The Beginners Guide to the Birds and the Bees by Sophie Hart

Out Now
Published by Bookouture
Purchase from Amazon here

The blurb:

Let’s talk about sex… would you share your bedroom secrets if it meant saving your marriage?

A refreshingly open and uplifting romantic comedy about friendship, love and sex. Sometimes you need to step out of your comfort zone in order to give a relationship a good dose of TLC…

Sex therapist Annie Hall helps couples put the fizz back into their relationships. It’s a shame her own love life is non-existent. When Jamie who works next door catches her eye, she can’t ignore the spark of chemistry.

Most men would jump at the chance to skive off work for an afternoon quickie with their gorgeous wife but Nick knows Julia is after only one thing – a baby. Sex shouldn’t be a chore. Can Annie help Julia see that?

Newly engaged Zoe and Simon can’t keep their hands off each other. They’ve decided to take a vow of celibacy until their wedding night. Will Annie help them stick to it?

Roy and Linda have been married for over thirty years but she’s more interested in the family business than getting intimate with him. Can Annie convince Linda to rediscover her passion for Roy after all this time?

While Annie begins to work her magic with the three couples, she soon finds herself falling for Jamie. But she’s been hurt before – will he be different? It’s time for Annie to take some of her own advice and learn a few life lessons of her own…


My Review:

The Beginners Guide to the Birds and the Bees is a great book which had me laughing out loud, but also some sensitive moments.I was totally hooked right from the start, and throughout.

The story line is different to any that I have read before and I loved it. Whilst I have read many books about couples, I have never read any where the main character, Annie, is a sex therapist, and we meet the couples when they enlist her help for various issues. I thought it was brilliant and gave a new depth to each relationship.

We meet three couples; Ray and Linda, Julia and Nick, and Zoe and Simon. Each couple go to Annie wanting help with their sex life. Annie explores these in both individual sessions, but also holds group sessions during which they all meet up and become friends. The couples are all very different in age, relationship status, and what brings them to Annie. I loved each of them and felt real empathy towards them all. My favourites were Zoe and Simon who just appeared to have the most amazing relationship, with such love and devotion to eachother, as well as always having so much fun together. They had me laughing out loud more than once. Would it be wrong to say that I almost wanted to enrol in sessions with Annie so I could meet them all and be part of the group? They are just so adorable!

I also adore Annie who we get to see both as therapist, but also as a woman searching for love herself. I really liked her and how much she cared about others and worked hard to get the best for them. We meet Jamie who works in the same building as Annie, and there seems to be definite chemistry between them. However, will love blossom? I loved the way the author developed their friendship, and with all the lovely things that Annie does for others I so wanted her to be happy too.

Sophie is a brilliant author who has bought the characters and storyline together so wonderfully. Whilst sex is a big theme throughout the book it is not written in a graphic or embarrassing way so would be suitable for all readers. There is humour injected throughout as well as some beautiful touching scenes. The beginning of each chapter starts with a sex related quite which were brilliant.

I loved the way the book flows. It felt so natural and because there are only a few characters I felt we had time to really get to know them all. I was willing them to sort through their issues and have their happy endings. Having three couples spanning a wider age and life experience range meant that as a reader I could think about how important sex and more importantly intimacy is through their lives and how easy it is just to get caught up in day to day life and stresses and forget about keeping the spark alive.

I loved this book and would highly recommend others read it too. Full of fun, laughs, love and hopefulness this book had it all for me.

Thank you to Bookouture who provided a copy of this book in return for an honest review.