Wired

Every person's life impacts numerous others in countless ways. Change a single action or circumstance and the ripples change reality as we know it. This is what's known as a parallel universe. Now imagine you are the focus of that change. Two men are manipulating you like a pawn on a chess board, changing your experiences to achieve their own outcome. Reality shifts and as you desperately try to cling to your sanity. Who can you trust, except yourself? L. Roxanne Zaborovsky, a reclusive freelance computer programmer, alienated from her family, her closest friend having moved on without her, finds herself unaccountably compelled to visit the local 7-Eleven in the middle of the night. Her anxiety builds with each step, and just as she is debating returning home, she finds herself sandwiched between two ominous men each claiming her for himself. They are Wire Crossers, people who manipulate reality to alter fate each with their own desired outcome. Both are after a code Roxy has yet to write and their goals are diametrically opposed. Roxy is the Major, the key player in the game. Those whose lives she impacts are Peripherals. One of the men is already known to her. He is Mason Merrick, the ex-boyfriend of a former roommate, who Roxy once had a crush on. The other is Leonardo Kaysar who will stop at absolutely nothing to foil his adversary. Though she is attracted to both men in different ways, neither can be trusted, for with each Splice of wire, each shift in reality, she is becoming painfully aware that she is completely expendable. When predestiny goes out the window, free will is the only option. Can agoraphobic Roxy muster the courage to take control of her fate and become the woman she'd always wanted to be? Cyberpunk meets Romance in this thrilling action debut from Dorchester's new Shomi imprint. Unlike the typical romance, Roxy's adventure is told in the first person allowing the reader to experience the adventure right along with the cagey heroine. Her confusion and epiphanies will become one's own. Enjoy the twists and turns as Roxy's final fate comes down to the WIRE. This is a book you won't want to put down! Reviewed by Leslie Tramposch for PNR Reviews

I enjoyed some of the author's Crimson City contributions, but I think this one is much better written. It must be difficult to write a novel successfully with time switchbacks and not lose the reader! I also got a kick out of the main character who sounds suspiciously like me. Had to go throw out some black clothing after reading it. :) Anyway, if you like cyberpunk, try this one.

Wired is an edgy SF/romance that will appeal to a lot of readers. The sci-fi writing was very good, action packed and considering all the time splicing very easy to follow. Loved the lead character, Roxanne, and she gave a great 1st person point of view. Looking forward to reading more from the SHOMI series.

I'm a huge fan of cyberpunk and Wired does the job not just ably but most fabulously! Roxanne finds herself walking to the convenience store in the middle of the night, not quite knowing why when her life is suddenly turned completely upside down. Repeatedly. Wired keeps the reader guessing just as much as Rox is guessing. The first person POV lends an intimate air to the story, keeping you in Rox's head as she's trying very hard to figure out just what is going on and who to trust. Maverick is clever and witty and her dialog and storytelling are even better than the very high bar she's set for herself in the past. Shomi is off to a great start with Wired and I can only hope for more of this sort of breathless new world of novels when Marianne Mancusi's Moongazer comes out next month

L. Roxanne Zaborovsky is graduating college, but does not plan to attend the ceremony. Instead before her interview, she heads to the neighborhood 7-Eleven, thinking nothing could happen to her on such a short walk; although she repeats that mantra several times trying to keep the panic at bay as her lack of memory of key events and people frightens her. Suddenly two men come out of nowhere with one shouting at the other she is mine and the second one saying au contraire. As Leonardo Kaysar and Mason Merrick argue with one another over Roxy, she is ready for flight not fight. Still she knows they want something from her but Roxy is confused as she is not sure what and because Mason seems familiar yet unfamiliar as if they shared an attraction and more. She learns she is a player and so are they in a game of life in which fate is a zillion wires that crisscross, but though she feels she once loved Mason and may still she believes he will do anything to win including harming her. However, this time Roxy understands more than the apparent myriad of previous times with these two competing punks; she plans to change the rules although she has no idea how or if successful what that will do to her and the two male hunks sniffing at her. This is a terrific science fiction thriller that readers will be WIRED into one sitting as "reality" consistently shifts depending on who controls the threads of time and place. Fans will cheer on Roxy as she begins to comprehend the rules of the game in which there are none except whatever the rivals Leonardo and Mason separately decide as they manipulate everything and everyone with Roxy their current expendable game pawn. However, she plans to become lean and mean kicking butt. Liz Maverick provides a strong tale told by her heroine. Harriet Klausner