Review: Stripped- Tori St. Claire

Title: Stripped 
Author: Tori St. Claire
Release Date: January 3 2012
Publisher: Berkley Publishing
Genre: Erotic Romantic Suspense
Rating: 4 Hoots
Reviewer: Charity
Buy From: Amazon/ Barnes and Noble/ Book Depository 

Sum It Up! As Tori St. Claire’s debut novel, it’s pretty darn good. Great job for a debut!

In Tori St. Claire's dangerously naughty debut novel, a body of secrets is entwined with a body of lies...and deception is part of the game.

As a member of the CIA's elite Black Opals, Natalya Trubachev must live a lie, working undercover as the lover of Dmitri, a Russian mob boss. His business is trafficking vulnerable Las Vegas strippers overseas for twisted sex games. Natalya's business is to blow the ring wide open and bring down Dmitri and his American contacts. But the stakes are raised when she learns that the next target is her own sister Kate, a dancer in the famed club Fantasia. Only now does Natalya realize how personal her mission has become, and how far she's willing to go to complete it.

The manager of Fantasia is Brandon Moretti, an undercover detective who keeps a close eye on his girls, and an even closer one on his sinfully sensual newest hire. For Natalya, working the club could be the break she's been waiting for. But for Moretti, Natalya is a possible link to a killer. Only he never counted on her being so lethally seductive or so dangerous to get close to. As every forbidden pleasure between them is stripped away, his own secrets threaten their security, but it's Natalya's secrets that could destroy them both. (Goodreads)

Review:

As Tori St. Claire’s debut novel, it’s pretty darn good. Character development is good and they felt real. Erotic elements are steamy and well placed. The sexual chemistry between the main characters could be cut with a knife it was so thick. The stripper role was hot and detailed. The Romantic element is one of those love-at-first-sight pairings. The suspense component was exciting, but I figured out who it was pretty early in the story, though the anticipation lay in how the ending was going to play out.

At a few points in the story I felt like I was missing some back story. There were a few story lines I thought were a little over-the-top as far as coincidental, and the time line of the story is a little hard to believe; having said that, this is a work of fiction and doesn’t necessarily have to be believable. Great job for a debut!