Holly‘s review of The Naked Truth by Lilly Cain.

Captain Susan Branscombe was the victim of brutal torture at the hands of terrorists. Though rescued, she’s now facing an equally brutal accusation: treason.

The only way she can prove her innocence is to allow Asler Kiis, a Confederacy Examiner, to delve into the depths of her mind. Asler is Inarri, the alien race that made contact with Earth just months before. His duty is to find the truth, but when he explores Susan’s mind he can’t resist drawing her into a more intimate experience.

Susan takes comfort in Asler’s heated sensuality. Their erotic sensory exploration chases away the darkness and her body aches for more. But as their desire reaches new limits Susan finds it difficult to suppress the memories she is desperate to forget.
Is the passion they share enough to let Susan push aside her fear and trust Asler, not only with her mind and body but with her ever-opening heart?

I kind of like these futuristic sci-fi novels. I might have to look up more of them. This is the second book of the series. I didn’t read the first one and I think I missed some key information regarding the alien invasion and some other major plot points. I wasn’t totally lost, but I would recommend reading Alien Revealed first.

Susan was a strong woman. She was held hostage and tortured for information, but that didn’t break her. Once she was rescued she did what she could to aid their investigation. She had a hard time with the idea of reliving the memories of her torture and rescue, which was to be expected. Under the circumstances I think she held up very well.

Asler is an Examiner, which means he can go in and see her memories. The problem is that unless he shares what he saw she may not be cleared..but if he does share what he sees, it’s considered a breech for an Examiner and he loses his position. Though he was conflicted, I liked that his main priority was Susan. He wasn’t willing to compromise her for the cause, though he did want to do everything in his power to save her.

I liked the way the romance developed. It happened over a short period of time, but it was believable. The characters were well developed considering the timeline and the story was interesting.

4 out of 5

This book is available from Carina Press. You can buy it here in e-format.