Our main character, Kate, is an erotic writer who pens her spicy books under the name “Daphne Moore”. She otherwise is pretty normal - she has a husband named Matt, and they have a daughter, Finley. Matt is out of town for business a lot, so writing is a natural thing for Kate to get into. She can be home with their daughter, and spend her time writing about sex.
The odd part? Kate doesn’t like sex. At first I thought she was asexual, but in the book she’s called something like sex-averse. Basically, she loves her husband, loves being married and having a family, but the actual act of sex does nothing for her. She played along and pretended to enjoy being intimate with her husband for a few years, then finally admitted that she can’t stand making love to him. She comes up with a compromise, and that’s when the book goes completely off the rails.
Kate doesn’t want to deprive Matt of a sex life, so she asks him for something very strange: every time he goes on a work trip, she wants him to find a woman, have a one-night-stand, then tell her every single detail when he gets home. Kate then turns his sexual experiences into her books - and sells plenty of them. Their only rules are that he is to be safe, and he is only to see the women one time - no emotional attachments.
I’m sure you can tell where this is going - a woman named Annie moves into their neighborhood after her husband dies, and her daughter Terra soon makes friends with Finley. This brings Kate and Annie together, despite Kate being bewildered by this sex-positive woman. Then, I probably don’t have to give spoilers - you’ll immediately see the problem, and what is to be done about it.
This book was relatively entertaining, and it was definitely unique - because THIS WOULD NEVER HAPPEN. Like, couldn’t she just watch some porn to get ideas? (Okay, she tried once but that didn’t work). It’s such a preposterous plot that I had to laugh in some places, and I didn’t care for also reading the “Daphne Moore” books as they were written. I can do without the bodice-ripping, Fabio-type books - even if they’re books within other books. As far-fetched as I found this though, I was still intrigued enough by the story to not only finish it, but enjoy it; the ending was great! Three stars for a very strange read.
(Thank you to Blackstone Publishing, Lisa Kusel and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review. This book is slated to be released on July 16, 2024.)