Stripped Raw by Rebecca Moon
New Adult
Released January 20, 2015
Self-Published

Reviewed by Sheena

Erin Stancliffe has had a troubled past and moves to Bailiff to give herself and her son a fresh start. She is captivated by the old town charm and the friendly people in it, especially when her new job at the district hospital brings her face to face with Jason Cunningham, a bronzed, muscle bound man with a boyish face. 
Renowned as the town slut, Jason is forced to reassess his life after a night of reckless inebriation leads to an indiscretion with his best friends ex fiancé. Jason’s reputation is left in tatters as he tries to turn a new leaf and make amends for his previous sins.
Jason is dumbstruck by Erin, the beautiful newcomer but Erin has to look deep inside herself to overcome her emotions and take a chance on someone new.
Amongst blossoming love, tragedy unfolds and Erin has one thing after another go wrong, her relationship and trust in Jason being just one of these as she learns of his promiscuous past. Desperate to protect Erin, Jason is determined to make everything right and will stop at nothing to win back the woman of his dreams.

Favorite Quote: What the hell was happening to him?  He was now actually taking someone else’s feelings into account. It must have been all that green shit in his sandwich making him a pussy.

Stripped Raw surprised me. Cool, sexy cover this time (I lamented the authors previous cover fail in Stripped Bare the first book in this series that spurred me on to read this one, heh). In Raw, I expected an angsty tale  and prepared myself for some overwrought, New Adult posturing. What I experienced was indeed angsty but had a dramatic substance that I quite enjoyed.  Erin and Jason were underdogs, and who doesn’t love to root on an underdog? I wanted them to win and cheered for their wins while lamenting their losses.  Erin had a hard knock upbringing.  Forced to parent a drug addled mother, Eric grew up far too early and endued emotional trauma the likes of which no child should experience.  A heroin addiction overdose eventually claimed her mother’s life and Erin fumbled through her adolescence and young adulthood, where she faced even more disappointment and abandonment when she fell in love with a wealthy boy whose family was deadest against their union.  After unimaginable consequences, Erin has hit the reset button and is determined to make a new life for herself and her child.  The birth of adorable little Joey son was sadly strong scene that conveyed her strength and  vulnerability in a most interestingly balanced way.  I was sold on #TeamErin all the way.

Jason is a manwhore who once reveled his bad boy Lothario persona until it costs him dearly.  I found his background paled in comparison to Erin’s.  I was even all  “seriously- this is his big problem?”  The snag for me here was that Erin’s harrowing past was so strong that his slutting about town, waking up on the wrong side of the sheets love em and leave em past barely registered.  Anticipating such a reaction, author, Rebecca Moon made up for this disconnect by revealing a troubled, emotionally bruised inner dialogue that solicited sympathy for Jason, a character I would have otherwise overlooked with a bit of a smirk and disregarded as shallow. The pair of them make the perfect life-battle scarred pair.  It doesn’t hurt that there is a light humor that broke up my pearl clutching with intermittent giggles.

Single-mom-gets-her-groove-back trope is typically enjoyable for me.  I think it is because of the attention to detail that authors make a conscious effort to apply when it comes to navigating the perils of dating a mom.  The dude is always hot because well duh, momma has needs and desires thank you very much, and they are amazing when it comes to being thoughtful and understanding and beyond accommodating the heroine and her child- who is precious!  Stripped Raw gave up all the warm and fuzzies given the lengths Jason went through to realistically integrate his life with Erin & Joey.  He became a father figure and protector and companion and lover and it was marvelous!

Jason took over, placing his hands on either side of her face, drawing her to him so that he could kiss her, his tongue possessing her mouth and his warm lips keeping to the curve of hers.  Erin’s senses went into overdrive and her need to get closer was undeniable.  Pushing her still fully clad mound into his crotch, she reveled in the friction of material against her clit.  She shivered as the contact sent a spasm through her and the guttural groan that escaped Jason’s throat made her nearly cum right then and there.

Reaching between them, Erin searched for Jason’s zipper so that she could spring his cock free, when a voice halted them faster than a bucket of ice water.

“Mummy, what’s for breakfast?”

Oh the joys of sex and the single mom, snort!

In all, this was a satisfying read.  The character development was impressive and the story arc had a nice balance of emotional turmoil, sensuality, and not exactly danger, but a predictable custody battle with the absent, deadbeat father Erin thought she left behind.  There were some grammar and editing issues that were a little distracting, but on the whole, I am happy to recommend you give it a read.  It is not a hefty commitment as it is average in length with a steady pace.  Requisite HEA, no cliffhanger, stand-alone- though it is part of a series and  (squee!!) a cool epilogue wraps this story up quite nicely.

Grade: B

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