Disclaimer: I hate writing bad reviews of books. I really, really, really hate to do it. I hate it because it feels icky, and because as an author I know how much work goes into creating a book etc. I also feel really blessed that it’s pretty rare for me to have to write a bad review, alas sometimes it’s unavoidable.

I was really excited reviewing Susie Bright’s “Love and lust: A Sex Journal” first of all because I have so much respect for all the sex positive work that Susie has done, and secondly because HELLO sex and journaling combined? 100% up my alley and something I was really excited to share with all the femmes readers here.

The book/journal itself is gorgeous from the cover art to the detailing with the little lock and key just like those childhood diary’s I remember having. I was thrilled to stick the little brass key into the lock and see what sort of prompts and ideas about sex would come my way. Unfortunately though beautifully packaged the rest of the book/journal fell flat for me.

I’ve seen books very successfully weave together journal exercises with the authors perspective, and even the words of others – Kate Bornstein’s ‘My Gender Workbook’ comes to mind as a brilliant example of how this can work. What I found when I cracked the journal open was very little in the way of an introduction or welcome to readers/writers and then on the remaining pages fairly unoriginal and not especially compelling, I hesitate to even call them prompts.

In reading blurbs about the book I got the impression that it was designed for women of all sexual orientations with the fantastic goal of encouraging them to become more comfortable with their own sexual desires and experiences and to begin journaling on that. I’m really comfortable with my sexuality and write about it regularly so I honestly wasn’t anticipating huge personal revelations, however I did expect prompts that I could dig into and expand upon. I found none of that. This got me thinking about the women the book is really intended for, women who maybe don’t exist in sex-positive community and I have to say that I imagine they would be left significantly less inspired than I was.

Overall I’d say the idea behind the book is fantastic, but unfortunately this is one of those situations where you just can’t judge a book by its cover.

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