Book Review – Author Anonymous by E.K. Blair

<— Author Anonymous: A True Story JUST WENT LIVE ALERT!!!!

A scandalous, riveting, tragic train wreck of a love story. It’s interesting, very personal and raw and well written… but it’s a freaking train wreck. Right to the very end. Oh yes, my friends. A la “Arsen”, for sure.

Before I knew what was even happening, I was making choices I didn’t even know were choices, and I couldn’t take them back.

But this one’s a true story.  Yep. Yet another uncomfortably scandalous read that just… *scratches head* well… had my jaw dropping. Many times. You know what they say. You can’t look away.

How? How do I write this? I mean, even the author… that is NOT “Author Anonymous” (she wrote this for her) has posted videos and such, explaining the intensity of writing a story like this. And… yes. Just as I’ve imagined. Authors all over Facebook are posting statuses indicating they are NOT AUTHOR ANONYMOUS. And I get why.

My name is hotter than it’s ever been, and I can’t allow that to fade if I want to stay relevant. The industry is cutthroat these days with the influx of people who are now self-publishing.

And lemme tell you. There is SO much detail in this book, I’m actually worried that her identity will be revealed. That is, unless they’ve purposely “planted” details that are not at all where or who she was with at whatever time was indicated. Publisher included. Yikes. YIKES!!!!! UPDATE: The author of this book confirmed that she purposely changed and mixed up the details (dates, events, even personal details) to prevent pinpointing author anonymous..

Yet at the same time. OMG!!!! This of COURSE is going to be (and was) practically unputdownable because she is one of us. Living a life like one of our books. But steeped in reality (and you KNOW how reality goes) . “Romance” books or not, this is something some have experienced in one way or another. Yet, our romance books always come out smelling like roses in the end. Will this one? This REAL LIFE version? My lips are sealed.

What’s it about?

One of our beloved “indie-turned-published/indie-hybrid” authors, right here, right now (NYT Best Seller, even!!), started a little research for her future stories. Sure, she’s seemingly happily married with two young children (and both husband and wife are successful). Incredibly so! But after discoursing with fellow book-friends, she learned about a “sex-personals” website of sorts, and … well… she joined it. Anonymously. To learn.

And she met someone. At first it was all “research” and fun-and-games,

Brooke and I continue to goof around while texting Alec. We are just two girls teasing around with a boy, the way young adolescents would do. We may be women in our thirties, but girls will be girls no matter what age they are.

…until the intrigue kicked in, and she got sucked in. BIG TIME. I won’t say any more about that, other than, you have a good idea of what you’re in for, from this point forward.

Yes. My friends. I believe this story is wholeheartedly true. It is gritty. It is raw. It is uncomfortable (at times, humiliating).

I’m a thirty-two-year-old woman acting like a complete idiot. There is no way he’s going to talk to me now that he’s caught me spying on him. I mean, who does this?

I’ll tell you who . . . me. A middle-aged housewife who was desperate for a little bit of fun.

And not at any time, does “author anonymous’s” story come across as glamorized. Right to the very end, I cringed, I worried. I nightmared for (and with) her. I almost don’t want to talk about it, because it’s ugly.

Why am I crying? Why does this feel like I’m losing something special? Why did I get so attached?

“You fell for him, didn’t you?”

It’s an ugly addiction with a beautiful promise at the sake of so much “normal”. What once was considered “happy” or contentedness, suddenly becomes what she wants most to escape from.

I blindly thought we’d never change, that we’d never lose the spark, that we’d never run out of things to say, and that we’d never be able to keep our hands off each other. I miss the newness and the excitement that comes along with it, and I wish I knew how to get it back.

And something exciting, surprising… shocking, comes along.  It’s almost (maybe?) IT. What she was destined for.

But then again…

*sigh*

How to review this?

Could I put it down? Barely. But I HAD to. HAD. TO. It was one of the most distressing reads I’ve ever read…. RIGHT ALONG THE LINES OF ARSEN. I’d say ARSEN almost *ALMOST!!!* wins out in romance, (YIKES!) but this… the reason I shy away, and agonize worse over this one, is because it is REAL. So this makes it that much more tangible, ya know? More. Just more.

This happened. This is HAPPENING. We know her, you guys. And she drags us into her heaven. Into her nightmare. Into her life.

“That was mine!” He slams my body against the wall before letting go of me, as if I’m poisonous. Maybe I am.

“I f**king hate you!”

This is her reality. OMG all of it. ALL OF IT IS LAID OUT FOR US to see, hear, experience and grudge upon. And each step of the way, you will struggle with whether you want her to get what she wants, or suffer the consequences. But I assure you, my friends. Not ANY OF THIS is serene. EVERYONE is affected, and the “heroine” (our author anonymous) is one of the most altered.

It makes me want to run away even more. Makes me crave freedom over and above what I used to.

If there were ever issues in our marriage before, they couldn’t come close to how many we have now.

For better, or for worse? I won’t say any more. Other than it’s good… if you can handle it. Maybe even if you can’t.

4.5 stars <— You want something to shake you up? You want to read a raw reality “love story”? This is the one. Love story doesn’t always = romance. Read at your own risk. But come on. You know you want to.

“What red flags?”

*gulp* 

Oh! And… here it is on Amazon UK

P.S. Thank you to the author for sending me a review copy.

P.P.S. I know who I was rooting for.