I requested this book a while ago from NetGalley because it sounded interesting (and the title caught my eye) but I wasn't sure what to expect going in. An erotic thriller is not normally the kind of book I reach for but I was willing to give this a try. And this surprised me in the best way possible (but I wouldn't classify it as an erotic thriller because that gives an impression that this book isn't).

This is a book about Lily, who is an author who is finding creativity hard to find after the decline of her husband to severe dementia (unable to communicate or move himself at all) and has turned to book dealing to pay the bills. But then she hears about an extremely rare book (of dark sex magic) and she and a friend of hers, Lucas, go looking for it. Along the way they discover more about the book and even start trying out some of the magic.

Lily is such an interesting character because even when she makes decisions that you might not make, throwing herself into whatever experiences come up in the search for the book and exploring the magic despite instinct warning her not to, her depression and her grief about the way her life had turned out through no choice of her own was all too real. Her love for her husband was real, but so was the fact that she regarded him as a burden to her. They also had a very active sex life and she missed that closeness as well as Abel himself. And when you gradually realise where the book is heading, what Lily wants to do, you can't help but root for her to have that change, even with the cost it takes. Throughout the book, Lily is the narrator from the future when the book is finished so she gives small asides about things she would have done differently, when she would have turned away from the book.

I read this partly on Kindle and listened to it partly on audiobook, which really helped to appreciate Sara Gran's writing. This is not a fast-paced book, but I really enjoyed the time it took to flesh out Lily's character and build up the book towards it's ending. The writing is absolutely stunning, I loved how things were described, including the people.

That said, the ending is one reason why I can't give this five stars. Not because it was a bad ending, I actually really love how everything worked out more realistically than perfectly, but because the implications of the ending felt a little quick. There is a scene where Lily is talking to Leo about everything and I really would have loved to have seen more of that, more of Lily grieving what came before and wishing she had appreciated the good, quiet moments when she had them, but still not wishing to change what is now. I feel like I would have loved a chapter more focusing on Lily and how she handled everything, rather than the more epilogue feeling it had.

It's still an excellent book, more literary than anything else, and one I would recommend though I'm not completely sure how to classify it.

4.5 stars!

What a book! And it was self (or indie?) published? This book is such a profound exploration of a woman coming back to herself after giving and grieving for a long time. The use of sex was so intentional, really bringing into life both beautiful and ugly parts of it. I love how the Book draws you in, similarly to the MC, showing you the possibilities and breathing intrigue into life. And I think the ending was so bitter (and kind of sweet I guess), perfectly encapsulating what the book is about. It shows the extent people are ready to go for power. I can't wait to pick up more from the author.

It is a profoundly melancholic tale but it just wasn't my thing. I found the pacing fine but the buildup was slow.

An incredible and wild read that had me so hooked. Wasn’t expecting it get quite as emotionally devastating as it did but I absolutely loved every moment of it. Truly one of those books you can’t put down, so compelling, fun and sexy.

I'm a pagan booklover, so this automatically joined my TBR pile! Magic, old bookstores and a quest for what is essentially an ancient grimoire - fabulous!

Unfortunately I just couldn't get on with it. I think it's the narrator, who just frustrated me. At first all seemed well, but as things descended into what seemed to be a constant emphasis on the sensual (money, food, sex), I became increasingly detached. Also the 'if I'd only known' foreshadowings are a pet peeve.

Ultimately this seemed to become more of a Dan Brown adventure with added smut, which is fine if you like that. I didn't, and DNF feeling disappointed.

Fabulous what a romp. So sensual and interesting. So many subjects covered and I adored the main character she is a warrior. Thank you for sharing

Bottom line, I really enjoyed this book. I did however feel that plot was too contrived, or maybe a bit lazy. Our heroine didn't always make logical decisions with the information available, thus spiralling the story line further than it merited. Possibly this is a fault with the reviewer failing to understand the depth of the obsession with the search for the illusive book, and the benefits that possession could bestow.
That said, all the characters were vividly depicted, and enjoyable. At an emotional level Ms. Gran gets you invested in her characters, flaws and all.

Wonderfully weird and original book! I really enjoyed it. Fast-paced and exciting but with a gothic/horror/erotic vibe

I was so excited to start reading this book but then, only a few pages in, I realised how bitterly disappointing it already was. The writing is dry and stilted. The sentences are very short, which makes you feel breathless and not because of any form of tension being created. I really tried to like this book but it's going to go in the completely non-rememberable basket.

This book is definitely different and I think horror lovers will devour it. Unfortunately for me I just found it weird.

This was such a decadent and sexy book and I absolutely loved it! I loved all of the exploration of the rare book world and Sara Gran made it all seem very chic and exciting, which I really appreciated. Lily and Lucas were both easy to like as protagonists and their race to get their hands on the book was really compelling. Similarly, this was a book about sex magic and the sex scenes were very erotic, but never felt gratuitous and always served a purpose to move the plot forward. With a fascinating and eccentric cast of peripheral characters this was at its core, a book about love and what we will do for those who hold our hearts. I highly recommend it.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

The Book of the Most Precious Substance is an interesting concept and I think Sara Gran did a good job with it. The main focus of the novel surrounds a very rare handwritten manual on sex magic and the sexual acts many of the previous owners and current seekers of said manual have completed in an attempt to unlock that magic.

The principle character is Lily Albrecht who is a used book dealer. A key secondary character is Lucas Markson who known as a buyer of rare used books. They learn about a book that a person was wiling to pay at least a million dollars to get it. It supposedly has directions and information of how to get anything you wanted.

It is to the authors credit that the main character Lily and the mystery behind hunting for a rare book had so ensnared my curiosity that I couldn’t help but to continue reading. While the book never gets too graphic in describing the sensual acts that propel this fictional magic, I don’t think that reading about them will be for everyone. Still, those willing to suspend disbelief and stick along for the short duration of the book will find it to be an entertaining and twisty thriller that more than satisfies.

This started off super strong and I felt like it was more skilfully written. but I felt like it got a little draggy in the last quarter (or so). Then the conclusion left me a little cold, it seemed to suddenly accelerate after the drag to get to the climax and parts felt a little too predictable.

Overall this is a thoroughly enjoyable, fast paced story with entertaining characters that is totally worth your while (if you can forgive a little erotica in your literary fiction).

I was drawn to this book firstly because of the cover, it looked and felt magical in a thriller kind of way.

I enjoyed reading this book. as the subject matter about the occult is one I usually avoid.. However, a book about a rare book seller sounded intriguing. The mysterious occult book talked about murder. sexual encounter and adventure and weirdly witches. The fact that it is pretty well written and a decent paced storyline added to it's character. The characters were developed enough to make them interesting but thought the writer could have elaborated on some. I was expecting a bigger ending but overall it was a decent read with entertaining parts.

For me was The Book of the Most Precious Substance a so-so book. I enjoyed the book, I like reading books about occult books. But, the book lacked something for me. I wanted to like the book more. I think what I really struggled with was the lack of connection to the main characters, they never really came alive. The last part thankfully was interesting and stayed with me after I finished the book. Can't really write about it since you know spoilers. But, the ending made it worth reading the book.

Wow, what a book! Definitely not like anything I have read before - and I really didn't want it to end - I love this author and really want more!

The Book of the Most Precious Substance

This was one of the most unusual books I’ve ever read, with a mix of history, mystery, philosophy, magic and erotica that was most unexpected. Lily Albrecht is a writer turned book dealer who lives in a farmhouse in upstate New York. Several years ago she met husband Abel, the love of her life. Abe was a brilliant man, a writer and professor who inspired others and drew friends and colleagues to their home as guests. Then he started to forget things and after spending a fortune on neurologists, tests and treatments she’d come to accept that Abe was not getting better. It was like a form of dementia. He was now using a wheelchair and was completely mute, and Lily was left grieving for him while he was still alive. With full time nursing care from Awe, Lily is able to travel into NYC to run a stand at a book fair. It’s there she runs into Lucas, a librarian and book dealer friend, and it’s through him that Lily first hears of the book.

They are approached by a third party who knows someone willing to pay upwards of half a million dollars for the book. Some of the most wealthy book collectors in the world tend to covet books about magic or sex. Dissatisfied with the paltry millions they have, they want to look at ancient ways to manipulate and accumulate power. This book has both, something Lily jokingly refers to as ‘sex magic’, but as she listens to how the book works she does feel a stirring. Sex is something she and Abe had to lay aside a long time ago. She’s used to early nights, flannel pyjamas and a bed to herself. She wouldn’t consider herself sexy, but as she sits with Lucas and they talk about the steps to the magic of the book. It contains a symbol, something that’s not quite a circle and not quite a triangle. The first step requires the sweat from a woman’s neck and from there each step requires a bodily fluid elicited during sex. The final step is to anoint the book with the most precious substance - a substance that a woman produces at her most aroused. Once all the steps are complete, the pair will receive the thing they most wish for which is usually money and power beyond their wildest dreams.

Finding this book takes them on an erotic odyssey from New York to LA, the humidity of New Orleans, then on to Munich and Paris. Lily and Lucas will find the book, convince the collector to sell it to their buyer and hopefully make a lot of money. They will also embark on a sexual relationship with no boundaries and no restrictions and neither tells the other what they’re hoping for from the book. Of course the money will be incredible, it would help Abe enormously, but Lily wants something more. She wants Abe back. More than that, she wants Abe to return to himself with all the vitality, intelligence and allure he’s always had. She wants them to spend evenings talking about books and watch him hosting friends at their home. She wants Able to have his life back. In the meantime she’s going to enjoy her first vacation for a long time, staying in five star hotels and experimenting with Lucas while they try to find the elusive book.

This is an incredible, escapist, fantasy and travelogue, that could have been quite shallow and empty without the skill of the author. She has put so much genuine emotion and compassion into the story, along with the gritty realism of living with a loved one who is leaving you piece by piece. Lily’s memories of Abe and their relationship are heartbreaking when you realise he is now a motionless, mute, man unable to do anything but watch TV. Lily emphasises the loss of this man’s intelligence. He looms large in her memory and there’s a little bit of hero worship with the love she has for him. She describes the loss of his voice, their friends slowly disappearing, the loneliness of separating their sleeping arrangements and the torture of Abe being there, but not. It’s heartbreaking and I’ve been through exactly this experience as I slowly lost my husband fifteen years ago. Perhaps this is why I empathised with Lily so strongly and I understood why she was taken in by this adventure and by being desired for the first time in a long time. It’s like watching a flower bloom as she slowly awakens again, but even though I could understand her need I worried that somehow the book was exploiting her vulnerability. I didn’t get to know Lucas as well as Lily, so his motivations were slightly unclear. He mentioned being used to a five star lifestyle, but his money running low. This felt greedy or shallow when compared to Lily’s motivation. I worried that most people wanting to acquire the book were greedy and materialistic and there would be some sort of come-uppance, but I didn’t know if Lily deserved that. Each time they performed a step, the magic felt dark and it seemed to have an addictive quality. A new avenue would open up as if the book was drawing them closer and making their path easier. It wanted to be found, but why?

The pace towards the end really picks up and I was racing through the action with my jaw dropped open. However, it was the chapter after Paris that really hit me emotionally. It emphasised how much we look at the people we’ve lost with rose tinted spectacles. No matter how much we feel nostalgic for a certain place and time in our lives, it can’t be replicated. It reminded me of the saying ‘you can’t wade into the same river twice; because you have changed and so has the river’. I’ve read erotica where it’s all sexual acts with barely any story in between. This was an incredible story that I could have read happily without the sex, but to make the sexual acts an integral part of the story and the search was clever. The author has achieved an intelligent and fantastical book, that succeeds in being both erotic and a fascinating mystery.

“Books were a dirty job, one of the black arts, along with witchcraft and printing.”

All the stars to this one!!!

A book dealer, Lily, hears of a super-rare, extremely expensive book her colleague, Shyman, is hunting for on behalf of a millionaire client. The book is special: an antique, occult manual on sex magic which, once followed properly, can grant u everything u want.

And Lily wants something badly – her beloved, once-erudite husband is now catatonic, due to an untreatable disorder. Lily becomes obsessed with the book, convinced it will help her cure him.
But a few days after Lily’s conversation with Shyman, he gets murdered. With the help of another colleague, dangerously charming Lucas, Lily sets on a journey in search for the book. As she goes on, more bodies begin to drop & the quest gets darker & darker.

This book’s a wild, thrilling, sex-heavy ride, with ancient manuscripts, poisons, bodily fluids, burning temples, have I mentioned sex? secret libraries, rituals, eccentric millionaires, alchemists, have we said kinks and threesomes? castles, spells, murder… SEX!

BUT. Above all that, it’s a love letter to books.
It’s beautifully written, with quotes that hit me straight in the heart:

“Like most book people, there was a shadow in his face, a hollow echo in his laugh, that let you know he’d rather be around books than people. Who could blame him? It was why so many of us were in this business. People had let us down. People had broken our hearts. We liked books and animals and messy rooms full of things that weren’t people.”

“Too much time around normal people made me feel like an alien, unwanted and ugly, fluent in a different language.”

“Books made for strange bedfellows. Although loneliness was probably more to the heart of it than books. Loneliness was what linked us all: loneliness made you both a book person and a bedfellow. And a strange one.”

⭐⭐⭐⭐ -- The love hardcover version of this cover!

I loved this book. Honestly, that was pretty much guaranteed by the subject matter. A book about book. Rare book sellers. A mysterious occult book about sex magic. Murder. Adventure. BDSM witches. It's book crack to this reader. 😂 Aside from that it was also decently written (could have been fleshed out more in places) and paced. The characters were well developed and there was a good cast of secondary characters that moved the plot along. The ending was a little "meh", but overall it was a highly entertaining read and therefore gets 👍🏻👍🏻 from this reviewer.

**ARC Via NetGalley**

I loved this slow burn mystery that is comparable to Katy Hays 'The Cloisters'

Dark academia, occult, sex - a brilliant quick read!

Damn. Well I wasn't expecting it to end like that. This one took me pleasantly by surprise. I'm a big believer that abundant sexual content in books is fine, when it makes sense to the narrative. Sara Gran absolutely nailed that for me with this story, plus I love a sad lonely protagonist, and books about books. Couldn't recommend this enough!

(AD-PR) Thanks so much to Faber & Faber for the gifted netgalley arc!