Diana Kelley helps couples with sex and intimacy problems - but wants none of it for herself. A bad experience has put her off for life. Or so she thinks. When she unexpectedly needs help with a rather interesting problem, convincing her hot young neighbour to help leads to some very steamy encounters.

Meghan o'Brien does it once again. Her novels have a heat level unrivalled by any other. She also knows how to tell a great story, with believable characters. I loved it.

I was given this ARC for review.

My goodness this was a scorcher. I started it thinking ... I'll just read a chapter or two then head to bed, boy was oh so wrong. Couldn't put this down, the chemistry between two main characters is sizzling. I didn't put this down until 5am with 2 chapters left to go and believe me it was only because I had work in an hour.

Pick this up if you want something sizzling.

Thought this was a pretty interesting concept and I've enjoyed it for the most part. Would definitely recommend to anyone looking to venture off the typical LGBT romance path.

You'll either love or hate this book - all depending on what you are looking for. If you are looking for extremely well written (and yes ... beyond hot and steamy) erotica - you'll definitely love this one. If you're looking for a intricately plotted romance - you probably shouldn't have picked a book with the title "The Sex Therapist Next Door". Seriously, what would you think this book is about.

O'Brien is well known for writing some of the best lesbian erotic novels out there - and this one definitely falls in that category. That being said, O'Brien is also a non-erotic author and there's enough of a plot to move things along and the characters do get a bit of a chance to shine outside the bedroom/classroom. The basic plot is simple (sex therapist hires her next door neighbour to fill in as her assistant for a bunch of sex education workshops) with the titular character, Diana, even goes as far as to list out the upcoming workshops so readers know what to expect (or look forward to) as the novel progresses. This may be the kind of book to be read in small doses or the sheer amount of sex occurring (and the length of each of these scenes) may be a bit overwhelming.

The Sex Therapist Next Door is pretty much my first soirée into LGBT Adult Romance. I had high hopes, as Meghan O'Brien appears to be a pretty prolific author. Unfortunately I was largely bored with what I got from The Sex Therapist Next Door.

The Sex Therapist Next Door follows sex therapist Diana Kelley, who hosts workshops and live demonstrations for f/f couples to show them the importance of sexual and emotional intimacy. However, after surviving a toxic relationship with an abusive ex, she's sworn off love and can’t fathom ever making herself vulnerable again. When her assistant is injured the night she is scheduled to assist with a hands-on sexual education workshop, she enlists the help of her neighbour; Jude Monaco. Unbeknownst to Diana, Jude has always had a crush on her gorgeous neighbour next door, and so Jude seizes the opportunity. Their professional relationship is supposed to be a clinical erotic arrangement between a sex therapist and her assistant, but at the intersection of sex and intimacy, anything is possible. Even love.

Unfortunately, this story felt like it was lacking in plot and is largely the reason I had a problem with it. It runs off the sex workshops (and erotica in general) being the main attention every second chapter or so. But I think it needed more... In those in-between chapters where the characters aren't at the workshop, literally all that's happening are characters discussing their emotional issues or how one of them is emotionally unavailable, OR, they're practicing for the workshop.

More on that, these conversations seemed to be happening in rotation. It became really repetitive and boring when the prose was so focused on one issue for pages at a time again and again. Consequently it felt like conversations weren't going anywhere.

To the authors credit, she jumps right into the selling point of this book: the workshops. Despite my dislike of the chapters where the workshops aren't occurring, the book is still balanced really well with the more erotic chapters. Had this book had a more engaging plot and dialogue, I could see myself really loving it. For that reason, I'm not ruling of reading more from Meghan O'Brien.

I actually enjoyed this book and think it is one of my favorites by O’Brien. I would have never picked this one up based on title and cover, but other reviews made me decide to try it out. Once you get past the crazy way the two main characters come together their story is really good. Ava and Katrina as secondary characters made the story a lot more enjoyable. I also liked the main characters. From the title and cover a reader would assume it is filled with sex, and while there is a lot, O’Brien has several other books that have a lot more of it. I thought the scenes that were added were good, and not nearly as uncomfortable as I had imagined they would be. They actually added elements to Diana and Jude’s relationship, which is a huge win in this type of book. A solid read for me, and actually one I may reread in the future.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! And not just the sex scenes, which were frequent, varied, often intense, and playful.

I really enjoy reading erotica - enough that I'll read stories that don't have a plot. But erotic stories that are well-written? Well, brains and beauty - I'm all in. I will definitely read this one again.

And though the "I've been hurt once before, I'll *never* open myself up again" thing was quite overdone, it was no less realistic - some folks *do* become way too overprotective. That it was a sex therapist, whose job it was to help people through such things was a bit ironic, but also, no less realistic.

It was refreshing to read a book where the characters were *so* in tune with their own bodies, as well as being able to read their lovers'. It was interesting to watch the development of the relationship between Diana and Jude - as well as the one between two (relatively) minor characters. Indeed, since their relationship was integral to the story, it's hard to call them "minor."

All in all, yet another hit from Meghan O'Brien.

A long-time crush becomes an erotic business arrangement with a blossoming romance. The developing bond is accompanied by complications from past relationships and vacillating emotions. Everyone enjoys sex. Nicely done erotica with an interesting premise.

Gosh, well the title pretty much says it all. Don’t read this in a public place if you blush easily. There is a lot of sex in this book, mainly carried out in a group setting, which won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. Considering just how much sex and erotica there is, fitting in a romance was rather impressive. Personally I found myself wanting more romance and less detail on the various sex workshops, which surprised me. I think that was because it’s all a bit clinical in places.

The Sex Therapist Next Door gives you more sex than you can shake a stick at but you already know that when you decide to read Meghan O'Brien. I was intrigued after reading the blurb on Goodreads and decided to give it a go.

It started out good but gradually you come to know what an enormous tool sex therapist Diana really is. Her emotions switching between hot and cold gave me whiplash and it really messed up poor Jude so much that I began to dislike this character… a lot.

I see that this is where O’Brien creates her conflict in a plot that otherwise has not much to offer (other than sex). But it does not work for me because that same character flaw (Diana is emotionally crippled because of a bad relationship in her past) is a theme on repeat throughout the whole book. Ugh!

And what’s with the age hang-ups? Diana was 39 and Jude 26. So what? With all the fooferah Diana made about it you would think she was in her late 60ies.

So yeah, there are copious amounts of hot sex, some anal as well, the slow unravelling of sweet Jude and a giant tool named Diana.

f/f explicit

Themes: Jude is wetter than Niagara falls, casual sex is never as casual as you think, is Diana not afraid of STD’s? she never asked Jude (who slept with a lot of different women) if she was tested, so much drama-rama, Diana should have just stayed next door to be honest.

3.4 stars

* A free copy was provided by Netgalley and Bold Strokes Books Inc. for an honest review.

Meghan O'Brien is very good at writing long explicit erotic sex scened, The Sex therapist next door is no exception. That was all fine and on brand. There was a lot of processing the relationship and unnecessary conflict between the two main characters. I did, however, appreciate abuse in same-sex relationships being properly explored. This is something that is often minimized or dismissed. The protagonist in this story has deep emotional trauma from her abuse and that takes center stage in a fairly realistic way. Thank you for that, it matter.

3.5 Stars. I enjoyed this book, but it was not my favorite Meghan O'Brien. This book was about Diana Kelley, a sex therapist who needs a new hands on sex workshop partner after her best friends and usual workshop partner, Ava, hurts herself. This is where Jude Monaco comes in. An ex call girl who has no problems with sex, she agrees to be Diana's workshop partner. They both may not know it, but they getting in deep by agreeing to have sex with each other for teaching purposes. Jude has had a crush on Diana for a long time and could not jump on the chance fast enough.

Without giving too much of the book away, I enjoyed this book but I felt a little frustrated by Diana and her feelings throughout the book. As this is a very erotic novel, it focuses a lot on the sexual aspect of their relationship for a good portion of the book, which was to be expected. There is some great character development, but it seems to all happen so fast. I would recommend this book to someone looking for that hot and steamy romance novel. This is definitely it.

This book had a little bit of everything including strong female characters, a good story, angst, past hurts to heal, two age gap romances, and sex therapy courses that described in detail how to increase intimacy between two women. I would have preferred a slightly different ending, but it was still a HEA nonetheless. Caution: do not read this book in public!

4.2 stars.

Meghan O'Brien writes one of the best sex scenes in the genre so expect hotness turned to the max. The varied kinks and fetishes combined with enough plot to keep the book engaging made this deeply erotic read enjoyable for me.

Diana becomes quite unlikable at some points in the book and it's understandable why. She was traumatized deeply by her past experience. But even though it makes complete sense narratively Diana sometimes being a complete twat did lower my enjoyment and hence the rating of the book.

Otherwise, not much to comment on. The other lead Jude is a lovely character. There is a nice and more importantly developed secondary cast in the form of Diana's best friend and Jude's cousin.

The book is mostly HOT public sex so if that's your thing, go for it. I might have discovered a new fetish myself.

If you like sitting in the front row of the cinema and getting as close as you can to the action, then this book is for you. The sex is just thrown at you, there's no build up, it's just happening and its happening in front of an audience.

While the writing itself is good, the sex therapist, Diana is unlikeable and the other main character, Jude, must have some pretty serious self-esteem issues to put up with how Diana treats her. I couldn't quite get my head around the storyline, I'm all for using creative licence and not just reproducing run of the mill stories, but this didn't seem believable at all. The HEA ending seemed manipulated to fit the romance genre.

Astounding. The best erotic romances are well-crafted combinations of the two genres, and The Sex Therapist Next Door hits the mark. There is nothing subtle about the title, but this book delivers exactly what it says on the cover. There is a real story here, an age-gap romance where physical and emotional attraction turns into something much deeper. The story sets up a sequence of extremely hot scenes but doesn’t stray too far from “vanilla”.
Jude and Diana, and the two main supporting characters are all great. Jude is the best character for me and holds the story together. It doesn’t have the same character development as a regular romance novel might have, but it works so well as an erotic romance. As an aside, my mind did wander around the thought that semi-public performances seem to be cropping up in Meghan O’Brien novels regularly...
Overall a great book. I have pretty much loved all of Ms. O’Brien’s books and this one is no exception. Certainly recommended, and four-and-a-half stars rounded to five.

My oh my what an erotic romance. More erotic than romance to some extent. Jude Monaco is a women with a messed up family life but an awesome cousin that steps up and provide not only family but security. Diana Kelley, recovering from a tragic relationship by putting a shield around her heart. The two meet under circumstances that seem near impossible to believe yet intriguing. There is an age gap which is a concern for one of the characters but not so much for the other. Diana is sexy and wants to be in control. Jude is open and very upbeat about life considering her crappy family life. When the two meet, the reader gets to ride along a hot and sexy roller coaster that has you feeling good in many places. There is an entertaining subplot between Ava, Diana's best friend, and Katrina, Jude's cousin.

Although I concur that Meghan O'Brien is the queen of F/F erotica, TSTND just didn't quite ring true for me. I know that this is fiction, but thinking that a dozen couples all having sex in the same room under the guise of "therapy" is too farfetched. As most lesfic novels typically have 2-3 love scenes, the number here was almost de-sensitizing. I enjoyed the backstories of the main characters, and also the interaction between each lead and her best friend. This book is definitely worth reading!

When I got done reading this, all I could think of is WOW. Not only is the erotica superb but there’s an awesome story to this book. Past relationships can make us grow or hinder all new relationships. How we get past that is the key.
Diana Kelly is a licensed couples’ counselor and sex therapist. She leads a “how to” workshop that teaches lesbian couples the specifics of different erotic acts to enhance intimacy. She tends to work with older couples who may have lost the spark in their relationship. Enter her new young assistant Jude who has a crush on Diana and loves sex. So the journey begins……

Meghan O'Brien is...dare I say...back? Okay, she's been steadily writing, but I'm the most satisfied with this end product than I have been for her last few works. The Sex Therapist Next Door embodies all the qualities of a bona fide O'Brien Smut-O-Verse: the celebration of consent, the constant horny thoughts/dialogue, the gorgeous leading ladies, the inward discoveries, and, of course, the smoking hot sex scenes. Wow! She's back!

Amongst quite a few issues from an abusive previous relationship (don't worry, no gory details there), worries about their age difference is what holds back Jude Monaco, a twenty-six-year-old writer, and Diane Kelley, a thirty-nine-year-old sex therapist. Now, the hand-wringing (Diane's, specifically) over their age difference gets tiresome, but I get it? Diane had been through a hellish past relationship and the thought of a happily ever after with someone so fresh and un-dramatic can really affect one's self esteem. With that, the age difference is quite yummy. I'd let Diane whisk me away, too.

Both leads sounded hot. I'm not sure if I developed a crush on either of them for this one, but I was thoroughly convinced of their attractiveness. O'Brien hit the ground running on this one in the sex department. While my tastes err more for push-and-pull before all that, I forgo that for this book because this is the O'Brien universe. You know what you've signed up for. Instead, the push-and-pull is more about emotional attachment than the physical, which is refreshing in its own way.

This is a smorgasbord of smut, people. It's fantastic. Her dirty talk and femmedom scenarios had me fanning myself, my goodness.

Also, I must mention how the last two books I've read mentions The Great British Bake Off! I adore that show! Looks like it was in all our Netflix queues.

I, for one, really needed another foray into Meghan O'Brien's erotic world. More like these, please! Five stars.