Kindle Edition Amazon Category:  Memoir Publisher: Bessie James and Zachary Porter ISBN-10:  B008MT8Y2W Type: Non-Fiction Pages: 359 Copyright: July 18, 2012 This is a true story of my experiences as a 35 year old, married woman with three children who became the most sought-after escort in Seattle. “Intimate Acts with Strangers” (359 pages) is an “erotobiography” -- a graphic, sexual memoir of “Bessie”, a middle-class, married woman with children living in Billings, Montana. Bessie, like many women, has a long-standing fascination with what makes some sex workers irresistible to men. At thirty-five, she decides to find out if she could have sex with strangers for money and fulfill their erotic fantasies. She moves from Montana to Seattle and quickly becomes one of the most celebrated escorts in the city. In the process, she finds liberation, love, and personal power. Tens of millions of American women are reading Fifty Shades of Grey (and other graphic erotica) and most of their partners are either unaware of it, or they don’t care to find out why. Tens of millions of American men visit prostitutes (far more than most people think) and most of their partners are either unaware of it, or they don’t care to find out why. Both men and women should consider reading “Intimate Acts with Strangers” to get some insight into why these two solitudes exist to the extent that they do. This uniquely candid memoir makes frequent use of on-the-scene tape recordings transcribed by Bessie’s lover and client, Zachary. Bessie and Zachary take you on a fascinating journey through the largely unexamined world of apartment-based sex workers and the unexplored motives of the men visiting these women. Along the way, you’ll meet some of Bessie’s strange and interesting co-workers: “The Perfect Pulchritudinous Poonette”, “Bonnie from Boisie”, and “Evangelina, The Stiletto Throwing Brazilian”. As well, you meet some of Bessie’s even stranger clients: “The Balloon Man”, “The Cowboy Princess”, “Obsequious Otis”, “Walter Welter”, and other types of clients such as, the “Frozen Fetishists”, the “Silent Sphinxes”, the “Miserable Misogynists”, and more. Are the Bessies of America the only women who can satisfy these diverse clients and their hidden desires? And do women have to turn to erotic literature to fill their unmet needs? Or are there ways both parties can come together to access each other’s fantasy worlds? If you have an interest in opening up the dialogue between you and your partner about your sex life, this book is a great discussion starter. As well, if you are a sexually liberated man or woman, you’ll get a really sweet sexual charge out of many of the scenes in this book (and you might be able to put some of that charge into your own sex life). For instance, you’ll get to watch and listen to what really goes on at a men’s stag party and experience the stimulating after-effects. Unfortunately, if you have no desire to understand the opposite sex better (because you think you already know what they want), this book may not be for you. Or, if you’ve already decided that prostitution is always evil, and all the men and women that participate in it are immoral, you’re not likely to change your mind unless you can suspend your judgement while reading it. The mass media won’t tell you what prostitutes and their customers are really like, or more importantly, why prostitution exists to the extent it does. But when the Bessies of America read this memoir, they’ll say: “At last, someone wrote a book that tells what it’s really like behind my apartment door.” When you read it, you’ll say: “At last, I understand why those apartment doors exist.” Adult content: contains graphic sexual scenes and subject matter.

Wonderful and Makes One Wonder
Well, if you want a knockout erotic book, that is also informative, this one totally floored me. It's hard to describe exactly what this book is about but here's my attempt at a summary.

The narrator is writing about the life of a prostitute he hooks up with in Montana for a one hour session in a weird basement suite. Subsequently, they begin a long, strange e-mail correspondence and then she moves to Seattle to become a very successful escort. The narrator and the escort fall in love, despite the fact that she is married and has three children!

You'll really get hooked on their relationship but just as much, the stuff about how the apartment prostitute's world really works. I know a woman who worked in the trade in Seattle and she concurs that it is very accurate, especially the info about "escort review" websites.

Two other things that stood out for me: the narrator is extremely funny (I must have laughed out loud about ten times -something I rarely do) and the sex scenes are incredibly hot. These two people seemed to have mastered the art of role-play like you wouldn't believe. The role play scenes toward the end of the book make this the sexiest book I've read this year (and I read a lot of them).

I won't tell you how it ends but, suffice to say, I found my eyes full of tears at least three times (something I don't do very often either).


A Real Eye-Opener
I've just recently got into the e-reader thing (yes, the Fifty Shades curious thing). I've been a long time fan of erotica in print form -- the classics (Nin, Miller, etc.) and some of the well-written modern titles. I search hard for titles that give me a good tingle and entertain me. I was rather disappointed in 50 Shades (I got some tingle but had trouble with the youth of the woman). I like fairly hard-edge erotica but a lot of it seems unrealistic.

I also have a fascination with how the world of the escorting works (loved Belle de Jour).

This book combined a lot of my interests. The biggest surprise was how the authors were able to combine information on the sex trade and make it entertaining. As far as the tingle quotient is concerned, if 50 Shades is the Junior High School intro to BDSM/erotica, this book is like an advanced degree. I say this because the relationship between Bessie and her favorite client, Zach, is undoubtedly real and the erotic parts come about first and the BDSM role-play just naturally evolves between them. In that way, I'd say this book is like Anais Nin without all the angst and Miller without the misogyny because this is a modern couple that accepts that their edgy role-play has to be mutally rewarding. For me, that makes it really, really sexy.
I admit, I went way beyond tingling a few times with this book, particularly towards the end.

Some things I didn't like: the narrator uses a lot of statistics in places. I see why he needs to do that (to convince people who are against prostitution) but for someone who is already okay with legalizing it, it's kind of overkill. He does manage to liven up the numbers with some very funny stuff. I also don't like the way the escort review sites rate the women, although that seems like it's accepted by the women and gets them more and safer clients but it made me cringe sometimes.

I'd highly recommend this book to mature women who share my interests.