Hack into my hard drive and get ready to rock – Unsecure Connection by  Alanna Blackett

This is the first time I hurt myself physically while reading a book I was so distracted while reading, I slurped up soda so hard that I rubbed the plastic straw on my tongue and now I feel like I have a sore. Do I care? Not about the pain every time I drink. No, I care that this was a novella!!!! This story was so good! Why the [expletive] was it so short??!?!

I was genuinely surprised that I enjoyed this novel so much. The cyberpunk genre has been a pretty big miss for me since it’s generally hackers versus corporations. Which is essentially an updated Robin Hood story. I can understand why Robin Hood did what he did, but in cyperpunk stories, I really question the motivations of the hackers. Most stories have a huge “shady” corporation that seems to be a target because they have so much money. The corporations that earned their money through nefarious deeds have doomed themselves to crumble. What about the others? Are they guilty of creating a monopoly? Was there not check and balance systems? What if the executive was a poor grunt who built themselves this empire? Should they be punished?Oh wait. Cyperpunk is a for politics. Sarcastic facepalm.

I

The corporation in “Unsecure Connection” Spectretek. What they do? No idea. Except they torture hackers and their firewall is flimsy. They had nabbed and tortured CJ aka CeasarAnaXXus, one of the top hackers, and have now made him their corporate prisoner. To punish him by having him search out other hackers and surrender their names. Ok. He can’t run away because they implanted a device that “may” kill him.

Mediorcre. Corporation. Ever.

They deserve to get hacked. Other than the torturing bit, this corporation must be run by morons. Why would they spend so much time and money on CJ to just hand over names of hackers. Not relative information like where they live but their names. Names that could easily be fabricated. As much as I know about hackers, they have high lvparanoia. Names can be easily faked. Why even bother hacking them? So safe to say, the corporation in the novella is not very scary at all. They must have nabbed the best hacker out of sheer luck.

So poor CJ is stuck looking for hackers and he comes across Riley a.k.a Samantha in interface world. Alerted to his presence in cyperspace, she covers her tracks and exits. Only to meet up with CJ (not knowing that he was the tracker) at a virtual bar. After some flirting, she promptly solidifies herself as the sexiest hacker ever with this one line:

“If you come into a private room with me, you will get laid”

Whoa! Let me clear my throat and squeal with glee! A ballsy, hacker chick! Now that’s what I’m saying. That’s the kind of girls I see hacking or anything to do with computers. Their hardcore, focused individuals. Yes!

Momentarily distracted at the virtual bar, she has no idea that CJ is hot on her tracks in reality. Realizing this too late, she attempts to bolt out of her apartment only to be pummeled into the ground by CJ. After a brief moment…..they…whoa…hot…yeah! Sexy, sexy, HOT time!!

Mutual attraction binds the hackers together but Cjs predicament keeps them apart. How can Riley help CJ so that he could be free from (sarcastically saying this) evil corporation hands?

Seriously, once you read how blipping easy it was to help CJ, you will get my sarcasm. Despite the “threat” at their romance, I still really, really loved CJ and Riley. Their dialogue was fun to follow. You could definitely feel the romance building up between these two. My personal favorite romantic moment was when she took him to her favorite online game to hang out. As in, they were both decked out in gear and fighting robots. She even gave him her first tricked out weapon! That is seriously romantic! If I was able to drag my boyfriend on out first date through Azeroth, I doubt I would give him the first staff I leveled off (well, it’s impossible anyhoo. He’s a Paladin. He wouldn’t be able to equip himself with it).

The novella ends so quickly! Only with a coy note from Riley to find her. Then what? Then what?! Did the corporation take their heads out of their butts and chase CJ? Or is he really free? What if there really was poison in his body? Urgh!! Why do these novellas leave me with so many questions?!?!?

I shall now console myself by battling orcs.

Genre: Cyperpunk Romance

Length: Novella

Primary Book Format: e-book

Publisher/Imprint: Decadent Publishing Company, LLC

Blush Quotient:  Pink blush