Sexual Healing: A Novel

The New York Times

Place two longtime best girlfriends outside on a deck on a warm California Sunday afternoon, give them a bottle of Champagne to share and nothing pressing on the agenda, and step aside. In such a situation, as any woman who has been or had a best girlfriend can tell you, the conversation will turn frank and funky fast, with no topic too sacred to explore and no bodily function so private that talk and friendship can't handle the grittiest details. Such is the setup of Sexual Healing, Jill Nelson's first novel, described by its publisher as a ''steamy and scabrously funny . . . comedy of outraged manners,'' an altogether fair, even slightly modest, assessment. The conversation of the two friends in question, in their early 40's, smart, successful and ''still fly,'' centers primarily on the two topics no heterosexual woman can stay away from for long: men -- their baffling and sometimes boneheaded ways -- and the sidebar to that, sex with same. — Beverly Lowry

The Washington Post

This book will satisfy the appetites of Zane-addicted readers and titillate others as long as they don't take Nelson too seriously. — Patricia Elam

Publishers Weekly

A brothel for women? Journalist Nelson, the author of several popular nonfiction books (Straight, No Chaser; etc.), offers a ribald take on the battle between the sexes and one heck of an entrepreneurial scheme, in her wickedly funny first novel. Lydia Beaucoup and Acey Allen are 40ish best friends living in Oakland who find themselves going in circles when it comes to dating and finding a satisfying relationship. After a gab session in which the two women fantasize about the ideal man, Lydia comes up with a startling solution: she proposes opening a brothel in which sexy black male prostitutes attend to the sexual needs of black women. Acey thinks she's joking, but Lydia is dead serious, and she asks for a sabbatical from her job as an ad copywriter to put the crazy plan into action. Nevada is the chosen location, and after getting a prostitution license, Lydia uses her own dates to begin recruiting prospective employees, starting with a sexy UPS guy named Odell, who becomes the de facto manager. Bizarrely, funding comes from the wife of a rich right-wing zealot who made a fortune selling arms, and the spa opens to rave reviews from the first wave of clients. Trouble surfaces when a conservative preacher on a family values kick gets wind of the project from a tabloid editor and tries to shut down the spa. Nelson has fun with her mischievous conceit, and there are more than a few hilarious scenes. The comedy is underpinned by her solid, convincing depiction of the friendship between Acey and Lydia, and an engaging, breezy style. The novel has its flaws-it's cluttered with secondary characters, and the conceit is stretched perilously thin at times-but it's a great read anyway, and a standout in the genre of African-American popular fiction. 6-city author tour. (June) FYI: This is the first title for Agate Publishing, based in the Chicago area. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

No voice could more effectively assert women's right to sexual equality than that of former Washington Post journalist Nelson (Volunteer Slavery). Her first novel, a fictional commentary on the sad state of our sexual mores and the collective frustration of half our citizens, is riotously funny. Sisters Acey and Lydia, in a moment of champagne-induced brilliance, cook up a business plan for a "A Sister's Spa" completely devoted to the care and pleasuring of black women. They (and the readers) are amazed when start-up funding comes through, and the search for perfect male "sex workers" begins. Studly buns are on parade as the sisters ask applicants revealing questions in order to hire only the most enlightened, woman-focused lovers among them. At the same time, rich shyster Dick Dixmoor seeks a bizarre revenge, and Rev. T. Terry Tiger tries to bolster his waning popularity in a hypocritical campaign against the spa. Squirmingly explicit sex scenes featuring creative libidinous fantasies will sell this book despite its blatantly improbable plot and an overemphasis on detail. It's bound to be popular, so buy multiple copies for African American fiction collections.-Jennifer Baker, Seattle P.L. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.