Sex

How Well Do You Know Your Own Desires?

woman sex desire

The best-selling 50 Shades of Grey trilogy brought mainstream attention to bondage, S&M and other subversive sex acts. But a new erotic romance doesn't just portray fantasies — it teaches readers how and why they might want to explore their own.

L. Marie Adeline's S.E.C.R.E.T.: A Novel, which has already ousted 50 Shades on the Canadian bestseller list, tells the story of Cassie Robichaud, a 35-year-old widow who hasn't had sex in five years. Cassie's been emotionally adrift since her husband Scott's death, but her relationship with him was far from perfect. In the years they were married, Cassie watched her high school sweetheart, the only romantic partner she's ever had, become an emotionally and physically abusive alcoholic.

When we meet Cassie, she's working as a waitress at a New Orleans cafe. She has no friends, no self-esteem, and no greater prospects for her life. When an extremely attractive man and woman come into the cafe for lunch, Cassie's struck by longing ... for that kind of affection and attention from a man. She's never experienced it, and she doubts she ever will. "To be wanted, to be craved, the way this man craved this woman, was like something out of a a foreign movie in a language I'd never learn, with subtitles that were becoming increasingly blurry," Cassie thinks to herself.

After the meal, the woman leaves a mysterious journal behind. Cassie's shocked by its contents, detailed accounts of steamy sexual exploits. The woman comes back to the cafe with a friend, and Cassie returns the journal. But instead of life going back to its regularly scheduled programming, Cassie's invited into a mysterious group called S.E.C.R.E.T., an organization that the woman at the cafe belongs to. Keep reading ...

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