When I think about it, the title of Alison Kent’s new book is surprisingly accurate, on several levels. Maximum Exposure may be short and catchy, but it also has relevance to the plot. Unfortunately, the book itself wasn’t nearly as good as the title.

Olivia Hammond is not just the owner of a clothing shop. She also “lets people watch.” It’s not a sexual thing for her, though – until she gives a little show to a man taking pictures across the street. Finn McLain is actually a private detective, hired to watch one of Olivia’s employees, but when she asks him to take pictures of her, he agrees. Olivia’s friend wants her (and her exhibitionist habits) to be the focus of a photography display at his art gallery, so Olivia asks Finn to be her photographer. However, as they work to complete the assignment, attraction takes over – and Olivia finds that she’s showing him more than just her body.

Meanwhile, the employee Finn was hired to watch has his own secrets; he’s undercover for the DEA, pretending to be gay, lusting after a woman (who is lusting after him), and nearing burnout, all while trying to ferret out the players in a drug ring using Olivia’s shop as a delivery point.

This may all sound interesting, but in practice, the story felt unfinished. There were plot lines that never resolved themselves and disappeared, scenes that seemed to be missing, and important character developments skimmed over. The plot itself struck me as weak, inconsistent, and a bit unbelievable. I just couldn’t believe that Olivia’s friend would ask her to find her own photographer for his gallery exhibit, that she would happen to pick a PI, or that suddenly he’s this really skilled artist whose photographs capture her soul. It induced more than one eye-roll. In addition, the climax of the story came out of nowhere. I give the author credit for not going the obvious route, but it really didn’t work for me. I sat there, literally asking out loud, “Seriously? Seriously?” The obvious route at least would have made sense and wouldn’t have required a moment of intense, character-altering stupidity and bitchiness.

And then there were the characters. I just didn’t care about any of them. The author tried to make Olivia sympathetic and give her a psychologically damaged background to explain her exhibitionism, but it fell flat for me. Finn did absolutely nothing for me either, and the side characters annoy than anything else. The relationships failed to feel real to me, beyond the sexual connection between Olivia and Finn (and the two characters in the side romance). Their HEA was, in a word, unbelievable.

Maximum Exposure was just a general flop for me. In addition to all the plotting and character problems, I thought the writing was lackluster (and occasionally offensive, as some lines that were supposed to be funny actually came across as incredibly insensitive), and the most important part of erotica – the love scenes – were only okay. This story is apparently part of a series (though you couldn’t tell from reading it), but I certainly won’t be picking up any of the other books.