Carly's Book Reviews: Strip Search by Morticia Knight: #Review #ExclusiveExcerpt #NewRelease #Giveaway @MorticiaKnight @PridePromo

Cover Artist: Posh Gosh

Strip Search

(Sin City Uniforms, Book 7)

by Morticia Knight

Length: 52,000 words
Categories: Contemporary, Crime Fiction, Erotica, Gay (M/M) & Bisexual, Romance, Mystery, Thriller

A sexy stripper attempts to escape his dangerously obsessed boss while searching for his missing younger brother.

Stripping used to be fun, lucrative and a place for Dakota to practice for his professional dancing career. But the owner of Glitter Boys wants Dakota for himself and will stop at nothing to possess him. When his thirteen year-old brother runs away from home to escape their abusive father, Dakota is determined to find him before something awful happens to him on the streets.

Patrol officer Reed hasn’t been attracted to a man in a very long time, but when he’s called to an assault in progress at the LGBTQ teen shelter, a young man approaches him, begging for help in finding his missing brother. An instant spark occurs, but he pushes it away. When the same man is attacked outside a strip club later that night, he discovers the desire is mutual.

As the two men learn more about each other and become closer, the spectre of his obsessed ex-boss remains. In addition to that, Dakota has to fight the system to gain guardianship of his brother and keep him out of foster care. Dakota doesn’t know if the hunky cop he’s fallen so hard for can handle a relationship with an ex-stripper struggling with raising a teenager. But, will Reed be able to give up dating women for good and dedicate himself to their new family?

Reed lay on his sleeping bag, stretched out under the stars. He gazed up at the blackness dotted with so many pinpoints of light. It was one of his favorite things, to be so far out in the desert that the glow from the city didn’t mask the beauty of the heavens.

“Come out here pumpkin, the view is unbelievable.”

“Dad. Quit calling me that.” Kelli had unzipped the tent flap just enough to stick her head out. “You sound like a dork.”

“Says the girl wearing a panda hat with panda paws as mittens.”

She mock gasped. “Are you saying I look like a dork?”

“Well, if the panda hat fits…”

“Har har. Dad, seriously. It’s legit freezing out there.”

Reed rolled to his side then poked the campfire with a long stick, trying to stoke some life back into it. “I guess our outdoor heater could use a boost.” He pushed himself up from the ground then ambled over to the flatbed of his truck. There were still four more bundles. He figured they could use one more for the night, then save the other three for Saturday. After he’d built the fire back up to a more roaring blaze, Kelli finally ventured forth from the safety of the tent.

“Oh my God. I thought I was gonna die. No joke.” Kelli plopped down on one end of the bag, then held her hands in front of the flames, rubbing them together before extending her palms out.

Reed regarded her with fondness, even as his chest tightened. The knowledge that there probably wouldn’t be many more camping excursions brought home the stark reality that his little girl was growing up. Kelli gave him a sideways glance.

“What?”

Reed chuckled. “I can’t believe how big you’ve gotten.”

Her gasp wasn’t mocking that time. “Are you calling me fat?”

It was difficult keeping up with his fourteen-year-old daughter’s rapid mood changes. “No. Of course not. I’d never say anything like that to you, pumpkin.”

“And, Dad? Ditch the ‘pumpkin’. For real.”

He pushed away the hurt that had filled him at her words. She’s not a kid anymore. I probably wouldn’t want anyone calling me that either. “Sure. Can I still call you sweetie?”

She rolled her eyes with unnecessary exaggeration. “If you must.”

He attempted a lighthearted smile, not wishing to let any melancholy intrude on their precious time together. “A dad’s gotta have something, right?”

She nodded, her mood abruptly shifting again. “So, you really don’t think I’m fat?”

If his head could spin, it would’ve. “What on earth are you talking about?”

She shrugged one shoulder. She’d stopped warming her hands and had switched her attention to drawing in the dirt with a small twig. “Just this guy at school. I like him a lot, and we always talk and laugh a lot in shop, but I overheard him telling another guy that he’d never ask me out because I’m too fat.”

Reed stifled an enraged response. Instead, he attempted to come across as matter-of-fact. “Then he’s an idiot.” Not quite as reasonable as I’d intended.

“Dad. You’re just saying that because I’m your daughter and you don’t like girls that way anyway. So how would you know what a straight guy likes?”

She might as well have slapped him. He shook his head as he tried to process what she’d said.

“Whoa. Wait a minute. I’m not just saying that because I’m your dad. In addition, I do like girls that way, despite what you think.”

She scrunched her eyebrows as she considered him. “Then why were you kissing your friend Mark back when he used to come over all the time?”

He dropped his head in his hands. They’d always been so careful and Mark had never stayed over when he’d had Kelli with him. The fact that he had a kid was a big contributor to their break-up, but he’d never let Kelli know that.

He took a deep breath then straightened. “I never meant for you to see us like that.”

“Because you’re ashamed to be gay?”

Reed shook his head vehemently. “No. Not at all. I never meant for you to see that because you were ten years old, my daughter, and if Mark had been a woman I still wouldn’t have kissed him, I mean her, in front of you. Not unless I was sure that he –“ He smacked his forehead -“ or she might be the one.” He sighed. “Dammit.”

Kelli snorted out a giggle.

“What I’m trying to say, yet doing an abysmal job of it, is that I’m bisexual. Not gay.”

“Ohhhh. I don’t think Mom realizes that.”

He was afraid to ask. “What makes you say that?”

“Well, I overheard her telling Jerry that it was the reason you guys got divorced.”

His gut clenched, but he didn’t want to let on that he was upset in any way with her mother. “Well, she must’ve had a reason for saying that.” He cleared his throat, the tension becoming awkward between them. Never used to happen. “And anyway, you sure manage to overhear and see a lot of stuff, snoopy.” He gave her a good-natured jostle with his elbow.

“Whatever. I can’t help it if people are bad at hiding things.”

“Uh-huh. Sure.” He winked at her. “Just so you know, though, I have nothing to hide from you, okay?”

“Thanks, Dad.”

5 of 5 Stars

As soon as each installment in the Sin City Uniforms series hits my kindle it becomes my new favorite. Every dramatic, emotional, erotic and suspenseful moment that is Strip Search works. Dakota is amazing, fearless, tender, and staunchly devoted to his brother- essentially; the perfect balance of fragility and strength. His personality shines so brightly it jumps off the page and it's no surprise that Reed is instantly drawn to him. Reed is a single father, dedicated patrol officer and, most notably, a lonely man. He's neglected his own needs for so long that, when the opprotunity presents itself, he soaks up Dakota's love like a sponge. Twice as strong together as they are apart, they will need the entirety of their combined efforts to weather the stormy days coming their way.

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Author Morticia Knight spends most of her nights writing about men loving men forever after. If there happens to be some friendly bondage or floggings involved, she doesn’t begrudge her characters whatever their filthy little heart’s desire. Even though she’s been crafting her naughty tales for more years than she’d like to share – her adventures as a published author began in 2011. Once upon a time she was the lead singer in an indie rock band that toured the West Coast and charted on U.S. college radio. She currently resides on the northern Oregon coast and when she’s not fantasizing about hot men she takes walks along the ocean and annoys the local Karaoke bar patrons.

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Contest Information: Morticia Knight is doing a special, exclusive blog tour for her upcoming release, Strip Search (Sin City Uniforms 7). She'll visit five or six blogs only, and there will be an exclusive excerpt at each one. However, what makes this tour different is that one of those excerpts is an event that happened in Morticia's real life. Part of the giveaway will be for the readers to guess which is the correct one. They can only choose one excerpt to qualify to win. Of those who choose the correct excerpt, the winner will be chosen at random.

The excerpts will be given to the blogs at random - not even Pride Promotions will know which is the winning excerpt. The blog with the winning excerpt has the option to bring Morticia back to talk about the actual event and to offer another giveaway - if the blog chooses to do that.