**Blog Tour & Giveaway ~ Stripped ~ Brooklyn Skye**

Happy Monday! Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for Brooklyn Skye's Stripped. This blog tour is presented by YA Bound. You can click here to see the complete tour schedule. My stop includes all the pertinent information for Stripped, my review, and a giveaway!

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Stripped
by Brooklyn Skye
Release Date: 05/14/13

Summary from Goodreads:
“I like you.” His voice is low and soft, which I don’t deserve. I look away, down the rutted parking lot.
“Don’t…waste those words on me.”
He touches my cheek. “You just need someone to show you.”
“No.” I ease back again. “I don’t. So please, Torrin, stop trying to swoop in and save me. I don’t need saving.”

College freshman Quinn Montgomery will do anything to avoid the mistake her sister made—killing herself over a boy. But when she is forced into nude modeling at a local college to support her family after a bankruptcy, she begins to crack, just enough to let Torrin, the university’s top varsity oarsman, see that the real Quinn is not as feisty and unapproachable as she wants everyone to think. But letting someone in comes at a steep cost and, it turns out, Torrin is connected to Quinn’s family in more ways than she could ever imagine.

**Please note - Stripped will be available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble on Tuesday, May 14th.**

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My Review

I wanted to read Stripped the first time I saw the cover. (yes, I'm one of those readers ;) Then I read the blurb and the deal was sealed. I was not disappointed. Far from it, actually. Stripped is a very touching and poignant novel. It's well crafted - I laughed and I cried. It is an amazingly insightful story about the power of perception, or misperception, as the case may be.

Quinn Montgomery is struggling. Struggling to keep a promise to her dead sister, struggling to stay in college now that a scandal has cost her father his job. Quinn's struggling to maintain distance from those who might judge her for her family's faults. She's struggling to find her way in the world while trying to fulfill her family's expectations. It's a lot of responsibility for a young woman.

Torrin Hastings is also struggling. He's trying to fulfill her father's wishes although it seems his father paid no heed to Torrin's desires. He's struggling to fit in despite his recent arrival to the university and subsequent suspension from the rowing team. And he's struggling to get to know Quinn better - a battle to be sure since she fights him every step.

Both Quinn and Torrin live their lives based on their perceptions of certain people and certain events. Their realities are so colored by this, particularly Quinn's. What happens when everything you thought you knew turns out to be wrong? When your perceptions are stripped? Your soul stripped bare?

I love Quinn and Torrin. They each have their skeletons and they each hide them in different ways. Quinn uses a lot of snark. Torrin puts on a cocksure facade. But these two damaged characters coming together is beautiful. And their handling of events once their perceptions are changed show an incredible amount of character growth and maturity. 

The main reason I enjoy the New Adult genre is not the sex. ;) I truly delight in watching young people, new adults, find their way in the world, figure out who they are, making new adult mistakes along the way. It's fascinating. Stripped allowed me to grow along with Quinn and Torrin and experience life through their eyes, their hearts. And it was an absolute pleasure!

"Realism. These pictures remind me something can have a flaw and still be beautiful."  -Torrin  Loc eArc 1740

"He kisses me again. And this time I do feel his lips. How warm they are. How they suspend for the tiniest moment over the corner of my mouth before centering again. How that tiny moment reminds me of all the other tiny moments we've shared and that makes this kiss enormously different that the first one, like all those tiny moments added up together mean something."  -Loc eArc 1760

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About the Author

Brooklyn Skye is just your average awkward girl who's obsessed with words. She grew up in a small California town where she quickly realized writing was an easy escape from small town life.

Website / Twitter / Goodreads

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Giveaway

One signed paperback copy of Stripped (US only) or one e-book copy with authorgraph (INT)



a Rafflecopter giveaway