It’s the last day of August and the last month of Sexy Summer Book Club. While I’ve been a little stressed out, wanting to get each book finished in the month it was to be read, I’ve enjoyed my experience. I hope CK and Jenny keep doing this – or something like it in the future.
For August, we read Approaching the Swingularity by Cooper S. Beckett. If that name sounds familiar, you might know him from the Life on the Swingset podcast. I’ve listened to the show a few times, and I know John Brownstone listens to it when he can. Cooper seems like a cool dude (I stalk him on Twitter from time to time). He explains the swinging (and also a bit of poly and kink) life well and in an open way. So yay for reading his book and getting to know his fiction writing style!
Review for Approaching the Swingularity
I wasn’t sure what to expect from Approaching the Swingularity, especially since I’m definitely not a swinger (I’m just not wired that way). I knew it was meant to be erotic and about swingers but that was it. Y’all, Cooper S. Beckett is proof that good writing will suck a reader in no matter what.
Maybe I didn’t expect to love it. Really, maybe I imagined myself as more of a voyeur explorer, about to venture into a fictional swinging world that I knew nothing about and have little interest in.
Not this time! I was sucked right into Jenn and Ryan, Paige and Bruce, and Allie and Christa’s lives. I rooted for them. Got annoyed when they fucked up. And genuinely sobbed a few times. When they grew as individuals and in their relationships, I was as happy as if it happened to someone I actually know.
For the record, I was feeling extremely anxious when I read the first half (as my own mental junk hit me like a truck). Which meant, I empathized with the angst and anxiety of the characters at an extreme level. They were so real to me in their (and my) vulnerable moments that I sobbed over my Kindle. John Brownstone, who read the book at the same time, wondered if we were reading the same book.
What was supposed to be a lighthearted erotic romp through a swinging resort vacation adventure became very real to me. The erotic scenes were good, but those moments were less important than the very real emotional moments. Figuring themselves out. Figuring each other out. Communicating their needs.
I especially loved and appreciated what I intuited as a pretty realistic view of what swingers are like they when they get together. Just as I strive to bring that reality into my writing about BDSM, I felt I was getting a real glimpse at what it’s like to negotiate non-monogamous sex. Even though it’s not exactly like a kink negotiation (close, though), it felt familiar. Ultimately, while the sex was great, the people and the story of who they were together and apart were better.
Yes, there was tension. The subplots were interesting, making me want to know more about these other characters. By the time their vacation came to an end, I was ready to come back with them the following year.
Do I recommend Approaching the Swingularity by Cooper S. Beckett. Definitely. I also think I need to read it again when I’m less anxious so I can enjoy the sexy stuff more.
About Approaching the Swingularity
From Cooper S. Beckett’s website:
Ryan and Jenn are still newbie swingers in many ways when they arrive with their friends, lovers, and playmates, Bruce and Paige, veterans of this trip. As this foursome tries to wring out every last drop of pleasure that Aphrodite’s has to offer, they’re confronted with the realities of life at home, as well as complexities of exploring a life less monogamous, the spectrum of sexuality, budding and waning attraction and love, and how one truly gets the most out of an orgy.
Alongside them are Alejandra and Crista, a lesbian couple on their first sexy vacation, recognizing the differences and difficulties in being the only lesbian swingers in the crowd. Raymond Horn is the host extraordinaire, on his tenth trip, who is losing his confidence and direction after watching his partner walk out the door the month before.
One hundred and eleven couples have descended upon Aphrodite’s Resort and Spa, a place of pleasure and debauchery, situated on a strip of white sand beach on the Riviera Maya for a week of the finest food and drink, meeting and flirting, and getting down and dirty with friends and lovers alike for tales of swinging and polyamory in paradise.
They will experience ecstasy and strain, the spectrum of sexuality and open relationships, from bisexual exploration, budding polyamory, orgies, pegging, the value of building kegel muscles, g-spot orgasms, and more. Nothing is quite so intense and wonderful in non-monogamous lifestyles as seven straight days at a resort filled with like-minded hedonists.
