My take on: With My Body

I have to go there and bring up a certain book!!! Simply because I have nothing else to compare it to. Fifty Shades of Grey is all the rage in the book world. I've been tempted to read it........but I read an excerpt on Amazon and was appalled!! Not by the sex, but by how bad the writing was!! If I'm going to read a book with graphic sex scenes, it would be nice if the writing was actually good.

The writing in With My Body by Nikki Gemmell is actually good. Her writing style does take some time getting used to. The "chapters" are really lessons for a middle-aged woman who has lost herself. The lessons are very short and to the point. It's also written in the second person, which isn't my favorite. I'm so used to books in the first person. I'm just torn on the book as a whole.

The story is one that a lot of women can relate to. A middle-aged wife and mom of three is stuck in a passionless marriage. The former attorney is now a stay-at-home mom, reduced to petty spats with other mothers on the P.T.A. She and her doctor husband, Hugh, have stopped communicating. She gets herself lost in a sea of laundry, cooking, church, and shuttling the children to school. Pieces of her psyche are locked away. The pieces that once desired sex and passion. In a way Hugh has already served his purpose, he gave her three children.

In her youth she seemed confused about sex. Long after her mother passed away, her father married a woman who wanted nothing to do with her stepdaughter. She's made to feel like an outsider in her own family, and her father let it happen. She knows her father loves her, but there is something missing in her life. She needed guidance. Her first sexual experience, at age 14, TOTALLY creeped me out. It was with an older man, who in my opinion preyed on her. She feels sensual and empowered by him, which I found GROSS!!! A 14-year-old shouldn't feel that way with someone who is old enough to be her father. I don't know if it was Nikki Gemmell's intent for this section of the book to be erotic? Or for readers to see this man for the pedophile that he is? She continues to explore that side of herself before she's even turned 18. By the time she is a married woman that sense of empowerment is gone. She becomes a bit of a whiner.

A lot of women will be able to relate to the themes in this book. The main character has lost herself in motherhood, putting herself last on the list. But.....finding comfort in a pedophile is just icky!!! I wonder if this book is semi-autobiographically or based on someone the author knows. If there is some truth to the story maybe the author is highlighting how naive and vulnerable teenagers can be. If you're offended by graphic sex scenes, then this book isn't for you. I'm a newbie to the genre and I'm not offended. I'm just a little confused by the book.

Rating: Give it a try. (It was so close to being Superb!!)


Note: I received a copy of the book from the publisher (Harper Perennial) as part of a blog tour with TLC Book Tours.