This book was a little darker than I thought it was going to be. I imagined fun anecdotes from the world of dating and casual sex but whilst there were some laughs along the way, the author showed us the more seedy and dangerous side to it all. Kitty is so likeable and has written the book so you feel like you really know her. You follow the story along with her, feeling all the excitement, nerves and fear of meeting each new date. I honestly though never realised how many weird people are around, and several times throughout the book thanked my lucky stars that I'm an old (ok, middle aged!) married woman who has put the whole dating scene behind me!

The book is told about all the ten men she met in the year, and we find out how she met them, why she chose them and what happened. It's not an easy read and was quite upsetting at times. Bravo to the author though for not letting some of these "men" ruin her life despite being treated despicably by them, she certainly is a very strong woman and this shows throughout the book. The book does have scenes of sexual assault, violence and depression, so a little warning for that. It was however, a really interesting read and I will certainly look out for other books by this author in the future.

An Honest, Inspiring and somewhat heartbreaking look into modern dating.

This memoir is a refreshing reset into honesty surrounding sex. It follows Kitty as she challenges herself to the 'Samantha' method (Sex and the City) - to explore her sexuality and have a year of casual dating and casual sex. We see Kitty make discoveries about herself, dating culture and the dangers of casual dating for women.

It deals eloquently with topics such as SA, Rape, Depression and male violence as well as internalised blame-culture, the repression of traumatic events and the secrecy surrounding them. We see Kitty grow astronomically, and by the end of the novel feel inspired that, while we shouldn't have to, we can get past traumatic things that have happened in time.

It was nice to see this book have a somewhat happy ending - but also important to see how it respectfully acknowledges that for some women, there isn't a possibility of one. There is a constant theme of danger throughout this book, and it is saddening to know that this is the experience for many women - both in the dating scene, and out of it.

If anything, this memoir is a call for change and a cry for help on behalf of all women who have experienced something similar to Kitty. A gripping and important read.

Thankyou to Netgalley and Icon Books for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Author Kitty Ruskin decides to embark upon a year of fun, enjoyable and sex - a year where she channels her inner Samantha from Sex and the City. What I expected was a book about funny and liberating sexual experiences on the author's terms but the reality was much darker and consent is the key issue here. The men Kitty meets are through dating apps and it brings into question who are some of these people and how well are these apps regulated? Whilst the author does have some great experiences during the year, sadly, too many times we read about experiences that occurred where consent hadn't been given or she simply hadn't been asked if she was OK doing something in advance. It appears her thoughts and feelings were very much an afterthought. She is brave to be so honest and open in this book which will hopefully stir up conversations that need to happen around consent. I found it an unsettling read at times that brings to the spotlight some of the perils of modern day dating.

This book is the summary of the author’s lost year of 2019; when after a sexual assault during childhood, she decides to get in touch with her sexuality. A chapter is devoted to each man and what happened, from first date to break up. The writing is sharp and there is a refreshing frankness about sex. There’s also a real discussion about consent - during the course of the year, she is raped twice and as a result, her mental health suffers and she considers suicide. For that reason, the book quite rightly carries a trigger warning.

Where the book falls down is the writing seems loose, disconnected. It works best, like any book in a confessional genre where the writing and, by extension the writer is being true to themselves. The structure itself, seems too limiting (a man, anonymised per chapter). Plus, there is little attempt to contextualise it until the afterword and the writing in that chapter, seems to have a weight and an insight that the loose, choppy style of the majority of the book has. It’s out now from Icon and I thank them for a preview copy. #tenmen

This was an honest and raw conversation about online dating as woman, the experiences that Kitty went through are both scary and so real. The awareness this book promotes is so important.

I enjoyed this book sent to me as a PDF document to my Kindle. I assume the formatting of the PDF document is the issue and the Kindle version of the book will not contain any formatting errors. The author writes well and sensitively albeit in some instances the prose drags but overall she has the balance right between her attempt at dealing with various self-esteem issues albeit possibly in the wrong way for her and some light relief in the description of the various individuals with whom she has dalliances. I was left with the impression that therapy was what she really needed rather than a year of casual 'situationships'.

I'll be honest, when I first requested this book I wasn't sure what to think. Not only because non-fiction doesn't tend to be my leaning, but also because this was the first memoir I've seen where a woman is actively talking about sex and dating. I didn't know what to expect, how it would make me feel or what I would think upon reading it. And I was pleasantly surprised.

The writing is friendly, almost as if the author is having a chat with a friend. She's managed to capture the energy of each date (10 of them) and explain how and why the dates ended the way they did. Under the guise of a year of sexual freedom, the author discovers that sex is not the bad thing she once thought it was, but also that it should not be glorified the way it is. That all being said, this was more than a memoir. Every woman I know has been assaulted in some way by men they know or men they have met on dating apps. This book was more than just a book about sex, or a book about casual relationships. This was a book about a woman's strength whilst simultaneously raising awareness for the horror that women go through, the things they put up with just for a chance of love and connection in a society that is not made for them.

Kitty is an exceptionally talented writer and I would definitely read her work again.

Ten Men (A Year of Casual Sex) is Kitty Ruskin’s incredibly powerful and brave nonfiction debut.

Ruskin has allowed herself to be so very open, and indeed vulnerable, in her giving her account of her year of casual sex; from what she hoped to get out of it, to the grim realities that seem to be far to common. Her book is her own act of resistance against the patriarchal society that still encourages women to suffer in silence. I should note here that the obvious (how sad that it should even be obvious) warning is of sexual assault, but there is also suicidal ideation - though Ruskin presents the reader with these at the start.

Ruskin has hoped that 2019 would be her year to embrace her sexuality and enjoy exploring the freedom of being young and single. Having been victim to sexual assault at only 10 years old it had taken Ruskin a long time to understand her own reactions to sex, but now feeling liberated from a shame that wasn’t hers to carry she hoped to enjoy some casual fun.

What followed, however, wasn’t what she’d expected. Ruskin takes us on her journey as she meets 10 very different men. Along the way she has some good times, and makes some seemingly genuine connections, and yet there are far more deeply shocking, troubling and indeed traumatic times that she endured.

Ruskin is brutally honest in her accounts of what happened and I think she should be highly praised for this. She explores the blurred lines of consent, the prevalence of rape culture, the dangerous anonymity of dating apps and the cost and consequences of sexual trauma, particularly on the mental health of women. This is one women’s story, but one that is too familiar to too many others. For many this will be a difficult book to read but arguably it is also a vital one for those same reasons.

Ten Men is the powerful and disturbing tale of 2019 when Kitty Ruskin decided that 2019 was the year that she'd sleep with as many men as possible to embrace her sexuality and make up for a "late start",a couple of years earlier she lost her virginity at the age of 22.
Using dating Apps Kitty meets 10 men in 12 months and if those men are a sample of the average male we're in a very bad place indeed, from the mad,the bad and the outright dangerous. All Kitty wants is the kind of freedom and no-strings pleasures that single young men take for granted on the dating scene, what she discovers is a minefield of manipulation,coercion and much worse. Part of Kitty's reason for her pledge was to try get over issues caused by a traumatic childhood experience and she's as brave and open describing that and the lifelong consequences of it as she is throughout the book.
Thankfully there's a happy ending as this makes for grim reading. Kitty doesn't indulge in self-pity,which makes the whole thing harder-hitting, and if her experiences are ,as it appears, the norm in modern-day dating something is badly wrong with much of our society.
A very important book by a remarkable,and very brave,woman.

So excited to read, share an acquire Kittys new upcoming book. I admire her honesty and can’t wait to dive in! I apologize I’m slowly catching up on reviews due to an unexpected health issue, but slowly getting there! This book will be a lovely and fun distraction