Review- Stripped by Brooklyn Skye

Goodreads Summary:

“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.

REVIEW:

*NOTE: We (The Readdicts) received a copy of Stripped from author Brooklyn Skye in exchange for an honest review. We thank Brooklyn for the book! 

I was completely intrigued by Stripped  when I first came across the book. The title, the cover and the summary- everything seemed way too pretty. I knew this was going to be a good book and it didn't disappoint. By chance, we got an ARC of the book from author Brooklyn Skye and I'd like to thank her again for it. 

Quinn Montgomery is two years younger than her sister, Zoe, who commits suicide for reasons which seem obvious and unjustifiable at first but later as the issue is given a deep dig, it, to be honest, seems perfectly fine. Quinn's dad's prestigious and respectable position goes down the drain after a fraud, within the administration of the school he works at, gets public. 
So all in all, Quinn has a disturbed and messed up family. The only saving face of the family are Quinn and her mom, who was an admirable and lovely woman. I loved how she tried really hard to keep the family together. 
Quinn's family is bankrupt and she is forced to fund her own education, which she is undertaking only to fulfill her sister's dream of graduating. I really liked Quinn. She appeared to be such a strong girl, but there were those moments when her innocence and vulnerability came to the forefront. There were times when she appeared to be way too crazy to me, but everyone close to her says that she has always been crazy. 
Because she believes that her sister committed suicide because she fell in love with her boyfriend, Evan, and it was too much to take in, Quinn wants to stay as far away from love as possible and has an on again off again relationship with her own boyfriend, Derek. 
Until she meets Torrin, Quinn really just seemed like a facade of her own personality. Torrin was a great guy. I liked how he made Quinn slowly open up to him and accepted her the way she was. He was sweet, kind and understanding and the past that he carried with himself, which was obvious to me since the beginning, was quite heartbreaking, for him and Quinn. But I really loved to see their relationship grow. They somehow seemed to get their real side out only when with one another. 
Author Brooklyn Skye's writing is really pretty. The book talks in Quinn's voice, which was clear and concise. Stripped was really an amazing story about love, loss and family. 
It was good to see the immense importance given to family, which seems quite non-existent in Young Adult and New Adult novels. The sisterly bond between Quinn and Zoe was strong to the point that the two were best friends as well, and I loved seeing that. The suicide was taken up really well, unlike some other books where it's just not justified. Also, the whole thing about Quinn going for nude modeling for an art class was something different and interesting to read about. 

Save for the fact that I already knew the suspense without reading any spoiler and the content seemed a little less deep to me, overall, it's safe to say that Stripped is a very good read that fans of New Adult Contemporaries, especially those that deal more with issues coupled with romance rather than just plain romance, will love and enjoy, just like I did. 

RATING: