Stripped (Stripped #1) by Jasinda Wilder

So how did I get myself into this situation, you ask? Simple: desperation. When you're faced with being homeless and hungry or taking off your clothes for money, the choice is easier than you'd imagine. That doesn't make it easy, though. Oh no. I hate it, in fact. There's nothing I'd like more than to quit and never go into another bar again, never hear the techno beat pulsing in my ears again, never feel the lecherous gazes of horny men again.

Then, one day, I meet a man. He's in my club, front and center. He watches me do my routine, and his gaze is full of hunger. Not the kind of desire I'm used to though. It's something different. Something hotter, deeper, and more possessive. I know who he is; of course I do. Everyone knows who Dawson Kellor is. He's People Magazine's Sexiest Man alive. He's the hottest actor in Hollywood. He's the man hand-picked for the role of Rhett Butler in the long-awaited remake of Gone With the Wind.

He's the kind of man who can have any woman in the entire world with a mere crook of his finger. So what's he doing looking at me like he has to have me? And how do I resist him when he looks at me with those intoxicating, changeable, quicksilver eyes?

I'm a virgin, and he's an American icon of male sexuality. I'm a stripper, and he's a man used to getting anything and everything he wants. And he wants me. I know I should say no, I know he's the worst kind of player…but what my mind knows, my body and my heart may not.

And then things get complicated.

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This was a recommendation made to me by one of my fellow book nerds (you know who you are!). While I had heard of Jasinda before, this is the first book of hers that I have read, and I think I found a new must read author. The story was somewhat clique - broke college student turns to stripping rather than ask for help from estranged father - but unique enough that I didn't get that "been there, done that" vibe. I appreciated that the heroine was a "real" woman, with curves, who, even though she has moments of insecurity (and let's face it, who doesn't?), owns her body and isn't ashamed of it. It was also nice to have a hot, Hollywood "It Boy" appreciate her for her curves and witty personality. As a curvy (and witty) girl myself, I welcomed this deviance from the norm. Having said that, this book has everything that you would expect in a good NA novel. It has plenty of sexy scenes, some of which left me in need of a cold shower, and a happy ending. At 350 pages, it is a quick read that you won't want to put down once you start.

2015 Reading Challenge: A book by an author you've never read before