The Naked Truth

by Leslie Morgan Steiner

“A formidable, addictive storyteller, Morgan provides a highly stimulating story of a midlife education in the messiness of modern sex and love. A steamy, liberating tale of self-exploration and self-love that encourages readers to ‘revel in your sexuality’” — Kirkus Reviews

Leslie Morgan, bestselling author of Crazy Love and Mommy Wars , was a mom turning fifty, reeling from divorce and determined to reclaim her life. In a radical break with convention, she dedicated a year to searching for five new lovers, seeking the rapture absent in a life of minivans and mom jeans—and finding a profound new sense of self-worth.

When Leslie Morgan divorced after a twenty-year marriage, both her self-esteem and romantic optimism were shattered. She was determined to avoid the cliché of the “lonely, middle-aged divorcée” lamenting her stretch marks and begging her kids to craft her online dating profile. Instead, Leslie celebrated her independence with an audacious she would devote a year to seeking out five lovers in hopes of unearthing the erotic adventures and authentic connections long missing from her life.

Clumsy and clueless at first, she overcame mortifying early missteps, buoyed by friends and blind faith. And so she found men at yoga class, the airport, and high school reunions—all without the torture of dating websites. Along the way she uncovered new truths about sex, aging, men, self-confidence, and what it means to be an older woman today.

Packed with fearless, evocative details, The Naked Truth is a rare, unexpected, and wildly entertaining memoir about a soccer mom who rediscovers the magic of sexual and emotional connection, and the lasting gifts of reveling in your femininity at every age.

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, Audiobook, Biography, Autobiography, Sexuality

255 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2019

About the author

I am the author of four books:

The New York Times bestselling memoir about relationship abuse, Crazy Love
The anthology Mommy Wars
The Baby Chase, which explores infertility and surrogacy
My latest memoir, The Naked Truth, which explores female sexuality, self-esteem and dating after 50.

One of the best things I ever did was from 2006-2008 I wrote over 500 columns for the Washington Post’s popular on-line work/family column, “On Balance.”

I have a BA in English from Harvard College. My first job was writing for Seventeen Magazine. After graduating from Wharton in 1992 with an MBA in Marketing, I spent 10 years at Johnson & Johnson, launching Splenda Brand Sweetener from Argentina to Australia to Dubai. I returned to my hometown of Washington, DC in 2001 to become General Manager of the 1.1 million-circulation Washington Post Magazine, a job I loved for five years, until the demands of juggling work and raising kids prompted my return to fulltime writing.

I've been a guest on The Today Show, National Public Radio, ABC, NBC, CBS, and cable news networks. After appearing three nights in a row on Anderson Cooper 360, I had a dream that he asked me to become his sole heterosexual lover (I accepted). I've appeared in Newsweek, BusinessWeek, Elle, Parents, Self, Vogue, Vanity Fair, The Los Angeles Times, and CNN.com. I speak about 30 times a year on how end family violence. My 2012 TEDTalk about domestic violence, which was curated by a friend from second grade, has been viewed by over five million people, and in 2014 I completed my second TEDTalk exploring the ethics of global surrogacy on the stage of the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. I am a board member for the One Love Foundation, in honor of slain University of Virginia senior Yeardley Love.

I divide my time between Washington, DC, New York, New Hampshire, and anywhere else in the world I'm lucky enough to be invited to visit.

Reviews

[Julie Ehlers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh man, did I enjoy this book while I was reading it. In this memoir, Leslie Morgan briefly recounts her passionless marriage and brutal divorce before moving on to a resolution she makes in 2015 as she gets back into the dating pool: To have five boyfriends at once. I mean, why not? Of course, the definition of "boyfriend" is a bit loose (no pun intended) here, encompassing brief flings, friends-with-benefits, and relationships of a more serious nature. It was a ton of fun to read. Morgan is a good writer and knows how to tell a story; there's some humor and intrigue and brutal honesty and a lot of sex; and the whole thing takes place in Philadelphia, so I could picture virtually all of the places she was writing about. It all added up to a good time as far as I was concerned.

I'm sure some readers will have a problem with the graphic sex, or with how boy-crazy 49-year-old Leslie seemed, or with how aware she was of her own physical attractiveness—all things conventionally viewed as verboten in women—but none of that bothered me. After I finished the book, though, a few things did annoy me in retrospect: the bizarre advice her therapist gave; her supremely annoying best friend who could always be counted on to lecture Morgan on exactly what she was doing wrong in life (there was one of these in Nine Island as well—these women must be composites, because I don't see how anyone could stand to be their friend otherwise); the fact that Morgan was so indiscriminate in her choice of men (that tourist-plane pilot, really?); the way people kept using the term "MILF" unironically (in 2015, really?); the way Morgan claimed to be unfamiliar with emoticons (in 2015, really?).

What genuinely disturbed me about this book, though, was something Morgan didn't intend. She seems to portray all of the men in this book fairly, even generously, but there's no sugarcoating the fact that nearly all of them behave badly, from the ones who ghost her, to the ones who somehow just happened to forget to mention their girlfriends or wives (!), to the ones she dates more seriously who break up with her in the most callous way imaginable. Men just don't come off well here, sorry to say. In her advice for divorcees at the end of The Naked Truth, Morgan proclaims, "There are men EVERYWHERE if you just look for them!" That may be true, but on the evidence of this book many of them aren't worth being found. Here's hoping Leslie Morgan will eventually write a sequel that can put a more positive spin on modern romance, for all of our sakes. I'll be up for it.

[Leslie Lehr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brave and beautiful! Leslie Morgan inspires both awe and intimacy in this cross between Eat, Pray Love & Fifty Shades. As the editor of Mommy Wars, she guided me through my breakout essay and later admitted she could see my divorce looming between the lines. Turns out, I was suffering from a kind of domestic violence that related to her bestselling memoir and call to arms, Crazy Love. So, when I started reading The Naked Truth, we had so much in common - things that most women going through a divorce will relate to - that I felt I was reading part of my own diary. But while I may have loved feeling like a sex object in those liberating post-divorce days, Morgan acted on it. And we, dear readers, get to live it with her.

Morgan is so brave and so open that we are able to experience the depth of her emotions and the height of her transformation. Her vocabulary allows us to get beyond the stigma of true sexuality to appreciate our full physiology - our mind/body connection. Perhaps more importantly, we are able to recognize the relationships that outlast any romance: the ones we have with our friends.
Bravo!

[Marilyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm still trying to gather my thoughts about this book. It was an interesting read and very fun at times to live vicariously through Leslie's five flings (one serious "relationship" if you can call it that), but something about this book made me uncomfortable and it's not about the sex. I was kind of surprised at her lack of awareness about men and her unhealthy reaction to male attention, both good and bad. Also, unless I missed it, I was puzzled that she didn't discuss safe sex - using condoms and getting tested for STDs. It just seemed a little irresponsible. On the whole, though, a solid memoir.

[Cindy · Rating 2 out of 5]

okay, I have to say this book was really only marginally interesting to me. In fairness to the author, I was born and raised at a time when sexuality was a private, and monogamous way of life.
I get that she is recently divorced after decades of marriage to a a man who was emotionally and sexually repressive. I get that she was looking for adventure, and her own self esteem and approval. don't quite get why she needed 5 men to do that.

[Mediaman · Rating 1 out of 5]

How this woman is considered an expert at anything I don't know--she seems completely immoral, has an annoying writing style, certainly isn't a good mother or wife based on what she wrote here, and is what one would call a classic B-word. But she got paid to write an entire book complaining about the five men she bedded after getting a divorce at age 49. She's a complete hypocrite throughout, doing the very things she objects that men do (including complaining about one of the men who bedded her still being married, while SHE was also still legally married!). Instead of looking at herself as being the problem she blame-shifts to the men--but as a man reading this it was clear from the beginning that she had no idea what she was talking about.

This woman was a very wild, promiscuous teen that went through a first marriage that she claims was abusive and a second marriage where she thinks her husband was cheating. She also is very well-off financially, with a second home in the Hamptons. She still manages to portray herself as a penniless victim. She's not, and this written work is her creating a false image of herself.

I don't believe anything she writes based on the first page of the book--where she tells us "important characters have been omitted...combined...chronologies have been condensed and reworked...geographic, chronological, and identifying details have been changed." So what is real in the book if virtually everything isn't completely accurate? Why didn't she just write exactly what happened instead of omitting major characters, combining others, changing timelines, and not telling the truth? Was she trying to sell Hollywood on a movie idea, because that's what it feels like when you roll your eyes reading what sounds very false in spots.

This isn't a memoir. This is erotic fiction. And even at that Leslie Morgan is not good. The sex scenes are short and she only seems to be concerned about how went she gets.

I get that she is trying to elicit the empathy of the female reader--and many supposedly liberated women will find her endearing. In truth she causes her own problems, sets the women's movement back 60 years, is totally clueless about men, doesn't seem good at raising moral children, doesn't understand what abuse really is, and can't see how her own over-the-top flirting was sending messages she was then shocked to discover were being misinterpreted.

What would have make this book readable would be a male perspective on what she was doing wrong (viritually page by page), and pretty much everything she does from start to finish is wrong from a male viewpoint. For a woman who claims to be highly educated and a well-published writer, she is incredibly dumb. It's great insight into how people in media think of themselves as alluring and smart, when in truth they don't understand the mating game at all. She even brags at one point about sexually harassing a male co-worker. What if a man wrote that way?

At the end she offers a page or two of what she learned from her slutty experiences (almost all anti-male of course) but she still doesn't seem to get men. She comes across as disgusting for a middle-aged woman who wants to have it all but isn't willing to look at herself first as the source of all her problems. And the irony, of course, is that she tells us up front that there is very little truth in a book titled "The Naked Truth."

[Nancy Fink · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun, mindless romp. Not too much to take seriously in this book. Three stars instead of two because it will undoubtedly make some people remember that being happy is your own job first, not someone else’s.

[Katie Caporale · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think maybe my subconscious brought me to this book because I was missing Vivian’s voice from City of Girls!! I had not heard of it but it was in the new books section at our tiny Hampshire library. I devoured this memoir and loved every bit. It was definitely vivid with details on the post divorce adventures she went on but I so appreciate the vulnerability she put onto these pages and the hopeful message she ended with. I am definitely going to read her first memoir, Crazy Love, in the near future.

[Vivian Stevenson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would like to give a huge thanks to Simon & Schuster for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review.

►Disclaimer: I am not rating the memoir based on the story. This is obviously the author telling people about a chunk of her life. I am rating this based on how well she was able to tell the story.

► This is a very entertaining take on what to do when you turn 50. I'm sure there are a lot of people who didn't agree with what she did and that is okay. I think what she did was fine, but sleeping with men that aren't single is where I had a problem. She clearly didn't know some of them had other affairs but that is beside the point.

► I can look up to the author for getting out of her mentally and emotionally abusive marriage. They even had two kids together! She managed to stay strong through all of it. I don't blame her for wanting to explore. and learning how to love herself. That aspect of the story hit pretty close to home. I can definitely relate to not feeling confident. It's hard to overcome.

► Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy the writing all that much. It made the story seem longer than it actually was. I know that it was a memoir, but I wanted something extra when it came to the writing. I will say that I enjoyed the fact that she didn't overdo it. There are some writers that try very hard to be "quirky."

► I would recommend this if you are looking for a fun, entertaining read. It's quick to get through and it's a story you never really read about. I'm sure she hasn't been the only one to go out a dabble with sex. I just never see these stories. There are some steamy parts/explicit scenes in this book. I would have been disappointed if she wrote a book about her sex life after marriage and didn't include the steamy bits. It makes it more interesting.

► Overall, I enjoyed the book. Would I read it again? No. Do I regret reading it? Absolutely not. It's very basic, but if you are interested, then go pick it up!

[Painter9300 · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author doesn't hold back anything from her audience, it appears that nothing is sacred. No charge against her, just an observation. There comes a time in your life when you are tired of waiting for things to show up, so she took the bull by the horns and created her own sexual life. She used and was used for pure sexual satisfaction. She made emotional attachments to certain men but they didn't seem to be deep attachments in that they put their own needs first, her needs second. It all seemed very sophisticated and vicarious but very lonely. My evaluation of a book is does it make me think, even when I'm not reading it, and it did. She's in therapy so no need for me to psychoanalyze her, but there were so many issues going on another book could be written about them. I read with fascination how she conducted her love life, me feeling like a voyeur reading and wondering if this would ever be me living in this way. After said and done I wondered if her children would ever read her books and their feelings about their mother's personal life being so readily available without any filters. She was a brave women to take on this experiment and wish her well in future relations and hope she has found enough value in her life to not give so much away without getting in return.

[Lori Rees · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has a gimmicky undertone -- the author wants five boyfriends at once in order to get her mojo back after two years sans sex. She's newly divorced and looking for validation from men. She's okay if the validation is purely physical. She wants men to desire her.

Throughout the book she blames her husband for her lack of self-esteem and relays anecdotes where her husband was withholding, or had less than admirable behavior. When Morgan-Steiner behaves badly, she seems unaware.

There are many retellings of how her new "boyfriends" compliment her body. The author seems to derive great pleasure from this, wears it as a badge of honor, and shamelessly brags how she is a MILF. This is when I grew tired of the book. I stopped when she had the Saab delivered.

Like the Wild Oates Project (which I liked) the author is flawed and seeking validation in all the wrong places. This is where the similarities end.

There could be redeeming qualities in the second half of the book.

[Edwin Staples · Rating 3 out of 5]

I applaud the author for being more bold than I would ever be, and sharing personal details that go far beyond sexuality and desire. The narrator practices what so many married-then-divorced people fantasize about: freedom, pleasure, self-discovery. With plenty of steamy details to make the pages turn faster.

But that's not the heart of the story. The book is about breaking a life-long attraction to the wrong people, and discovering that step one in finding intimacy is to love oneself. The most powerful moment is not when she realizes how to say yes to her desires (powerful enough on its own); instead, it's when she figures out how to say no to a sexy young thing with no soul and no empathy.

If the prose feels a little too polished, I recommend sticking with it anyway. The story is worth following to the end.

Finally, I laugh at the reviewers who take prudish jabs at the "excess" or the "morals". They missed the title, and the illustration on the cover, perhaps.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would give this 3.5 stars, if I could. I wasn't sure about this book, at first, as I don't read memoir and the prose style is pretty casual. Its themes grabbed me, however: a twice-divorced woman decides to rebuild her sexual and emotional confidence by having five lovers in a year, preferably simultaneously. The book is pretty frank about sex, which was fine, and has a lot to say, I think, to many women who are figuring out how to be fully sexual creatures in this culture, which is still somewhat backward in that respect. The ending was a pleasant surprise; it didn't go where it looked like it was going, which I appreciated.

[M. Sarki · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my cup of tea even though I do love salacious sex and storied infidelities. The book was in many ways too juvenile, especially for a trained writer and experienced woman such as Leslie Morgan. The writing was actually not good at all I am sorry to say and I abandoned the book before the halfway mark.

[Kari · Rating 4 out of 5]

WARNING: VERY GRAPHIC SEX (which may or may not have been necessary for the story). There was a lot I appreciated about this book. Although, man, it was hard to read and not think “what if her children read this”.

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure how I feel about this book except fascinated, frustrated, and a little annoyed. More to come.

Thanks to the publisher for the advanced digital reading copy.

[Pleunig · Rating 1 out of 5]

Got old.

[Meika · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It wasn't exactly what I was expecting, and there were some aspects of it that left me feeling a little bit alienated, but overall I thought it was a great read.
Things I liked: It was honest and vulnerable. Leslie shares the "warts and all" version of her story of coming out of a toxic marriage, finding her power as a MILF, and going through a few fits and starts with new men. She writes from her experience with candor and emotional integrity, allowing us to benefit from her experience and the wisdom of hindsight.
What I didn't like: I felt a little bit alienated by her assessment of relationship dynamics. In particular, this idea that men who don't have children are lacking empathy. The man she was dating clearly had issues with empathy, but to attribute it to him not having children seemed unfair. I'm one of those adults who doesn't have children and I'm sure it makes some dimensions of experience inaccessible to me, but I have empathy in spades. I also felt like her specifications of attractiveness were skewed towards her social class. It's fine because it's a memoir, but I had to overlook a big part of the telling of her story to find it relatable.

[Karen LeBlanc · Rating 5 out of 5]

What are you willing to settle for in life and love? What risks are you willing to take to find a relationship that feeds your soul and your body? Leslie Morgan in her memoir, The Naked Truth, explores these questions with raw and graphic honesty, candy-coating nothing while leaving every detail of her sexual awakening available to the reader.

The Naked Truth is a searing and vulnerable memoir that explores the author’s midlife sexual awakening after a marriage devoid of affection, sex and romance.

I admire Morgan for her bravery at exposing the most intimate details of her sexual experiment to find five lovers in the year after her divorce. Her language is raw, vulgar and yet precisely the right word choice for each situation, thought and truism she writes about. Morgan’s writing might make you cringe, but her truths will make you think about the true nature of love, passion, lust, relationships and marriage.

Morgan’s memoir begins at the end of her unhappy, long marriage, to Marty. When we meet the author, she has settled for what passes on the surface as an ideal marriage. Morgan had buried long-held resentment “about the compromises and sacrifices marriage had extracted” and bitter that her husband, Marty had not made the same sacrifices for her family. Morgan admits that her husband “didn’t share her enthusiasm for sex” nor was present emotionally— “I wanted someone to hold me and look in my eyes with love again. Most of all, I wanted Marty to.”

What I most appreciate about Morgan’s writing is her ability to put into words hard truths and all-too-common facts about many long marriages. She makes a humbling confession that her husband didn’t, or maybe even couldn’t, look her in the eye when they made love. She admits that she settled for “muted lovemaking, doled out a few times a month,” thinking it was typical for most marriages, and a small price to pay for a stable family life with a kind, reserved man. She reveals that to cope; she masturbates during the late mornings while her husband is at work and the kids at school. “I thought this acceptance was another sign of our maturity, of a happy union, of the sleeping-with-socks comfort of a long, mellow marriage.”

Morgan soldiers on in this loveless marriage rationalizing that her husband’s stability and reliability is enough to compensate for the other shortcomings that feed the soul. After Marty asks for a divorce, the author confronts her blunted sexuality and embarks on a quest to have sex with five men.

Over the course of 12 months, Morgan learns to navigate dating in middle age soon discovering that traditional dating “had gone the way of the cotillion” during her long stretch of married life. She confronts hard truths about the age and gender bias that seems to have brainwashed the sisterhood. A matchmaker tells her that her male clients will want to date her but won’t want a relationship with her. “They’ll love you for about three months, the novelty, your mind, your fire. Then, they’ll come back to me and ask for someone more ‘traditional.’ These types of men say they want a partner. In reality, they don’t. They want someone to make their world prettier, to ride in the backseat of their life.”

Her friends tell Morgan to settle in her next relationship, to expect a downgrade in husbands. Morgan doesn’t buy into their fatalist view of dating.  She isn’t looking for a baby daddy or a white picket fence. She is searching for men who inspire her lust and make her feel good about herself. As a successful writer, Morgan can pay her own mortgage, health insurance and live life by her own rules. Morgan reasons that she won’t get attached to any one man and in the process figure out what she wants in a relationship long-term.

The Naked Truth explores questions of why and how we choose a partner. There are those who “grab the gold ring” by marrying men who deliver the ideal lifestyle. Some marry for lust and passion; others choose partners for safety and reliability. Unfortunately in real life, there is no universal and infallible list of qualifications to guide our choice in a partner.

We figure love out in our own way, on our own time, making mistakes along the way. The Naked Truth reveals an essential fact about love and sex: Until we understand how we want and need to be loved, finding fulfilling love and romance remains elusive. Morgan doesn’t know what she doesn’t know, until she took risks and was willing to pay the price. My wish is that her newfound wisdom leads to her to a lover and soulmate.

Leslie Morgan is also the author of Crazy Love, a memoir about her abusive first marriage and is an in-demand speaker on domestic abuse topics.

[Alma G · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was enjoyable. Will I remember any of it? No. But, it passed time waiting.

[Catherine Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this frank intriguing well-written book and all its juicy nitty gritty voyeuristically entertaining details unashamedly shared by the brave author who I admire for her brutal honesty and transparency.

There's also a lot of wit, laugh-out-loud funny parts and a fair dose of self-parody.

It would therefore seem somewhat disingenuous of me to criticize or judge her character after such sharing, especially as she is so unlike myself and I wouldn't necessarily make the same decisions or life choices as her. Although I can understand why some readers are frustrated or annoyed by certain things Leslie does or thinks, I wasn't particularly bothered by anything in particular as I preferred to suspend my judgement of her, I admire and commend the author for her courage, unabashedness and self-deprecation..

It's a bit ironic that some readers were offended by the book, or thought there was TMI. Did they actually look at the cover and its title first? "The naked truth" does after all pertain to the total, unembellished, and unaltered truth, especially about something that someone may consider unpleasant or offensive.

I do feel for her when she only decided to leave her loveless marriage after the death of her mother, what a lot of wasted years trying to thus "honor" a mother who had not really even been there for her (as her mother had problems of her own, alcoholism among others), she should have left way sonoer.

I read this after finishing her "Crazy Love" which I also very much enjoyed for its vulnerable, unvarnished authenticity. Really looking forward to more from the author of this kind of warts-and-all memoir. I love how the author lays herself (and others) so bare and raw in all her honest-to-God, work-in-progress human glory, her candour and truthfulness are rare and compelling, kudos to Leslie and hope she finds an awesome soul-mate as she has a lot of love to give and receive.

[Carolyn Lee Arnold · Rating 5 out of 5]

An enjoyable way for older women to reclaim their sexual mojo!
If you are a heterosexual woman over 40, 50, or 60, recently divorced after an asexual marriage, or a single gal with a long dry spell, this is book is an entertaining and inspiring peek at ways to meet, flirt, and have sex with men, not with a goal of a long term relationship, but in order to experience the pleasure of sex and the feeling of being valued as an older woman. This is not for those who are looking for THE partner—it’s an enjoyable romp for that time in between deciding to break the dry spell and deciding what you really want out of life.

An acclaimed expert on why women stay in abusive relationships, Leslie Morgan is a wise, funny, articulate, sex-positive, feminist BFF, who shares her emotional and sexual journey in the year after divorce and before turning 50 with pride rather than shame as she renounces the drab ex-wife role, dresses alluringly, and dates wildly. Writing about sex and dating can be a cliché-ridden minefield, but Morgan enlivens the highs, lows and middles with metaphors that resonate and invite you into the scene. And it’s not just about sex – it’s about the emotional truths that she learns along the way. Of course, there are many other ways to explore one’s sexuality and attractiveness to men—workshops on tantra, sexuality, and relationships as well as online dating come to mind—but this goal of having five lovers in a year worked for Morgan to bring her back to life after a long self-esteem-crushing marriage. She models an older woman reclaiming her sexuality and her self-esteem, and gives permission for all women to do the same, in whatever way works for them. Thank you, Leslie Morgan, for having the courage to publish this book for all the women who want to reclaim themselves.

[Tangled in Text · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book terrified me, but I loved it because it got me to think. It was brutally honest towards two of my biggest insecurities. That after twenty years of marriage your husband might admit that your hugs disgust him and you realize you haven't had sex in two years and then the stereotype played out for an adult that chooses never to have kids.

To hear you are never safe even after twenty years of marriage is disheartening to say the least. This book pretty much embodies all the reasons I was terrified to get married in the first place. You make yourself extremely vulnerable handing your heart over to someone, putting it under their foot, and trusting they won't stomp on it. Then the adult that choose never to have kids. The fact that it was an immediate red flag for her friends because he wouldn't know the same level of love she does with kids. It was upsetting to see that relationship play out and fall into the exact stereotypes thrown at him. It makes me scared how people will view me if I decide to never have children, do people truly feel I won't know what love is?

Besides facing some fears of mine, this aftermath of divorce is literally the naked truth. There is no sugar coating the awkward circumstances that come up navigating this new freedom that really can be a burden at times. It was a thought-provoking, honest punch in the gut but I loved that it challenged me and was able to make me uncomfortable. She has a powerful way with words and I'd be interested to read her other books.

[Michelle Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a pretty good read. The book was very relatable to women who are aging and starting their lives over as single mothers, jumping into the dating pool.. This book by Leslie Morgan takes you through the ending of her marriage to a man who clearly was only still in the marriage for comfort, to her dating life and finding herself again as a women. Leslie at times frustrated me with her constant feelings of finding her self worth through men, especially when she was such a successful woman with really minor life problems in the grand scheme of things. Leslie easily takes vacations on short notice with her “boyfriends”,, has a great job that allows her to travel and really lives a life of ease. You do see that even with all Leslie has she is still a broken woman who doesn’t realize her self-worth until literally the end of the book. I loved that Leslie had great friends who she relied on and who gave her excellent advice on men and realistic dating. Stick with the book until the end because I do feel there is a lesson in it for all women, as we have all been through the ups and downs of emotionally abusive relationships and men who were just not as available as the woman is.

[Alli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Threw this book across the bed more than a couple times in absolute terror of its both pinpoint accuracy and thematic personal relevancy. This might be one to convert from the library borrow list to Barnes & Noble purchase while likewise suffering a certain late 40s female crossroads. Impeccable writing elevates the dirty bits, standard excellence from a fellow Crimson alum.

[Val Rich · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book compulsively readable, but, in the end somewhat annoying. The author describes in great detail her search for self realization after a divorce from a cold hearted man, the father of her children, after a 20 year marriage. After 3 years of sexual abstinence, she decides to find 5 lovers over the course of her first year of her freedom. Her liberation was fun to read, her various connections from shallow to sadly warped, intriguing to . For me, the knowledge of her obvious wealth made some of her issues somewhat cloying, but that's so petty of me. We all struggle for good relationships and real success is illusive. In the end, she found some balance, but still sought real connection.

[Honey Rand · Rating 5 out of 5]

OMG, Leslie puts it out there and doesn't give a rip about how people react to it. I already recommended this book to someone, mid-'40s recently divorced. We each find ourselves, if we're going to, through a highly individual path. That Leslie is smart and beautiful and independent gives her on the outside all the advantages. It doesn't change what she has to manage on the inside. In this book, she takes us with her through self-discovery, self-trust development, self-respect and more. She generously shares intimate and personal details of her thinking and her growth and her setbacks—warts and all.

[April Harvey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had read the excerpt of this book and decided right away that I needed to read the whole thing. I laughed pretty hard at the airport scene with "Mr. Blue Eyes" and the conversational style of writing had me hooked. However, I lost interest periodically through out the book and as such didn't finish it. I am 41 so the age range was fairly relatable to me and I liked that she was on a mission to reclaim her life ( and 5 new lovers in the process) but I just simply lost interest. I have several friends that I feel would be so in love with this book even though it wasn't a home run for me.

[Sherri · Rating 2 out of 5]

In this memoir, the author -- a 49-year-old divorcee at the time -- dedicates a year to finding 5 lovers. The premise of this book excited me. Morgan writes openly and frankly, and she had me laughing at times. All-in-all, though, this book wasn't terribly memorable for me and I didn't finish it because I kept forgetting to come back to it.

[Janet Graber · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted so much more. I wanted a truthful and self-reflective book about middle aged women, sex and relationships. There was not much self-reflection until the final chapter and even that was about one specific relationship and not her overall experience. The subtitle is even less than truthful. It was really three men and two guys she kissed. Finally, the writing was mediocre.

[Kelly Audiogirl.booking.it · Rating 3 out of 5]

just a so- so memoir for me 2.75 stars. I can relate to her desire to connect with inner self, her sexuality and her need for connection after a loveless marriage. But I thought the book was a little bit one note for me. I wanted her to explore more than just her sexual escapades but didn't seem to get much past that.

*************************
Audiobook.booking.it -- Instagram