Not That Easy by Radhika Sanghani

Hello! I hope everyone had a very fun - and very safe - Halloween! I did, but my allergies got to decide all of my activities for me, which wasn't too bad, considering I ate popcorn and candy and watched scary movies most of my trip. So, no complaints here.

Today, I'm back to tell you all about one of my favorite new series (fingers crossed!) by Radhika Sanghani. The first book, Virgin, was hilarious and sweet (my review for it is right here). Now her second book comes out this Tuesday, and of course I had to write a proper review for Not That Easy because it was even better than the first (if that's possible).

Ellie used to be a virgin, but now she’s a woman with sexual experience. Well, some sexual experience. She also has debt, an unpaid magazine internship, and three flatmates who left her with the single room to match her single status.

That’s okay. She doesn’t want a boyfriend anyway—she wants several. And if the sex is exciting enough, her ruthless magazine editor boss can exploit her dating life for a column.

After countless hook-ups, a disastrously fiery encounter with some heat lube, and one orgasm class, Ellie is faced with the sad reality of her sexual ineptitude. But when she starts to witness the emotional wreckage she’s leaving in her wake, Ellie realizes that sex can be hard, and there’s a down side to giving it up too easy.

Ellie is...the best. Nothing gets this girl down, and she takes on every adventure head first. Sometimes, her enthusiasm can cause some problems (especially with her flatmates), but she works her butt off to fix everything to the best of her ability. She's strong and absolutely believable, mainly because she seems like your best friend. Ellie is the type of girl you want to hang out with, hold her hand over her mistakes, and laugh at her cringe-worthy stories. Not only is she totally real, she's also one of the best when it comes to confidence. That was one of the things that really drew me in with her. Ellie might be a twenty-two year old intern with a murky future and less than stellar decision-making skills, but she makes up for it with her confidence. Like I said before, she goes for what she wants, even if she doesn't quite know how to get it. When trying to figure out how to have an orgasm, Ellie pumps herself up by reminding herself that "they do it all the time in movies and porn, and those girls haven't even been to uni. You have a degree, Ellie - you can master this."

One of the main themes of this book was slut shaming, and Sanghani attacks it with perfection. At one point, Ellie and her friends decide to take the word back, to show the world that yes, they are women who love sex, and yes, they are not ashamed of that. I loved that they didn't immediately run around town and act shameless about their exploits, but they did have sex with whomever they wanted and didn't care what others said. On the flip side, Sanghani made sure to include those people that do slut shame, and did it in such a way that I had to read the passage a few times to make sure that the guy was really saying what I thought he was saying. When Ellie has sex with someone she probably shouldn't have (to say more would be spoilers), her flatmate Will tells her, "I hold your directly responsible for this whole mess...it's just you on your crazy slut quest who seduced him and made this happen." While Ellie did take responsibility for her part of the mistake, it was the other person in this party that initiated sex. He told Ellie exactly what she wanted to hear in order to get what he wanted...but none of the flatmates saw it that way. It was frustrating and annoying, but that's how it goes.

Overall, I'd have to recommend this to everyone. Well, at the very least, every young woman (and man) that goes through that awkward phase of "everyone is having sex but me and I'm such a loser for that." You're not. Don't ever think that. Sex doesn't make you more of an adult or cooler or anything like that. It just means you've had sex. High five! But, if you haven't, high five! Everyone wins!