This was an okay book. Overall, I enjoyed the story, but it wasn't the best work I've read by any means.
Paris is the main character and is a pretty guarded girl. She has had a lot of family issues since her parents died. When her sister comes into trouble for owing a guy some money, Paris steps up and takes over her debt, essentially, and ends up becoming a stripper to manage it. She despises her job and tries to lie low to avoid unwanted attention while she tries to make it through school and strip at the same time. After her brother discovers her job, he disowns her, and she moves to Perth to get away. However, on the first day of class she gets noticed by a guy named Grayson. He's attractive and he seems to like her since he keeps flirting and talking with her, even asking her out. Paris denies the attention for a while scared to deal with a boyfriend and her racy job. Once they start dating though, she continues to hide it, despite her guilt, and tries to just quit instead. Of course, this is a romance novel, and fate has other plans for her. Things start to unravel once her secret is revealed and even more drama ensues.
And I'm not exaggerating when I say more drama. This book was not lacking for drama in the least. There was so much going on, the author rarely managed to add the right amount of emotion to the story, it felt like. I don't really know how to explain it, but I know I was having trouble connecting to the story and caring about what was happening. While I was reading, the story just felt a little rote; like all the thoughts were mechanical. Sometimes emotion would creep in, namely when Grayson was groveling at Paris's feet (which was annoying in its own right, but I'll get to that). It sort of feels like they were all robots, which is weird because this wasn't that much of a cookie-cutter story. It wasn't the most original story I've read but all the drama did lead to some surprises (almost too many, it felt a little all over the place). So I don't know why I feel like it was robotic, but that is the closest I can come to describe how this story came across to me.
My number one pet peeve was definitely the characters. I really didn't like Paris. Like I mentioned earlier, pretty much every thing that happens in this story ends up with Grayson begging (for days) to get back into Paris's good graces. However, she was no saint, but never had to grovel. She also didn't really have a reason to push him away so much. The walls she made Grayson climb over really irritated me. It made me not really like Grayson that much either. If he was willing to put up with that, more power to him, but I don't see how he could trust her not to just always run away and shut him out just because he spilt some milk or something stupid (I know I'm dramatizing a little). The most hypocritical moment was when Paris is confronted with her brother, who pushed her out of his life, she forgives within a few minutes, but she had just forgiven Grayson after letting him hang on a hook for like a week. I just didn't understand her thought process on that one, especially. I get that his couple was supposed to be a girl with insecurities and fears who gets together with a very patient man willing to wait her out because he loves her that much. As much as that scenario is actually more realistic than many other romance novels, I just didn't enjoy reading about these characters.