Sex sells. That's the angle book marketers are aiming for with the cherries on the cover, but Lip Service might be a double entendre. I found Julia Sterling's transformation from a confrontation-avoidant, taken-care-of upper class New York wife into a stronger, more assertive, and freer spirit to be the more compelling story. Having had a nervous breakdown in college, Julia married Paul, a psychiatrist and her father's junior colleague. Their relationship reminds me of "The Yellow Wallpaper" unt More...

I've read M.J. Rose's Reincarnationist series, so when I was given the chance to read Lip Service, I jumped at it. This book is totally different from what fans of that series expect.

It deals with the phone sex industry and how Julia is drawn into it.

Most of M.J. Rose's books are thrillers or at least suspenseful. This book can only be described as psychological erotica.

The parts of the books when Julia is taking calls will leave you hot and bothered. M.J. Rose really knows how to write the stea More...

If you are trapped in a staid, sexless marriage, how do you cope? How do you adapt? What if you don't realize how staid and sexless it is until your eyes are opened by fate's whimsy?

Julia Sterling has a fairly content marriage to her psychiatrist husband Paul. She is stepmother to his college freshman son, hostess at his fundraising parties, and provides him with the comfort he needs ... outside of the bedroom. They rarely, if ever, have sex, something Paul does not appear to miss (he takes that More...

GoodReads Synopsis: Lip Service probes the secret world of phone sex and one woman who becomes empowered by what she discovers there. Not since Erica Jong's Fear of Flying has a novel so masterfully examined the relationship between sexuality and identity.

On the surface, Julia Sterling's life seems blessed. Married to a renowned psychiatrist, living on Manhattan's tony Upper East Side, Julia deeply loves her stepson, and is forging a career as a journalist.

When a writing job at The Butterfield I More...

Julia Stirling has been content in her life until recently. Married to Paul, a psychiatrist turned professional fund-raiser, she has willingly assisted him in his efforts to promote his charity for Fathers In Trouble as a charming, if shy hostess. As a student Julia had a nervous break-down after a period during which she indulged in various and short-lived sexual encounters. Marrying the cool and emotionally detached Paul and allowing him to make her decisions for her while keeping her on medic More...

I received a copy of Lip Service courtesy of NetGalley.

Julia is the wife of Paul, a psychologist, that treats her more like a patient than his wife. Years before, when she left her carefully scheduled and sheltered routine for college, Julia had a bit too much fun and lost control of life, causing a nervous breakdown. That put her in therapy for 4 years, introducing her to Paul. Since becoming Paul's wife and stepmother to his son Max, Julia has been the perfect wife and mother, never acting out More...

Review written for www.books-n-kisses.com

This is a re-release of a book from 1999 and the first thing the reader will notice is some of the dated references (sitting next to JFK Jr., debating banning cigarette tv ads, etc). I found myself forcing myself to read this book and I think it has something to do with the time line. While 1999 was not all that long ago the era was so different. Phone sex was a huge thing before the internet and the references to some many now not so current subjects was More...

I knew the moment I saw this on the shelf years ago I just had to have this book and even after I discovered it was pretty sexually explicit (something I wasn't used to at the time) I didn't care. I kept reading because it felt so real...so full of identity, hurt, truth and honesty...

Julia is an unhappily married woman and the last woman in the world I ever expected to relate to or feel so bad for. When I first read it broke my heart and it still does...the way her parents and husband treat her More...

Read my full review @ http://bit.ly/RoZaqQ

My opinion: First off, I need to disclose to the readers of this review that I am a huge M.J. Rose fan. She has shown herself to be a master at writing within a diverse number of genres with a smoothness YET grittiness that leaves readers holding their breaths. On that note, this one didn't quite do it for me. I could tell that this was a prequel to the Butterfield Institute series which currently has 3 books in it. I have read 2 of these books. Also, as More...

Julia Sterling is the wife of Dr. Paul Sterling. Her husband is a psychiatrist. When Julia met Paul, she was seeing a psychiatrist. So when during the beginning of their marriage when Paul would treat Julia more like one of his patients then his wife, this would explain why Julia dealt with it. As the years passed however, Julia wanted Paul to see her more as his wife and not as his patient. This included being sexual in the bedroom. They have no relationship. Paul does not even want to touch Ju More...

SELF DISCOVERY

So a friend barrowed this book to me, and I admit I was hesitant to start it. However, once I started...I couldn't put it down.

Julia's (aka Alice) character really intrigued me, as she is stuck in this passionless marriage and she starts to discover who she really is and what she is capable of. Paul, her husband, infuriated me! How he tried treating her like a patient the entirety of their marriage, and never really accepted her for who she was, instead forcing her to act as the p More...

I received this book from the publisher for review.

I really enjoyed this book.

Julia grew up with a father who was a therapist so she was always analyzed. When she struck out on her own in college she realized that she didn't really know who she was and that all of the decisions she had made up to that point were made to make her parents happy. She became sexually promiscuous and finally had a mental breakdown and ended up back home.

There, she met Paul at a party at her parent's house. He was a More...

I would start by saying I really enjoyed this book. I would follow that up by saying I don't think erotica is the right category for this book. The book was originally published over a decade ago, and times have changed as far as what people are willing to write and talk about. This book is a great story of self-discovery and, in a way, coming-of-age.

At college in her late teens, when Julia Sterling should have been working to discover who she was and what she wanted from life, she was instead More...

Julia Sterling is the ever faithful, devoted wife to a very strong-minded psychiatrist. Being the daughter of a psychiatrist, Julia felt she had taken the safe road in her marriage.

But when Sam Butterfield comes along and peaks her interest in suggesting she write a novel about his business and what services they offer, Julia starts to question if forever being in her husband's shadow is what she really wants or needs out of life.

I enjoyed reading this story, however, I found myself frustrated More...

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M.J. Rose's Lip Service was first published in 1998 and has been recently republished by Atria. Because women's erotic fiction has become so popular and mainstream lately (*ahem* thank-you, Fifty Shades of Grey) it was hard not to go into this book with expectations and comparisons in mind. I expected to dive right into lots of kinky sex with a thin plot but that's not exactly what this book is. First of all, the "kinky sex" is not so much centre stage as More...

I was expecting another Fifty Shades of Grey with this one but was really pleasantly surprised to have liked this story so much more. This is more about making a passive woman, who has lost a part of herself, stronger. Yes, there is a bit of explicit sexual situations but they are there for a purpose, not just to fill up space. There is a good story here.

Julia is married to a psychiatrist who treats her more like a patient rather than a wife. He keeps her medicated, tells her what to do and how More...

This novel has a lot of ambitions. It's a psychological and erotic thriller, in a way, but the thriller aspects take awhile to really take off. The plot is good, and a lot of the secondary cast are well-sketched with solid dialogue. Even the main character, Julia, has an interesting journey through psychological and sexual healing that's compelling and believable. The only problem is the one-dimensional character of Julia's husband, who looms large over the novel as a flat antagonist toward Juli More...

"Certain eastern cultures see sexuality not as a fall from grace but as a way to ascend to a state of grace, to a state of self-realization." ~ pg. 33

Lip Service is a sensual erotic book by international bestselling author M.J. Rose. Main character Julia Sterling is a married 38-year-old woman living in Manhattan, working as a journalist. To the public eye, she has a decent career and is loyal to her stepson, friends and husband of 14 years. Secretly, she is an accomplice to sexual refunctioning More...

This is not a bad book, but it's an old one and you can feel it in many things that are now different, like sex over the phone, that has been replaced by sex over the internet, which is more available and gratis. The characters were a little stereotyped in my opinion, specially Paul and his behavior towards his wife, that in some situation, and I'd agree with him, was really to stupid to live. Jack is a dream man come true and I'd have liked to see more of their relationship and I'm still thinki More...

M. J. Rose’s Lip Service is the thinking woman’s erotica. This isn’t raunchy nonsense pinned together with a few weak plot points and vapid characters — a limp excuse for pornography masquerading as literature. No. I’ll be the first to admit I know little about this genre, but Lip Service worked for me as a mild thriller with some naughtiness.

Julia is interesting. We learn she had some sort of breakdown in college, an event that led to her “romance” with Paul . . . which is really no romance at More...

I received a Feed-Your-Reader email from NetGalley advertising Lip Service saying "Before there was Fifty Shades of Grey...". With all of the hype over FSOG, I decided maybe it was time I read something a little erotic so I requested and received a copy. What I really enjoyed about this book was that the sex scenes were an intregal part of the story and that the book had a plot. I especially liked how the book ended...the last sentence was perfect.

I received a copy of Lip Service courtesy of Net More...

As much as I liked the "sex" I wish there had been a bit more. I also didn't agree with some of the viewpoints expressed. The book could have done without about 30 of the pages. The end was very drawn out and then kinda smashed together. Overall I would recommend the book for the different approach to "sex scenes", the interactions between the characters, and the intelligence with which it was written. It's not one of my favorites, but I didn't dislike it.
3 1/2 Stars.

Part light erotica, part self-discovery, part suspense-- Lip Service is an interesting book. It's written well and has flawed and fleshed-out characters. There's even a little love on the horizon, despite a frigid marriage and a new risque job.

I enjoyed the authors use of psychology in this book-- enough to tell me she's done her homework, but not too much that it bogs the book down. As long as you aren't off-put by strong, sexual language you should like this book!

Great beginning to captivate the reader!! I truly felt terrible for Julia but was happy to see she found herself in the process of dealing with an emotionally absent husband.. Ugh!! For her to go along with his antics and selfishness... It was just frustrating!! I am so glad she found courage to get away.. Loved the ending... Great way to answer that question everyone asks nvolving Jack :)

At first I didn't think I would like this book. It started off a little slow, so I thought it was going to be boring. However, it quickly picked up speed, and I found that I was really enjoying the story. The characters where believable, and the writing was pretty good. Although, some of the psychiatric references did get annoying, mostly because of the repetitiveness. All in all it was a pretty good book, especially since I received this copy free book from Netgalley!

Good story; well-written. I was surprised to learn that M.J. Rose self-published this book back in the late 90s because no publisher would accept it; they couldn't pigeon-hole it neatly into any particular genre. It is erotica with a touch of thriller and a little romance. I enjoyed it, but i may never eat another maraschino cherry! :)

Lip Service was an excellent, easy read. I couldn't put it down, and for once, I wasn't able to guess the ending. I liked this book so much, I had to search for other M.J. Rose books. Infidelity, was alright, but this book was much more exciting.

Lip Service by M. J. Rose is a sensual journey of self discovery. Read my review in its entirety HERE.

This is an early book from MJ Rose (The Hypnotist) and is thoroughly enjoyable. Be prepared there is a lot of graphic erotica in this one and if that bothers you than this is not the story for you. But I found it well paced and quite entertaining.

This book was so surprising. It had me at the edge of my seat at all times. I wasn't use to reading books with so much sexual stuff, but it definitely made the book.