Review: The Secret Lives of Emma: Beginnings by Natasha Walker

Smut. Pure smut.

Fortunately, the first in a serious of novels about a woman named Emma who values sensuality above all things, doesn't pretend to be anything more than what it is. We know this isn't a romance. We know that we're not reading a heavily romanticised account of BDSM. We're reading a sexually charged novel about a thirty-something housewife who seduces the eighteen-year-old boy who lives next door. The writing focuses heavily on actions and body parts. (Make of that what you will.)

In all honesty, this book probably would have passed me by had it not been for an article that I read I read in Adelaide's Sunday Mail a few weeks ago, which not only revealed the true identity of the author, but hinted that the book might, in some ways, be far more awesome than the many erotic novels that have been published or republished since Fifty Shades hit the best seller lists mid-last year. Natasha Walker, is actually a pseudonym for John Purcell the head book buyer and marker for an awesome Australian online bookstore that some of you may know already, booktopia.

Anyway, while for me smut remains an occasional distraction rather than being anything of value, I cannot say that I was dissatisfied or unhappy with this short novel as a whole.

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