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Reviews
Publishers
Weekly -
"Empowerment may be Rose's theme, but titillation plays no small
part in this novel's game."
From
Kirkus Reviews
Rose's journey...lust will keep you turning the pages.
Satin
Sheets Web site
Lip Service should be on the NYT Bestseller list!
I normally steer clear of stories in the first person, with the
exception of Diana Gabaldon, but MJ Rose will be the second
author for whom I'll that make an exception for. Lip Service
is a phenomenol narrative of erotica and astounding insight into
the human psyche that's on this side of frightening. I was hooked
from page one and didn't put it down until I finished it just as
the first rays of sunlight were penetrating my curtains.
Marcy
Sheiner for San Francisco's Spectator Magazine
Five stars!
This book is more than one-handed reading-- it's just plain good
reading with some super hot spots. The author has managed to incorporate
details of the phone sex life into a literary novel with intricate
plot, fully developed characters and dramatic tension. Woven into
a normal story of a normal woman and her somewhat normal, troubled
marriage, is the story of a woman who spends her time and earns
her livelihood making strange men come over the phone.
I
highly recommend LIP SERVICE as a work of fiction that deals
honestly with phone sex while maintaining a fairly high literary
standard. For those who thought Nicholson Baker made the ultimate
statement on phone sex with VOX, think again: LIP SERVICE
goes a lot farther and deeper.ultimate and deeper by focusing on
the real world of the real call girl.
A
reader from CT
A great suprise! A fun read that makes you think twice... Lip
Service took me totally by suprise. Billed as erotica with a
twist, M.J. Rose isn't just trying to make things steamy
-- she delivers insights about men, marriage and relationships that
is bound to ring true for a great many readers.
A
reader from Fairlawn, Ohio
Intriguing story wraps the reader in till the end!
MJ Rose is an excellent and inspiring writer. Julia Sterling
is reminiscient of Isadora Wing overcoming her "Fear of Flying".
The
novel is lyrical and exciting, drawing the reader in to the originally
mundane life of Julia and rooting for her to overcome her loveless
marriage and flies with her to her newfound freedom.
A
reader from Ontario, Canada
A great read!!
I very much enjoyed this book! So much so, that in 1 1/2 days I
had it read! I especially related to Julia and her exploration of
her sexuality. Women bury their sexual side too deep and this book
shows, that with some imagination, all things are possible.
Penny
Perkins, Alternative Media Guide for About.com,
[email protected]
a fascinating compilation of genres I read this book in one absorbed
sitting. Congratulations to M.J. Rose for having the balls
to publish and promote her own book. I hope she and her agent are
having the last laugh at the publishing world that wouldn't accept
her manuscript in the first place.
The
book is a fascinating compilation of genres -- literary, erotic,
suspense, thriller, and social commentary -- with a twist at the
end that caught me completely off guard. Great ending. Great reading.
The
description of various upper class social worlds and concerns, I
thought, were very wry and very dead on. In meets Evelyn Waugh meets
Hitchcock meets Susie Bright at Good Vibrations (a woman's sex shop
in San Francisco). Congratulations to M.J. Ross for having
the courage to tell an intelligent story with compelling contemporary
characters and not hold back on the sexual content.
Lisa
Anne, a Writer's Moon reViewer from USA , Lip
Service, Chillingly Erotic and More MJ Rose's Lip Service
is more than a wonderful, well-written and timely piece of fiction.
It is more than a brilliant portrayal of a woman's sexual repression
and revolt against her therapist/husband, which resolves itself
in a tantalizing submersion into an erotic world. It is a discovery.
A
reader from USA
WOW!
A reviewer, 36yr old female married 12 yrs, August 23, 1999, 'WOW'
It was looking through a glass mirror at my own life. Title 'Lip
Service'., People use their lips for services every day whether
it be talking, eating, breathing it is a physical tool we use every
day. I've actually never thought of lips as a 'service tool' until
now! Where have I been?
[email protected]
from California
MJ Rose strokes the reader's mind! B It is rare that a book
comes along with such a variety of elements that a reader craves.
"Lip Service" has come! It is a thought provoking, psychological
story filled with suspense, mystery and truly eroticsexual situations.
Julia struggles with her fears, conflicts, doubts and need for independence.
It is a joy to witness her self-discovery, self-evaluation and finally
her self-acceptance. MJ Rose strokes the reader's mind with
this exciting, sensual and intelligent novel. It is erotic literature
at its finest. This super sexy novel is going to be huge!
Kassia
Krozser/Subversion Ezine
A confident tale! the fact that this book is self-published, is
drawing media attention, it is the second that is drawing readers.
In her debut, Rose has written a confident tale of a woman
trying to discover who she really is and the risks she takes on
her journey. Rose tells Julia's story in the first person,
giving Julia an added layer of rawness. She's a contradictory woman:
open and free with other characters in the novel yet unable to communicate
in the same manner with her husband. After a lifetime of playing
parts for others, Julia slips into her research for her book on
phone sex with a surprising ease: it's just another role that she's
trying. She1s adopts a new personality, and while the woman who
takes calls and guides men through their fantasies may not be her,
the character is much closer to the person Julia thinks that she
really is. Julia's exploration of herself leads to necessary changes
in the relationships with the men in her life: husband, son, her
best friend, a doctor who functions as her mentor while she conducts
her research. Each of them has profound influence on her world,
and Julia uses her new found strength to put each relationship into
proper place as she redefines herself. She also realizes that her
exploration of the sexual side of her nature gives her more insight
into the people around her. Lip Service is not an easy book
to read, nor is the character of Julia always sympathetic. She is
frequently a victim of her own making. Throughout the book, Rose
uses the analogy of orchids being cut off from their light; just
like the orchids, if Julia doesn1t find her own light, she will
stop growing and thriving. Luckily, when she decides to take control
of her life, she is so sincere in her efforts that you want her
to succeed.
The
January Review
Take a novel in the style of Danielle Steel. Improve the writing
by making it a tighter story with believable characters and more
substance. Add a sexual theme as well as a heroine capable of saying
a bunch of words Steel's characters probably don't even know, and
you get the drift of Li p Service, a stylish first novel by M.J.
Rose.
Romantic
Times Magazine
Although highly sensuous, Lip Service isn’t your average erotic
tale. The novel is an intelligent and well-crafted analysis of a
woman’s personal identity quest." ****
Buzz Review
Lip Service should be savored bit by bit. As if unwrapping
a special gourmet chocolate treat. Because treat it is indeed.
The
Midwest Book Review
Lip Service is both seductive and sinister. M. J. Rose
is a genuine literary talent with a flair for creating memorable
characters in an uninhibited narrative that hooks the readers imagination
and won't let go, even after the novel is finished and set back
on the shelf.
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