Skin (Paperback)

by Karin Tabke (Author)
Key Phrases: skin warmed, Reese Barrett, Francesca Donatello, Miss Donatello (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
From the author of Good Girl Gone Bad comes the sizzling tale of an undercover cop who shows a little skin to get in with the mob -- and the sexy mafia princess who gets in the way....

Curvaceous and feisty, Francesca Donatello is the owner of Skin, an upscale woman's magazine and her pride and joy. To boost sales, she's decided to feature a smoldering male centerfold in each issue -- even though it was once forbidden by her rigid father, a recently murdered mob boss. He always doubted her ability as a businesswoman, and now Francesca is even more determined to succeed. So when she meets sexy, charismatic model Reese Barrett, she knows he is perfect, and perfectly chiseled, for the job.

From the moment Reese sheds his clothes for the photo shoot, business becomes pleasure, and both are overcome with unadulterated desire for each other. But what Francesca doesn't realize is that Reese is a cop who's using her to infiltrate the Donatello family and find out who murdered her father. Even she is a suspect. But it soon becomes apparent that someone wants Francesca as dead as her father. As they dodge bullets and bodies Francesca and Reese shed secrets and inhibitions -- and learn that they must trust each other to survive.

About the Author
Karin Tabke's life fosters the term "controlled chaos." Mother of four, wife to one, and CEO of her own business, she manages to find time between her sons' and husband's football games (he's a coach), her daughters' dramas, and troubleshooting in the office to write some really sexy stuff, such as her two previous erotic novels from Pocket Books -- Good Girl Gone Bad and Skin -- her novella in the Pocket anthology What You Can't See, and her upcoming sensual Christmas novel -- Have Yourself a Naughty Little Santa, coming this fall from Pocket Star. Karin Tabke is also hard at work on her debut historical romance series, The Blood Sword Legacy, the first two books of which, Master of Surrender and Master of Torment, are coming soon from Pocket Books and Pocket Star Books.

Visit her website at www.karintabke.com.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Pocket (April 17, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416524924
• ISBN-13: 978-1416524922
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #331,124 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very hot, very steamy, May 21, 2007

By	Jill James "jill" (California) - See all my reviews

The story is hot, the characters are hotter, and the love scenes are hottest.

Francesca "Frankie" and Reese burn up the pages. Frankie wants to save her magazine SKIN, bring respect to one business run by her Mafia family, and not fall for her latest model for the magazine, Reese. Too bad in her world all is not as it seems. Bad guys are around every corner and she and Reese must run for their lives and run from their feelings for each other.

Ms. Tabke has written a very hot, very steamy police procedural with enough twists and turns in the plotline to keep you guessing to the last page. Definite 4 star read.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is an excellent book!, March 31, 2007

By	Laurie (OH - USA) - See all my reviews

A mafia princess unknowingly hires an undercover detective to pose nude for her magazine, while he attempts to figure out who killed her kingpin father. The two end up going on the run to elude whoever is now trying to kill her - in SKIN, the latest offering from Karin Tabke.

Francesca "Frankie" Donatello runs her family-owned magazine, Skin, and while all the rest of this organized crime family's businesses are on the shady side, Frankie's magazine is squeaky clean. Shortly before Frankie's father, Santini, is assassinated, the two had an ugly falling out over Frankie's decision to feature male centerfolds in her magazine. Santini was adamantly opposed to Frankie's determination to proceed, even threatening to write her out of his will. When Frankie's brother, Anthony, makes threats against her unless she desists with her centerfold plan, she shrugs it off to his selfish desire to control all of the family's holdings. The police are working Santini's murder, and in the course of their investigation, have sent detective Reese Barrett to audition for the male centerfold position. Frankie feels a definite attraction to Reese but because she was recently burned by the man she loved, she's hesitant to let herself get attached to anyone. After several attempts are made on her life, and Reese offers to act as her bodyguard and her centerfold, she relents and hires him.

Reese's colleagues are convinced that Frankie played a part in her father's death, but he isn't so sure. Reese plays the part of male model very well, so well in fact that Frankie never suspects him of being a detective, until he does such a stellar job of protecting her, and then there is a slight niggling in the back of her mind that he almost seems to have some police training. When evidence begins to point a guilty finger at Frankie and the attacks against her almost seem staged, Reese starts to have his doubts. Once he begins to fall for her and the threats against her become more brazen, he takes her into hiding.

Karin Tabke doesn't write sweet romances. Her characters are passionate about every aspect of their life, be it work or play. They take their beliefs and their actions very seriously, and are selective about who they share them with, striving to always be the best. I can't give a high enough recommendation for SKIN and strongly encourage anyone who loves an edgy, suspenseful romance with shamelessly intense passion to run out and get a copy.
COURTESY LAURIE/ROMANCE JUNKIES

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars exciting sizzling police procedural romance , April 7, 2007

By	Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews (#1 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

The only legitimate business that the Donatello family owns is Skin, which Francesca "Frankie" Donatello is turning into a skin magazine for women. Her father Santini doesn't like his only daughter being involved in such an enterprise and at their last meeting harsh words were exchanged that could never be taken back because someone killed him soon afterward. Frankie is looking for a spectacular model to boost sales and gain more advertisements and Reese Bronson fits the bill.

Frankie has doubts about the hunk because he stimulates her hormones until she feels like she is in a Bronson fever. What she doesn't know is that he is an undercover officer who works the case of who killed Santini. Frankie is the only honest person in her dysfunctional family but it takes her a while to believe someone has taken a hit out on her. Reese's colleagues believe the mafia princess killed her father for embezzling funds from the magazine and she arranged it to look like her life was in danger. Reese doesn't want to believe it because he has fallen for Frankie but the evidence starts pointing to her being a stone cold killer.

SKIN is an exciting sizzling police procedural romance that will appeal to readers who like a lot of sex in their romantic suspense novels. Karin Tabke is a first rate storyteller who creates characters that the audience will like. It is fascinating to watch the heroine be surrounded by criminals and stay honest and clean with nary a parking ticket to her name. Yet the author plants seeds of doubt in the form of evidence that makes the audience wonder if the mafia princess is a sociopath or a framed innocent.

Harriet Klausner