An Honest Woman really fell flat for me. Charlotte Shane shared many details specifically about one client but did not really divulge anything of real meaning or value about herself or her experience in sex work. The only real passion I felt in this memoir is her chapter on falling in love with and meeting her husband but even this felt rushed. I really wanted more from this book as I was very drawn to it.

Shane, an author and essayist, chronicles her years as a sex worker. Her path to sex work was freely chosen. She became a sex worker at 21, while attending graduate school, not to finance her education, but to validate her sex appeal. “I felt highly desired, and I was verifiably, highly desired. Coveted, even. There was proof: the messages, the money, the affirmations. I became a sex worker because I suspected, and hoped, it would be this way: a private, minor form of celebrity.” Shane concedes that she is not the best looking woman in a room but, thanks to sex work, she trusts her capacity to charm and seduce so to convince many that she is the best looking. She also assures “civilian woman” that men’s tastes are expansive and they overlook cellulite, stretch marks and scars that make women uncomfortable in their skin.

As a teenager, Shane engaged in scientific sexual exploration with boys. “My priority was information-gathering, not enjoyment.” She moved on to webcams, working at an incall where “I worked like I was trying to make partner,” and then became self-employed. She dismisses the sex worker tropes of debauchery and exploitation, claiming that the majority of her clients were “polite and decent.”

She focuses on a particular client, Roger, a middle-aged litigator whom she first saw in 2011 (along with 53 new clients and 167 dates). Their relationship endured for more than a decade until his death from brain cancer. Although Shane seems genuinely aggrieved about Roger’s medical condition, and laments that “[w]e’d played a prominent role in each other’s lives for almost a decade, but I couldn’t talk to anyone in his family,” the relationship remained transactional. Shane stopped advertising in 2015, and saw just a few trusted friends, including Roger, who accounted for at least half of her income since her semi-retirement. Yet, she acknowledges, “I wouldn’t have spent time with him for free, not platonically or sexually, but I appreciated him.”

This slim memoir is compulsively readable and remarkably candid. Shane illuminates how capitalism and the patriarchy impact every union. Thank you Simon & Schuster and Net Galley for a memoir about a subject that is rarely addressed in such lucid prose.

Expected to be more shocked or get more stories from her escort years. This was mainly about her one relationship with one of her clients and the timeline went back and forth to her childhood / teenage years and then back to main relationship/ current events. Felt like too much back and forth to me. Couldn’t really connect with the author and was missing more detail/insight on her emotional state and thought processes …

Loved this perspective and loved the focus on the one partner/client. Not something I felt majorly connected to but was an interesting and well written read.

This book was just okay. I felt Charlotte Shane was embellishing a bit too much. I found her story hard to believe. She didn't seem like an honest woman, hence the title. Something about her life felt far-fetched and bit ridiculous. I enjoy reading non-fiction, but this book left me feeling aggravated and annoyed. Everything the author said felt braggy and self-centered. It's a mixed bag for me.

This memoir-vella would have been better had there been labelled essays or just one single essay. There was no through line other than the fact that Shane was a sex worker, and it was disjointed and not chronological. She talks about her youth and mentions her early days, but she never really leads us from A to Z. She kept mentioning this guy Roger, which didn't make sense until the second to last chapter. Honestly would not have finished this had it not been so short.

Thank you to Simon and Schuster and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a good read, i really enjoyed the authors writing style, it was a bit slow in some parts but overall explored many different themes and was wort it in my opinion. I would like to check out the authors other books.

A fascinating story from a perspective we need to hear more from. I learned so much about the sex industry from reading this book, and more importantly, I learned about gender, capitalism., and the way our culture thinks about women and exchange.

While I was immediately sold on the premise, I was quickly disappointed. I feel that the book is a little all over the place. While I find it hard to judge a memoir as it is someone’s life, I just feel that the first half was driven my her insecurities and random female shaming. The second half was interesting, but I felt the book to be disjointed. It seems slightly unhinged in terms of her relationship with her one client and their family / actions thereafter and event that takes place. The ending came out of nowhere and I feel left me with unanswered components in what was being shared.

I've been reading Charlotte Shane's writing for years now. Her self-reflection and analysis of everyday life have had a profound impact on my own life. This short book is a great peek into a dynamic mind. A+

I felt the author was very preachy and wanted to appear more aware of her body and sexuality when she was very young then would seem believable. I enjoyed reading how empowered she felt by her life's choices; I wish all women felt that way.

Finished my ARC - thank you to Simon & Schuster for my digital copy.

I haven’t read a memoir in a little while so once I came across this in my ARC list to read I thought I’d give it a go. It was definitely interesting to hear about this particular topic & how open she was to being raw & honest about it. Some parts felt uneven and choppy, making it harder for the reading flow. Unfortunately this memoir didn’t hit for me like other memoirs.

Charlotte Shane shares with us her life as a sex worker.Sex work is something most of us know nothing about.so this is a behind the scenes look at what her world was like.This is also her personal memoir sharing her life.Well written involving eye opening. #netgalley #simon&schuster

3.5 stars rounded up

An Honest Woman is author Charlotte Shane’s memoir about her experiences working as an escort in DC and NYC. It is broken down into separate parts and follows Shane’s journey into her career and the path she followed shaping her career into what she wanted it to be. The ending also included her reflections on relationships and sex in general.

I did enjoy this memoir and thought Shane’s writing was beautiful. My favorite parts were her experiences with Roger and at times felt this was more Roger’s story than her own. I would definitely read more client-focused experiences from this author, although I recognize these are not necessarily her interest or stories to tell. I would also have liked to learn more about Shane’s webcam experiences and earlier escort days.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for access to this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

I found this book to be well written and intelligent in its observations as the author shares her views. She did sex work for a number of years and found value in the things she learned.

This is the story of Charlotte Shane and the life she spent as a sex worker. It’s a good and interesting book, which answers your questions about that lifestyle.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Thought this would be a great supplement to a book I read earlier this year, More. But it just lacked any sort of engagement for me.

"But the strength of the shame meant that any whiff of "no" tended to linger for years, and the guy was usually so afraid of treating it with the seriousness it deserved, he'd make the request sound like a short-lived whim. If she laughed it off, or made a face, or asked him why they would do that with each other, he'd never mention it again. That misunderstanding impeded the creation of new intimacy and pushed them apart. Couples don't have to share everything with each other, but this, to me felt like an unnecessary loss"

Thank you to Charlotte Shane and NetGalley.com for the Advanced Readers Copy.

I am truly blown away with how beautifully well this was written. Charlotte's voice, understanding of her life experiences, and total self awareness had me hanging on every last word. I was flying through the book while also trying to read as slowly as possible because I did not want it to end. This is not just a compilation of specific instances, or wild stories.. it is so much deeper than that. I think as humans we are naturally curious about sex in general, but sex work specifically because it can be seen as taboo in our culture and this book helps you understand more from the perspective of someone who chose to do this with her life for her own unique reasons. This was an easy 5 star rating for me, I will absolutely be purchasing a physical copy for my shelf, and will be cheering on the author hoping her voice gives us more in the future!

This book was a struggle for me. In rereading the description, I see that it includes that the author left her women’s studies program and got into sex work as a way to “devote herself to men” and it seems she has achieved her goal.

Reviewing a book shouldn’t be about critiquing someone else’s life choices, but it is impossible for me not to mention that I think further self reflection is necessary on a number of issues included here. I didn’t understand her motivations for doing things because I didn’t understand what her true feelings were. Does she?

What a fascinating read! Sex work is often the topic of discourse but rarely are the actual sex workers given a chance to voice their own opinions; I appreciated this book for both bringing to light the experience of sex work directly from someone involved. I found Shane's prose style engaging and honest, and I enjoyed reading about her life and her shifting views about sex and society.