Knitting in the City series. Each book is a stand-alone, full length (110k words) contemporary romantic-comedy novel, and follows the misadventures and exploits of seven friends in Chicago, all members of the same knitting group.

©2014 Cipher-Naught (P)2020 Cipher-Naught

Again, mislabled narrator (one)

This is absolutely my favorite of the KITC series, where witty characters have real depth and are well matched without being unpleasant, as opposed to poor Marie and Fiona's stories.

As of September 16th, the old version with Devra Woodward was taken down, one of my critiques of it was that the cover says this is narrated by Joy Nash and Zachary Webber - well, it obviously wasn't. And this one also claims the same, but half ways through it, there's no sign of Zachary Webber, which honestly is just as well, as there are only one narrator who could do the part justice: Jason Clarke (Chris Brinkley does a fabulous job in WB-series, especially for Cletus, but Alex's voice is a whole character of it's own, and deserves Mr. Clarke).
And while I think Joy Nash does a fabulous job in many of the books, I do miss that extra something Devra Woodward brought to Sandra's character. I still hold fast to that the rendering of the old version's sound was done at too low of a quality, the compression leaving disturbing noises throughout. But I wish I'd bought and downloaded it anyway, since it's I think Ms. Woodward just matches the character a bit better than Ms. Nash, however brilliant the latter is in many books.

Ultimately, I would absolutely love (and pay several credits for) a version of this book performed in duet-style, like Lauren Blakely's Overnight Service, with Devra Woodward and Jason Clarke narrating. Not one chapter each, like many of Reid's books, but actual duet-style. That'd be pure magic.

My most favorite book on this series

I have re-read and re-listened to this story several time. I absolutely love it! Definitely recommend the story and the narration was fantastic.

What a treat!

So I have read this when it was narrated by Debra Woodward and I loved it. In fact this book even surpassed the first two books in the series and still remains as my favorite after reading all of the books. When I found out that it was recorded by Joy Nash, it was like Christmas. I listened to it again and devoured it like the first time. I love Sandra…my favorite of the gals.

Love this series & this book!

Huge fan of Penny Reid and her Smartypants publications. So sorry to see this series no longer come as a perk of membership on audible. Listen now before it’s too late! You won’t be disappointed. I’m listening to them all again, for the 3rd time, before they are gone. Then they will totally be worth the credit to listen once more.

It’s nice to have a “go to” series & author where you know you won’t drop IQ points just because your genre of choice is romance. For that I thank you Penny Reid.

Worth a listen but…

I picked this up because I was in the mood for Zachary Webber, not realizing he only narrates a short epilogue. It was worth a listen but seemed a bit slow in parts.

Another great installment.

Love this series. Good narration. penny Reid doesn't miss. She's become one of my favorite authors.

Just wow

It’s rare than I’m lost for words, but I’m struggling to describe the brilliance of this book or my love for it. This is the perfect mix of profound, funny, touching, sexy, and enchanting. I saved more clips from this listen than any other book in my library and kept having to stop to either laugh out loud or just contemplate the unexpected depth of these characters.

This is definitely the closest to a dark romance in the series (this far), but still a HEA. Alex is damaged and broken and lovable and sweet. Together, he and Sandra make a brilliant team. Some of my top quotes (yes, this is narrowed down from all of them 🙈):

Chuck handed Alex our menus, then grinned at me so pleased with himself. I didn’t grin back. I don’t believe in rewarding poor behavior.
…
“You found me out, I’m a man eater.”
I took a healthy gulp.
“Well, that’s good news.”
I choked, coughed, but managed by sheer luck to keep from spewing red wine all over the table.
…
I hated seeing my friends in pain. I hated my helplessness that I couldn’t just reach inside them and fix everything for them, that I couldn’t make their hearts see how wonderful they were. It is the burden of the optimist to live a life not knowing why others can’t see the beautiful light within themselves.
…
I didn’t tell her, because I didn’t think it would help, but all people are lost to varying degrees. I suspected that it’s only when we love others through purpose, friendship, romance, or any combination thereof, that we become found.
…
I needed to see you, touch you after. You are exquisitely beautiful. But last night, beneath me? You were celestial. Thoughts of you will keep me warm, thoughts of you keep me too warm. Right now, I feel close to spontaneous incineration. I burn. I hurt.
…
My broken pieces are gonna love you, just as I am now, without ever being fixed.
…
Witnessing this scene would complicate everything. I would have a great deal of difficulty having to sort through my feelings with the solid objectivity required to make intelligent choices. I could see it now: My brain would say, ‘he doesn’t trust you! He’s *spoiler* he’s emotionally damaged!’ And I would say, ‘Yes, but he does the dishes shirtless. And have you seen his body? I want to keep him.‘
…
You don’t seem to realize - I want to carry you. I look forward to making your burdens mine. And when we cross the finish line, we might not both be walking, but we’ll still be side-by-side.

Alex and Sandra

I adore this couple so much! I have always had a soft spot for an alpha nerd. The whole story is wonderful!

Best in series!

So far I love this book the best the other 2 were cute and all but I didn’t like the manipulative behaviors of the male leads and the okie dokie mind set of the female leads but over all they were still great reads and I enjoyed them greatly!

❤Lover of Great🔥Romance 💋m

This is my 3rd time listening to this book in this series by the enchanting
author Penny Reid. The whole series is Great, Entertaining, Intriguing, and Sexy. I highly recommend reading or listening to this Series in Order. Even though each book can be read as a stand alone, the series is about a group of women who have found each other, come together to make a true family of sisters, and as each woman finds her guy they bring them into the fold also. So characters from each book flow into the other books. All of the books sucks you right in and it's really hard to put the books down. When I started this series I had not heard of the author or heard any of the narrators. They are all wonderful, very talented. The only reason I gave the performance 4 stars, was because, even though they listed One of My All Time Favorite SEXY narrators Mr. Zachary Webber as a main narrator in this particular story, I'm sorry to say, he only reads the epilogue. Joy Nash the Female narrator does an Outstanding job of narration through this whole book and could have done the the epilogue, no problem. 《Maybe Ms. Reid
could write a book just for Mr. Z.W., I swear that man could read the dictionary and make you swoon!》