Author: Heidi McLaughlin
Title: Stripped Bare
Release
Date:
March 28th 2017
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Number
of Pages:
eBook
Publisher: Love Swept
Amazon: http://amzn.to/2aEqjIJ
Kobo: http://bit.ly/2b18ndJ
Google: http://bit.ly/2b17fa0
iBooks: http://apple.co/2gblsmR
Goodreads: http://bit.ly/2h7BGNi
What
readers are saying about STRIPPED BARE:
Stripped Bare is one of those stories that you
know is going to be great from the first page. It's funny, extremely sexy,
emotional and heartbreaking which all combine for a sensational second-chance
romance read.
This is a modern day Pretty Woman but so much
better! Richard Gere has nothing on Finn McCormick!!
Oh wow. I have been in love with McLaughlin's
writing since the start but this one could very much be my favorite book now by
her.
They don’t call it
the Strip for nothing. . . .
In this sinfully sexy Las Vegas
romance from bestselling author Heidi McLaughlin, a man who has it all reunites
with a woman who takes it all off.
Living in Sin City, Finn McCormick is
no stranger to one-night stands, but the last person he expects to find losing
big on the casino floor is a former high school fling. Even though Macey
Webster’s clearly down on her luck, she’s still a knockout, and she’s dressed
like a stripper—because she is one. Drunk off an unfamiliar cocktail
of lust, pity,
and compassion, Finn offers to pay
Macey’s debts if she cuddles up to him around town . . . and does whatever he
wants between the sheets.
Macey came to Vegas for one reason
only: money. She’s got a young daughter to support, and the tips
really are bigger in Vegas. But when she blows her earnings on
blackjack, her guardian angel is the rich boy who once stole her heart and
never called her back. Although Macey would love to turn the tables on Finn,
she can’t afford to refuse his proposition—and soon she’s enjoying herself much
more than she cares to admit. Macey’s used to baring her flesh, but baring her
soul will take far more courage.
Stripped Bare
Text Copyright © 2017
Heidi McLaughlin
All Rights Reserved
Chapter 1
Macey
The stench of
deep fry emanates from my clothes. I hate the smell and I know the other girls
can smell it, but I ignore the looks they’re giving me and hustle through the
dressing room to my locker. The older women and the ones that have been
stripping here longer always look down on the younger girls and the newbies.
I’m somewhere in the middle. I stripped here when I was younger, during my
first trimester with my daughter, and then again after she was born when I had
my figure back. Actually, stripping helped me tone as a result of all the pole
work that I had to do. I took some time off after that, but I always come back
because the money is fast and somewhat decent. Each time I leave, though, I say
that it’s for good and that was the last time and yet a few months later, I
always find myself back again, knocking on Lew’s door, and asking for my spot
in the rotation back. Girls come and go around here and in this business you
can’t expect to make a lasting connection with anyone.
I strip down and throw my dress, apron and nylons into my bag as
quickly as possible before the stench of grease becomes any more noticeable. I
change into a thong and bootie shorts, add tassels to my nipples and cover them
with a bra before slipping a tank top over my head and stepping into an old
pair of cowboy boots that I picked up
at the secondhand store. I have an array of costumes meant to hit
the mark on every fantasy a man can have. Cowboys, librarian, naughty
schoolgirl . . . you name it I’m doing it. I need the money. More so now than
ever. My kid is getting older and she’s seeing things she shouldn’t, like her
grandmother being so drunk that she can’t get up to answer the door, or strange
men in the house. She’s ten and shouldn’t have to babysit an adult. Nor should
she
have to live in the slums, but that’s on me.
Seventeen and pregnant isn’t how I saw my life. I had had enough
of living with barely any food, no new clothes and the strange looks, so I
swore that I was getting out. I was smart, got good grades in high school, but
none of that mattered once I found out I was knocked up and the baby daddy had
already left town. I tried to tell his mother, but she took one look at me and
shut the door. Back then I didn’t, but I do now. I’d take that money and run
right across the tracks, under the bridge and through the fucking blueberry
bushes if it meant my kid wasn’t going to be a victim of a drug deal gone wrong
or end up with a drinking problem by the time she’s a teen.
Morgan though, she’s a good kid who loves to read and is a whiz at
math. She’s all I have in this world and I’ll do anything I have to, to make
sure she has food and clothes.
So I strip at night and wait tables during the day. Depending on
the day or night, one pays better than the other, but they’re jobs that I need.
I have a goal. I want to move Morgan and I into a better neighborhood. One
where kids want to play and not sell drugs. I want her to live in a place where
she feels safe and doesn’t need to hide in the closet of our bedroom because my
mother invited one of her friends over.
My dreams for Morgan are unreachable, I know this, but I try every
day to make them happen. I want such a different life for her that sometimes
when I look out the window of the city bus I’m on and I see other kids her age
walking along the street without a care in the world, I imagine her being one
of those kids. If only . . .
Stripped Bare is a work of fiction. Names, places, and incidents either are
products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance
to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely
coincidental.
Heidi is a New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author.
Originally from Portland, Oregon and raised in the Pacific Northwest, she now
lives in picturesque Vermont, with
her husband and two daughters. Also renting space in their home
is an over-hyper Beagle/Jack Russell, Buttercup and a Highland Westie/Mini Schnauzer,
JiLL and her brother, Racicot.
When she isn’t writing one of the many stories planned for release, you’ll find
her sitting courtside during either daughter’s basketball games.
Heidi’s first novel, Forever My Girl, is currently in production for a major
motion picture.
Twitter: http://bit.ly/2mcFCzO
Instagram: http://bit.ly/2njcGWm
Pinterest: http://bit.ly/2nxfy2q
Website: http://heidimclaughlin.com/about/
MY REVIEW:
Heidi McLaughlin is
back with what looks like her spin on Pretty Woman with a slightly different
twist-- An Cocky Billionaire and Sassy Stripper.
Macey is a woman who
is a single mother to a 10 yr old girl. She grew up on what we call the wrong
side of town and didn’t have the best role models growing up- her mom is a
prostitute –Back in HS, she had a mad crush on Fin McCormick. In HS, he
was such a jerk, thinking his you know what didn’t smell and he was mister big
man on campus. When he finds out Macey has a crush on him, he
immediately takes advantage of her , has a 1 night stand with her and forgets
about her totally.
Fast forward 10 years later
and nothing really has changed per say for our Main Characters—Macey still is
from the wrong side of the tracks, and She's a waitress by day and a stripper
by night. But one thing did
change—she has a major secret that no one knows. She is afraid to tell anyone .
Macey wants more than anything to change
her life to make things better for this one person in her life so she goes
to Vegas with all the money she has in hopes she can makes more back in
order to make a better life for her and her special someone… Plus she wants to
win a lot to get away from her drunken mother.
When she loses her money in
an effort to double it at cards (as one does in Vegas) she runs into someone
from her past and he offers to "buy" her for one week. Guess
who? He is now a powerful casino and hotel owner in Las Vegas. Oh he is
sexy, hot, handsome and oh so arrogant. He is so darn rich, its this one week
that starts something that will change their lives forever.
Oh I haven’t forgot about Finn, he is now a
powerful casino and hotel owner in Las Vegas. Who do you think Macey
runs into while out in Vegas? Their love
story is filled with twists and turns, angst and recriminations. Finn isn’t such
a nice guy at first and I will admit I didn’t like him. He was horrible and nasty
but he goes thru this transformation. I adored Macey- she stayed sassy and independent.
She was a good mom and even though she came off as looking like she didn’t love
or care about her daughter, she did what every single parent does, take care to
the best of her ability. Their love story will make you think, make you root
for them and make you want to visit Las Vegas.
My rating: 4.5 stars ****
"I
voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book in exchange for an
honest review***
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