Stripped | Review // Stepping out of my reading comfort zone!

Greetings readers!

Today we are stepping away from the YA world and jumping head first into the land of New Adult Romance.

You right now probably: WHat???? Rendz reading pure romance??? How???

And you are correct in questioning me because we all know I like romance as a subplot and not the whole plot! But when I got a reach out email about supporting Latinx romance writers I was all like “Well now I have to read it!” So that’s exactly how I talked myself into reading a book starring a school teacher and a male stripper. Yup.

Stripped by Zoey Castile

via Goodreads

Pub Date: Aug 28th, 2018
Publisher: Kensington
Goodreads

Skilled, sculpted, and sexy, the men of adult entertainment are the kind of guys a woman reserves for her fantasies, not her reality. But is there more to these professional hotties than meets the eye?…

The day Robyn Flores meets Zac Fallon is one of those days. You know, when you’re already late for work. Mostly because you haven’t really slept since your best friend abandoned you for her fiancé and her exponentially better life. The kind of day you drag yourself to the cleaners to pick up your laundry, only to discover you’ve got the wrong bag—Star Spangled sequined thong, anyone? So Robyn is definitely not ready for the ridiculously gorgeous guy at her front door, except that they have each other’s clothes. But then, is any woman ever ready to meet the love of her life?

There’s just one problem: Zac Fallon is not the love of Robyn’s life. Zac knows, despite the all-too-intimate dinner they share, he doesn’t have a shot at her. Because the next time Zac sees Robyn, he’s front and center of the male revue headlining her best friend’s bachelorette party. So much for wooing the pretty schoolteacher, much less impressing her old-fashioned family, with his upstanding lifestyle. Now he’s only got one way to win his dream girl. It’s gonna be the steamiest, most irresistible seduction she’s ever seen. And this time it will be no act…

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Buy It!

Amazon

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*I was provided a review copy by the editor in exchange for an honest review*

Context of Me:

I am probably one of the most awkward people on this planet when it comes to reading about sexy times. I mean I’ve read it before, I get red and blush but reading this was going to be different for 2 reasons. The first being that I 100% knew there would be plenty of sexy times so my face was prepared to blush. The second reason is that I told my sisters I would be reading this and the knowledge of them knowing I was reading a sexy-times book had me all kinds of colours. You know those memes about watching a movie and then all of a sudden a sexy times scene comes on and everyone looks at anything but the tv and each other??? You know that one, because basically its the same.

The Likes

The characters were interesting. I related a lot to the main character, Robyn. Her life’s story just resembled sort of where I’m headed and honestly that’s not the greatest thing, but you know it helped with relating to her. Some of the experiences with her Latinx family were really similar to my own, which was so awesome to read about. It talks a great deal about academics at one point and I was just hitting that #relate button time after time.

Now Fallon. Okay, after taking the time to get over his name (because I had a problem with it at the beginning) I enjoyed his character. He was interesting to say the least apart from his choice of career. I liked that we got to see the inner workings of his mind too and all the outside struggles that he had to deal with beyond his work. Personality wise, he is what I expected. Cocky, dirty boy with a soft heart.

Now let’s get to the romance because that’s what we are all here for!

Did I ship them? Sure.

Was it a little insta? Yeah yeah but like its cool. Actually it does take a little while for them to actually sleep together, so as a slow-burn lover I appreciated that!

On a scale of apple to firetruck, how red was I? Let’s just say my cheeks burned and I did my stupid giggle that comes out when I’m uncomfortable. That’s not to say the sexy scenes were bad, they were uh quite fun (is that a good adjective to use?). I’m a horrible judge of this, forgive me. I’ll just say that the sexy times were sexy, they are all different. I learned lots of new words. It was hot hot hot and I’m sure many people who gravitate towards the genre will find themselves enjoying the banter between Fallon and Robyn.

Now the cheese factor of this book was high. And I appreciate it because I was looking for cheese and I got the cheese and that made me happy.

Oh the DRAMA because if its one thing I live for in contemporary set books is the drama. There was good drama in this one. Lots of betrayal and awkward moments. I cringed, laughed and gasped so I’d say that the drama aspects were very successful.

The Questionable

The very ending. I just wasn’t on board with it because the realist in me came out and said “Woah, woah darlings, hold your horses there.” It didn’t spoil the whole book for me, but I just couldn’t get along with it.

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Overall, for it being my first time reading a romance book it was a good experience. It’s a fast read, great characters, fun times, sexy times and a solid story. I’m glad I took a chance on it, reading out of my comfort zone is always a good thing. Next I hope to read a book that is a little bit more on the romcom side.

Rating: 3 / 5 Stars

Recommend: For my romance loving readers!

Let me know what you think! Have you read this? Do you ever read outside of your comfort zone? What romcom read would you recommend me?

Happy reading!

~ Rendz