Nothing see here: just get on with the review you bastards! Much love.
Dirty Author, by Sarah Bailey discusses the terrifying issue of writer’s block. Talia, known to most people in her life as a boring ass copywriter, writes a series of successful erotic romance books. Normally, she’s an extremely efficient writer, but as of late she’s hit a brick wall. Some might diagnose this as a result of stress or health issues getting in the way of productivity. But as her best friend Duncan would probably say…”girl just ain’t been getting enough dick!” It’s true though, no matter how crude a thought, that T hasn’t been getting the inspiration she needs to get her romance tales off the ground. No, you don’t need to actually be a sex crazed headboard cracker to write good erotic stories…but it sure might be worth a shot!
Ok, let’s just slow it down a little. Given that setup, it’s easy to jump to conclusions and think this will be a quickie erotica style story with the hot BFFs dropping their walls and Talia fucking her way to a bestseller before going back to “normal.” And while these characters sure could have gone down that very path, there’s a depth to explore between T and Duncan that goes that extra mile. Certainly, inspiration for a sexual story can come from experiencing it first hand, but in this case it’s about who you’re opening yourself up to. Duncan and T are about as close as two friends can get, but have always considered themselves to be polar opposites when it came to sex, with love as the last thing on Duncan’s mind. Still, Duncan becomes captivated with her friend’s passion after learning about her past works, as well as her current problem. Duncan tries to help Talia find this missing inspiration, and doing it sexually (even if he only meant it to be playful fully clothed “acting”) he’s helping reclaim this artistic expression in the only way he knows how. She’s got the pen, and he’s got the passion. The book is saved…but then it’s time to deal with the feelings which becomes a brilliantly tight examination of this friendship.
Books written by experienced authors about fictional authors tend to have a bit of an autobiographical nature to them, at least at a 50,000 foot view. While I’ll never make any assumptions about a writer’s real world life, it’s pretty damn clear the Queen of Steam struggled with writing efficiency before writing this book. To that point, it makes this book almost required reading to up and coming authors, as the plain-as-day writer struggle is painted for the reader in vivid colors.
Verdict: Dirty Author by Sarah Bailey can be taken in multiple ways. If you want a hot story about sexy best friends that finally get over themselves and take the plunge, it’s there. If you want an examination of the struggle of the writing process with cute backdrop, that’s also there. Hell, in some ways the book is just plain fun too. Snippets of the character author’s erotica allows the book author an outlet for some cheesy sexual banter that may never have otherwise seen the light of day. But all of that comes together to form a wonderful example of how an artist can find inspiration from what matters most to them, and the doors to which that expression can open. Magnificent!
Special thanks to Sarah Bailey for providing an advanced review copy of Dirty Author to TehBen.com for review. All thoughts and opinions are our own.
Author’s Twitter: @sbaileyauthor
Purchase Link: Amazon
TEHBEN.COM 