Evangeline’s life is dark and lonely. She’ll do anything to change that. Anything.
Even play a game with a stranger she’s never met. What starts out as “therapy” soon turns into a passionate anonymous love affair. Her blindfold is like a security blanket and his touch lights a fire inside her.
She has no idea who he is, what he looks like, or why he agreed to play this game with her. But she … agreed to play this game with her. But she doesn’t care.
She doesn’t care that he makes her wear a blindfold before he’ll come into her room.
She don’t care that he watches her sleep, and dress, and wants to know all her deepest, darkest, saddest secrets.
She’s sad and lost. And even though it’s his job to watch her from the other side of the surveillance cameras, that’s not why he enters her room at night.
That’s not why he touches her when she begs.
That’s not why he’s really here.
He’s playing his own game with her.
Everyone is playing a game and Total Exposure is just the start.
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Don’t let “tear-jerker” throw you off in the boxes I ticked. They are happy tears. Trust me. And I know I ticked off about thirty boxes but this book is ALL. THE. THINGS.
Jordan’s Game, Total Exposure is the first of a spin-off series from the Turning Series by JA Huss. You do NOT have to have read that other series to appreciate or get this one. Though it occurs in an interconnecting world, you will not at all be lost.
To say that this book is the first in a spin-off series from another series in the romance genre makes it seem somehow “lesser” than what it truly is. This book is SO much more than a “romance spinoff series intro from another series.” It could and does stand all on its own as its own self-encapsulated thing and it’s truly just a beautiful book. It’s also got great structure.
Huss has some secrets in this story and she knows EXACTLY when to reveal them. This book has a sort of magic quality wherein, you don’t see things the author doesn’t want you to see until RIGHT BEFORE it’s revealed. So you are surprised, but you also feel smart, like you figured something out. It’s a hard technique to wield masterfully, but Huss gives you that experience like a pro.
Like everything, I listened to this in Audio. Elena Wolfe was a new narrator to me and I thought she did an incredibly good job and has a vocal quality that helps you get lost in the story. Some narrators are very talented but you can never separate yourself out from the fact that the narrator is there, narrating. Somehow Elena Wolfe BECOMES her narration and blends with it seamlessly where you can’t find the edges between her voice and the story. THAT is talent.
Teddy Hamilton and Christian Fox were both also fantastic in this.
This book really ticks all the boxes for me. It’s a great story with a deeper message that I think most people really need to hear because most people let things hold them back in their own lives. They make a million excuses for why this or that thing is impossible. Watching a character like Evangeline face her rather extreme phobias is inspiring even in fiction.
And shit, I haven’t even told you what this book is about… okay so… the basic setup is that Evangeline was one of these, fell out of the womb knowing how to play the violin, kids. Her parents used her and carted her all over the place getting rich off her talent and damaging her young mind in the process by taking away the chance to have a normal childhood and instead giving her a life she was much too young to process.
As an adult she has a terror of being watched by others to the point that she is a recluse who almost never leaves her house. She’s started seeing a therapist and has made some improvements but it’s not enough. She has a show coming up and she’ll never be able to play it if she can’t overcome her fears. So her therapist decides on exposure therapy. Someone will watch her all the time via cameras until she asks for it to stop.
This watcher decides to play things his own unorthodox way and that is all I can say. There is some sort of D/s kink and strong emotions and this book is so much you guys that I really have rambled forever about it in this review but you NEED this book in your life. Trust me. It’s brilliant.
Because of the title, the way it’s situated as a spin-off series, and “romance”, unfortunately a lot of people will miss how deep and beautiful this story truly is. It was nominated for a RITA and I can totally see why.
Do yourself a favor. Read this.
I also found JA Huss’s “End of Book Shit” really inspiring for this book. And in audio, she reads it herself so that really adds an extra something to it I think. I’ve written reader’s notes to my readers before, but for whatever stupid reason I was always putting them at the beginning of my books and I started cutting them out because I didn’t want to create friction between a new reader and the story with my rambling because they don’t know me yet, and frankly they don’t care what I have to say about my book.
Huss’s End of Book Shit makes me realize I can STILL do these personal reader notes… it just needs to go at the end. I haven’t figured out how I’ll work it with the other info I want readers to know when they finish a book (like where to find more stuff), and I definitely won’t call it “End of Book Shit”, that’s Huss’s thing. But I am definitely inspired by this “conversation” she has with her readers beyond the text of the book itself.
I’ve been a little bit of a Huss fangirl when it comes to her marketing prowess and how she handles her business in general. I’ve only recently discovered her work itself. And I’m so glad I gave it a try.
Once again, I’ve just finished reading a J.A. Huss book and I’m left floundering for the words. The words I need to string together intelligently to describe my thoughts on this book and to write a review that will be worthy of what I want and need to say about this story. She does this to me every time I read her latest release. She pieces together the most complex of stories, one that is so multilayered that you need to focus on nothing but this book, highlighting the crap out of passages you can review along the way and try to figure out where this story is going to go.
If you have already read the Turning series by Julie, you have met and probably fell in love with Jordan Wells. At least I did anyway. If you haven’t met him, don’t fret, you will not be missing out on anything because this book doesn’t have anything to do with the events that take place in that series. There are a few characters from that series that are integral to this story, but in a whole new way. And I am thinking that once you’ve read Total Exposure, you’ll be very tempted to go back and read the Turning series.
Evangeline Rolaine was a world renowned child prodigy, a violinist performing concerts for kings and heads of state by the time she was four years old. But all that attention, that total exposure, can really mess with a child’s head. So much so that by the time she was sixteen, she had a meltdown and has locked herself away in her apartment for the past decade, never performing again.
Enter Ixion, a man whose past is tied indelibly to Jordan’s. Once friends, but now nothing more than two men still trying to deal with events in the past that changed both of their lives forever. Jordan wants Ix to watch Evangeline. Just watch her in a house for a week. Don’t talk to her, don’t interact, never let her see you. She knows he will be there, so it’s more of a psychological game, a way of exposing Evangeline to the world again, all without talking to a single soul. Her doctor is forcing a tough love approach on her, because Evangeline has scheduled a comeback concert, and she’s not ready.
So just when you think you are following the path that Julie has laid out: heroine knows that “someone” is watching her to help her overcome her irrational fears, the path goes askew, and the game of Total Exposure is completely redefined. This plan to help Evangeline was originally thought up by Jordan, who has been playing a version of the Total Exposure game for a long time. Ixion is aware of Jordan’s game, having been his friend growing up and getting pulled into the games unwillingly. And it was one of Jordan’s games that completely changed their lives and ruined their friendship. What better way to get back at someone who has totally messed up your life than by changing their game?
I’m not going to say any more than that because it will ruin your reading experience and you need to go into the book with no preconceived notions. Just read it, experience it, feel what Ix and Evangeline feel. It gets pretty heavy at times! I felt a lot of feels for both Evangeline and Ix, in different ways and for different reasons. But I have to say I was spellbound by this story! Julie never fails to deliver a book that will totally screw with your head and your heart before bringing it to a most satisfying conclusion. And the epilogue sets us up for the next book in the series. I can’t wait for that one to see what happens next!
Hot and bothered!
The following ratings are out of 5:
Narration:
Romance:
Heat/Steam:
Story/Plot:
World building:
Character development:
The heroine: Evangeline – was a child violin prodigy who was used by her parents for fame and money. When she started to grow up the money started to dry up since she was no longer such an oddity. She grew up in the spotlight and after leaving her parents she became a recluse with an extreme phobia.
The Hero(es): Ixion (a.k.a. Ix) – his former friend Jordan, that he shares a mysterious past with asks him to do a favor. Jordan is a lawyer that makes things happen and he is working with a psychologist to help a female client in a very non-standard form of aversion therapy.
The Story: In order to get rid of her phobia so she can play the violin again, Evangeline’s therapist suggests she move into a house where she is being filmed all the time and watched by a man. Ix stays in the basement of the mansion Evangeline is staying at. He isn’t supposed to reveal himself or talk to her.
This was sizzling hot and made even better by the narration. Christian Fox has a deep and sensuous voice which hit every button of mine. I plan to search out more books that he narrated. His voice was so perfect for the stalkerish voyeur that is Ix. I loved that name as well. Elena Wolf did the female narration and I have been impressed with her in other books and she did a good job with this one as well. Teddy Hamilton was added for the mysterious Jordan.
There was a lot of mystery in this book. There was a long history between Jordan and Ix and every time he referred to the past, I kept looking for his name in the blurbs of other J.A. Huss books to see if I was missing something that happened in a previous book. Jordan is mentioned but not Ix, so it is certainly possible though the other people he mentioned don’t appear in the blurbs either. Everything was explained as the story progressed and I really like the way it was done.
I was hooked from the very beginning of this book! I love JA Huss and really enjoyed the Turning Point series, but this one had me from the very beginning. Hauntingly painful debilitating illness keeps her trapped in her home. As the truth slowly unravels and the planned therapy is outlined, I thought I knew what would happen. Nope! From the very beginning I had no idea what would happen next. Just when I thought I had it all figured out the plot would shift and I was completely lost again in the twists and turns. Jordan is an absolute game master!!
Narration is definitely on point – just absolutely perfect! I love all of these narrators, but they all knocked it out of the park with this one. Absolutely exquisite! What a ride!!
You can always count on J.A Huss to write and original, steamy, ROMANTIC book!
WOW! Once again she did it, she gets me sucked into the story and I just cant stop! Turning series was so awesome and now I decided to start Jordan’s game and it’s just so good. Onto book 2 now.
Evangeline is afraid of being seen. I get that. I have an issue with being out amongst the people myself, although mine is not a phobia as much as hers. Ix has issues as well, but in typical JA Huss fashion, his issues are slowly revealed throughout the story and come crashing down on him in the end. This was a great book, a different premise than I was expecting, although I should have learned by now to expect the unexpected with JA Huss. Jordan is my man, and I’m looking forward to whatever I can get of him. And I’m still dying for full on m/m one of these days.
This is a spin off of sorts from the Turning Series novels. You don’t need to have read them, but you should anyway. They are super hot and great stories.
Another brilliant read from JA Huss, you never know what you’re going to get with her books, this is no exception. Mind fucks galore, expect the unexpected, let the games commence!!
Have you read the Turning Series?? So you know what sort of games to expect, except this is JA Huss, nothing is ever as it seems!! This is so not what I was expecting!!
This is one of those books where you can’t give much away, just the basics.
So Jordan’s in the business of fixing people, by whatever means. He’s asked to help Evangeline, a child prodigy violinist, who now cannot stand people to look at her, and is living the life of a recluse.
The answer is to flood her senses of being watched all the time, so a watcher, Ixion, sets up a house to do just that. Of course there are rules and procedures he must follow, right?!
Thoroughly engrossing, completely enthralling, I couldn’t turn the pages quick enough. That said I had whiplash trying to keep up with what was happening. A slow burn of a romance, but emotionally intense, riveting, on-the-edge-of-my-seat gripping.
This is just the start of Jordan’s Games, I can’t wait for more in this series!!!
I finally got to start this series and am glad I did. Evangeline and Ixion are wonderful! Jordan Wells is the Game Master and his games are for pleasure. But when a friend asks for his help with a patient he is reluctant. After rethinking he decides he has the perfect person for the job. Someone he owes so much to and who absolutely hates him.
Evangeline’s tragic experiences with her past makes her fearful of being seen and she becomes a recluse. Ixion’s past makes him emotionless except for deep seated anger he holds. When the person Ix holds the most anger for bails him out of jail and asks him to do a job for him, he is defiant and refuses. Two weeks, one house, just watch. Do not speak, do not touch.
She is afraid she cannot do this. He watches her struggle from the first moment. When she needs help how can he just sit and watch? A notebook and a crackling intercom system will be a bridge to help them purge the pains and angers they hold. As well as a bridge to help them come together in the most unusual ways. The last chapter will blow you away.
Jordan Wells: Game Master with ulterior motives
Ixion Vanir: Watcher, stuck in the past by his anger and his guilt
Evangeline Rolaine: Child prodigy, used up by her parents, recluse, her solitude is killing her
Avoiding people and their watching eyes has been Evangeline’s life for years. Seeking professional help is the first step but it seems she can go no farther. Last ditch effort – put her in an environment of being watched 24/7. Ixion is hired as the watcher but can he do just that or will he more. Self discovery, self acknowledgement, self forgiveness are what result from Jordan’s game of Total Exposure as Ix and Evangeline tell each other their stories and gain understanding of themselves.
What an intriguing read. The complexity and depth of these characters is incredibly moving. Their journey to each other is powerful.
Though provoking as well as very intertaining.
I thought it was slow getting started. And the author eeked out the background story way too slowly. I understand an author dribbling the background in, but this was drawn out way too much. We don’t know what happened in the past until nearly the end of the book. Excessive use of the word “Fuck”. On the plus side, it was romantic. I was moved to tears twice. The characters were great and it wasn’t violent and they didn’t wind up with everyone pregnant and happy about it. The sex was hot, hot, hot!
It is a different concept. Loved the orginality.
I thought this was an interesting twist of a story. I enjoyed the “watching” of the client/patient, wondering whether she would really stand for it or not. Different therapy for different people…..engaging.
I loved the Taking Turns series and was looking forward to what I thought was Jordan’s story. Turns out this isn’t his story, which I was OK with. However I just didn’t care. I didn’t care about the characters or the plot. I didn’t get drawn into the story, I didn’t get excited about what would happen and at 25% I returned the book for a refund as I just had no interest in continuing with it.
The writing technically was good, as is the editing etc. It just wasn’t for me. Perhaps the pace picked up and I’ve missed a good book, but if I’m not invested in the story a quarter of the way through then I’m not wasting more time on it. I also didn’t care for the fact that there were lots of secrets being hinted at but it felt like no real progress was made to finding out what they were. It felt like I didn’t know what was going on because I wasn’t being told anything, which just frustrated me.
I’m sure many fans of the author will enjoy this, it just didn’t work for me.
The thing that I love most about reading JA Huss’s books are that I constantly looking for the hidden meaning or clues as to what is really happening because almost every single time, the words in front of you have so many more meanings than you think but you never know until the end. Total Exposure is exactly what I’m talking about. This book is full of lies, deceit, secrets, regret, fear, manipulation and finally an ending that was impossible to predict. We met Jordan (and several other characters) in the Turning series and realized very late that he had his own games going. This is the first book in his game and it starts off in the most amazing way possible. Jordan is an attorney by day and a game maker by night, when he receives a call to start a new game he is hesitant but calls his old best friend to take the job. Meet Ixion…he is the new player in this game but changes the rules almost immediately. Evangeline is the only one who didn’t going into it knowing what to expect but she won far more than anyone anticipated.
I can not recommend this book enough, I highly suggest that you go ahead, pick up this book now and start immediately. This is one that you will not want to miss. (You can read this book without reading the other series.)
Total Exposure is the first book in a spin-off series of the author’s Taking Turns series. Jordan Wells, who we met in the original series has taken up the game and seriously upped the ante. But this isn’t Jordan’s story, it’s just his game.
Jordan’s childhood friend, Ixion Vanir, is alone and believes he likes it that way, until Jordan ‘rescues’ him and convinces him to come home because, ‘he’s the only man for the job’. Be the watcher and follow the rules.
Evangeline Rolaine has issues, deep seeded, disturbing issues and she resigns herself to the fact that if she’s ever to have any kind of life again she must take a leap into this peculiar brand of ‘treatment’. Be watched and follow the rules.
Julie Huss takes us on another mind bending journey, full of gasp worthy reveals and heart breaking secrets. The layers in this story are peeled back painstakingly slow. It’s a story of betrayal and deceit, acceptance and determination and of course, sacrifice and love. In true Huss form, the characters are complex and unique and could only ever be one half of the other’s whole. I truly love her HEAs <3
Some old and loved characters from the Taking Turns series stop in for a visit, but this is a standalone series, you do not need to read Taking Turns to appreciate Jordan's Game. But in my personal opinion, you'll want to.