ARC Review: Yours to Bare by Jessica Hawkins

Book Title: Yours to Bare
Author: Jessica Hawkins
Series: Standalone
Release Date: December 8th, 2016
Genres: Contemporary Romance

Finn

No matter how cruel it’s been in the past, I’ve never been able to flip fate the bird. I’m a romantic at heart. So when fate drops a leather-bound journal at my feet, I know I should walk away.

I don't. I pick her up, bend her spine, spread her pages. From the first word, I’m a goner. The owner didn’t give me access to her most intimate desires, but I devour them anyway. Her private darkness, her candid, explicit poetry—it all goes down like warm milk. And from that point forward, I drink, eat, and sleep her.

Halston

I went to his apartment and let him take my picture. Just once, to see how it would feel. I’m not his to look at, to inspire, to touch, but when he watches me through his lens, it gives me a high I don’t want to come down from…

My journal is the one place I can be myself—as long as I can tie it up and put it away when I’m finished. But when Finn undoes the bow, he pulls strings that could unravel each of us.

Yours to Bare is the steamy spin-off book from Slip of the Tongue featuring our holy hotness photographer Finn Cohen. First off, this can be read as a complete standalone, however I think knowing his backstory a bit was helpful to understanding the man he was going into this book. 

Single dad, struggling photographer, Finn finds a large leather journal in a coffee shop. His curiosity getting the best of him, Finn cracks it open and is astounded by the captions he reads. Raw, sexy, profound. He must find its owner because, seriously, this is what fantasies are made of.

Own me with your fingers. Trace the aches on my chest, touch the words it hurts me to say, press the exposed nerves around my heart until you hear my begging in your dreams.

Halston Fox, an art marketing specialist, cannot believe she lost her journal. Her deepest, darkest thoughts. Fear and shame prevent her from outwardly asking the barista if it was turned in but it feels a part of her is lost. Until one post, one date written in the planner finds her face to face with him...the man who found her journal and knows her deepest thoughts.

Finn, although just meeting Halston, feels as if he already knows her after reading Jeremy private journal. But the woman on the outside, the woman who has a totally different "face" for the world, is completely different. Beautiful yet so insecure, her confidence gone...

Yours to Bare is one of those books about destiny. Finding that one person under the strangest of circumstances that truly is exactly what you need...who understands you like no other. Both Finn and Halston have walls built from their past yet their connection and mutual love of art combine to make a heady, sultry romance. It's erotic, her use of steamy words combined with his skill with the camera. They're truly an art form when they come together both professionally and physically. So if you're looking for sexy, artistic, slightly angsty romance, this book hits the spot.

Advanced review copy received by the author in exchange for my honest review.

Jessica Hawkins grew up between the purple mountains and under the endless sun of Palm Springs, California. She studied international business at Arizona State University and has also lived in Costa Rica and New York City. To her, the most intriguing fiction is forbidden, and that’s what you’ll find in her stories. Currently, she resides wherever her head lands, which is often the unexpected (but warm) keyboard of her trusty MacBook.