What's Hot? Books.

Stripped by Brooklyn Skye.

Title: Stripped
Author: Brooklyn Skye
Genre: New Adult
Publication Date: 14th May 2013
Goodreads Summary: “I like you.” His voice is low and soft, which I don’t deserve. I look away, down the rutted parking lot.
“Don’t... waste those words on me.”
He touches my cheek. “You just need someone to show you.”
“No.” I ease back again. “I don’t. So please, Torrin, stop trying to swoop in and save me. I don’t need saving.”

College freshman Quinn Montgomery will do anything to avoid the mistake her sister made—killing herself over a boy. But when she is forced into nude modeling at a local college to support her family after a bankruptcy, she begins to crack, just enough to let Torrin, the university’s top varsity oarsman, see that the real Quinn is not as feisty and unapproachable as she wants everyone to think. But letting someone in comes at a steep cost and, it turns out, Torrin is connected to Quinn’s family in more ways than she could ever imagine.

{ Review }

Welcome to my stop on the Stripped blog tour hosted by YA Bound.  Click HERE to see the full blog tour schedule!

Stripped is written from the first perspective of Quinn Montgomery, a teenage girl trying to deal with the death of her sister and best friend as well as the tarnishing of her family's name. She continuously bumps into an attractive guy called Torrin and the two of them have a sort of love-hate relationship going on. Quinn, 100%, doesn't want anything from Torrin, she's determined to protect her heart of steel so she doesn't befall the same fate as her sister but Torrin has other ideas.

I'm still fairly new the the new adult genre but the books of this genre that I have already read are very, very similar. There always seems to be a slightly damaged boy who meets a slightly damaged girl and even though there are many obstacles along the way, the biggest one usually being themselves, they somehow end up together. Although the majority of these books are very predictable, I haven't read enough of them yet for this to bother me and I thought that Stripped was absolutely fantastic. I have to say that I did figure out what was going on very early on in the novel but I was still intrigued as to how exactly events were going to unfold.

I quite literally could not put Stripped down once I started reading it. I started it this afternoon whilst at school, then I went to work for two hours, but the minute I finished working, I whipped my Kindle out to continue reading. I've just finished reading it so I'm still on that high that you get after you've read a really fab book and I cannot recommend it enough. Both the characters were three-dimensional with plenty of personality and individuality. The love story wasn't insta-love at all and it didn't play out as predictably as you would imagine and there were several moments where my stomach either dropped or was filled with butterflies. As it's written from the perspective of the main character you really get to know her and how her mind works and it is most fascinating to see her development as the story progresses. I laughed several times whilst reading this despite the fact that there are some serious issues discussed so this isn't one of those uber-depressing stories as there are lots of light hearted moments too. I have quite a deep respect for the other protagonist, Torrin, because he seemed to respect himself and even though Quinn clearly had issues, he wasn't having any of it.

I like the new adult genre because the romances between young adult characters can often seem slightly infantile but you get none of that here. There are some slightly-but-not-too sexual scenes in this novel but they definitely add another dimension to the story as opposed to being random and irrelevent saucy bits tacked on for excitement. Although there is a clear main story line throughout, there are also little snippets on the side that feed into the main plot and add to the general drama which makes this book so much more interesting as it's not just a sappy romance.

This book has everything: drama, romance, well-developed characters and wit which makes for a very good novel. I would highly recommend this to any fans of the new adult genre, and if you haven't read any new adult yet, this is a great place to start!

{ About the Author }
 Brooklyn Skye is just your average awkward girl who's obsessed with words. She grew up in a small California town where she quickly realized writing was an easy escape from small town life.
Website / Twitter / Goodreads

{ Giveaway }
One signed paperback copy of Stripped (US only) or one e-book copy with authorgraph (INT)
 a Rafflecopter giveaway