A Taste of Pleasure

July 13, 2015
Sophisticated readers will quickly tire of the sophomoric writing in this mindless, episodic erotic novel. Wealthy paralegal London Shelby is reeling from the shock of her boyfriend, Deacon, leaving her to marry someone else. She adopts the motto “pleasure without pressure,” enjoying creative and spontaneous sex with anyone who catches her eye (golf pro, high school ex, college-age beachgoer, and others). Lacking any true friends or real interests, Shelby lounges in the Tarrytown, N.Y., mansion left to her by her grandmother and goes from one affair to the next in pursuit of someone who can take her mind off Deacon. Yet whenever he reappears, she eagerly welcomes him back. Readers may wonder how anyone can get through life without trusted confidants—Shelby’s “best friend” seduces Deacon away from her after their threesome—and with so little sense of her own value as a human being. Several passages border on the nonconsensual, which will titillate some readers but distress others. There’s pleasure aplenty, but without emotional connection, it feels empty.