Lindsey Gray
Written on Jun 13, 2014
Lance is a celibate sex therapist in financial crisis. Millie is a curvy food lover who runs an exclusive club that caters to the ultimate food desires of her clients. From seemingly simple hamburgers, hot dogs, and pizzas to the overly extravagant Quail in Port with Plum sauce on a bed of Asparagus, all dishes are served from the kitchen of Guilty Pleasures.
Lance is hired by Millie's mum to seduced Millie and eventually get her pregnant. He is weary from the start, but takes the initial deposit with plans to pay it back and end the job as soon as his book advance comes in. What Lance doesn't expect is to fall hard and fast for the vivacious creature that is Millicent Deafly.
Almost every chapter is told in three parts. First, an excerpt from the book Lance is writing, Sensual Secrets of a Sexual Surrogate, then, a third person narrative, and closes with a diary entry from Millie. I love that we are essentially getting three points of view, but it didn't seem at all confusing or take away from the story. Lance's excerpts are very informative and often humorous. Millie's diary entries are a salacious treat, her personality really shines in her short, yet poignant, entries.
As for the heat from these two, it is a slow delicious burn well worth waiting for. I continued to wait for the proverbial shoe to drop and when it did, the unexpected happened. Not to give anything away, but Cardiga gives us several twists and turns in one of the most innovative settings I've read to date.
A big thanks to Manuela Cardiga for gifting me with a copy of Guilty Pleasures in exchange for an honest review. I look forward to reading more of her tantalizing tales in the future.