What do you think?
Rate this book
Southern Series #2
Southern Exposure
HE WAS LOOKING FOR A STORY
Logan Hart hadn't planned on being a male stripper. He's a reporter, and a damned good one. But when he challenges the readership of his column in the New Orleans Gazette that he can last a shift in any job, letters pour in, and Logan's stint in tear-away pants is born. The only perk of the shill--besides the serious tips--is a sensual slow dance that leads to a night of unforgettable erotic fantasy with a woman who gets under Logan's skin and straight to his heart. There's something fragile but tough, as well as mysterious, about this woman. His reporter's instincts tell him she's hiding secrets. And when she slips out before sunrise, Logan is deter-mined to see her again,..
SHE WAS THE STORY
Jody Dupree likes her life as a cop. Patrolling the mean streets of the Big Easy doesn't scare her, but what she shared with Logan Hart did. That's why she had to get away. So when the hot-bodied "stripper" actually turns out to be a reporter who'll be working with her for the next month, she's both furious and undeniably excited. Spending time together in the sultry French Quarter and the murky bayous feels more thrilling than anything going down on the streets--until Logan starts to delve into Jody's past and discovers her link to an unsolved murder years ago. The secrets she holds could make his career...and put them in more danger than he realizes...
SOUTHERN EXPOSURE
Now, as Logan pursues answers to his mystery woman, he uncovers long-buried secrets that expose Jody to a nightmare from the past. For once, he's ready to kill a front-page story to protect the woman he loves...if it's not too late...
Logan Hart hadn't planned on being a male stripper. He's a reporter, and a damned good one. But when he challenges the readership of his column in the New Orleans Gazette that he can last a shift in any job, letters pour in, and Logan's stint in tear-away pants is born. The only perk of the shill--besides the serious tips--is a sensual slow dance that leads to a night of unforgettable erotic fantasy with a woman who gets under Logan's skin and straight to his heart. There's something fragile but tough, as well as mysterious, about this woman. His reporter's instincts tell him she's hiding secrets. And when she slips out before sunrise, Logan is deter-mined to see her again,..
SHE WAS THE STORY
Jody Dupree likes her life as a cop. Patrolling the mean streets of the Big Easy doesn't scare her, but what she shared with Logan Hart did. That's why she had to get away. So when the hot-bodied "stripper" actually turns out to be a reporter who'll be working with her for the next month, she's both furious and undeniably excited. Spending time together in the sultry French Quarter and the murky bayous feels more thrilling than anything going down on the streets--until Logan starts to delve into Jody's past and discovers her link to an unsolved murder years ago. The secrets she holds could make his career...and put them in more danger than he realizes...
SOUTHERN EXPOSURE
Now, as Logan pursues answers to his mystery woman, he uncovers long-buried secrets that expose Jody to a nightmare from the past. For once, he's ready to kill a front-page story to protect the woman he loves...if it's not too late...
262 pages, Paperback
First published April 5, 2005
120 people are currently reading
115 people want to read
About the author
Karen Kelley
104 books223 followersKaren Kelley always had a secret desire to live the life of a Gypsy. So she and her husband quit their jobs, sold their house, decluttered their lives and moved into their 5th wheel RV. Now they're traveling the United States. She works full time on her writing and spends her downtime walking on the beach or hiking in the mountains. Her motto has always been 'Who says you can't have it all.'
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
June 12, 2019
I really loved the first book in the series but this was less enjoyable mainly because I didn't like how the heroine kept keeping the hero at a distance. Also if she was a cop why had she never pursued a case against her uncle? All in all the first book was way better.
June 8, 2015
Reviewed for THC Reviews
"3.5 stars" After finishing Southern Exposure, I'm having similar feelings about it as I did with Southern Comfort, the first book of Karen Kelley's Southern series. Once again, I couldn't help feeling that both the characters and plot were somewhat lacking. As with the first one, this book is pretty short for a full-length novel (262 pages), so it seems to me like there would have been plenty of room for more character and plot development if the author had chosen to do that, but for some inexplicable reason she didn't. Southern Exposure basically picks up right where Southern Comfort left off, except the romantic focus shifts from Wade and Fallon in Texas to Fallon's long-lost, presumed-dead sister, Jody, and her love interest, Logan, in New Orleans. Fallon and Jody's uncle remains the villain. He's about to be extradited to New Orleans to stand trial, but he's not going quietly. Sometimes, it felt like the author didn't quite know what to do with the characters, so at times, the plot meandered IMO. She also includes a few too many POV scenes for secondary characters, when I couldn't help thinking that she could have used that space to build her main characters more fully. The first half of the book moves rather slowly, with very little action taking place, then about halfway through, the plot comes to a screeching halt, while Jody takes her best friend, Andrea, for a make-over and clothes shopping spree (the author seems to have a penchant for these as something nearly identical happened in the first book). This little detour had no real bearing on the overarching plot and did nothing to propel things forward. Instead, it just seemed like little more than unnecessary filler. The second half of the book picks up a little, with the uncle escaping no sooner than he's arrived in New Orleans which leads to a little suspense and a happy reunion between the sisters. Again, just like with the first book, the suspense part was pretty predictable, but it was also the part that kept me from dropping the rating any lower.
Jody was a heroine I had a hard time getting a read on from an emotional perspective. When the story opens, she seems like almost a carbon copy of her sister, an alpha female commitment-phobe, who works in law enforcement. She and Logan have a one-night stand right after barely meeting, but she gets angry with him when she finds out he's not actually a stripper but was working on a story for the newspaper. I couldn't have agreed more with Logan that she didn't really have any right to be upset with him for not telling her he was a reporter when she wouldn't even so much as tell him her last name. Not to mention, if she hadn't skipped out on him before the next morning, things might have gotten more real between them. However, Jody's surly side doesn't last long, before she transforms into a more vulnerable woman. She's deeply affected by nearly being killed by her uncle when she was just a child and is also bothered by her psychic visions. This softer side of Jody almost seemed at odds with how she was before. Later on though, she goes right back to being prickly with Logan and not trusting that he won't write the article about her. Because of this back and forth in her personality, Jody's characterization felt uneven to me. Ultimately, I guess she came off as less anti-social than her sister, so for that reason, I liked her a little better, but it was still rather difficult to understand her at times.
As hard as it was for me to connect with Jody, I never felt like I got to know Logan well at all. He's a journalist who is vying for a promotion to assistant editor of the newspaper. In an effort to make that happen he's been writing a series of articles in which he allows the readers to challenge him to work any job for one shift. As a result, he's working as a stripper when he meets Jody, and his next assignment brings him to the police department to learn about being an officer. He's assigned to ride with Jody and his nose for news smells a deeper story with her than what she's letting on. Logan did do some things that proved he had a good heart. For starters, I liked that when he and Jody had their one-night stand, he asked her several times if she was sure she wanted it before actually having sex with her, so I had to give the guy kudos for being cautious for both his own sake and hers. He also doesn't hesitate to risk his life for her, and in the end, it's clear that he cares more for Jody than his job. I can't deny that Logan definitely came off as one of the nice guys, but there just wasn't a whole lot to his character to make him memorable.
As for Logan and Jody's relationship, I can't say that I felt much of a connection between them. Just like with the last book, it starts out with insta-lust and sex right out of the gate, which is definitely not my favorite way to begin a story. Unless the author can make me feel a deep emotional connection between the hero and heroine, I prefer for the romance to build slowly. Neither of these were the case in this story. Jody fully intends for their first encounter to be nothing more than one-time sex, until Logan shows up at her work, and even then she resists the idea of it happening again, even though she's still attracted to him and admits he's the best lover she's ever had. Of course, it does happen again… and again… and again. Considering the sheer frequency and the fact that the love scenes do get a little spicy with some creative uses for chocolate syrup and whipped cream (as well as a couple of sex toys being used in a secondary character love scene), one would think that this would be a really hot, steamy story, but IMHO, despite the little sensuous extras, the love scenes fell horribly flat. They were too short, too lacking in descriptive details, and desperately in need of more expressions of feelings and emotion. The love scenes could have been great, but without those things, especially the emotion, I felt virtually no connection either to or between the characters, so that these scenes were nothing more than just sex.
As I mentioned before, I think the author could have done a lot more to make the story more exciting. Except for one instance in which Jody actually sees a crime in progress and can't ignore it, Logan's ride-alongs with her are pretty dead, because her chief has told her to hang back in order to keep him safe. The secondary romance between Jody's friend, Andrea, and Logan's brother, Kevin, didn't really do much for me. IMO, their scenes weren't integral to the plot and therefore not really necessary. Every time their POV came up, I was thinking how that space could have been better utilized on Logan and Jody. Not to mention, their romance and love scenes were equally as lacking in emotion as the main romance. I did enjoy catching up with Wade and Fallon. Their scenes had more bearing on the overall plot, and I didn't find them to be as distracting.
In the end, Southern Exposure was an OK read for me. It wasn't a bad book, but neither did it reach the heights of greatness. The hero and heroine were likable enough even though I didn't feel like I knew them very well. While the romance didn't do a whole lot for me, I suppose the suspense kept me somewhat intrigued. I've read a lot worse books, and it admittedly wasn't a major chore to finish. There is one more full-length novel in the Southern series, Hell on Wheels, but since the main characters' names aren't familiar to me, I have no idea what the connection between the books is. After two so-so reads in a row from Karen Kelley, I'm somewhat undecided as to whether I'll continue with the series. I'm using it for a reading challenge in which I'm participating, so if I can't find anything else to replace it, I most likely will in a few months. All I can say is we'll see.:-)
"3.5 stars" After finishing Southern Exposure, I'm having similar feelings about it as I did with Southern Comfort, the first book of Karen Kelley's Southern series. Once again, I couldn't help feeling that both the characters and plot were somewhat lacking. As with the first one, this book is pretty short for a full-length novel (262 pages), so it seems to me like there would have been plenty of room for more character and plot development if the author had chosen to do that, but for some inexplicable reason she didn't. Southern Exposure basically picks up right where Southern Comfort left off, except the romantic focus shifts from Wade and Fallon in Texas to Fallon's long-lost, presumed-dead sister, Jody, and her love interest, Logan, in New Orleans. Fallon and Jody's uncle remains the villain. He's about to be extradited to New Orleans to stand trial, but he's not going quietly. Sometimes, it felt like the author didn't quite know what to do with the characters, so at times, the plot meandered IMO. She also includes a few too many POV scenes for secondary characters, when I couldn't help thinking that she could have used that space to build her main characters more fully. The first half of the book moves rather slowly, with very little action taking place, then about halfway through, the plot comes to a screeching halt, while Jody takes her best friend, Andrea, for a make-over and clothes shopping spree (the author seems to have a penchant for these as something nearly identical happened in the first book). This little detour had no real bearing on the overarching plot and did nothing to propel things forward. Instead, it just seemed like little more than unnecessary filler. The second half of the book picks up a little, with the uncle escaping no sooner than he's arrived in New Orleans which leads to a little suspense and a happy reunion between the sisters. Again, just like with the first book, the suspense part was pretty predictable, but it was also the part that kept me from dropping the rating any lower.
Jody was a heroine I had a hard time getting a read on from an emotional perspective. When the story opens, she seems like almost a carbon copy of her sister, an alpha female commitment-phobe, who works in law enforcement. She and Logan have a one-night stand right after barely meeting, but she gets angry with him when she finds out he's not actually a stripper but was working on a story for the newspaper. I couldn't have agreed more with Logan that she didn't really have any right to be upset with him for not telling her he was a reporter when she wouldn't even so much as tell him her last name. Not to mention, if she hadn't skipped out on him before the next morning, things might have gotten more real between them. However, Jody's surly side doesn't last long, before she transforms into a more vulnerable woman. She's deeply affected by nearly being killed by her uncle when she was just a child and is also bothered by her psychic visions. This softer side of Jody almost seemed at odds with how she was before. Later on though, she goes right back to being prickly with Logan and not trusting that he won't write the article about her. Because of this back and forth in her personality, Jody's characterization felt uneven to me. Ultimately, I guess she came off as less anti-social than her sister, so for that reason, I liked her a little better, but it was still rather difficult to understand her at times.
As hard as it was for me to connect with Jody, I never felt like I got to know Logan well at all. He's a journalist who is vying for a promotion to assistant editor of the newspaper. In an effort to make that happen he's been writing a series of articles in which he allows the readers to challenge him to work any job for one shift. As a result, he's working as a stripper when he meets Jody, and his next assignment brings him to the police department to learn about being an officer. He's assigned to ride with Jody and his nose for news smells a deeper story with her than what she's letting on. Logan did do some things that proved he had a good heart. For starters, I liked that when he and Jody had their one-night stand, he asked her several times if she was sure she wanted it before actually having sex with her, so I had to give the guy kudos for being cautious for both his own sake and hers. He also doesn't hesitate to risk his life for her, and in the end, it's clear that he cares more for Jody than his job. I can't deny that Logan definitely came off as one of the nice guys, but there just wasn't a whole lot to his character to make him memorable.
As for Logan and Jody's relationship, I can't say that I felt much of a connection between them. Just like with the last book, it starts out with insta-lust and sex right out of the gate, which is definitely not my favorite way to begin a story. Unless the author can make me feel a deep emotional connection between the hero and heroine, I prefer for the romance to build slowly. Neither of these were the case in this story. Jody fully intends for their first encounter to be nothing more than one-time sex, until Logan shows up at her work, and even then she resists the idea of it happening again, even though she's still attracted to him and admits he's the best lover she's ever had. Of course, it does happen again… and again… and again. Considering the sheer frequency and the fact that the love scenes do get a little spicy with some creative uses for chocolate syrup and whipped cream (as well as a couple of sex toys being used in a secondary character love scene), one would think that this would be a really hot, steamy story, but IMHO, despite the little sensuous extras, the love scenes fell horribly flat. They were too short, too lacking in descriptive details, and desperately in need of more expressions of feelings and emotion. The love scenes could have been great, but without those things, especially the emotion, I felt virtually no connection either to or between the characters, so that these scenes were nothing more than just sex.
As I mentioned before, I think the author could have done a lot more to make the story more exciting. Except for one instance in which Jody actually sees a crime in progress and can't ignore it, Logan's ride-alongs with her are pretty dead, because her chief has told her to hang back in order to keep him safe. The secondary romance between Jody's friend, Andrea, and Logan's brother, Kevin, didn't really do much for me. IMO, their scenes weren't integral to the plot and therefore not really necessary. Every time their POV came up, I was thinking how that space could have been better utilized on Logan and Jody. Not to mention, their romance and love scenes were equally as lacking in emotion as the main romance. I did enjoy catching up with Wade and Fallon. Their scenes had more bearing on the overall plot, and I didn't find them to be as distracting.
In the end, Southern Exposure was an OK read for me. It wasn't a bad book, but neither did it reach the heights of greatness. The hero and heroine were likable enough even though I didn't feel like I knew them very well. While the romance didn't do a whole lot for me, I suppose the suspense kept me somewhat intrigued. I've read a lot worse books, and it admittedly wasn't a major chore to finish. There is one more full-length novel in the Southern series, Hell on Wheels, but since the main characters' names aren't familiar to me, I have no idea what the connection between the books is. After two so-so reads in a row from Karen Kelley, I'm somewhat undecided as to whether I'll continue with the series. I'm using it for a reading challenge in which I'm participating, so if I can't find anything else to replace it, I most likely will in a few months. All I can say is we'll see.:-)
February 20, 2023
Logan and Jody
Logan is a reporter undercover as a stripper when he meets Jody. After a night of passion, he thinks he will never see her again. Then he is assigned an undercover job as a police officer. Jody is his officer who trains him. They can’t deny the passion they both feel for each other. Jody is hiding secrets and doesn’t want anyone to know especially a reporter. I enjoyed this book. I felt it was missing some separation between different point of view characters. It would switch points of you in the middle of a chapter and it would take me a little while to figure out who it was so that took me a while to get into. Otherwise, it was a fun story good spice. I will probably be reading the next book in the series.
Logan is a reporter undercover as a stripper when he meets Jody. After a night of passion, he thinks he will never see her again. Then he is assigned an undercover job as a police officer. Jody is his officer who trains him. They can’t deny the passion they both feel for each other. Jody is hiding secrets and doesn’t want anyone to know especially a reporter. I enjoyed this book. I felt it was missing some separation between different point of view characters. It would switch points of you in the middle of a chapter and it would take me a little while to figure out who it was so that took me a while to get into. Otherwise, it was a fun story good spice. I will probably be reading the next book in the series.
April 14, 2019
The Cop and the Reporter
Jody had been left for dead after her uncle killed her father. Her sister disappeared and her grandmother raised her. Jody has visions of future events. Life gets complicated when she meets a reporter. Sparks fly and old troubles come back. A romantic mystery and a page turner. Recommend.
Jody had been left for dead after her uncle killed her father. Her sister disappeared and her grandmother raised her. Jody has visions of future events. Life gets complicated when she meets a reporter. Sparks fly and old troubles come back. A romantic mystery and a page turner. Recommend.
September 27, 2010
Readable, but not recommended. While reading, I wished it would be over.
The first chapter was the best part. A reporter was dancing on stage as a stripper for a story. He met Jody a cop in the audience. After that, nothing was special or creative. I didn't smile at interesting conversation. The sex scenes had a bland effect on me. Nothing surprised or delighted me. A quote from page 224 follows. "It took them longer to convice Captain Williams they were doing the right thing, but Fallon had always been known for her skills of persuasion and it wasn't long before they were driving through the entrance of Andrea's apartment complex." I would have preferred to hear the details of an interesting conversation that "showed" Fallon's skills of persuasion rather than being "told" with the summarizing sentence written.
Sexual content: not evaluated. Setting: current day New Orleans. Copyright: 2005. Genre: contemporary romantic suspense.
The first chapter was the best part. A reporter was dancing on stage as a stripper for a story. He met Jody a cop in the audience. After that, nothing was special or creative. I didn't smile at interesting conversation. The sex scenes had a bland effect on me. Nothing surprised or delighted me. A quote from page 224 follows. "It took them longer to convice Captain Williams they were doing the right thing, but Fallon had always been known for her skills of persuasion and it wasn't long before they were driving through the entrance of Andrea's apartment complex." I would have preferred to hear the details of an interesting conversation that "showed" Fallon's skills of persuasion rather than being "told" with the summarizing sentence written.
Sexual content: not evaluated. Setting: current day New Orleans. Copyright: 2005. Genre: contemporary romantic suspense.
July 23, 2019
Though this is book 2 in a series, it is a stand-alone novel. I like the premise of this book, a reporter taking on various jobs (including a male stripper) and then reporting on his experiences. And I like the fact that his one-night stand ends up being his partner at his next job experience. I also liked these two characters well enough. I didn’t really care much for the writing, though. I can’t really say what was missing, except that I didn’t feel emotionally attached to either of the main characters, and some of the dialogue felt false to me. The story was okay, but I would have rather spent my time on something else.
January 4, 2015
2nd book of the series
Jody is a cop and she has visions. Her uncle killed her father and she was shot and left for dead. Logan is a reporter doing a series of articles, being a male stripper, when he first meets Jody. They have a one night stand and she leaves before he wakes up. When he is assigned to ride with her for a month, he knows she's the one for him. But when her uncle escapes, secrets are revealed and they must hide in the swamp to stay alive. Sex, surprises, and gators. Great story but the ending was sort of anticlimatic.
Jody is a cop and she has visions. Her uncle killed her father and she was shot and left for dead. Logan is a reporter doing a series of articles, being a male stripper, when he first meets Jody. They have a one night stand and she leaves before he wakes up. When he is assigned to ride with her for a month, he knows she's the one for him. But when her uncle escapes, secrets are revealed and they must hide in the swamp to stay alive. Sex, surprises, and gators. Great story but the ending was sort of anticlimatic.
January 11, 2010
I just didn't love this. I seem to be in the minority, but I found myself skimming the pages halfway through just getting the gist. The sex scenes were pretty decent, so I stopped at those. But the mystery element didn't hold my attention and the characters seemed redundant. Doesn't make me like Kelley any less, I just figured this one didn't resonate with me.
July 28, 2014
This story continues the story from Southern Comfort. I think I actually liked this one a tad more than SC. It wasn't so great that I could justify a 4 star but it was good.
July 31, 2013
fun,easy read with some twists and turns.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews