Hardcore: Complete Series

by Staci Hart

[Angie]

I loved the premise for Hardcore and really liked it in the beginning, but everything comes too easily and nothing felt believable. Cory is a professional thief. She and her roommates hit electronics stores, but they only take the small stuff and sell it off. Then Cory meets Van, who happens to be filthy rich and has a very expensive painting. Now, Jade who is the girls' ringleader wants that painting and she's going to do whatever it takes to have it, even if it means killing Cory's sister.

Hardcore starts off good. I loved this idea of a band of lady thieves who do parkour to get away from the scene fast. That is nothing I had ever read before! I did find the love interest's meeting scene to be really questionable. Cory is fleeing the store they just robbed, Van is chasing her because of reasons, and then they have sex. Really?! I honestly don't understand how that came about, but things do get better after that. At least for a little while.

My favorite part of Hardcore was that Cory is bisexual and is shown having sex with a man and a woman! Not at the same time! She has this on and off again sexual relationship with one of her roommates and I loved it! They're so comfortable together and know exactly what the other needs and wants! I was really rooting for them to be the couple in the end, but they're not. Sadly. But I definitely applaud the author for showing bisexuality in a real and very sexy way.

Now for the romance portion, which is Cory and Van (although it should have been Erin!!!). They have a ton of sex, which is awesome, but that does not make a relationship. Everything about them was super melodramatic and irritating. Of course, Cory has to have a conscience and not want to steal from the man she's dating, but they're not even dating, so their break up scene is just really stupid. Then later Van gets super dramatic and yelling about how she stole everything from him and she's not the woman he thought she was. Well, um, you don't know her at all. They literally hung out twice and there was no getting to know each other aside from what they like in the bedroom (and the shower, and the roof, and...). I really don't get it. There was nothing between them so I had to roll my eyes at all of the hysterics.

As for the plot, Hardcore also failed there for me. There's no tension, excitement, or conflict! Cory literally just snips a wire, carries out the painting, and that's that. I cannot imagine a millionaire not having a more sophisticated alarm system than that. There is no way in heck, she can just pick a lot, cut a wire, and be done. Perhaps for the stores they rob, but not for a multi-million dollar apartment. And I hated how Jade was 100% evil. She was a cardboard cut out villain and that's all she was. I also didn't like how the girls convinced themselves that they didn't do anything wrong and Jade deserves all of the blame because she's evil. Uh huh, keep telling yourselves that.

Hardcore had amazing ideas, but nearly all of them fell flat. The romance is just unbelievable and has no development at all. Van is super boring and over-dramatic. The crime portions don't have any excitement at all, and there's no way those girls would evade suspicion like that. I don't understand why Cory was responsible for her younger sister either. The parents are mentioned once, and I guess we're suppose to see that they're awful or something. I don't know. Nothing was developed except for the relationship between Cory and Erin, which I desperately wanted more of.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.