Listen, I went into this book knowing it was about a woman who ended up living with a p*rn star but I had zero idea about the entire business venture. Rosie Danan did an amazing job capturing these characters and writing about a cultural t*boo with grace.

The reactions to this book further prove the necessity of its existence. I've been reading romance for over 5 years and I've read it all from the YA crushes to the raunchiest er*tica, yet the scenes of Clara in the auditions and then during filming had me blushing and looking away. What about women's pleasure is society so scared of that we are conditioned to never talk or think about it? It was an eye opener not only for me personally, but also the wider romance genre and how we perceive and consume "spicy" content. 

I really love that throughout the entire story, Josh's profession is never seen as dirty or seedy. Even when Josh thinks that Clara is having second thoughts about sleeping together because of his profession, he assumes it's because she thinks he can only do those things in front of a camera, not that she's scared about STDs. This had to have been a very intentional choice on Rosie's part, and I applaud her for it. To debut with a book that is so s*x positive and still in 2024 incredibly progressive, is impressive and inspiring. 

This novel is both a well-crafted romance and a compelling look at s*x and pleasure in our current time.

Quotes:
-“Wild looks good on you,” Josh said, and this time when he put his hands on her he didn’t hold back.
-Offering to help her out had felt more like a religious calling than a job.
-All he knew was that he always wanted her to be happy. When she smiled or laughed, he felt powerful and good. If something hurt her, he wanted to Hulk smash.
-If Clara wasn’t careful, an evening like this could get her tipsy on its potential.
-The idea that Clara wasn’t desirable, wasn’t inherently lovable, made him irrationally furious. Josh didn’t claim extraordinary intelligence, but Everett Bloom was a first-degree fool.
-“I think you might be the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
-His molecules had rearranged to give him this shot at loving her.
-“Change always comes with a closing cost,” Naomi said. “But it’s still worth trying. Not because the odds are particularly good, mind you, but considering the alternative. There’s value in the struggle. Value in touching the raw and bloody parts of our souls, opening them up to the sunlight, and hoping they heal.”
-Tonight he would issue a proper declaration. One that...told Clara how she made him want to recite epic poems. If she’d let him, he’d do his best to lay cities at her feet, to sail for fourteen years only to find his way back to her bed.
-*insert chapter 35 to the end because the entire thing is incredible* going to make these as spoilers as it is the end of the book

-The very idea of loving Everett suddenly struck Clara as ridiculous. A wannabe rock star living off his daddy’s money who forgot to return her phone calls. She didn’t need Everett Bloom with his cleft chin and his Ray-Bans and his halfhearted apologies. What an embarrassing catalyst for her fall from grace. It’s amazing how wrong you can be about a person. About yourself.
-“I think you’re right.” Everett had eclipsed her ambition, her drive, her hunger, all of the things that she now loved most about herself. All the things Josh celebrated. “I think I loved my idea of love. Of passion and partnership. Of someone else’s hand in mine. My name on the lips of a man who wanted me. I craved certainty. The excitement and reassurance of knowing who I was coming home to at the end of the day.”
-Honestly, so what if people knew she’d invested in promoting women’s pleasure? For twenty-seven years she’d held a nearly perfect record, and all it had landed her was a life she could walk away from at the drop of a hat. Maybe it was her Wheaton blood, or falling head over heels for the last person she’d expected, but somehow, some way, Clara had finally developed a taste for scandal.
-Loving you is like sinking into a warm bath after a lifetime of feeling cold down to my bones.”
-“My love for you isn’t an addiction. Being with you doesn’t provide some warped sense of validation for my life. You were never a fling I had to get out of my system. Our love feels like . . . freedom. The kind people give their lives for.”
-He sat, stupefied at his good fortune. In a thousand lifetimes, he’d never get enough of Clara. Of her optimism and her nerve. Of her desperate kisses and faith that people were worth fighting for.
-“There are a lot of terrifying women in my life right now, but I don’t care,” Josh said. “Because when I look at you, Clara, it’s like a rabid beast inside me sits back on its haunches and sighs, Finally.