Review : Exposed by Brighton Walsh

Summary (from Goodreads)

Title : Exposed (Captive #2)
Author : Brighton Walsh
Publication Date : July 21st 2015
Publisher : St. Martin's Press
Goodreads - Amazon - Barnes & Noble

In this sexy, suspenseful New Adult novel, a young woman hiding from her criminal past is taken captive by her ex-boyfriend, the ultimate bad boy.

Evie is about to embark on the perfect life. Beautiful, poised, and engaged to a rising business star, she fits the part of trophy wife perfectly, except for one thing: her entire identity is a lie.

Five years ago she created a new identity for herself, but it all crashes back when something she witnessed years ago comes back to haunt her. Now she's in danger of losing more than her social status.

Determined to protect the careful life she's built for herself, Evie doesn't want anything to do with Riley, the criminal for hire who broke her heart years ago. But Riley has other ideas. He's never forgotten Evie, and to protect her, he steals her away. Hidden from the world, sparks begin to fly as old memories resurface and their passion reignites.

Personal Thoughts

I fell in love with Brighton Walsh's writing in Captive earlier this year and I was excited about reading the companion to the series, Exposed. Riley certainly impressed me in the first book, and I knew that if he was related to Ghost (MAJOR SWOON) from Captive, I was about to meet yet another book boyfriend.

I was right. I loved Riley's character so much. Perhaps not as much as Ghost, because Ghost is always going to be my favorite Brighton Walsh boy, but Riley was definitely a character who was as swoon-worthy as his brother. His protective, alpha male personality had me fanning myself. He was also really mysterious and tended not to be the most vocal (until he got into the bedroom with his lady ;) ), and if you know me at all, you know how drawn I am to super mysterious love interests. Despite him being very protective, I never felt like he held behind Evie, which was great. Evie wasn't a character I instantly bonded with. From the beginning we knew that she was running away from something terrible, which forced her to leave behind Riley. While I wasn't completely okay with how she left things with Riley, I eventually grew to understand where she was coming from. I thought Evie was really brave for facing everything that she did without saying a word. Did I appreciate the secrets she kept from her ex-fiance whose life could have been in danger because of her? No. But still, I understood her state of mind. She was very much a broken character, but she did not act like the one scarring events of her childhood completely defined her life. I liked that she actually stood up on her two feet and made her own decisions.

Speaking of the scarring events, that was one part that I could have done without in Exposed. While I think that discussions about rape and incest are important in books, I have found that the rough past storyline has become a pet peeve of mine. Still, I thought Brighton Walsh handled it all with a lot of tact by not making Evie a weak character. I also liked that Evie did not need a romance to help her overcome her issues. Romance is something that Brighton Walsh excels at, so I had no doubt that she would make me super jealous of the couple she wrote in Exposed too. Once again, Brighton Walsh's couples had steaming chemistry that had the potential to burn up my Nook and this author certainly knows how to write sexy scenes that turn readers like myself into giggling school girls. Exposed also had one of my favorite romance tropes of all-time, the second chance romance. I would have loved to see a lot more of Evie and Riley in the past, but obviously that's me being selfish since I loved them together. I've said this before, but Brighton Walsh's writing is phenomenal. In Exposed, it was no different. She makes you feel like you're actually part of the story, sensing all the emotions that the characters go through, which isn't a quality that many authors possess.

While Captive remains my favorite in the series because no one can top Ghost and Maddie, Exposed was still a successful companion for me. If my review does not make it clear, if you have not read a Brighton Walsh fan and are a fan of contemporary romances, seriously, stop reading this and go to your online bookstore and one-click purchase all of her books, because they are a romance reader's version of drugs.

Rating

Cover : 4/5
Plot : 3/5
Characters : 3/5
Writing : 5/5

**Overall Rating : 3.5/5**


Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the e-ARC of Exposed.

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