Review of ‘The Trophy Wives Club’ by Ali Spooner

This was an interesting premise. I have actually not read much by Spooner before, but I would say this was the best that I’ve read. I’m undecided about how I feel about Spooner’s style of writing, but the premise for the book was too different for me to pass up.

This is a story about women who love women, working in an exclusive spa/fitness center. This club is called the Trophy Wives Club with clients that are wealthy widowers, divorced, or married women who are not getting enough attention at home from their cheating and or neglectful high profile husbands. There is tennis, massage, exercise, sauna, and a Roman bath, but what sets this club apart is the extras. The women that work here get paid extra, under the table, to really satisfy their clients. There is really no other way to say it; these women are really high-class prostitutes.

Due to this book’s premise and the amount of sex in the story, I would put this in the erotic-romance category. As someone who reads an average of 300, mostly lesfic, books a year I’m always craving different. I like to read books that are a little out there and I also like it when authors take a chance which I think Spooner did here. How many lesfic books about prostitutes have I read? Maybe I can remember a handful in total. If I remember correctly I believe Radclyffe had a main character that would often sleep with a prostitute (Honor Series?), and I think there may have been one in her Justice series too. But I sure don’t remember a story about multiple high-end lesbian prostitutes. This was a first for me and I had to see if Spooner could pull it off.

While this book could have dug into some tough feelings about what it’s like to be a sex worker, this book was much lighter. Everyone seemed very happy with the arrangement and there is a romance right in the middle of everything. I’m a little so, so on the romance. I did like the two characters together, but I had a few issues with them. Luna’s character is considered the “player”. Marley never wanted to date Luna due to the one night stands she would have. However, that all changed once Luna was being paid to have sex with multiple women. Marley now sees her in a new dateable light. I had to shake my head that paid sex made her more girlfriend material than just normal mutual want sex, but whatever. I also found the ‘I love yous’, to come very fast. I didn’t feel the relationship was at that level but I get why since Spooner was running out of page time.

I mentioned Spooner’s writing style before and I’m still not sure if it is for me or not. She writes perfectly fine and is very readable but her style is more on the “tell” side. She also concentrates on everyday details, like food, a little more than I personally prefer. Again, I’m not faulting her for this, this is her style and I knew that before I read this book.

At the end of the book is a teaser for ‘The Pleasure Workers’ by Annette Mori that comes out next month. She is continuing the story in the same club, with one of the main characters who was a secondary character in this book. While she was only a secondary character in this book, she had a lot going on that makes me really interested to read her story. I’m also interested in general what happens next. Will any angry husbands find out, will the law find out, will the women want to keep working as sex workers? This next book might stay on the lighter side like this one, but I’m hoping Mori mixes things up a bit.

If you are looking for a lighter erotic-romance, this book might be for you. This book was lighter than I was hoping for but I think this premise has potential and I applaud Spooner for taking a chance on a slightly risky subject. 3.50 Stars.

A copy was given to me by the publisher for an honest review.