3.5 Stars

Stripped was an interesting read. The meet cute at the start had me reading quickly, as Zac is just what Robyn needs in that moment. However, they don't want the same things in life. They're completely different in that she's a sweet, innocent schoolteacher and he's a stripper. Zac wants forever and Robyn doesn't know what she wants. Can Zac convince her that they're perfect for each other? Can Zac win both Robyn and her very old-fashioned family over?

Although, I enjoyed the start of this story and loved every moment where the hero was involved, I found the heroine to be a very up and down character. There were moments where I liked her and there were moments where I couldn't stand her. She came off as selfish just because her friend wants to spend more time with her fiance than her. Shouldn't she be happy for her friend and not depressed? However, in saying that, I began to warm to the heroine the more time she spent with Zac. He's exactly the person she needs to spend time with to get her out of the funk she's in.

Overall, this was a steamy read and I loved how Zac won Robyn over. Yes, it takes time, especially after the way they met and then Zac being the entertainment of her friend's bachelorette party. Yet, he's irresistible, hot, charming and successful. He isn't afraid to seduce her to show her that they are perfect for each other. And lastly, I liked the way this story ended as Zac makes Robyn feel wanted and shows her that she's the only woman for him and that happy ever after is worth fighting for.

THIS SERIES!!! It’s no secret that Zoey Castile is the romance pen name for Zoraida Córdova, and I could FEEL Córdova’s writing in this book. I love it. I loved every second I spent reading it. I’m very excited to talk about it!

In Stripped, Robyn Flores is an exhausted teacher who seems to have lost control of her life. She can’t sleep, so her work and friendships are starting to fall apart, and she has no idea how to stop the unraveling. She even picked up the wrong bag of laundry one morning and found a sequin thong in it. Ugh. She uses the other person’s laundry to clean up some spilled coffee and then… that person comes to the door to exchange bags. And that person is… hot. And hitting on her. But she feels like she can’t start seeing someone who is so clearly out of her league after she just stole his laundry. By accident, but still! But she keeps running into this guy in her building, and the spark is difficult to deny. Even after she finds out what she does for a living. But then again, she does something respectable for a living and is clearly unhappy, so who is she to judge anyone else, you know?

Zac Fallon is a stripper, and he’s damn good at his job. His touring show has a several-month gig in New York City, and he got a puppy to try to make the place feel a little more like home. But what he wasn’t expecting was meeting a beautiful woman, a woman who happens to live one floor above him, and to fall trulymadlydeeply for her. That’s when he starts to realize that maybe he’d like a respectable career after all. And he’ll do all he can to encourage Robyn to follow her dreams, so shouldn’t he listen to his own advice? It’s time for him to retire, maybe. Or something. He doesn’t know! But what he knows is that he wants to be with Robyn for as long as she’ll have him.

Can they overcome their differences and make it work? ❤


3 Things I Loved
Robyn. I’m not sure I’ve ever felt more SEEN than when I was reading Robyn’s point of view. I had my life pretty together when I was in my twenties. I got married at 26, was working very successfully from home (before it was mandatory) and took a job at a really prestigious company at 29 that was a huge step up for me. And then… things fell apart. My job is still great, but I’m now divorced and my apartment is always a mess and mornings are my nemesis now. So reading Robyn’s POV, I really felt like Castile understood me. I’m not sure I’ve really ever felt that before in a book. Ever.
Fallon. Okay, so Fallon is just a sweetheart. He’s super built and hot and sexy but also has this heart of gold and wants to do the right thing and wants to be good enough to deserve Robyn. In my opinion, as soon as a person wants to be better for another person, they automatically deserve them. And that’s what I took from this book too.
Fallon’s found family. The other guys in Mayhem City are so great. You can tell that they all love each other and look out for each other, and I love reading that. I’m excited to talk about the other two books in the series, also about Mayhem City members. Ow OW.
Dislikes/Problematic Content
I think my only real dislike in this book was also the only trigger I can come up with for this book – Robyn’s boss, the young principal of her school who is clearly a predator. Slight spoiler, I guess, but you learn that pretty early on. The dude just PREYS on Robyn, and Fallon can see it too, and it’s just. UGH. It’s very in line with #MeToo and all of that stuff going on, because Robyn can take care of herself but she’s worried about her job, which she NEEDS to survive. It’s such a mess, and it was messy to read, and I really hated it. A lot.

So, if that type of predatory behavior could be triggering to you, please take care of yourself.

Aside from that, there were some Bridesmaids vibes that I didn’t love – Robyn is her best friend’s maid of honor and gets replaced not long before the wedding by someone who is more put together. I didn’t love reading that either, but the friendship was in a better place at the end of the book, when Robyn chases after what she actually wants. So I like to think they were able to repair things properly.

Rating
A reminder of the rating scale:

Red = DNF, I hated everything
Orange = Ugh, no thank you
Yellow = I mean, I’ve read worse, but there were problems
Green = This was good!
Blue = Oh my gosh, I loved this book!
Purple = This is the unicorn of books and I will be rereading it until the binding falls apart and EVERYONE should be reading it!
This was light and fun and the chemistry was electric. Highly recommend. I’m giving Stripped a BLUE rating. I’ve literally been a fan of every single Córdova book I’ve ever read, and guess what! There are more reviews of hers coming down the pipe too, yay!

Happy reading!

For a book whose meet-cute involves male stripper undies in an accidental laundry miss-up, the main characters in Stripped, Zac and Robyn are surprisingly relatable. And that makes this book all the more enjoyable.

DNF @ 30%.

I went back to this book a few times but I still couldn't get into it. Reckon it was the first person POV thing--first person could be a hit or miss for me. Anyway, this was my first Zoey Castille book. Might try her stuff again but maybe not too soon.

There was a lot that I liked about Stripped. It was an easy, quick read. It was fun. It was hot. It has a male stripper and a teacher falling in love. Really, what's not to love about that alone?!

But there was something in the writing that didn't quite work for me. Zoey doesn't waste time with unnecessary words or sentences. Which can be a good thing, don't get me wrong. But I feel like it went too far here. That is, I often felt like her Super Direct writing style made me feel like I was missing out on a lot of things along the way. I'd blink and from one paragraph to the next we'd jumped from point a to point f. Things were missing, the little things that make the story, and especially the romance, flow smoother.

That's really my only complaint. Otherwise this would have been a solid 4 star read. As it is, I'm leaning more towards 3 1/2 overall.

Oh, and the Ferris Wheel fingerbang and BJ? Listen, I'm not saying that it wasn't objectively hot -- it was! But, like, HOW? How in that small, cramped ride, way up in the air, IN A BUSY PUBLIC PARK, did they pull that off?

But the BJ while he was driving the car? That was hot and I'm fine with it. ;)

Yo. Zoey Castile writes nuanced, emotional characters and love interests, swoony and steamy romances, and complicated plots that stress me out while keeping me flipping the pages.

I found the overall experience of reading this book to be enjoyable, with both plot and character elements that unfolded nicely and with forward momentum. While not the best book I have ever read, I would pass this title along to other readers and librarians.

This was so good! I've been looking forward to this one for a while and was so happy to get my hands (metaphorically) on it. I do wish we'd had a *bit* more build up re: Robyn's unhappiness with her job (beyond douschbro principal), as I wasn't 100% sold on that resolution, but overall, I am really happy with this book and think it did an amazing job at both taking a nuanced approach to stripping and having a very hot AND sweet romance too.

I really wanted to enjoy this book but it wasn't for me. :/ The insta love was just too over the top and I didn't enjoy it. Thank you for the review opportunity though

This steamy romance is a roller coaster ride that will make you laugh, make you hot, and even make you shed a few tears. It is a full-length standalone novel. NO cheating, NO cliffhangers, and a guaranteed Happily-ever-after!

Robyn Flores is a fifth-grade teacher and for the last few months, she is late to work every day. It is more than that though her life is out of sync she does not know how to change any of it. Her best friend is going to be getting married and for her, she is having problems remembering to put the coffee pot in the right place so that the coffee is not all over her floor. Now needing to clean up the mess along with getting dressed she has realized she has somehow gotten the wrong laundry bag. While wondering why someone would have a star-spangled banner thong that even looks like it has all of the 50 stars she decides to use that as the clean-up. Knock on the door will put her still late but the person behind the door is Zac Fallon and he has her bag of clothes, the exchange made and hopefully all is well. Now after meeting him and going to work, she realizes that she must give back the thong. When she does it leads to dinner and while at dinner she says some things about his profession, even though she does not know what he does. Later when they are having a bridal shower she finds out what his profession is and she is embarrassed by what she told him at dinner not by what he does. The story from there really goes into two people finding themselves and dealing with the people around them especially for her and her friend who is getting married and has lost sight of her friend. A very good book with good characters. I received this book from Netgalley.com I gave it 4 stars. Follow us at www.1rad-readerreviews.com

STRIPPED WAS THE BEST BOOK I READ IN 2018. IT WAS FULL OF HEART, STEAM, AND CHARACTER. THE LEADS WERE REAL AND RELATABLE. THE STORYLINE WAS TOO. IT WASN’T OVERDRAMATIZED OR UNACCEPTABLE. IT FELT NATURAL AND JUST GOOD TO READ.

ZOEY CASTILE WRITES TWO REMARKABLE LEAD CHARACTERS THAT YOU WANT TO CHEER FOR THROUGH THE DURATION OF THE TEXT. YOU WANT THEM TO FIND THEMSELVES, THEIR PASSIONS. AS YOU READ, YOU WANT THEM TO FIND THEIR WAY TO EACH OTHER.

ROBYN AND ZAC ARE FUNNY, SWEET, AND SUPPORTIVE OF EACH OTHER AS FRIENDS, LOVERS, AND PARTNERS, WHICH MAKE THIS HEA NOVEL A FUN AND ENGAGING READ. LOVED EVERYTHING ABOUT IT. I DEFINITELY RECOMMEND IT

I picked this up totally on a whim because of the cover and thinking this was a debut author. While this is, I believe, the first actual romance the author has written, she’s released popular YA books before under a different pen name. Also full disclaimer, I’m not the biggest fan of escort/stripper books. But I’m always curious to read them hoping the next one will make me feel differently.

The premise of STRIPPED really sounded interesting. The male stripper that loves his job falls for the fifth grade teacher that happens to live in his apartment building. This story is set in New York and, living here myself, I loved seeing the city come to life through the pages. One other thing that I found the author did exceedingly well was writing the actual stripping scenes. She made you feel like you were really… there! LOL

Now onto some of my less than ideal thoughts. The story is a sweet one. Too sweet, maybe, for the environment and my expectations. That’s both a good and a bad thing for me, because while it didn’t meet my expectations it really was a sweet one to read. And probably my favorite character in this whole thing was the hero, Zac Fallon, which was another shocking bit for me. I was expecting to really like the heroine and I just never did. She felt very wishy-washy in my opinion and I didn’t like her interactions with her best friend while she was supposed to be her maid of honor. Robyn came across as very self-centered and confused.

Ok, but back on track with this review so I don’t digress into a rant. The best way I can describe this book is truly as the movie Magic Mike. STRIPPED is perfect for fans of Magic Mike! From the internal struggle of the main character, to the boss of the team, and so on. While it doesn’t copy the movie, it very closely resembles the feel you get from it. So if you’re curious about a book like that, then definitely keep this series on your radar.

Swoon swoon swoon is the words for this book. Totally a hot romance. Boy were those sex scenes HOT. I had reread them over and over again due to the flush on my face. These characters were brought to life by clever writing. An outstanding book which had great depth as well as sex. Loved it.

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.

I left this book at 60% a couple of weeks ago and I'm not motivated to finish it. I was drawn to the premise of a Latina school teacher and a male stripper getting together but the book didn't deliver. It's told in dual POV first person present tense and it felt juvenile and flat. Both characters were in their late 20s and were going through some sort of of early mid-life crisis. While we got some insight as to why he was starting to feel dissatisfied with his job and his life in general, her total loss of control over life was never properly explained. I needed to see more of their motivation.

I hated the subplot with her school principal, it was silly and didn't add anything important to the story. On the plus side, I liked the hero, his band of stripper brothers and their interactions were quite entertaining, I also found the relationship between the heroine and her best friend interesting but that was not enough to save this for me.

5 Stars for Stripped by Zoey Castile

Received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. These opinions are my own & I am happy to share them with other readers !!

❤️❤️I LOVED THIS BOOK !!!! ❤️❤️

I will be adding Zoey Castile to my TBR author list. This was one of the best rom- com romances I have recently read ..

Here are just a few reasons I loved this book:
Awesome characters / secondary characters
Great story line
Sizzling chemistry 🔥🔥
Snarky / funny dialogue
Angst 👍
Swoon worthy HEA

Robyn & Fallon meet in the cutest way each getting the others dry cleaning. Robyn goes thru the bag in search of something clean to wear - low & behold who would possibly own a red white & blue thong !!! Fallon is a stripper & Robyn a 5th grade school teacher- l loved these characters!! So different but together - it’s like they were meant to always be together !!

Awesome read - highly recommend this book !!

Robyn Flores is struggling through life, she can’t sleep, can’t get out of bed in the morning, is failing at getting to work on time and as a best friend to Lily. Things start to get strange when she ends up with her neighbour, Zac Fallon’s laundry. I totally loved the madness of this story and can’t wait the next one! Great debut.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

You definitely need a fan for this book! It was super sexy with plenty of laugh out loud moments along the way. It is definitely a book I will be recommending to my reader friends! Robyn and Zac were just two great characters that I found it easy to get involved in their story. If you like steamy this one is for you!
I voluntarily reviewed an advanced reader copy of this book provided by NetGalley.

This was all the sweetness and steaminess I didn't know I needed! I did not anticipate to devour this story here, but stayed up anyway because I just had to finish it!!! This story was hot (ferris wheels, 'nuff said), sweet, funny, and downright a damn feel-good book that I can't stop thinking about! These characters I loved so much, absolutely loved seeing my Latinx people being written without stereotyping, and I cannot wait for Aiden's story!