This was so fun! It gave me just the right amount of Magic Mike vibes without being redundant.

The heroine, Robyn, is a self-described hot mess, a 5th grade teacher, and a failing Maid of Honor to her best friend. She's going through a bit of a quarter-life-crisis.

Then a hot guy moves into the building and she gets his laundry... with some rather interesting items within. Zach Fallon is a boy from the wrong side of the tracks who grew up while stripping. He's kind of over the drugs and easy sex scene, but he still loves stripping and the camaraderie he shares with his crew.

Their relationship is something of an opposites-attract setup, but they're not as opposite as either of them thinks. Robyn has to get over some assumptions she's made about Zach, about stripping, and about her own future. Zach has to get over his assumptions about Robyn, about his coworkers, about his family, and about his future.

They have reeeeally good chemistry, but I didn't feel the stripping aspect was played up for tawdry effect. Castile walked the line between sexy and exploitative with skill.

I do feel the ending was a bit rushed, and I hope we get to hear a little more about this couple in the upcoming books. ( )

My 3s are the weirdest rating shelf is gonna be so long.
There were things that I wasn't in love with about the writing style--too much repetition and restating. It started undeniably cute, and I thought the heroine was really interesting. The hero was--how do they say--a cinnamon roll, mostly? He's a stripper, she's a teacher. He's ready to settle down, tale as old as time.

She's a bit of a mess (this is on my 'i will forget your names by morning' shelf for a good reason) feeling overwhelmed and buried and not able to keep on her internal mess that is quickly turning external. she's turning into a bad friend, self-centered. It was an oddly mysterious storyline until the hero Fallon! thank god. said to her, "It sounds like you're depressed." And I thought, hallelujah. She's isolating herself, has no will or direction to get things done, feels off, doesn't know what's wrong with her. I thought, interesting.

Guess where that went? No where! Into the loving arms of her beau, into a life where she upends everything she's doing. I guess it felt a little minimized, where I think it's a very big deal. And someone was pretty right with what's up with her. And true, situations can change and make one have a different outlook I suppose, but I just didn't trust it. I just didn't.

Then there was the bitches. A principal who kept hitting on her, her friends and other women ganging up on her and 'outing' her boyfriend as a stripper. And I thought, "ah c'mon," where this felt like it was going to be a book with meaningful secondary relationships, it wasn't. Instead we're given reasons those relationships just don't stand up to her and the hero.

And there's more. The hero's a stripper and she gets pulled on stage. The hero's a stripper and there's a bachelorette party she's at where said hero is dancing for a bride who cannot stand the thought. Since these situations are the things of nightmares (hey, I have been pulled on stage before and I 'd be mortified if strange men tried to dance on me.) Not fun, but ok. Fine, sometimes a stripper novel won't appeal to me.

But the hero has this has a husky puppy. This might be an insane thing to nitpick on, but I take pet owning a little too far. He leaves the puppy alone a lot. And then basically lets the puppy out to potty. the dog is a fricking husky. In a new york apartment. Then he leaves the dog alone again to get laid.

I get that it's supposed to signify his care and commitment, but instead it's a big old 'half-assed' look for the hero. And he's got these weird temper flares because of his insecurity. And they didn't work.

So, 2.75 to 3. I'll try again. It was just disappointing in the end. ( )

Stripped by Zoey Castile
Happy Endings #1

Told in first person from dual points of view I had a bit of trouble getting into the story…but…once invested it flowed smoothly. The story is about a woman nearing her thirties in a bit of an early mid-life crisis that leans toward depression and definite job dissatisfaction. She is a teacher that once had her life in order but finds herself scattered and scatty though still excellent with her fifth grade students.

One morning, with nothing to wear but what is in the laundry bag she picked up the day before, she finds she has someone else’s clothing and none of it will work for school. The person in question has hers and delivers it to her door that morning and there is instant attraction…and why not…Zac Fallon is one hot hunk of man who also takes his clothes off for a living.

Robyn Flores and Zac seem to hit it off at first but then something rather judgmental is said and then there is her principal that is a pain in the patoot and her bff’s wedding that she should be more invested in and…well…what should be relatively smooth sailing really isn’t at all.

This book had the feeling of a new adult novel even though the lead characters were 28 and 32. The main thing I liked was the camaraderie of the Mayhem City Revue men and hope that even though Zac may not be going to Vegas with them we will hear more about them in book 2.

This was an okay read for me that left me curious about the other men and hoping that some of them will find happiness in the future, too. I kind of wonder what Zac and Robyn will end up doing as their lives, though planned to be together, don’t seem to have a definite direction.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for the ARC – This is my honest review.

3-4 Stars ( )

Rcvd an ARC at no cost to author..(netgalley) I so enjoyed this book, it was cute and sexy and just fun. When Fallon and Robyn meet it was so funny, these two would seem that they have nothing in common but you know what opposites attract. Fallon who is used to woman falling all over themselves for him was a little surprised when he meet Robyn who doesn't she actually made him work for it, and I liked the fact that he was the one who fell for her first. He normally has no problem with his job but as he is spending time with her her gets a little wary. Now Robyn was too cute and hilarious this girl was a mess, but to see her spend time with Fallon and getting to know his people was nice I was happy she got to do that she didn't have many friends and now with her best friend Lily getting married she was a little lost. Of course you know not everything can go smoothly, we have an idiot by the name of Lukas who just happens to be Robyn's boss and her was interested in her so you knew he wasn't going to allow things to not go his way..Anyhoo I won't tell you more so that you my friends can grab a copy and Enjoy!, because you will. ( )