"Full Exposure", by Tracy Wolff – Review

NAL Trade (January 6, 2009)
ISBN-10: 0451225961
ISBN-13: 978-0451225962

Closing herself off to a traumatic past, photographer Serena Macafee likes sex with no strings attached. No commitment. Just pure pleasure. Her new subject, sculptor Kevin Riley, is the perfect man to fulfill her hottest fantasies. Where better than the torrid wetlands of Baton Rouge where Riley works-and plays? But as their affair heats up, so do Serena’s intimate feelings for Kevin. And as her guard breaks down, her fears are aroused.

She’s opening herself up to emotions she never wanted, and making herself vulnerable to a past she thought she’d escaped. One that has followed her to the sweltering southern bayou, exposing her to the twisted fantasies of someone in the shadows, and to dangers beyond her control.

Excerpt & Order Information

I came to know of Tracy Wolff’s work when she was doing promotional blog tours at the time of “Tie Me Down’s” release. After reading the synopsis and excerpt, I decided it may well be a book I would enjoy and picked it up and it has been waiting in my TBR. In the meantime, Tracy contacted me about guesting here at closetwriter and as any of you know who have stopped by this week she wrote a wonderful post which was published on Monday. I’m happy to say I thoroughly enjoyed “Full Exposure” a book I couldn’t resist when I read about it at Tracy’s website.

When here on Monday, Tracy talked about the cover of “Full Exposure”, and noted, “I had almost no input on that cover—I said I wanted something to reflect the heat (Louisiana bayou in the summertime and Kevin is an iron sculptor who welds his pieces together) and something that reflected Serena hiding away and Kevin slowly stripping her defenses from her.”

I completely agree with Tracy, the cover for Full Exposure is perfect for the exact reasons she mentioned.

Full Exposure

Serena Macaffee is a gifted photographer whose career is about to take off. She is working on a photo-shoot for a book that will showcase talented, brilliant and temperamental artist Kevin Riley’s work. Serena however finds herself attracted to Kevin for more than his art, and what woman wouldn’t be?

Enjoying the quite and solitude, Kevin makes his home in an isolated spot on the Louisiana Bayou, where he has constructed his house and studio. I have a real weakness for Cajun men in a romance novel, I think it’s their accents, often the penchant for speaking Cajun French and their charisma. Kevin Riley epitomizes this as a strong, dominant, charismatic, Alpha who communicates his deepest feelings and emotions through his art. He doesn’t enjoy the socializing and “schmoozing” required by the Art world to patronize his work. In fact, he barely tolerates it. After being used by a previous girlfriend for his fame, Kevin does have commitment issues with respect to women. Then, at the insistence of his agent, Serena enters his life.

I know I’ve used this phrase in the past to describe heroes or heroines with tragic pasts but I can’t think of a more apt adage for Serena than to say she is one of humanity’s ‘walking wounded’, for good reason. Serena witnessed the brutal murder of her twin sister Sandra 11 years previous to the opening of the story. The circumstances surrounding her sister’s murder caused Serena horrendous guilt and to essentially live in fear leading quite an isolated life. She doesn’t allow color in her life, living in shades of gray, but is able to find solace and expresses herself through her photography. Serena has kept infrequent relationships with men very casual, she prides herself on control. That is until Kevin enters her life and begins to at first knock, then beat at the walls she has erected around herself until they slowly crumble.

Like it’s setting, the overall tone of this novel is hot, sultry, sensual. The sexual attraction between Serena and Kevin crackles and bursts into an inferno. This is a highly erotic sexually explicit novel and Kevin likes to take control in the bedroom. There are however a few scenes where the roles are reversed. All I can say is the sensuality Ms. Wolff pens between these two will curl your toes.

Serena however is rife with emotional issues that she considers to be neuroses. She is absolutely terrified of getting deeply involved with Kevin and as he peels away the layers of her armor she begins to panic and tries to push him away. Even though I experienced some frustration with this heroine and her inability to commit to Kevin, I could empathize and understand her fright and flight response when she begins to have strong feelings for him given her history. Kevin recognizes Serena’s fears and while he is a consuming lover, he is also a patient one.

Ms. Wolff also penned a suspense subplot into this story. Serena has a stalker, a deranged sociopath whose depraved acts and behavior toward her escalate as the plot progresses. What makes the read even more suspenseful and creepy is that Ms. Wolff takes you inside the mind of the man who is stalking her. As a reader, I wasn’t sure until a frightening standoff at the novel’s conclusion who the madman was. If you choose to read “Full Exposure”, his identity is likely to surprize you.

“Full Exposure”, is a fast paced, sensual and emotional read and I’m looking forward to reading Ms. Wolff’s subsequent novels “Tie Me Down”, and “Tease Me”. If you enjoy a very hot, erotic suspense novel, you may like to give “Full Exposure” a try.

Rating: 4/5 stars
Heat Level: Like the book cover, it’s an inferno
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