Sometimes I need a little feathers, glitter, and body oil (okay I never need body oil) with my Romance.

 

Here are some great Romances where heroines (and sometimes heroes) make or made their living working a pole, doing the bump and grind, and other sexy topless dancing. 

 

Strippers and Showgirls in Romance! My lists are never in any particular order. 

 

1. Forever Buckhorn: GabeJordan (The Buckhorn Brothers) by Lori Foster

 

Jordan

Jordan Somerville thinks he wants a woman who's a paragon of virtue. But then the gentle veterinarian—rescuer of strays—meets Georgia Barnes, single mother and exotic dancer. She's a far cry from Jordan's dream woman—and she's made it clear that he's hardly her dream man, either. So why is he suddenly tempted to break all his own rules?

 

2. Lightning that Lingers Sharon Curtis

 

Philip Brooks is a man with a passion for biology, wildlife, and restoring his old family home—all of which add up to a pile of bills that require attention. Moonlighting as the Cougar Club’s hottest dancer is a job, nothing more, nothing less—until lovely Jennifer Hamilton nearly faints during one of his shows. Her sweet innocence tugs at his heart and makes him painfully aware of his longing for the kind of love a woman as perfect and real as Jennifer can offer.
 
Watching her most secret fantasy come to life on the dance floor is almost more than Jennifer can bear. Now, the sexiest man she’s ever met is near enough to hold. For a shy, bookish lady with little experience in the romance department, life feels as if it’s spinning out of control—and not in the direction, or with the kind of man, she ever imagined. Can she believe in the passion Philip ignites and take a chance on a dance that could last a lifetime?

 

3. Solar Flare by Autumn Dawn

 

Hero goes undercover as a stripper. Slow burn.

Azor agreed to take Brandy off planet to avoid a scandal, never knowing they’d ignite a white hot passion of their own. Sassy, sexy, Brandy makes him burn. If the hostile aliens don’t kill him, his companion just might.

Hunted by a shapeshifting assassin, fighting an infection that's killing her, he knows that time is short. Can he reach her distant family before time runs out?

 

4. Dark Needs at Night's Edge by Kresley Cole

 

A RAVEN-HAIRED TEMPTRESS OF THE DARK...

Néomi Laress, a famous ballerina from a past century, became a phantom the night she was murdered. Imbued with otherworldly powers but invisible to the living, she haunts her beloved home, scaring away trespassers -- until she encounters a ruthless immortal even more terrifying than Néomi herself.

A VAMPIRE WARRIOR CONSUMED BY MADNESS...

To prevent him from harming others, Conrad Wroth's brothers imprison him in an abandoned manor. But there, a female only he can see seems determined to drive him further into madness. The exquisite creature torments him with desire, leaving his body racked with lust and his soul torn as he finds himself coveting her for his own.

HOW FAR WILL HE GO TO CLAIM HER?

Yet even if Conrad can win Néomi, evil still surrounds her. Once he returns to the brutality of his past to protect her, will he succumb to the dark needs seething inside him?

 

5. Skintight by Susan Andersen

 

Professional poker player Jax Gallagher should have known better than to wager a World Series baseball that wasn't his to lose. Now the man who won the collectible is demanding his prize... or else. Trouble is, the ball is owned by his estranged father's widow--a flamboyant Las Vegas showgirl. Jax will do whatever it takes to get it back.

Yet Treena McCall is anything but the ruthless gold digger Jax expects. She's built a life for herself filled with good friends and hard work. And she's got enough on her plate trying to hang on to her job as a dancer without being wined, dined and seduced by sexy Jax Gallagher....

 

6. The Notorious Scoundrel by Alexandra Benedict

 

Like an irresistible siren, the veiled dancer with the bewitching green eyes lures dukes and earls down into London's underworld to see her dance--and succumb to her spell. Some say she's a princess, but only one man knows her darkest secret.

She is Amy Peel, an orphan from the city's rookeries, and she believes the bold rogue who unmasks her to be nothing but a scoundrel--albeit a dangerously handsome one. He may have rescued her from an attempted kidnapping, but she will not give in to his sensual seduction or to the wicked desire she begins to feel . . .

He is Edmund Hawkins, swashbuckling pirate turned reluctant gentleman, and he will not let the lovely Amy slip through his grasp, especially when he learns she's in greater peril than she could possibly know. He will do everything in his power to protect her--for this notorious scoundrel has truly, unbelievably, lost his heart . . .

 

7. Stripping Her Gears by Sahara Kelly

 

She's a long-legged blonde who loves people and dancing and needs a part time job. What could be better than joining the staff of Boston's hottest private club - Goggles and Cogs. In her Steampunk outfit, Cora Standish taps her way through old-time music hall numbers three nights a week and waits tables as well, loving every minute of it.

Jack Brandon is thrilled his club is a success and fascinated by one particular blonde. When an old friend books a bachelor party for a closed door event, Jack offers three of his best girls a chance to make some big money. All they have to do is entertain--in the style of the best burlesque shows. He's torn between business and desire. He wants the booking but would rather have Cora strip just for him.

When the power fails, Jack and Cora take a chance...learning that lap dances are more erotic when done in semi-darkness and that passion doesn't need anything but the right couple. But are they right for each other? A stupid mistake may wreck it all and strip her gears for ever...

 

8. Beefcake & Cupcakes by Judi Fennell

 

Sugar is sweet, but so is revenge

All Lara Cavallo wants to do is make her bakery business, Cavallo's Cups & Cakes, a success, and be able to stop accepting alimony from her rotten, cheating ex-husband. But first she needs to find her clothes and escape the strange hotel room she wakes up in before she embarrasses herself any further in front the owner of that gorgeous naked keister she spots through the bathroom door. She needs to keep her mind on her cupcakes. She doesn't have time for beefcake, no matter how enticing.

Cupcakes are sweet, and so is Lara…

All Gage Tomlinson wants is to find a way to help his single-mom sister pay the hospital bills for his six-year-old nephew, badly injured in a hit and run accident. Working construction during the day and as the owner of the exotic male dance troupe BeefCake, Inc. by night doesn't leave much time for indulgence. Too bad the sweetest thing he's seen in ages passes out on him and then takes off before he even gets a nibble. He's got a sweet tooth, and only Lara's "cupcakes" will satisfy him.

But when cupcake finally meets beefcake, it's hot enough to melt the buttercream right off the cake.

 

9. Bride of Shadow Canyon by Stacey Kayne

 

Respectable showgirl

When the widowed boardinghouse keeper he has come to rescue turns out to be a scantily-clad showgirl, Jed Doulan knows he's in for trouble. With his shadowed past, he'd be mad to let this spirited—and surprisingly innocent—woman get close.

 

Rebellious bride

Bound by a hasty marriage to her reluctant hero, Rachell Carlson senses his struggle to keep a distance between them. But the message in Jed's eyes makes her pulse quicken—and even dares her to believe in love.

 

10. The Nerd Who Loved Me by Vicki Lewis Thompson

 

Nerd to the rescue!
Shy accountant Harry Ambrewster never dreams his crush on Vegas showgirl Lainie Terrell will amount to anything.  But then he agrees to babysit for her precocious four-year-old son Dexter and her drunk ex-boyfriend shows up demanding to see his kid.  Escaping out a second-story window with Dexter isn’t Harry’s style, but Lainie and her son need a hero, and Harry isn’t about to let them down . . .

Alarmed by her volatile ex’s sudden interest in Dexter, Lainie’s desperate to keep her son from harm.  Harry offers his mother’s security-enhanced home as a safe haven for Dexter while he and Lainie attempt to mislead her ex by posing as a husband and wife checking out a Sedona timeshare.  What starts out as a platonic arrangement quickly morphs into red-hot passion, but can either of them trust emotions created in a powder keg?

 

Did I miss your favorite? Do you simply need more? Visit my Goodreads list: Spangle: Strippers and Showgirls in Romance.

Initial thoughts: There's a bit to say about James M. Lowrance's "Effects of Unfairly Unfavorable Reviews on Independent Authors". I actually took about 45 minutes to peruse this 6,000 word opinion piece, and I'm still meditating over some of the things I could say about it. There are perhaps one or two notations I could see a point with, but in the collective scheme of things - this is an opinion piece that doesn't really provide an objective viewpoint of its respective subject, nor provide any feasible or rational/realistic solutions to its matter at all. I didn't like the "us versus them" tone of it if it's meant to be an informative and suggestive piece. My collective impressions are that it doesn't do much to inform as much as it is a self-defense and the suggested implementations on his behalf would do nothing but harm.Full review:First thing I want to point out before I start this review is that this was very much a spontaneous read. I saw that someone had reviewed it in my feed, looked at the title, read it mostly for curosity's sake and for the fact it was 6,000 words, among other reasons. As much as I found myself very much at odds with the title and premise (mentally I find myself, as someone who's worked in research, wanting to cut that title down to size and amend it to something far more objective and less heavy with bias. If this were a title for a potential research article, it would not be given a second glance. "Unfairly Unfavorable"? The "Unfairly" shows the bias right off the bat.)I wasn't so much upset as I read this as much as I'm frustrated that this actually tries to pass itself off as a legitimate argument of its respective subject matter. I did read it, I spent a good 45 minutes on combing through this free-kindle read, which is probably a lot more time than most people would before going "Seriously, this book does not know what it's talking about." But I knew what I was getting into, and read it anyway.On a personal note: I write reviews on books of many different walks and genres, it's not something I think twice about in terms of the process because I've been doing it for so many years. I'm a reader as much as I am a writer - the two are not necessarily mutually exclusive or separate spheres. My opinion stands as my opinion, it's left up to those that peruse those opinions as to what they do with a work following reading that review. It's a form of expression, take or leave. I talk about my reading experiences openly and honestly, and I have no qualms about doing so in the way that best encompasses that experience. I think the same can be said for many readers, and I think the vast majority of writers understand that.One thing that I was always taught coming up through school is that no two people read or interpret a book the same way, and no one - collectively speaking - has the same reading experience. I had many people in my life telling me that - from former teachers to the librarians I used to sit with during my lunch hours asking what titles to pull from the shelves and which to put back. There's no wrong way to reflect on those experiences, and to try to control that really represents a suppression of knowledge and connectivity that comes with the freedoms that we have.That said, let me address the complete and utter offense that is Mr. Lowrance's book. I'm not going to go into too much detail with it, but just give an overview of some of the things he discusses and give two cents about it.The one thing I would say that Lowrance touches on that I did see a point to was on commercial bookseller sites where reviews are left for the books in question, reflections that are chiefly customer service complaints are misplaced in those spaces. The "I'm giving this 1-star because it's cover was worn off when I received it or I never received it at all" or "I'm giving this 1-star because the price is too high." They're proper commentary in themselves and could be taken as assessments, but not meant in review spaces meant for the assessment of the work itself, and I can see that point. My argument is that there's a need for mediation to place those comments in their own spaces and separate them from content based reviews, and that's its own issue that can be reasonably moderated with due care in a feasible spectrum.However, Lowrance's claims about "legitimate" versus "non-legitimate" negative reviews are without merit for the fact that there's no qualitative/quantitative measure to determine what he's supposed to claim as a "legitimate" review. How would you measure something like that, when reviews in themselves are individual experiences expressed by a book's consumer base? Authors, whether self-published, with an independent publisher, or with a big name publisher, are required to know their markets and know that even in spite of criticisms that may exist in the market, to let the work sell itself. That's the terms of the profession. It's not an easy industry, and for someone writing in this spectrum, Lowrance's assesments are quite out of touch. He not only creates and contributes to a very toxic view of reader-writer relations (which are far more complex than he approaches it), but also completely misses the mark of understanding that reviews in themselves don't necessarily contribute to the success/failure of a published work or body of works. They can help/hurt, but it's not always predictable, even when you get down to the individual tone of a review - positive or negative - what that effect will be.I thought about quoting specific passages one by one and knocking them down for how ludicrous they come across, but that goes beyond a scope of what I can personally do in this respective review. What I can say is that in my experience as a reviewer and aspiring writer, I have seen - especially this year - instances where there have been attempts at dishonest ways of gaming the system in the promotion or demotion of published works on multiple levels. Enforcing selective censorship of reviews isn't the way to resolve this problem. Nor is pointing fingers and laying blame on a single party (he seems to think this is a reviewer only problem and that authors somehow need "protection" from a so called majority of negative reviewers that he deems as "trolls"). No, I think this is more complex of an issue than that.I think it's more feasible to rather increase awareness of personal responsibility and tolerance of opinion. By understanding both authorial and reader/reviewer dimensions (especially by recognizing the two are not mutually exclusive) and educating people about and knocking down the abuses we see (sockpuppeting, authors who attack/threaten/intimidate reviewers, reviewers who attack/threaten/intimidate other reviewers for their opinions - whether positive or negative, etc.).I wouldn't recommend reading or abiding by the measures suggested by Lowrance here at all. Apart from the few decent points, this wasn't worth the read.Overall score: 0.5/5

I was poking around in my TBR pile and came across this book. I haven't read a pirate book before so I decided to read this one and while I did enjoy it, this book didn't exactly blow me away. There were quite a few things that drove me bat shit crazy while reading this book. The hero being one of them.The hero is an ex-pirate who quit the pirating business and is trying to be a good law abiding member of the ton because him and his brothers don't want to make their newly married Duchess of a sister look bad. They don't want to cause a scandal that will touch their sister so they've each cleaned up their act and are trying to find themselves in this new world that they're not used to. James is the oldest at forty years old and this is his story.James was better known as Captain Black Hawk and when we first meet him, he's this bitter old man who is acting like an adolescent little child who got his toys taken away from him. He wouldn't marry Sophia so she left him, he gets all pissed off and is totally bitter about it and the fighting that went on between him and Sophia got to be a bit much to take ...at first. As the story goes on and we see these two fighting their attraction for each other, I wanted to karate chop Black Hawk in his kneecaps and smack Sophia around a few times.As the book wore on, I couldn't seem to connect with either of the main characters because they just got on my nerves but the story itself wasn't a bad one. This story made me so hot dang glad that I'm not a historical woman who has to be dependent on a husband for respect and every other damn thing in this world. The stuff that Sophia was putting herself through to get engaged to the earl made me feel sorry for her. The story ended the way it was supposed to end but the journey there was a troubled and drama filled journey. I didn't think the book was a bad book, I just couldn't connect with either James or Sophia much and I spent most of the book wishing that there was more of Quincy in this book. I really enjoyed the brief encounters we had with James family. I wanted to see more of their time in Jamaica, I wanted to see more of their pirating days and well, I didnt' get that so it kind of sucked for me.If Mrs. Benedict were to write Quincy's book (does anyone know if she's going to write it?) I will definitely be interested in reading either Quincy or William's book but that's really about it. I enjoyed most everything else in the story but the hero and the heroine drove me crazy. Would I recommend this book to anyone? If you're an AB fan then you would probably enjoy this book and if you don't mind a 40 year old hero acting like a petulant child for half of the book then yeah, you might enjoy it but aside from some interesting family members, this book was just good...not the great read that I was hoping for.

Amy Peel, remembering little of her childhood, only knows that she grew up as a orphan. Amy is a mysterious dancer at one of london's underworld's clubs, Amy only dancing out of necessity and very few people know of her true identity. Forced into a life to survive, Amy hopes that she may find a way to escape such a life but has no idea how it could be done. Edmund Hawkins is looking for some excitement, and when he hears of a notorious club that is being rumored to being the "most wicked" in all of London. So stealing into the notorious club, he is stunned by a certain stunning woman, and he yearns to know her more, and not just for the desires she rises up in him. So when he saves her life, he finds out her secret, being zarsitti, the sensual dancer of the club. Now through a twist of fate, they are thrown together, when Amy's life is put in danger. Now Edmund is determined more than ever to protect her, but the rising passion between them will turn into a powerful love story.The Notorious Scoundrel is the second in the Hawkins Brothers series, and this is Edmunds story, which was a pure delight for me to read, better than James' story in my personal opinion. It was definitely more exciting and the character more engaging throughout the whole story. There was also a consistancy of flow throughout the book, that had me turning the pages as fast as I could. I also found the two characters Amy and Edmund, and I found these two to just have such a connection, and another plus was that it was portrayed so well. Although I would have to say my only problem would be with the heroine's characters. I found that until the end, that she was a bit selfish, and Edmund was willing to sacrifice so much for her happiness, but gratefully she came to her senses before it was too late. However overall it was a enjoyable read and I am looking forward to reading the rest of the series, especially if they are as good as "The Notorious Scoundrel".

Sophia Dawson, daughter of a pirate, seven years ago fell in love with Pirate Black Hawke, one of the most infamous pirates but when she fell in love, she found she couldn't stay without marriage, and she wanted more than to be his mistress and being shunned by everyone surrounding her, she deserves more than that. Now she is in England, and respectable, and is very close to winning the hand of a Duke, but then James enters into her life once more, and she knows that he can destroy everything that she has worked for to get to this point. James, once the Black Hawke Pirate, has retired from pirating for his sisters sake, and hates being in Society, but then he sees the one woman that he has vowed for revenge, thinking she is cold and unfeeling. However both Sophia and James, are headstrong and stubborn, and when they enter into a battle of wills which could lead to scandal or the most exquisite pleasure to be found in one another's arms once more. Although The Infamous Rogue was a wonderful romance to read, it was one of those that I had to push myself into reading. It didn't draw me in as other books of this author has. I think the problem was the characters in this book. It just seemed off to me the way they interacted with each other, especially at the beginning of the book. Maybe its just me, or.. I don't know, but this is probably one of my least favorites of this author that she has written. Although I do like reading from this author, The Infamous Rogue just doesn't do it for me. It did have some good points though, I did enjoy the plot of the story and although I liked the book it was a bit more than an average read, although I will be reading the rest of her books that are related to this one though. I hope I will enjoy them much more. But if you like historical romances with a handsome rogue pirate, than you will enjoy this one.