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…
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Stripped-Happy-Endings-Zoey-Castile-ebook/dp/B077WYKSFB/
To start, I absolutely adored the premise of this book. A sexy romcom about a male stripper and a schoolteacher? Brilliant! What attracted me the most since the beginning of this book was how it was written. It was so light and easy to read that I hadn't noticed I had read 5 chapters in a small amount of time. It had an amazing comedic timing that laughed with the characters and not at the characters and that felt incredibly natural. It never undermined Zac's job or made it seem like it should be something to be ashamed about and he certainly was never ashamed about it and Robyn completely respected him and what he liked to do. Even though there were struggles between the couple, in general, it felt like a very low angst book. The characters had a lot to figure out before they could be together, but the moments of friendship and domesticity during their flirtation and the situations before they realized something was happening between them was so beautiful to read. I always love to read about two very different people putting those differences aside but not erasing them to be together. They accepted and loved each other the way they were. It was adorable all the way through.
I'm all for my latinx sisters writing wonderful and lovely romance I can get behind, with characters that feel real and situations that could happen in the everyday life but also with those moments that seem almost too incredible to be true. This book was all that and more. It was diverse and gorgeous and I rooted for the characters all the time. That's one of the things that I love the most about romance books, how in a few pages I'm already connected with these characters, wishing them to be happy and have everything they want and overcome the problems that they might have. I really enjoyed how easy it was for me to fall in love with this story.
The respect that they had for each other and what they loved to do and how much they cared about each other's happiness is what constructed their chemistry for me, which was on fire the entire time. Zac was so nice and kind, he really left the pages and was a full rounded person, with flaws and virtues and a complexity that I wasn't expecting at first. Robyn was a representation of what a lot of us go through at some point in our lives. Where she had a lot of her life planned and then things don't turn out the way she wanted. And that doesn't mean that the exact solution for her is to have another plan, there's nothing wrong with a not so planned life. Also, she was humorous and witty and so much fun to read.
If you want an entertaining, adorable and wonderfully written book, you have to pick up Stripped!
