Vulnerable personal story time! If you are related to me, maybe skip the introduction paragraph for today’s newsletter?
Before I realized I was asexual, I was in college and the women in my senior thesis writer’s group were aghast to discover that I was not, let’s say, on intimate terms with myself. It should have been obvious when I was surprised to discover women self-pleasured that there was something other than “growing up in a conservative town” going on, but hey, that’s why we need better asexual representation in media! Anyways. Since asexuality was not a foregone conclusion to my self love bafflement, my writer’s group took it upon themselves to essentially kidnap me to buy my first vibrator. While I appreciate the intention, their tactics left a lot to be desired (pun intended). And I’ll be honest, given our introduction, me and that first toy had no spark.
Honestly, it wasn’t until I came out as asexual that I found more interest in exploring the world of sex toys and intimacy aids, because I was no longer approaching them to “fix” me and “catch up” to other women my age who had been feeling certain urges since puberty. I was approaching them as a woman with different interests and needs and a genuine curiosity. And I think, had I read some of the following stories, where sex toys are just a tool for pleasure and a way to discover what you like without judgement, I may have learned some things about myself a lot earlier, with a lot less shame attached. So whenever a book includes sex toys to normalize and diversify how people can give each other and themselves pleasure, I pay attention.
Walk on the Wilder Side by Serena Bell. Rachel has always had a plan. And when that plan explodes, rather spectacularly, all at once (losing her dream library job, great apartment, and almost-fiance in a single day), she heads back to her hometown of Rush Creek, OR to figure out her next steps. She’s theoretically prepared to see her long-time crush and her brother’s best friend, Brody Wilder, but the reality of spending time around the bad boy of her dreams is more overwhelming than she was prepared for.
Brody’s life fell apart recently too: the long-time bad seed of the gigantic Wilder family was ready to put his bad boy lifestyle in the past when he found out his girlfriend was pregnant, but when it’s revealed baby Justin isn’t his, he does what he does best: act out. So when Rachel, the girl he’s always cared for but can never touch (bro code), is back in town, he’s doing all that he can to keep his distance. He’s got a family business to rescue, after all, starting with finding new ways to use the fishing boat he’s in charge of to entice the less outdoorsy tourists out on the water.
Then Rachel, as a favor to her mom, brings a big box of sex toys onto his boat (think like a Pampered Chef party but with lube and vibrators), which solves his business problem (people love buying sex toys on boats, it turns out!) but endangers his ability to keep the girl of his dreams at arms length, for both of their good.
I don’t know if everything about the conclusion of this book was earned, but it was satisfying nonetheless, and I really liked how Brody resolved his parenthood crisis with the help and support of Rachel. And I’ll always be a sucker for a book where an extremely type A girl falls for a fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants boy (so much so that it’s the central premise to the book I’M writing right now!).
Rating: 4.25/5
How hot? 🔥🔥🔥
Satisfaction Guaranteed by Karelia Stetz-Waters. Cade Elgin may have been born into a rich and fabulous artistic family, but the reason they’re able to continue being rich, fabulous, and artistic is that Cade keeps things running, including her parents’ world-renowned NYC art gallery. So she doesn’t really have time to fart around in Portland, OR after attending her beloved (but kinda estranged) aunt’s funeral. Unfortunately, her aunt had other plans, because she left Cade with a project- save her business, Satisfaction Guaranteed, which sells sex toys and drag queen mermaid Christmas ornaments and also sometimes cookware. Not only that, but Cade also has a co-owner of the inherited failing shop; Selena Mathis, a out bisexual and a closet painter who’s on a self-imposed celibacy kick because she realized she was using sex as a distraction to improving herself and her life.
Cade and Selena have an instant attraction to one another, but are both keeping their cards close to the chest for their own reasons, especially as it becomes clear they have very different ideas for how to run Satisfaction Guaranteed and precious little time to implement whatever compromise they come to. There’s also Selena’s toxic ex sneaking around (leading to Cade being enlisted as her fake fiance) and Cade’s ongoing frustrations with having an orgasm yet feeling too “frigid” for sex toys or intimacy. Based on my intro for this week’s newsletter… I imagine you will not be surprised how SEEN I felt by this character.
We’ve got wild child meets ice queen, except perhaps both of those descriptors aren’t as accurate as they seem, even when they give them to themselves. Selena helps Cade explore her own pleasure in a safe environment, and Cade helps Selena explore her repressed artistic ambitions in a non judgemental space. It’s a beautifully balanced story between two women who aren’t as broken as they think they are, who bring out the best and the worst in each other, and who, thankfully, eventually aren’t afraid to grow and ask for what they need without fear of reproach.
Rating: 4.5/5
How hot? 🔥🔥🔥🔥
One And Only by Jenny Holiday. The first full-length book in the Bridesmaids Behaving Badly series follows Jane, a responsible genre YA author, and the task her bridezilla best friend gives her in the week leading up to her wedding; babysitting the bad boy younger brother of the groom, Cameron. Cameron is home from war, but he hasn’t been forthcoming with the details of why he left the armed forces, and given his reputation as a bad boy, feels no one will really believe him anyways. At first, he’s frustrated by this frumpy bridesmaid a few years his senior insisting on cockblocking him at every turn to ensure he doesn’t cause problems for the bride and groom, but then he finds he’s having more fun arguing with Jane than his usual hedonistic homecoming activities.
The “good vibes” come into play because Jane eventually reveals that she keeps her collection of sex toys in her home office to help her think/help relax when she’s got writer’s block, and at first when Cameron discovers them she’s defensive. Turns out, her toxic ex (and the reason she’s like “no real relationships ever!”) hated sex toys, as if he was competing with her battery powered intimacy aids (which is apparently a thing?? Hey straight men? Cut it TF out). Cameron doesn’t hesitate to call this out as foolishness. “Being threatened by something you can use to give your girl screaming orgasms doesn’t sound like a very smart move.”
He then goes on to put his money where his mouth is. Wink. This was my first Jenny Holiday, and it led me to consume as much of her backlist as possible so you better believe she’ll be showing up more often in this newsletter! Worth mentioning as well that this whole Bridesmaids series follows the same pattern: each book takes place at one of the friend groups’ wedding (or the lead up to it) and a new bridesmaid falls in love each time. It’s not only a great structure for a series, but it also means you basically get an extended epilogue for the couple you just fell for in the previous book. So yep, that means the second book takes place around Cameron and Jane’s wedding! I love that!
Rating: 4.25/5
How hot? 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Next week, I’ll be recommending books with female characters particularly close to my heart… tomboys!
What should I be reading next? Let me know in the comments!