Title: Faking It
Author: Rebecca Smith
Publisher: One More Chapter
Publication date: August 7th, 2020
400 pages
3/5 stars
Goodreads Synopsis
Meet Hannah Thompson: wife, mother, teacher and… secret erotica author?
My Guilt List:
1. If we have a date night then I’m always asleep before it’s halfway through and honestly, if I had to choose, I’d rather have a hot bath and read my book than engage in any other nocturnal activity.
2. If we do actually have you-know-what then it’s not unheard of for my mind to wander… and I’m not talking about sexy things – I’m talking about what food there is in the fridge and when the car is due for its next service.
3. I am struggling to write about anything that could be classed as even a little bit sexually adventurous which is a problem when I’m supposed to be an erotica writer and I am speaking at Sex Con in exactly one month.
With a book to publicise, Hannah has no choice but trade her M&S cardis for S&M parties, and become her writing alter-ego. What could possibly go wrong…
Review
Thank you to One More Chapter and Netgalley for an early copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review.
I didn’t realize until after finishing this book that it is a companion novel to another book on the same characters, but it didn’t really matter as you don’t need to read the first to understand what is going on in the second. The plot is fully identified and explained without relying on previous knowledge.
I was very excited about the premise of this book. I could totally imagine a normal woman starting a career as an erotica novelist and having doubts about being known as someone who writes erotica. The main character, just seemed so normal. Three kids, middle aged life, working as a teacher, having financial problems. But this book just fell seriously flat for me.
First everything about Hannah seemed so contrived. She writes erotica and believed that her sex scenes were pushing the boundaries, then we find out her editor actually thinks they are more humorous than sexy. Hannah is appalled, so she tries to be “sexier” in order to write the next book. But all she does is basically slut shame herself and everyone else for most of the book? I seriously didn’t get it. She made terrible assumptions, put her husband in weird positions, (literally and figuratively) and just overall was a strange character. Also, the snippets of her book we got to read? Not at all entertaining or funny or even erotic.
I’m also missing how this is a romance novel. Hannah is contentedly married, and there really isn’t much focus on her relationship with Nick. There’s more focus on her relationship with her sons and daughter or her friends than there is about her and Nick. Even the main plot, getting ready to attend Sex Con, takes 80% of the book to get to – and then it’s only like a chapter long. Her arguments with her daughter took up more page time.
I think I went into this book expecting humor, romance, and some ~sexy~ writing – and that just wasn’t this. It’s possible that because my expectations were totally different I didn’t enjoy it because I was so focused on getting to the parts that I wanted to be there… but didn’t exist. So reader, if you’re looking for a true romance novel, this isn’t it. it’s more Women’s Fiction/Chick Lit. I’m sure there’s an audience for this book, who will find it to be funny & relatable but that just isn’t me!
Happy reading, folks!
Baltimore Bibliophile 