Sluts - Beth Ashley

From award-winning journalist Beth Ashley comes a groundbreaking investigation into the history of slutshaming, how it continues to affect us today and what we can do to fight it.

Whore. Hoe. Jezebel. Harlot. Slut. Five words. One meaning.

But what exactly is a slut? How has the concept changed over time? And why is slutshaming so dangerous?

In this groundbreaking investigation, Beth Ashley reveals the truth about slutshaming, gives us the tools to fight it, and encourages us all to have better conversations about sex.

The fight starts now.

 

What did I think?

I’ve always been annoyed that sexually active people have been treated differently; females are sluts but males are just sowing their wild oats so good on Beth Ashley for changing the narrative with her powerful book.

There are nine reasonably chunky chapters in addition to an introduction and a conclusion, however, it’s so inspiring and thought-provoking when you start to read that it’s difficult to put it down. This doesn’t happen often for me with a non-fiction book but there were so many occasions when I was agreeing with the author and other occasions when I had my eyes opened to things that may have previously passed me by.

It does show the male species in a bad light but it also shows that females are just as bad at slutshaming. I could feel my anger building with each chapter and I was consumed by fury at the end as my eyes were opened to everything that is wrong with society.

I particularly enjoyed reading the history section and it’s quite staggering that the Romans labelled women one of two ways: prostitutes or married. Consider my jaw well and truly dropped. From ancient times to current day and the social media explosion, Beth Ashley has it all covered in this outstanding book.

Empowering, inspirational and enlightening, Sluts is a very important and timely book that everyone should read so we can stop the rot that infests our perceptions of other people.

I chose to order a hardback copy via the Amazon Vine programme and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

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Kissing Emma - Shappi Khorsandi

 

Emma and her mother are down on their luck. They're taking turns sleeping on the sofa in her nan's tiny flat - and desperately trying to come up with an escape plan.

Emma is struggling with her family, struggling at school where the girls are bitchy towards her and the boys only seem to want one thing, and struggling with never having enough money for anything, ever.

Just as she's contemplating quitting school to get a real job, she meets two men who convince her that she has a shot at modelling. But their motives are far from innocent, and Emma is soon pulled into a dark world. And then she meets Con, who is rich, handsome and so romantic! Has Emma's luck finally changed?

Kissing Emma is inspired by the real life and untold story of Emma Hamilton, Lord Nelson's mistress. But Shappi Khorsandi's modern Emma is going to get the happy ending her namesake never did - and stick two fingers up at the men who dare to take advantage of young women while she's doing it.

Not suitable for younger readers

What did I think?

I loved Shappi Khorsandi's debut novel, Nina is Not Ok, so I was eager to see how she would follow it. Wow! Kissing Emma completely blew me away; it is so outstanding that I was left speechless and completely bereft after I turned the final page.

Inspired by the story of Lord Nelson's mistress, Emma Hamilton, this is a raw, honest and and often difficult to read 21st century coming of age story. Emma doesn't have a decent male role model to show her what love is and she finds out the hard way that sex isn't love. Emma's story is often disturbing and horrifying as she makes awful decisions and is consequently taken advantage of; I just wished I could have reached inside the book and helped her.

It's quite a short read at only 296 pages but it is so powerful. All teenage girls should read this book to learn to value themselves instead of trying to make boys love them by offering their bodies on a plate. Back in my day, Judy Blume's Forever was the coming of age novel all girls wanted to read but it really showed relationships through rose-tinted glasses. 

Shappi Khorsandi's Kissing Emma is a stark, honest coming of age story for a new generation and it is destined to become a classic. It's quite simply brilliant!

I received a copy of Kissing Emma for free from the Amazon Vine programme and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

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BLOG TOUR: Reckless - R. J. McBrien

 

You think you'll stay the same – you won't. Infidelity will change you forever. There can be no going back.

Kirsten Calloway knows she should be grateful. She has a stable marriage, decent job, and a wonderful teenage daughter. But she also has a raging libido that won't shut up, and a husband who'd rather go on a bike ride.

She bumps into an old friend at a school reunion who faces a similar problem. Dianne, though, has found the answer: a discreet agency which arranges casual sex for people just like them, people who want to keep their marriages but also scratch that itch.

Enter Zac: younger, handsome and everything Kirsten could hope for in bed. For a while, they seem to have it all. Kirsten even finds herself becoming a better wife and mother. But Zac wants more – a lot more, and he'll stop at nothing to get it.

Sexually charged, shocking and relatable, Reckless is a profound exploration of marriage, motherhood and desire.

What did I think?

Reckless sounded like something a little different to what I would usually read but it just happens to be the title of my favourite album so I couldn't resist.  I was worried that it would have more than a foot in the erotica camp but my fears were unfounded as it barely dips a toe in that genre, being more of a suspenseful mystery thriller.

Kirsten's marriage seems to have stagnated so she is considering cheating on her husband.  Obviously talking to him about it would be the obvious choice but that would have resulted in a very short book!  The mysterious agency she uses to find a hook-up is very cloak and dagger and this adds an extra layer of suspense to the illicit nature of the plot.  With flashbacks to her past, Kirsten appears to be trying to re-experience the feelings of her first love and 'Zac' seems to do the trick.  That is until Zac gets more serious and wants more from Kirsten but that's definitely not what she has signed up for.

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Reckless and I actually said out loud when I finished it that 'I really rather enjoyed that!'  R. J. McBrien's writing is very accomplished and the plotting is so intricately constructed that it left me breathless.  I loved the inclusion of police reports and witness statements that made me feel part of the investigation and added a police procedural slant to the novel.  The mystery is very well played and I didn't see it coming at all.

Reckless is a suspenseful page-turner and an absolutely stunning debut.  Adding the fizz of sexual tension to an already tense novel makes it a real firecracker and it's a well deserved rating of 4.5 stars from me.  I definitely recommend it.

I received an ARC to read and review for the blog tour and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

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Turbulence - Bruce McLaren

A young man’s flight of fancy. A series of sensual encounters. An epic journey that will either lead to destruction, enlightenment, or both.

He loves exotic travel and alluring women, preferably together. Embarking on a lifelong journey across the world, a razor-sharp academic delights in highly sensual encounters with the opposite sex. As each experience deepens his philosophy, he experiments on a quest for something more, suffering several hard landings along the way.

But drink, ambition, and tragedy eventually send him down a bumpy path of self-destruction. If he doesn’t moderate his excesses, his original journey will only go in one direction… into a death spiral. Will a determined man learn from his travels or will his hedonistic vision send him crashing down to earth?

Turbulence is a rich and poignant literary novel. If you like sizzling indulgences, intriguing encounters, and anti-heroes with attitude, then you’ll love Bruce McLaren’s extravagant adventure.

What did I think?

I have to admit that I was drawn to this book because of the author sharing his name with a Formula 1 legend and Turbulence does actually have something in common with today’s McLaren – neither of them are very racy!  Despite being described as an erotic novel, Amsterdam Press took a chance on this book and wow, am I glad that they did.  I can totally see the publisher’s quandary; Turbulence does not fit into any one genre and it is difficult to market a book that doesn’t fit into a particular category.  I’m sure this isn’t an isolated incident and I’m so sad that readers could be missing out on some great books so…how about we create a new genre called ‘Unique’.  See, Turbulence fits perfectly there!

Both the author and the ‘nameless’ main character are both archaeologists, which made me wonder whether this was more of a memoir.  As he travels round the world for work, he inevitably meets a beautiful woman on each flight and, more often than not, they end up meeting for sex at their mutual destination.  Bruce McLaren doesn’t go into details, sparing our blushes and leaving most of it to the reader’s imagination.  Although there are a lot of these encounters, by not dwelling on it, you know that this isn’t the main focus of the story.  We are free to discover some of the amazing cities through the eyes of this philosophical man, which I found both educational and fascinating.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect when I agreed to read Turbulence, but I certainly didn’t expect something so deep, meaningful and thought-provoking.  It was actually really refreshing to read something from a man’s point of view; they’re not as confident as we think, ladies!  It’s a short read at only 194 pages but I found myself pausing after each chapter to savour the sounds and smells of the city we had just virtually visited through the all-encompassing faultless prose of Bruce McLaren.

So pack your passport and pick up a copy of Turbulence; the book that takes you on a virtual tour of the world as you follow one man’s quest to charm the birds out of the sky.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

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The Coven (Beatrice Scarlet book 2) - Graham Masterton

They say the girls were witches. But Beatrice Scarlet, the apothecary's daughter, is sure they were innocent victims...

London, 1758:

Beatrice Scarlet, the apothecary's daughter, has found a position at St Mary Magdalene's Refuge for fallen women. She enjoys the work and soon forms a close bond with her charges.

The refuge is supported by a wealthy tobacco merchant, who regularly offers the girls steady work to aid their rehabilitation. But when seven girls sent to his factory disappear, Beatrice is uneasy.

Their would-be benefactor claims they were a coven of witches, beholden only to Satan and his demonic misdeeds. But Beatrice is convinced something much darker than witchcraft is at play...

What did I think?

I had read the first Beatrice Scarlet book, Scarlet Widow, and rather enjoyed it so I didn't hesitate to accept a copy of the sequel, The Coven.  It sounded dark and scary but it turned out to be dark in a way I didn't expect and didn't enjoy, so I found myself getting more and more disappointed as I read on.  I almost didn't finish it, but for the fact that I wanted to find out what had happened to one of the characters.

After her son, Noah, is abducted by Indians, Beatrice leaves America and returns to London.  I'm not a mother, but really?  I can't imagine any mother would leave her son behind, the last link she has to her dead husband, when there is even the smallest chance he could return to look for her.  Anyway, Beatrice heads to London and she ends up living and working at a home that rehabilitates prostitutes.  Their benefactor picks the best looking ladies to go to work at his tobacco factory but when Beatrice enquires after those she befriended, they have disappeared and been branded as witches after leaving a gutted goat and a bloody pentagram.  Like Miss Marple, Beatrice smells a rat and begins an investigation into their disappearance.  As more girls disappear, Beatrice is drawn into the seedy underbelly of London which puts her at more risk than she can ever have imagined.

Scarlet Widow perhaps gave a little hint as to which direction the series was going in as there was quite a graphic sexual assault described.  At least I thought it was graphic until I read The Coven.  I'm not a prude by any means but the actions described in this book made me cringe in disgust and I felt quite uncomfortable at times.  Unfortunately, it has put me off reading any further books in the series.

The Coven is a sequel I was quite looking forward to but sadly I was very disappointed.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

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Poor Little Bitch Girl (Santangelo #7) - Jackie Collins

There's Denver Jones, the hotshot attorney working in L.A. and Carolyn Henderson - personal assistant to a powerful and very married Senator in Washington with whom she is having an affair. And then there's Annabelle Maestro - daughter of two movie stars - who has carved out a career for herself in New York as the madame of choice for discerning famous men. The three twenty-something women used to go to high school together in Beverly Hills and Denver and Carolyn have always kept in touch, but Annabelle is out on her own with her cocaine addicted boyfriend Frankie. 

Bobby is Frankie's best friend - Bobby Santangelo Stanislopolous, that is, Kennedy-esque son of Lucky Santangelo and deceased Greek shipping billionaire Dimitri Stanislopolous. Now he owns Mood, the hottest club in New York, but back in the day he went to high school with Denver, Carolyn and Annabelle, and hung out with all three of them. Which means that Bobby knows everyone's secrets - and he has some of his own, too.

What did I think?

I had never read a Jackie Collins book before and I don't really like jumping into an already established series, but I was loaned this book so thought I'd give it a shot (no pun intended with a shooting in the book).

The story centres around 4 main characters; Bobby, Denver, Annabelle and Carolyn.  They all went to same school as youths but weren't all friends.  Denver is a lawyer who was briefly friendly with Annabelle, daughter of two famous movie stars, but is now friends with Carolyn, assistant to a senator.  Bobby is the son of Lucky Santangelo and is in Annabelle's social circle as he is friends with her boyfriend, Frankie.

Unsurprisingly, Annabelle is a spoilt bitch and is the subject of the book's title.  She lands herself in hot water but as it is in LA, if you have enough money you can make anything go away.  I quite liked Denver at first, as she seemed the more normal of the 3 girls until she jumped into bed with anyone who looked at her for longer than 10 seconds.  Carolyn got the short straw; having an affair with a married senator who makes an arrangement with a local gang leader to abduct Carolyn when she gets too attached.  That was quite a gripping part of the story.  Bobby didn't really leave a lasting impression on me.  He seemed a bit weak, most unlike the playboy I expected him to be.  

I really liked the way that Jackie Collins summed it all up in the last chapter by giving a brief 'what happened next' to each character.  I do think that there were too many characters in the book with none of them standing head and shoulders above the rest as a main character.  The murder storyline was predictable and the bitch wasn't even that bitchy so it all felt a bit flat for me.  Perhaps if I had read the first 6 books in the series, I would have enjoyed it more.

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