Private Pleasures
Written By: Bertrice Small
Published By: New American Library a division of Penguin Group Inc., 2004, First Edition, 266 pages, paperback
ISBN 978-0451212030

“Private Pleasures is a vibrant, fast-paced story full of explicit eroticism; this book is not for the faint of heart!”

Product Description – Amazon.com
“Nora Buckley’s worst nightmare has just come true. After years of being a devoted, dutiful housewife, she’s found out her husband is leaving her for a younger woman. Her only comfort comes from her friends-the women of Ansley Court, who meet every Monday morning for coffee and gossip.
Seeing Nora’s desperation, her friends decide it’s time to let her in on their delicious and dirty little secret. It’s called The Channel… and it lets every woman unleash passions beyond her wildest dreams. Suddenly Nora is living out her most intimate and sensuous fantasies- and before long, she realizes she can have everything she ever wanted…”

Private Pleasures is filled with promise, but it did not satisfy as I had hoped. I will start with The Channel; it is an absolutely fabulous idea and the Author has really outdone herself! With this inventive escape, Nora and her friends are able to live out their most secret, intimate fantasies. Just imagine the possibilities in real life?  It’s every woman’s dream come true!
I think that some of the difficulty I had with this book was how deep the Author takes the fantasies and how dissimilar certain parts are from what I would call erotic and arousing. I really enjoyed the ‘outside The Channel’ part of the story and I was very happy to see Nora standing up for herself. At several points in the storyline though, I felt a disconnection from the book; I lost interest for a few pages. I understand that it is Nora’s dream world and her own private settings, but I was a little grossed-out by some of the sex-play. Some of the love scenes are very erotic, filled with incredible sexual tension and spicy lovemaking, while other love scenes are somewhat cheesy and reminiscent of a poorly written porn video. There are 3 more books in The Channel erotica series and I have high hopes for them; I’m looking forward to some variation and some other types of sexual experimentation. It was an interesting read and eye-opening too. I encourage you to pick up a copy to read if you are into some varied and graphic erotica that breaks boundaries and makes no apologies.
**If you don’t want to read any potential spoilers, please don’t read past this point in the review!**
I was really turned-off by the anal play and anal sex…not that there is anything wrong with it, it just isn’t something that I find sexy or arousing. The man on man action was a little icky too; yes, it’s another thing that doesn’t appeal to me, sad to say.

♦♦♦♦♦♦ (6 out of 10 Diamonds) – I enjoyed it
 

Link to the Author’s Website:
http://www.bertricesmall.net/
Link to the Publisher’s Website:
http://us.penguingroup.com/

A special thanks to Kathryn at Penguin Group (USA) for sending me a copy to review.