ARC Review: Stripping Her Defenses by Jessie Lane

I was really looking forward to reading Stripping Her Defenses after reading the blurb. I love a good second chance lovers story, and the fact that it had bikers in it was even better. That being said, I feel like this book was a bit different than the blurb implied. It was still a good story, it just wasn't exactly what I had thought it was going to be. Stripper Her Defenses is the second book in Jessie Lane's Ex Ops series, but these can each be read as standalones.

After losing her unborn son and struggling to cope by herself, Kara Sullivan left her husband to find herself and start over. She loved her husband, but with him never home and her always alone she knew that she couldn't stay anymore despite her feelings for him. So eight years later, the last person she expects to see walk into the strip club where she is dancing is Riley Sullivan. Riley has been unable to forget the only woman he ever loved, but he has stopped trying to contact her after being told that doing so was damaging to her health and mental state. But now that he has found her, he will do anything to show her that they belong together. Not only must Riley convince Kara to give them another chance, but he must also keep her away from the danger of his current mission. Can Riley and Kara find their way back to one another? Or will the pain from their past and the danger in their present keep them from giving things between them another shot?

I liked Riley and Kara. They were good characters that had been through a lot. They had married young and had both made mistakes. Instead of talking to one another and supporting each other, they had done what they thought was best at the time. Their relationship was proof that communication can change everything when it comes to making a marriage work. I didn't really understand them though. I couldn't figure out why Riley thought that Kara wouldn't be hurt and upset by him always being gone and choosing to take mission after mission, knowing that he was never around. And I really didn't understand why Kara never said anything to him about it upsetting her and that she feared he didn't want to be around her anymore. I really just found it completely immature on both of their parts, and it seemed like behavior that you would expect from much younger people rather than they were. I thought that they had a lot of history and a lot of chemistry, but their relationship needed a lot of work.

While I thought that this story was a good quick and easy read, I also felt like it had a few issues. Besides the communication between the characters, I honestly felt like this one was wrapped up far too quickly. I enjoyed the length of the book, but it just seemed as though Riley and Kara solved all their problems far too easily. They basically had a few words and jumped back into bed with one another, and all of a sudden all their problems seemed to go away. I just didn't care for it, and I thought it just seemed to easy. I wanted them to really work at it and see that they had made the effort and steps to make it work this time around. I thought that it was a good story, and I did believe that Kara and Riley belonged together. I just thought that the time frame was a bit too soon, and it all felt a bit rushed to me. I do like the characters in this series though, and I am interested to see more of them as this series progresses. I will read more from Jessie Lane in the future.

**ARC Provided by Between the Sheets Promotions**

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