Blue Mondays: The Complete Series

Lucy Green is a 28-year-old Londoner stewing in the unpleasantness of her daily commute when an attractive stranger strikes up a conversation over perfume. She finds herself drawn to him, so much so that she interrupts her routine to return his lost wallet personally. Her act of heroism leads to an entire day of skipping work in favor of a beach adventure with Ben, who not only turns on her body but broadens her mind, making her question the direction in which her life has been going. As the two dance in and out of each other's lives, Lucy realizes that she's been sacrificing elements of herself for years in an attempt to please toxic friends and to succeed at a job that she doesn't even enjoy. This thoroughly refreshing, engaging erotic novel defies easy categorization. Dubberley (Garden of Desires; Sex for Busy People) does an admirable job of avoiding clichés; Ben, though handsome and mysterious, is far from the cold, arrogant, emotionally unavailable male love interest that can be found a dime a dozen in contemporary mainstream erotica, and Lucy is adamant about prioritizing her personal development above the pressure to be in an exclusive, heterosexual relationship. Though Lucy values her blossoming romance with Ben, she also loves her time alone, as evidenced by the novel's unconventional, though far from unhappy, closing scene.