Adult  – ★★★★ -Release Date: September 6th – Goodreads – Amazon – iBooks – B&N

I requested this one on a whim and somehow got lucky enough to receive it! The description and cover is what caught my eye and it seemed interesting from the jump. I had not heard of Roni Loren before this one and it’s safe to say that I WILL be picking up more from her! this one surprised me in some good ways and it was incredibly fun to read.

This book in one sentence: This book was a smooth ride with angst and sexy in all the right places, and was something perfect all in its own.

First things first. This book was fun. There are so many things to talk about and I have so many questions, comments, and tendencies to diagnose, and I genuinely had a blast reading this one and am very happy I got the chance to! Thank you Berkley and Roni Loren for this!

As for the content of the book, I enjoyed just about every minute of it. It’s easy to see that Roni Loren just enjoys writing and she makes you get lost in reading. The progression of the book, as well as the development of characters and relationships, was all developed gradually and nothing was rushed. Loren told a story at her own pace and never once did I feel anything was rushed nor was I ever bored. This story was engaging and fascinating and while it was sexy and dirty in the best way, there was also a mystery aspects and gasp worthy moments.

In a nutshell, Cora, one of our main characters, is an IT specialist and in so many words is a self proclaimed geek girl. She’s smart in general and even smarter with computers, but things are different when it comes to men. She hasn’t had the best luck in the men department when it comes to dating in real life. However, (you knew this was coming), men can’t stay away from her in a kinky online game called Hayven. In Hayven she’s beautiful and popular and gets a chance to indulge in her most private fantasies without anyone knowing. Everything is fine and enjoyable until Hayven gets secretly hacked and her real information gets leaked.

She takes this problem to the owners of the company to inform them of it, but she didn’t expect to drool when she first meets up with them. Ren and Hayes are business partners and have been best friends for a long time. Hayes has recently been released from prison after being falsely accused of a crime he didn’t commit. Ren is doing everything he can to try to get his partner and best friend back on track. Neither of them are happy to hear about the hack in the system and this leads to them working together with Cora, ultimately leading to things getting more interesting.

I liked all the characters! I thought they were all unique and real and they had their own histories. It just seemed so perfect that they all managed to be at the right time and place to get a chance to explore what could happen between them. I loved the mystery element of the book as well and my conspiracy theories got out of whack and I guessed the wrong ending!

Something else that I really liked was that none of the relationships were forced and all the chemistry was legit! Loren took her time to develop everything and I literally sat back and enjoyed the ride without making any faces about it. When things were absolutely FIRE I wasn’t cringing because everything just felt right! (And there were things that were FIRE, like I need a gif)

One of the most important aspects to me is that throughout the book safety was one of the biggest concerns!

“One of the main reasons I developed Hayven was to provide a safe place for people to explore that private side of themselves without having to deal with the risks involved in trying to find real-life kink partners. That’s why I require my gamemasters to be relentless when policing harassers or trolls. I never wanted anyone to feel anything but protected. It truly is supposed to be a haven. That’s always been my goal.”

I love love love that safety was always number one no matter what was going on! I thought the entire story was captivating and there was not one time I wasn’t enjoying how everything turned out.

I have a few questions in my mind, but those are for discussion later! I think Loren did an incredible job of telling this story and I am going to picking up more from her!