Growing up on a strict Amish farm, rebellious Naomi Swartzentruber covets her “English” neighbors and longs for all the worldly freedoms that her religion forbids. Despite a happy childhood, as Naomi comes of age, she begins to experiment with anything and everything that could have grave consequences, and finds herself craving a life that goes against everything her family believes in.
After running away, Naomi embarks on a relentless pursuit of freedom that proves how naive and ill-equipped she is to navigate life outside of “Amishland.” Determined, Naomi forges ahead and finds herself in the ultimate taboo Las Vegas, where she quickly learns that her youth, beauty, and innocence are valuable commodities that can make all her wildest dreams come true. Naomi becomes an exotic dancer, then a call girl, in the most sinful city in the world. Yet just as her parents warned, this glamorous world soon leads Naomi down a dark path that begins to consume her, and her desire to experience the forbidden turns into a more sinister addiction that puts her life, and the liberty she so desperately desires, at risk.
This erotic memoir reveals what happens when one woman is denied the truth and goes looking for what lies beyond the peaceful mirage of her sheltered Amish farm. Despite the rough terrain she chooses, Naomi never gives up on finding what lies at the end of her path, a life more amazing than she could’ve ever imagined.
WOW. This was a pretty salacious read. I don't know how much is 100% fact - but also, I can't imagine someone making this up. Naomi left her Amish order at 17 and went on a decades long bender of drugs and prostitution. She went straight from modesty to boning anyone that seemed remotely interested. There are a LOT of details, it truly is erotica. Naomi makes a lot of interesting choices in her life, especially in regards to men and copious drug use. But, it takes a brave soul to share your story in all its gory glory and man it gets quite explicit. There are even included photos. Definitely an interesting read!
I'm really sorry to say that this wasn't a good book. Before I've read the acknowledgements I wondered if an editor ever laid eyes on it before publishing, because she repeated herself quite often (not knowing what a crackhead is, she repeated it twice on the same page. Why?). Near the end of the book she wrote that they opened a bottle of champagne to celebrate her birthday, but four pages later/the next day- she said that it was her birthday. I wouldn't call her experiences "adventures" tbh. I was shocked about her lack of self worth and about the fact that she wrote a book about it AND got it published.
I was aware that erotic would be a part of the book, but the amount of sex was just too much for my taste. I really missed any kind of character development, of reflecting the actions and even details that would have been interesting were completely left out. (Winning ribbons with her horses, that's great and would have given some insights of her real skills besides having sex with basically everyone. Or the house she apparently bought. What happened to it? Did she sell it?) I seriously hope that her daughter will never put hands on this book, because it's so embarrassing 😳
I'm glad she was able to turn her life around and even if my review couldn't be worse, I hope she'll find happiness and won't go back that terrible path she went on for so many years.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Naomi is so courageous, bold and open as she shares story so compelling I could not put the book down. Shockingly honest and riveting. She is tough and daring and takes total responsibility for everything she went through. She is not only a survivor but a heroine.
Wow. It's a lot of sex and a lot drugs, but I admire the author for fully telling her story and for the life she has built. This might be my most niche Amish romance adjacent read.
Simplistic and somewhat childishly-written book that has a misleading title--the author was raised Amish, abandoned her religion and family at age 17, then spent the next two decades as a stripper who slept with thousands of customers. So she wasn't an "Amish stripper" but an ex-Amish that spent an adulthood stuck in non-stop sex, drug usage, money problems, and violence.
It's a pretty disgusting way to live and the worst part of the book is that this naïve woman repeatedly goes along with whatever men guilt her into doing for money. A threesome? She claims she doesn't want it, but she feels bad if she rejects her boyfriend's desires. Peeing in a guy's mouth? Why not if the price is right! Returning home to a guy who has threatened to kill her? Even her stripper friends told her not to, yet she did and ended sliced up from the knife he used on her--and then went back to live with him because he promised he wouldn't try to kill her again! Ha!
The book is filled with her fairly boring detailed descriptions of sex, how she was constantly getting wet desiring whatever handsome guy spent money on her, and I kept waiting for actual interesting stories that had wake-up moments. Instead for over twenty years she just had lots of sex with men and women, sometimes running off for paid intercourse with seven times a day with strip club customers, then returning home to have drug-infused orgies with the boyfriend and his pals. Eventually she laughingly meets the "love of her life" (her boyfriend's coworker) at one of the sex parties, the two men even have a threesome with her, resulting in her moving to Arizona with the guy where they get pregnant.
And overnight she wraps up the past four years in the final couple of pages that she stopped the drugs, stopped having sex with others, and the two are on a farm raising a baby (without being married). Her Amish family loves the child. For all we hear about how mean and terrible the Amish are to kids that leave the faith, this group is pretty welcoming and open-minded.
The whole things seems kind of pointless. She never learns lessons, always repeats her bad choices, loves to blame others for influencing her yet she firmly makes all the mistakes herself. She's an incredible hypocrite, having secret sex with dozens of men a week for money, lying to whatever boyfriend she's with at the time, then gets furious if she thinks the boyfriend is interested in another woman! She lies more than she has sex, to virtually everyone--there wasn't one person mentioned that she didn't lie to, then tried to justify it saying she "didn't want to hurt" their feelings. At no point is God or guilt or morality brought into it, other than her silly emotions that make her feel bad for cheating on a boyfriend while he is in their bedroom cheating on her during an orgy. Yes, you read that right. It's simply weird and illogical.
The story would have been better told by an objective writer who could talk with others and get different viewpoints; instead we're stuck with some pretty un-amazing escapades that fall short of "adventures." Maybe in Amish country this would be shocking, but it sadly reflects a modern society where high-powered married men with families pay a lot of money to have sex with struggling women that have low self-esteem and are in desperate need of cash for drugs due to their own bad choices in life.
And while the author claims to be free since she left her childhood faith behind, it seems that her life was a lot safer and less stressful when she was simply Amish and not a stripper.
Intriguing to read, but found it to be a bit repetitive to the point where I was skimming over sex scenes. There’s only so many times you can read through someone repeatedly making the same mistakes before it gets stale. The beginning of the book had me hooked. Then as I got further into it, I only stuck it out to see how it ended. A lot of the smut felt fanfiction-y. Not to insult fanfiction, there’s a lot of great erotic fanfiction out there. The smut in this felt more like the types I would tend to avoid due to the frequency and it not adding much to the story. I gotta say though, I’m surprised to see the contrast between what happens in this book and the author. I got interested in reading after seeing her TikTok account and I would have never guessed that her life had been this wild prior to settling down.
If you enjoy reading stories about the Amish, you may want to skip this one. 95% of the book is graphic descriptions of her sexual encounters with men and women. I find it questionable that she could remember in such detail the numerous encounters she describes. Little is explained about Amish life. For me, the enjoyment of reading about Amish life is learning about their lifestyle and beliefs. This book did not describe much at all about Amish life.
Finishing this up disappointed honestly. If the events in this book are 100% fact with no extras added, wow. But honestly I found it all incredibly hard to believe and rolled my eyes a number of times throughout the book. The writing style wasn’t great, the spice was fine but also not great. 2 stars for title alone and the tiny part of me that wants to believe this story. Wouldn’t recommend.
Decent memoir. Repetitive at times but overall a good insight into the Amish world as well as the American experience of stripping, drug use/addiction, prostitution, and falling in and out of love.
I received this book as a gift from a friend to read while recovering from surgery. I read it in less than 24 hours and was totally riveted by the story.
I was both captivated by her life in Amish land as well as her life of a party girl. From an outside perspective the reader is constantly rooting for Naomi and at times it’s difficult to follow her as she makes choices that lead her to relapse, abuse, and regret. Naomi’s constant desire for a better life and her unending perseverance give the reader hope that she will find her way to a happy and healthy life.
Naomi writes her story masterfully, ensuring that the reader doesn’t linger too long on the details of trauma she experienced, sharing her story in a matter-of-fact way that drives the reader forward to the next part of her story. In a way, I was glad that I couldn’t dwell too long on the parts of her story that would make me sad if she talked too long and detailed about it. She gave the reader the important details as well as juicy details while not also traumatizing or upsetting the reader.
I felt that despite some of the themes and situations surrounding the sex scenes, they were tastefully done. Naomi’s lack of judgement and professionalism in her experience as a sex worker lends itself to breaking down the stigma that sex work has. She paints the clients who supported her and were good customers with a respectful light while acknowledging the ones who were harmful as exactly what they were: abusers and people who were sick and needed help. Watching her relationship with sex and relationships (as well as the wild experiences she had as a sex worker) change and evolve throughout her story helped the reader understand so much about Naomi as she navigated the world around her and the choices she made.
I was so moved in the final chapter that I cried reading about her life in the most recent years and all that she has accomplished. I finished this book feeling so proud of Naomi and wishing her nothing but success and happiness as she shares her story with the world.
Naomi was so brave and honest for sharing her story. We saw how her hopes to join the English world were accomplished and how much she overcame. Addiction, escort work, and abuse were discussed. Thank you for sharing your story Naomi.
I follow Naomi on her social media where she tells about her life before leaving Amish country. This could have been half as long and a lot less graphic about her experiences, as her "erotic" was not so, just downright awkward... I mean I guess I should have known from the title
I loved this book. The fact that I know the author, and witnessed a few of the events described, most certainly influences my review. However, objectively, it is an amazing and brutally honest story that is hard to put down.
That was A LOT. I read this fast - partly because I had to know what happened next, and partly because the cover is a little salacious to have as my Kindle lockscreen. Naomi grew up in one of the more conservative Amish sects, and longed to escape. It seemed like there was someone to take advantage of her at every turn, from when she first started sneaking out of her parents house through the next 20 years. When she wasn't being exploited, she fell into self-destructive patterns of drug and alcohol abuse. If it's possible to get bored with that kind of storyline, don't worry: Naomi has erotic stories to fill in any and all gaps (no pun intended).
This book was great! It was kind of repetitive but definitely realistic. It tells the story of how bad Naomi wanted to get out of Amishland and see what the English world is all about. Become free an full of life. Until she realizes how fun an freedom can get too wild and crazy. Not everyone you meet has good intentions. Does she stay in the English world or can she be accepted back into her Amish home after everything she has done?
This could have been a good story about an Amish girl leaving her home to work as a dancer. Instead almost the entire story is filled with detailed descriptions of sexual encounters with multiple men and women. Ruined the book for me.
I really appreciate the bravery the author faced to write her truth and the tidy, reflective happily-ever-after ending, but honestly, the memoir kind of bummed me out. Although it was a quick, chaotic and salacious read, it simultaneously was also difficult for me to finish and I had to take several breaks…because respectfully… it’s just a lot. A lot of sex and a lot of drugs. I just wanted to give the author a big hug and help her younger self out by guiding her in another direction. Over and over again people “befriended” her and used her naïveté and determination to be completely opposite of the Amish for their own personal gain. Then by the end, I was getting frustrated by her self sabotage.
Please note, this is an “erotic memoir” and there is explicit detail of her drug benders and sexual escapades after leaving the Amish community. Honestly, I could have done with a smidge less detail of that and more insight of her time in the Amish community and also her life after she stopped the drug-use and sex work. BUT that’s also a me-issue because it DOES have the word ‘erotic’ in front of ‘memoir’, so I should have assumed it would be 90% explicit. Overall interesting read.
I couldn’t put my Kindle down. This book made me smile, made me laugh, made me cry, and made me feel something I haven’t felt in a long time: true unadulterated focus. All I wanted to do was keep reading.
As Naomi described the twists and turns of her life, I found myself judging a little at first, and as I kept going I started to understand that society has conditioned us to think “play stupid games win stupid prizes”, which doesn’t apply to children due to the fact that they’re so impressionable without fully formed brains.
Children can be peer pressured into mostly anything in the wrong hands. This is a beautifully heartbreaking story of a child who was overly controlled by parents growing up in a strict religious environment, and how that sort of upbringing affected the adult she became.
You’ll find yourself thinking “Naomi, no!” more often than not, and then you’ll be relieved by her self awareness and rationale that she struggles with internally.
This was a wild and crazy memoir that was quite impactful. The story was not only about escaping the Amish, but also an important lesson about what drugs can do to someone’s decision-making. It was brave of Naomi to tell her story about breaking free of what she felt was an oppressive life, being sheltered in an Amish community, only to be a slave to drugs shortly after. It’s amazing how addiction can allow us to lose insight into other people and get involved in toxic relationships with abusive people, but also control our own behaviors with decent people. The cycle seems to repeat itself. I’ve seen other reviews say that the story seemed repetitive. Well, that’s what drugs do to you. You say you’ve learned your lesson and won’t do it again, only to do something worse shortly after. That’s how you know this is a true story.
This may not be your cup of tea! I read many of the reviews. For those of you who were shocked about the content, shame on you. Naomi clearly states it is an erotic memoir. Yes, I think she was wayward from her early years and not very modest. Yes, a slut! I read it because I have always been very interested in the Amish and Mennonite communities since we have many families that live nearby to me. I think this book was written very well. Shame on those who said differently. I believe they said these things because they did not approve of Naomi's actions. Naomi tells her story. Yes, it is very shameful to her parents. I feel for them. I recommend this book to anyone that likes memoirs and wants to read about one wayward girl who didn't just leave the the Amish but really went to extremes.
I saw the author do an interview on a podcast I watched and was compelled to know more about her story. Now I know why she chose to leave some parts out. This is saucy. I've never read an erotic book before but this definitely has scenes throughout that are very descriptive and erotic. I applaud her for being able to share such intimate details so graphically.
Knowing that this was the story of her life going into it I was surprised how much it read like a novel. The story was compelling and made me want to know what else happened. It was an easy read and I read it in one week with my only reading time happening before I go to bed. I really appreciated her story as I saw some parallels to my own life although hers sounds more exciting.
Hey, first found Naomi on Instagram. I thought life was interesting and I took a chance on her book. There are trigger warnings in this book, drug use, sexual situations and violence. I found the story of Naomi very interesting but also sad. She left her Amish family at a young age and went through many relationships with men. They only also became a drug addict and the stripper. She kept seeking the English life, but there were many obstacles in their way, and she tried to overcome them with drugs and sex. It took her a while to find the right relationshipand a life that you can live without drugs or sex. I recommend this book for those the one that interesting read about how much girls life.
This book was incredibly difficult to read at points, but I couldn’t put it down. I follow the author on Instagram and enjoy her videos. She seems so soft-spoken, so reading this book about all her spicy adventures was unexpected. The writing style is not amazing, but you can tell the emotions are raw and real. I’m so happy that she’s found stability after struggling most of her adult life so far. Some of the smut scenes are very graphic, but it is an erotic memoir after all. I’m happy I was able to support this author by purchasing the book. I do wish we got more backstory on her Amish life, though.