Book Review -- 'Diary of a Manhattan Call Girl' by Tracy Quan

Nancy Chan is a high-class call girl, working in New York. She loves expensive clothes and accessories, has a gaggle of glamorous girlfriends, and a great apartment. Life is good. Only now her unwitting fiance, Matt, wants to set a date for their wedding and her life is thrown into chaos. How can you keep your secret life as a call girl a secret when you live with your husband? Throw in her high maintenance friends and a client-come-stalker and things start getting out of hand.

I guess this is supposed to be 'Bridget Jones' Diary' for people who love erotica, except it is missing Bridget Jones' 'lovability'. It does, however, have a sharp wit about it and none of the 'cheesyness' that is often found in erotica novels.

The main thing I struggled with was that I just didn't like the main character very much. Despite all of her protests that her work makes her a better girlfriend for Matt, she acts like a bit of a neurotic bitch towards him, and of course, lies to him all the time. I couldn't help feeling sorry for the guy - I mean, wouldn't you want to know if the person you were about to marry was on the game?

Saying that, there were plenty of things I enjoyed about the book. The numerous sexual escapades she goes on with various clients are well written and there is plenty of it!  There are also some funny moments where she is trying to juggle her 'straight' life with her 'working' one. I thought it was a shame that most of the explicit sex takes place with her clients and not with her fiance. The sex with the clients lacks the emotion and passion that I enjoy when reading about a couple (or even just strangers who are just hot for each other!) together.

It was also interesting seeing in the ins and outs of a working girls life - the terminology they use, how they exchange clients, even down to how the girls fake a bit of girl-on-girl action to a client! I did wonder about some of her 'friends' though; however emotionally unstable Nancy seems, her crazy friends make her appear positively grounded!

Overall, this was a good read.  It is more intelligent than a lot of erotica,  but it should be read for the story as much as the sex. 'Diary of a Manhattan Call Girl' is the first in a sequel, so if you want to know any more about Tracy Quan's other novels and also her blog, you can visit http://tracyquan.net.

Please come back on October 7th when I'll be posting my short story 'A Stranger'.