Cherie Jeffrey

I knew the moment I saw a review for this book in Romantic Times that I just had to have it. Seriously, who wouldn't enjoy a book about a woman who invents a talking vibrator?

Annie Albright's having a bad day. She gets laid off. Mistaken for a goody two shoes. And catches her boyfriend receiving a blowjob from a "Eurotrash performance artist" who also happens to be a dude.

Needless to say she's not having a very good day.

Then she goes to a get together her grandmother's invited her to, and finds out the get together is actually a sex toy party. Hosted by her grandmother. Who gives her a vibrator that sounds a whole lot like a rabbit but that's named Ultimate Pleasure. Annie finds out that the name isn't too far from the truth.

Meanwhile, she's having trouble finding a job, so her best friend Michelle hires her as a temp at her law firm, which lasts for a few days. But then, Annie gets her Big Idea.

See, Annie has fantasies. She'll often see people and think about them having all kinds of wild and crazy sex with each other--right there in public! Well one night, as she's using Ultimate Pleasure, she begins to fantasize and hears a voice. The voice says things she wishes a man would tell her, things like, "Have you lost weight?" and "Your ass does not look fat" and "Have another piece of chocolate cake."

From there, an idea is born.

Charlie Silver is a teacher at an inner-city charter school that's aimed at teaching low-income kids and keeping them in school. Charlie loves women. Well, Charlie enjoys women. He treats them well, makes them feel good about themselves, but cuts them loose as soon as they begin to get too clingy. But he's nice, though, and gives them a small parting gift that's representative of their personality and time together (because he does pay attention, unlike most men).

Charlie's best friend Mark is a struggling actor. When Mark sees an ad for a female affirmation tape voice over, he goes and takes Charlie with him. Charlie, in search of the bathroom, gets lost and ends up in the sound room with a stoner sound guy named Rocket. He and Rocket share a joint, Rocket asks him if he wants to do the voice recording, Charlie says "what the hell" and puts down Mark's name and information on the sheet.

Days later, Annie, Michelle, and Annie's grandma Doris are going through the voice recordings, trying to find the perfect voice to go along with what Annie has decided to call Mr. Vibrator. When Annie hears Charlie's voice she knows he's the one, he's the voice of Mr. Vibrator. How does she know that? Because it's his voice she's been hearing in her head.

Mr. Vibrator becomes an overnight success, making Annie a multi-millionaire almost overnight. But hell, at $89.99 a pop Annie was guaranteed to make some good money if sales went well. For anyone wondering, the $89.99 is because the vibrator doesn't buzz (no noise!), is waterproof (awesome!), safe (always important), and says 25 different phrases. My first thought was, "Damn, that's an expensive vibrator!" Even with a money-back guarantee (can you say "interesting returns?").

As her success grows, Annie finds herself needing to know who the voice behind Mr. Vibrator is. So she goes on Jay Leno in a desperate attempt to find Mark Wolfson.

Meanwhile, Charlie--the real voice behind Mr. Vibrator--is trying to get a grant for a Shakespeare program he's trying to start at Mays-McCovey (the school he teaches at). He's the front-runner, until the awarding committee sees the Leno episode and recognizes his voice. When his principal finds out, Charlie's fired, mainly because some of the parents protested. So needless to say, Charlie wants nothing to do with Annie. But Annie's still determined to meet him face to face because she can't get his voice out of her head.

I have to say, this is one of the best books I've read in a while. It was funny, well-written, had some great conflict and a satisfying ending.

As someone who's writing multiple POV chick lit, I especially enjoyed the fact that this book featured not only Annie's POV but also Charlie's POV, which traditionally isn't done in chick lit. There was no head-hopping (woohoo!), and the POV's were very clearly defined. My one complaint--if you can even call it that--is that Charlie's voice seemed a little forced at the beginning of the book, as though the authors weren't quite comfortable with Charlie's voice or sure what it would be. However, as the book progressed Charlie's voice seemed much more natural and I found myself enjoying his scenes.

The humor was spot-on and intelligent, which is extremely important in chick lit. The writing was tight and moved quickly. I literally read this book in less than a day, it read that fast.

While there were a few things that hung me up--such as the literal overnight success of Mr. Vibrator (not to mention the fact that it talks, which would personally weird me out a little bit)--those things didn't draw me out of the story so that I couldn't enjoy it. Somehow, it all just worked.

I have to say, though, that this book is very woman-positive, in all kinds of ways. First, there's the obvious fact that it's very upfront and positive about women's sexuality, and doesn't limit a woman's sexuality to a certain age group. In fact, the website Annie designs for Turn Me On, Inc. (what she names her business), is one that has marketing specialized towards different age groups, ranging from 20s to 70s. While I don't necessarily want to think about my grandmother using a vibrator or having sex, I do realize that older women also have active and enjoyable sex lives, and it's fantastic to see that depicted in a work of fiction. It's also woman positive through Charlie's POV. Sure, he has a fear of commitment, but you never get the feeling that he's a womanizer. Some men who say they simply love women just love what women can give them physically. Others, who are more evolved, enjoy women for simply being women. And while they may be commitment shy they genuinely respect women and enjoy their company. Charlie is one of those men. He enjoys women. He enjoys talking to women and paying attention to women and making them feel good about themselves. Furthermore, he enjoys women of all shapes and sizes, ethnicities and backgrounds. There's a fantastc line when Charlie receives the envelope from the grant committee and notices that the envelope is thin: "Anyone who ever applied for anything knew what a thin envelope meant. Thick meant good, thin meant bad. How many women had ever considered that irony?"

This is definitely a book I would recommend to other people, especially someone who's new to chick lit. Along with Jennifer Weiner's Good In Bed, Turn Me On has to be my favorite chick lit novel to date. It's fun, fast, quirky, woman-positive and very well written, not to mention the fact that the authors definitely have their fingers on the pulse of what's hip among Generation X'ers. It's very tuned-in to pop culture, what with references to Leno, You Tube and homestarrunner.com.… (más)