Lip Service

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Summary: Had to finish before going to sleep. More please!!
Review: This author has answered questions I didn't know I had and for that I am very grateful. I would like a "prequel" with more detail about Julia's high school and college years for more insight into that "nervous breakdown" in college. She has great reserves of courage to subvert that hyper-controlling, fear-driven husband. Although most readers and reviewers seem to be women, I'd suggest that we men should buy this to "read and learn." Much better for us than the Mars and Venus modeling.

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Summary: If you read one book this Summer- this is it!
Review: An amazingly intellegent erotic thriller from M.J. Rose. Ofthe 12 books I stared this summer, this is the only one I could notput dowm. A "MUST READ".

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Summary: An entertainig human drama
Review: LIP SERVICE is an entertaining human drama that centers on suddenly seeking Julia for herself. The story line is intriguing, but readers need to realize that there are profanity and detailed descriptions of sex within the book (Duh! That should surprise no one as the book uses phone sex as a device.) However, that is not the theme of the tale. Instead the novel is all about Julia trying to find an identity that will allow her to fully flourish. M.J. Rose succeeds in doing this difficult accomplishment even as readers will want to offer cheese to the whining Julia, who provides no reason to support her assertion that her life is kind of a drag.

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Summary: A Stunning, entertaining work of Fiction
Review: If there's any new novel to be considered different, unique, and a total exciting read, this one is it. Lip Service crosses all traditional boundaries and enters into a realm of brilliant fiction. On the outside, Julia Sterling appears to have a wonderful life. She lives well, married to a successful psychiatrist and experiencing her own career in journalism. In the beginning, I find myself wishing I had her life. Until the first time her husband turns her away and treats her like one of his patients. Suddenly, I can't wait to see how she gets out of this life she's somehow fallen into. Things take on a new twist when Julia is hired to write a book about a local sex-therapy clinic. Her husband tells her not to do the job, that it would be too stressful for her "condition". Yet when Julia approaches the owner of the clinic to turn down the job, she finds herself not only accepting it, but asking if she can study the therapists' ways, their techniques, and learn their skill...by becoming one herself. In doing so, she becomes aware of parts of her she didn't even know existed. Parts of her that her husband had never touched. Parts that her long-time friend Jack had never even managed to bring to the light. Through the pages of the book, we follow along as Julia uncovers these hidden areas of her being, tentatively at first, and then later on with actual enjoyment. She experiences an awakening long overdue for a neglected woman. Until she has a caller who is different. This caller makes her uneasy at first, then begins to terrify her, shaking her explorative new existance to the core. The story heats up as Julia finds herself trapped in a tangled web, unsure of what to do about the caller, this new job she's taken on, and all other aspects of what appeared, at one time, to be a perfect life. The sinister mystery between these pages will keep you turning them. It's erotic, and real. The work is sensual to its core, even in the vivid descriptions of Julia's surroundings. You feel like you're there, and that's where you want to be. M.J. Rose has achieved the unachievable with this novel - she's brought romance, mystery, erotica, and fine literary talent all together to create a stunning, entertaining, and satisfying work of fiction.

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Summary: M.L. Rose may, in fact be Lady Chatterley's Girlfriend!
Review: This could be the modern tale of Lady Chatterley's Girlfriend. M. L. Rose is certainly a friend of Anais Nin. This theme is driven from the images of poets from Amy Lowell to Chase Twitchell with a little Amy Hempel thrown in. This is a writer deserving our support!

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Summary: A suspenseful and sexy read!
Review: I couldn't put Lip Service down--well written, extremely eroticand a real page-turner. Recommended reading for all adventurous women!

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Summary: A modern tale of a woman who has it all, yet has nothing.
Review: Julia Sterling has everything,seemingly a picture perfect life on the outside. Yet she's emotionally starved and seeks gratification through "therapy" on a phone sex job. Julia's job gives the story an erotic tone, yet believable. Her story has twists and turns to surprise every reader, and a hopeful ending that satisfies. A great read!

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Summary: A disappointment
Review: This book is way over-hyped here. Basic romance- writing, cliched sex-scenes, stereotypical characters, unbelievable plot. Not worth the time or money.

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Summary: A woman frees herself from inhibitions through phone sex
Review: Even though the topic is sexual in nature, this book has the quality of a work of feminist literature. I compare it to the writings of Erica Jong and Germaine Greer, though M.J. Rose is definately more readable. I'm sure Lip Service will soar to the bestseller list and be the topic of many discussions. Essentially the book is about a woman who has been repressed all her life, first by her father, and then her husband. She is in a loveless marriage but has everything else a woman could want. She gains maturity and independence while working on a book for a sex clinic. In order to understand the work of the phone sex therapists, she becomes one and finds it a literating experience. This is a work of quality fiction by a first time author who knows how to create a story and characters which grips the reader. I could hardly put this book down.

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Summary: Lip Service is a great read!
Review: M. J. Rose's "Lip Service" is a slick, elegant odyssey into the darker corners of erotic fantasy, and a first-rate read. Submerged in a loveless marriage to a successful psychiatrist, Julia Sterling has become increasingly dissatisfied with her role as trophy wife and helpmeet. Against her domineering husband's stated wishes, she begins a comissioned book about a controversial sex clinic. The clinic's charismatic director persuades Julia that she needs actual experience as a therapist to validate her conclusions, and before she knows it, he submerges her in the steamy world of phone sex for pay. With each succeeding conversation, Julia loses more of her inhibitions and is drawn further and further into the sex clinic's shadowy activities. In the course of indulging her callers' fantasies, she becomes increasingly addicted to her newly discovered power over men. Only after she learns that nothing is as it appears, does Julia find the courage to contront th! e truth about herself and to take control of her life.