Better Than I Ever Expected: Straight Talk About Sex After Sixty [Paperback]

Joan Price (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 13, 2005

Better Than I Ever Expected is a warm, witty, and honest book that contends with the challenges and celebrates the delights of older-life sexuality. It asserts that women over sixty are at the top of their game when it comes to enjoying sex.
Joan Price’s woman-to-woman straight talk transcends the self-help style of other books in this field. Yes, there are challenges to sex after menopause and beyond, says Price, but there are also creative solutions. She is on a mission to let women her age and older know that they can, in fact, have the best sex of their lives. Price gets personal and stays positive, combining her own story with candid comments, tips, and sassy tales from sexually seasoned women. She acknowledges the gritty issues that older women confront in their sexual lives, noting that it’s not easy, but it certainly isn’t over.
At age 61, Price is newly engaged to the man she’s been looking for her whole life. Her discovery of how great “well-seasoned” sex can be was the inspiration for this book. Sidebars present candid and friendly sex tips; fitness, exercise, and lifestyle information; and women's erotic vignettes—both real-life experiences and fantasies.

Editorial Reviews

Review

" [Joan Price] spices the book up with her own experiences."—New York Times -- The New York Times

"Better Than I Ever Expected" gives older women advice on how to date and how to love." -- New York Newsday

"Price brings an upbeat tempo and infectious energy to this empowering and straightforward guide to sex for the older woman." -- Kirkus

Product Details

• Paperback: 280 pages
• Publisher: Seal Press (December 13, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580051529
• ISBN-13: 978-1580051521
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #272,089 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I am an author, speaker, advocate for ageless sexuality, fitness professional, and contemporary line dance instructor.

For twenty-two years, I taught high school English in Italy, New York, and California. Then, in 1979, after a near-fatal automobile accident, I realized that I owed my life to my exercise habit and had a mission to share with others the joy of movement. I left teaching, became an exercise professional, and wrote five books about fitness and health, including The Anytime, Anywhere Exercise Book: 300+ Quick and Easy Exercises You Can Do Whenever You Want! and hundreds of print and online articles.

After one marriage, several serious relationships, and more flings than I wish to count over decades of single life, I found the love of my life, artist Robert Rice, when I was 57 and he was 64. We were each other's Great Love, and we were together for seven years until cancer took Robert from me.

The power, intimacy, and spiciness of our relationship led me to write Better Than I Ever Expected: Straight Talk about Sex after Sixty at age sixty-one to acknowledge the challenges and celebrate the delights of older-life sexuality. I followed that book up five years later with Naked at Our Age: Talking Out Loud about Senior Sex after hundreds of readers sent me questions and comments about their own senior sex lives. Naked at Our Age will be available June 2011.

I live in Sebastopol, California where I write, teach contemporary line dancing, and work with personal fitness clients to help them make exercise a habit and a delight. I travel widely, presenting upbeat talks and workshops on fitness and ageless sexuality. I invite you to visit my website at http://www.joanprice.com and to participate in my zesty blog about sex and aging at http://www.NakedAtOurAge.com/.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

63 of 63 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Encouraging advice, and a great love story, too, February 24, 2006

By 

T. Goldfarb (New Jersey) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Better Than I Ever Expected: Straight Talk About Sex After Sixty (Paperback)

If you're trying to decide which of the new "sex over 60" books to buy, definitely choose this one. It is not a step-by-step "how to" book that might offend people, although it does cover every aspect of sexual activity--married, single, solo, gay, straight, young, old, one-night, long-term (50 years and even longer). Instead, the book provides practical, encouraging advice from experts and from ordinary women about the joys of loving relationships, dealing with sexual problems of menopause, loss of interest in sex (or your partner's loss of interest and/or ability), how to approach sex with a new partner, helpful exercises, and even a detailed discussion of sex toys and assistive devices. (I thought these were only for `adventurous' couples, but the book explains how they can make sex possible and more enjoyable for older people).

Plus, this book is also a beautiful love story which could stand on its own, even without all the excellent sex information. The writer chronicles her many relationships, from her first teenage romance (You'll be furious to learn how her father broke up what might have been a lasting relationship), to a succession of sexual affairs, including a short failed marriage. It's easy to see why she had given up on finding true love. But she never gave up on having an active, fulfilling life as a dance and exercise instructor, despite two devastating auto accidents that left her with many scars and lasting injuries.

And then, magic! In the form of a trim, gray-haired, older man she spots in one of her dance classes. These are true-to-life 60-plus people, not wrinkle-free, gorgeous-body super models, but the story of how their love and sexual relationship blossomed is a real page turner. And be prepared for a few tears when you come to a troubling revelation near the end of the story.

This is a thought-provoking, informative, encouraging book you'll definitely want to share with friends.

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Like Sex Itself: Fascinating, Fun, and Educational, October 17, 2006

By 

Charles B. Price "Charlie Price" (Redding CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Better Than I Ever Expected: Straight Talk About Sex After Sixty (Paperback)

Better Than I Ever Expected: Straight Talk About Sex After Sixty by Joan Price lives up to its title! Like sex itself, it is fascinating, fun, and educational: a how-to book for staying sexually active and enjoying it as we, men and women, mature. With stimulating anecdotes and clinical details, it leaves no sexual arena unexplored. It encourages us to move beyond age and sexual stereotypes and better understand ourselves and our bodies. It gives a variety of suggestions on how to surmount dryness, wrinkles, flaccidity, and the like, in order to continue exploring the frontiers of pleasure and intimacy. Wise and very respectful, Joan reminds us "Great sex is what's happening between two souls, two minds, two hearts--not just two bodies." This book is a testimony to love and creativity. EVERYONE will learn from it. It is what a book should be, enriching! I wholeheartedly recommend it.

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sassy Elders!, February 1, 2006

By 

Rebecca Brown "rebeccasreads" (Clallam Bay, WA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Better Than I Ever Expected: Straight Talk About Sex After Sixty (Paperback)

Dr. Bond of Rebeccasreads highly recommends BETTER THAN I EVER EXPECTED: Straight Talk about Sex after Sixty as a courageous & witty guide for young people on the verge of discovering the paradise of sexuality, for older couples who have been brain-washed into thinking sex is only for the young, & for those happy lovers of all ages who wish to believe that the bliss of lovemaking will continue as long as they live.

After Joan Price agreed to write BETTER THAN I EVER EXPECTED, she circulated the following: "Wanted: Interviews with sassy, sexy women, age 60+, who are willing to share feelings and experiences openly and anonymously in a candid, woman-to-woman book" (p. 6). To her surprise, women responded abundantly, & were hungry to share their experiences & reveal the most intimate details of their bodies, fantasies, & relationships. Price uses quotes from these women's responses to illustrate her findings throughout.

BETTER THAN I EVER EXPECTED is an original book that needed to be written.