Stripped Bare

Joker's Wild #3

by Lena Matthews

When visiting an adult bookstore for a bachelor party, Professor Brody Kincaid is shocked to see his former student Missy Haddan working at the counter. Hes wanted her for a long time, and Fate has finally brought them together. Missy knows hes out of her league, but when Brody offers to teach her to play poker, Missy cant resist. When the ante is upped and her heart is on the line, Missy is willing to risk it all on a game of chance, but anything could happen when jokers are wild.

Genres: Erotica, Erotic Romance, Contemporary Romance, Romance, Contemporary, Ebooks, BDSM

221 pages, Paperback

First published February 6, 2007

About the author

Lena Matthews spends her days dreaming about handsome heroes and her nights with her own personal hero. Married to her college sweetheart, she is the proud mother of two children, three evil dogs, and a mess of ants that she can't seem to get rid of.

When not writing she can be found reading, watching movies, lifting up the cushions on the couch to look for batteries for the remote control and plotting different ways to bring Buffy back on the air.

Reviews

[Ola · Rating 4 out of 5]

the story features a 26 year old plus-size woman - missy - whose insecurities run deep due to her bigger size, which obviously affects her social/love life and drives her trust issues. she doesn't believe a stud and charmer like brody - her 32 year old english professor - could possibly be interested in her, but he keeps pursuing her anyway, determined to convince her that he's attracted to her no matter what size. thats not to say that missy's some meek little mouse that sulks throughout the book (which is common in romances involving plus-sized heroines, so props to lena matthews for not going the cliched route). no sir, missy is a tough one, if a bit prickly. she wasn't my favourite heroine, but she wasn't a bad person. i'd be friends with her.

i don't usually like the way a lot of plus-size romances approach the subject of body perceptions, particularly when the implied lessons are that bigger heroines only come to accept themselves when they've found men with preferences for bigger ~curvier~ women. in this story, we have brody constantly reassuring missy that "she's not fat, she's beautiful", which only reinforces the idea that 'fat' and 'beautiful' are opposite, mutually exclusive terms - why can't she be fat AND beautiful? - and thereby maintaining all the negative connotations associated with the word 'fat'. in the midst of these confusing conversations, missy will continue to be framed as the one who obsessively and irrationally hates her body for no reason and urged to fix her low self-esteem overnight. and the cycle of fat-shaming continues.

this is the only - rather minor - way the story erred in tackling body shaming, genuine as the effort was. the rest of the story went really well and did everything else right. 'stripped bare' is an all time favourite of mine, and yes dammit, it was hot. recommended.

[Genney Blass · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sorry, I was truly not feeling this book. Loved Brody and Brice, but Missy, was getting on my last never. I did finish the book, but was more like a chore to me. I apologize to Ms. Matthews, I am a huge fan of her books but this one was No, No good. I love a possessive man, but Missy was like an stubborn child, who wanted to get everything her way, and do want to comprise when it she sees it fit. Bump that, I would have left sooner if I was Brody. But no, Glad they got together at the end. That is all I can say. Again To Ms. Matthews, Your books are great, but I am do apologize for my comment.

[Never Stop Reading or Dreaming · Rating 5 out of 5]

I truly enjoyed this book. Brody really helped missy with all of her issues. There were funny parts, along with seriousness. It had a good mix of everything. I'm sad to see the series end. Especially one I liked so much.

[Mitzi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Professor Brody Kincaid meets his former student Missy Haddan working at a adult bookstore. He wants her but Missy wears big clothes to hide her figure and doesn't really date and thinks he is out of her league. Brody offers to teach her to play poker and things really heat up. Good story.

[Terra Oenning · Rating 4 out of 5]

it was a good book and lived up to the other ones:)

[Deb · Rating 5 out of 5]

last book of the series. Its about Brody and Missy. Brody is a college professor of romantic Literature and Missy was a student of his last semester. Missy caught Brody eye in class but because she was a student he didn't act upon it. Later in the year he stumbles into her a her workplace, Harris adult bookstore. Missy is a friend of Kayla's and helped her out with her test subjects for her wand invention. He wants to get to know her and is so in love with her full figured body.She has always had her eyes on Brody and feels she is way beneath him because of her weight. This is their story of how they get together and live happily ever after

[Stephanie Rogers-Moore · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brody is a man's man and unafraid to go for what he wants. Missy has her own strengths, but past relationships have left her wary and slow to trust. Thankfully, their curiosity and attraction to each other is slightly stronger than their differences. Although Missy's hang ups can be a little grating, and Brody's he-man moments made me facepalm more than once, I still saw characters I wanted to root for and enjoyed the juicy moments they fought for. A good read, and not too bad a tutorial for strip poker either!

[Domino (aka Meme) · Rating 3 out of 5]

was a really quick read. jumped right in to it! the relationship with Missy and Brody were fun. his possesiveness of her was a bit unusual, but who wouldn't want that. it was also nice that Matthews created an atypical female lead. she had meat on her bones and didn't put up with a lot to crap from men. she was also a bit skeptical of the relationship at first but then excepted it. i liked Brody's brother in this novel as well and hope to see him in his own book.

[Moriah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this maybe 4 years ago and I still remember it. It was when I was brand new to ebooks, especially ones being sold direct. I remember most of the ones I read at that time, actually.

This was okay. No major flaws that I remember. I did NOT like the hero's name. AT ALL. But that's my problem, not the book's.

[BookAddict ✒ La Crimson Femme · Rating 3 out of 5]

Light BDSM more like Kinky! I found the Joker's Wild series to be short and sweet. I liked Missy's interaction with her professor. I do like the professor stories and this one made me a bit wet. Wish I had professors like this in College!

[Karen (EarthAngel2911) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh, it was ok. I liked the fact that the main guy had the hots for a plus size woman, but other than that, the writing was just so-so and the "hot" scenes just ok.

[Marilicious · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as the first two but I liked it.

[Jade · Rating 2 out of 5]

Loved Brody but Missy was annoying as fuck and so hypocritical.

[Rogetwhi · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars!!!

[LilMisGrayBrisk · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.75 stars