Detective Sawyer Matthews isn’t just having a bad day—he’s having the worst day. His hunt for the criminal who killed his team member has stalled and now… he’s got to play nice with his new, totally unwanted partner. It’s not that she isn’t qualified, or that he doesn’t like her—it’s because he knows what she looks like naked. So very, very naked.Brooke Simmons finally landed her dream job … landed her dream job working for H.E.A.T, an elite undercover detective squad, and she’s not giving up simply because she had a one-night-stand with her sullen—but undeniably sexy—new partner. They’ll just have to keep it professional. Easier said than done, considering their first case requires Sawyer to infiltrate a drug cartel operating out of a male strip show. Watching him do his best Magic Mike impression every night isn’t just hot—it’s torture.
Sawyer doesn’t need any distractions, yet his attraction to Brooke is explosive and he can’t resist going for round two. Or three. Or four. But as their investigation progresses and danger mounts, they’ll have to put their jobs, hearts, and lives on the line to fight… for each other, for survival, and for justice.
“Tara Wyatt’s Stripped serves up the sexy! Fresh and entertaining, it’s the perfect summer read.” — Jessica Lemmon, author of The Billionaire Bachelor
“Stripped is a scorching hot compulsive read! Sawyer and Brooke practically caught my Kindle on fire! Tara Wyatt is my newest one-click author!” — Katee Robert, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author
“Wyatt brings the heat and strips these two down to their hearts. Sawyer and Brooke’s partnership is dangerous, sexy, and meant to be.” — Jennifer Ryan, New York Times bestselling author
“Pure, page-turning perfection. Stripped had off-the-charts chemistry, sharp writing, and the emotional moments delivered on every level.” — Lauren Layne, New York Times bestselling author
“Super sexy right out of the gate, Stripped is everything I love in a romance: great emotion, loads of tension and deliciously grumpy hero. Highly recommend!” — Stefanie London, USA Today bestselling author
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I loved how strong and feisty Brooke was, and Sawyer’s broody alpha ways made for sizzling chemistry. The undercover stripping plot was gold, but the emotional elements are what filled this book out for me. The characters felt real and hooked me throughout their journey.
I tried to like this book. I usually enjoy anything about first responders, but I just couldn’t get there.
This had potential, but the storyline was slow and predictable.
Very little depth
This book (and I believe the series) was actually placed somewhere than NYC, LA, or Vegas. And, the author had places in Atlanta correct. That helps make this book more than just any romantic crime book. Good job.
After reading a lot of what I refer to as “fluff” lately I was ready for a good book with a little more intrigue and bite to it. Well, I certainly got that with Stripped. This is the first in the Blue Heat series and it was a very good beginning. So, why didn’t I give it 5 Stars? Well, while I truly enjoyed it and found the suspense I was looking for as well as great chemistry between H/h, it was just shy of a 5 Star for me. I’m a tough critic, I know.
OK, both Brooke and Sawyer have trust and commitment issues, for different reasons, but there none the less. Brooke’s parents died when she was nine, her grandparents raised her, but Nan is the only family she has left. Sawyer? He divorced his wife two years ago over his job, she couldn’t handle it and he wouldn’t give it up. Neither of them wants a relationship. Well, Brooke says she does, but she sabotages every single one she has. So, when they meet at a hotel bar, after an embarrassing scene Brooke was involved in, a one-night stand sounds exactly like something they both need. The whole “we’ll never see one another again” is perfect….until it isn’t.
There are steamy scenes, an instant connection between Brooke and Sawyer, lots of conflicts that are slow to resolve, an undercover op that has to be put together quickly, and plenty of action. Even with all of that, I can’t say I was on the edge of my seat as much as I thought I would be. I wasn’t disappointed, though! I’m sure I’ll be reading more from Tara Wyatt soon.
4 1/2 STARS!
Fast paced, lots of intrigue and sexy, sexy, sexy! I really enjoyed the first book in Tara Wyatt’s new Blue HEAT series! The characters were well-developed and easy to like and storyline hooked me from the start. Looking forward to more in the series!
Detective Sawyer Matthews is on a mission … a mission to catch the scum-bag who killed his partner. He’s what you’d call “married to the job” and doesn’t have a problem with that, but he can’t deny when the new detective he’s going to be partnered with walks in the room, he’s thinking of a lot more than work!
Brooke Simmons has just gotten the promotion of a lifetime to become a member of Atlanta’s High-Risk Evaluation & Action Team (H.E.A.T.), so her life couldn’t be working out better … until she walks in and finds out her new partner is the man she had a smoking hot one-night stand with! Working with him on a daily basis, and as he’s undercover as a male stripper none-the-less, is going to be temptation personified!
This is the first book I have read by this author and it definitely won’t be the last.
This book has it all – danger, suspense, banter, anger, and sexy times. The chemistry is off the charts with the two leads. I loved reading about the thoughts that each of them had all throughout the book. It made me really connect with them.
I loved he stripping scenes. They were so easy to visualize in my head and I also felt so bad for Brooke.
Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team
Avid Reader –
3.5 stars
M/F Romance
Triggers: Murder, kidnapping, torture
Brooke is a strong character to begin with. When you meet her, she’s licking her wounds after a humiliating debacle at a wedding… meeting her date’s wife. Whew! However, she finds the perfect distraction… a bad decision, but a yummy one all the same. My first impressions of Brooke are that she’s steady and will make a great character.
Then you have Sawyer. He’s grieving the loss of his partner and despite knowing there wasn’t much he could have done to prevent it, the guilt is eating at him. When he sees Brooke at the bar, something calls to him. Their one night is full of steam and passion, but Sawyer has a killer to find.
When Brooke walks into her new job and sees that her new partner will be none other than Sawyer, she doesn’t cower, nor does she turn into a vapid character. I really liked that about her. She stands up to his arrogant and cocky ways and even makes him think twice about making her mad. I loved how Sawyer, despite his feeling distracted, is constantly wanting to protect Brooke too.
This is a fast-paced story with a lot going on. You have the main characters, but you also have the secondary characters who make this story just as strong. I can’t wait to see what happens next in this series.
Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of Stripped (Blue HEAT #1) by Tara Wyatt to read and review.
Stripped by Tara Wyatt is book One in the Blue Heat series. This is the story of Sawyer Matthews and Brooke Simmons.
Sawyer is having to deal with the lost of his partner and friend who was killed. Sawyer has been trying to locate the person that killed him…so finding out he is being assigned another partner is upsetting enough. But it gets worse….he has a one night stand with his new partner.
Brooke is excited to be a part of the H.E.A.T, an elite undercover detective squad but the one thing that she does take her back is that her partner is a one night stand she had.
Neither Sawyer or Brooke thought that they would see each other again after that one night but now they are having to cross over to be work partners. Can these two work past the desire for each other that still is between them?
Really enjoyed reading their story.
I’m a HUGE fan of Ms. Wyatt and I was so freaking excited to get my hands on this book. Wyatt’s tone and style of writing really works for me and I loved pretty much everything about Sawyer and Brooke together. They were so FREAKING sexy together, I’m pretty sure hot flashes were had. The fact that Sawyer character inspiration is Chris Hemsworth, doesn’t hurt at all.
I truly enjoyed Stripped and I’m looking forward getting my hands on the next two books in the series, as Wyatt did a really nice job of setting up their storylines.
3.75 stars–STRIPPED is the first instalment in Tara Wyatt’s contemporary, adult Blue HEAT erotic, romance series focusing on the men and women who work for HEAT (High-Risk Evaluation and Action Team) of Atlanta, Georgia. This is Detectives Sawyer Matthews, and Brooke Simmons’ story line.
Told from dual third person perspectives (Brooke and Sawyer) STRIPPED is a forbidden romance story line focusing on the building relationship between APD’S undercover police detectives Sawyer Matthews, and Brooke Simmons. Brooke is the HEAT rookie, having risen to the position due to the murder of Sawyer’s last partner and best friend Ryan Walker-a murder Sawyer, and his fellow undercover operatives are having a difficult time to overcome. Sawyer doesn’t want a new partner but things go from bad to worse when Sawyer discovers his new partner is a one-night stand from days before. Setting plans into motion to take down the Baracoa Cartel and the men responsible for destroying so many lives, Brooke and Sawyer must go undercover at a local strip bar with connections to the drug cartel, wherein Sawyer becomes the nightly entertainment as they struggle to uncover and take down the people behind the murder, and the influx of a new designer drug hitting the streets. What ensues is the building but forbidden romance between Sawyer and Brooke, and the potential fall-out as their undercover operation begins to implode.
Brooke Simmons, as the newest member of Atlanta’s HEAT, knows she has to prove her worth but the battle is only beginning when Sawyer Matthews begins a personal campaign against the woman with whom he will fall in love. Sawyer doesn’t do relationships, and getting involved with his partner and fellow detective is a sure fire way to get kicked off the job. Unable to concentrate on the task at hand, Sawyer begins to make life a living h*ll for his new partner.
The relationship between Brooke and Sawyer is one of immediate attraction that begins as a one-night stand wherein neither one was willing to go beyond the here and now. Sawyer’s attraction to Brooke is palpable but his less than mature behaviour post hook-up, and his actions scream childish and adolescent; the sexual chemistry is off the charts. The sex scenes are erotic, intense and provocative.
We are introduced to Sawyer’s fellow detectives Jack Ward and Amelia Perez, as well as their captain DeMarcus Hill, and Brooke’s best friend, homicide detective Dani Harris, and Brooke’s grandmother Nan. The requisite evil has many faces. Jack and Rachel’s story line is next in SCHOOLED.
The world building focuses on the take down and on-going investigation of the Baracoa Cartel, justice and revenge, and the battle between the heart and the job when lives are threatened in the line of duty.
STRIPPED is a sexy and flirty, character driven story line about forbidden love. The premise is engaging and edgy; the characters are energetic; the romance is sensual and intense.
Detective Sawyer Matthews is a man on a mission, he recently lost his partner and long time best friend and he intends to find the man who killed him and get justice for his team member. He is completely beside himself right now, the last thing he wants to do right now is be saddled with a new partner… that is until he meets her!
Brooke Simmons is beyond excited about the opportunity to be joining the H.E.A.T undercover detective squad, it has been a dream of hers for quite some time and she is busted her butt to earn the job. But when she shows up for her first day and finds out her new partner has already played her partner in a little different way she is left a little unsettled and not so sure how to handle the fact that her one night stand is now going to be working alongside her everyday.
If you like uber steamy romance with a touch of thrilling mystery, than this is the perfect read for you!! Stripped is a well blended romance that is sure to have readers singing it’s praises, the characters were superbly crafted, the story line was engrossing, and the secondary characters will leave you excited for the upcoming installments! I thoroughly enjoyed reading this one, if was fun to see a heroine take charge and be able to stand toe to toe with her alpha male counterpart on the job and off. Brooke surprised me more than a few times with her strength and tenacity, and had me in her corner the whole way through… and maybe even a little envious too! This was an impressive and highly enjoyable start to the Blue Heat series; it’s certain to curl your toes, warm your heart, and leave you smiling!! Highly recommend!!
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this title.