Prime: Adventures and Advice on Sex, Love, and the Sensual Years [Bargain Price] [Paperback]

Pepper Schwartz (Author)

Book Description

Release date: June 10, 2008

Dr. Pepper Schwartz has spent the past three decades encouraging women to embrace their sexual appetites. But when she became a single woman after 23 years of marriage, she had to take her own advice and discover how sex and dating could work for her at this unique time in her life.

Prime is her story of exploration—sex, adventure, and romance—spread out like a road map for women of every age. Whether you're looking to wake up a tired sex life, start a new relationship, or commit to the love of your life, you can find tempting tips and genuinely helpful guidance. Prime invites every woman to relish her sexuality, take risks, and go after what she really wants.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Schwartz, a sociologist at the University of Washington and sex and relationship adviser (The Great Sex Weekend) starts off with a question she had to ask herself: what should a woman do when she's suddenly single again after 23 years of marriage, hoping for another long-term relationship, or at least sex and companionship? I feel as sexually alive as I did when I was 25, but the number and availability of men for me has changed, Schwartz writes. Her candid and sexy memoir, targeted toward women in their 40s, 50s and 60s, is both a highly entertaining sexual autobiography and an account of her romantic liaisons in the five years after her divorce. The book is an unusual and appealing mixture of realistic dating tips and shrewd relationship advice interspersed with cautionary tales of Schwartz's rocky relationships with a succession of alpha males Despite the continuing thud of her romantic disappointments, Schwartz doesn't regret the risks she took. Ultimately, she learns to savor the pleasure of just being alive in her own body. For someone who admits that she can let her hormones create fake intimacy in her relationships, it's nice to see Schwartz finally enjoying an authentic relationship with herself. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

“[Dr. Pepper’s] engaging writing style makes the book a page-turner.” (Library Journal )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks (June 10, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061173592
• ASIN: B00394DFUG
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #918,462 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Hurrah for Pepper June 26, 2007

By Lulu Francis

Format:Hardcover

Prime is a good read with accurate information and advice woven into it. The concept of "two handed massage" and a get-away to Bali reads like friendly advice over coffee, but in reality it is also sound couples counseling. The theoretically advice is cloaked in wonderful erotic adventures that can be a guide book for any women who wants to continue to be sexually responsive.

When I turned 60 everyone was saying it was all over. Pepper has confirmed my belief that a fulfilling sex life is not just for the young of age, but the young of heart as well. For women, love and sex go together like pie and ice cream. Pepper tells us that ice cream can be great all by itself .

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Thank God We're Not Young Any More July 26, 2007

By Jane Adams

Format:Hardcover

If you were (safely) married when the sexual revolution began and went back into the dating world as a divorced woman in the years that followed, you know how difficult it was to ignore all those messages from the Fifties about how 'nice girls don't." Most of us who are single in this stage of our lives did anyway, and still do, but in case any of those messages are still holding you back, a few pages of this terrific book will convince you not to waste any more time before you make the most of the opportunities for sexual adventure and sensual gratification that are all around you. And while you don't have to go to Bali (although who wouldn't?) to get what's yes, still coming to you, it's lucky for us that Pepper Schwartz did. There will be critics caviling that what the lady really wanted was love, not sex, but as the onlooker in the classic scene in "When Harry Meant Sally" said of Meg Ryan's restaurant orgasm, "I'll have what she's having."
Brava, Dr. Pepper!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Not Just for Women in their Prime! July 30, 2007

By Dr. Z.

Format:Hardcover

As soon as my wife finished reading her copy of Prime, with that luscious cover, I grabbed it and starting reading. What a remarkable book!! What a remarkable woman! Dr. Pepper Schwartz, a highly regarded academic sexologist takes off her professorial robes (literally) and shares her most intimate experiences, discoveries, and evolving wisdom as a single woman exploring sex and love in what she comes to view as the prime of her life. This is a great read,not just for single women in their "prime," but for men and women of any age.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars I love a good story! July 25, 2007

By V. Rutter

Format:Hardcover

Prime is delightful, entertaining, encouraging. I have recommended it to women in my life from age 21 to 70. As Debbie Siegel describes on her blog, it defines one (wonderful) end of the lust continuum. I'm all for it.

20 of 24 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars "B" for effort....but a "C-" for being self-aggrandizing. July 14, 2007

By D. H.

Format:Hardcover

One of Pepper's acquaintances tossed me this book as a must-read, and I was reluctant at first. Did I really want to hear the gory details of Pepper's conquests? As it turned out, the book makes for very easy reading; simple, anecdotal stories of who she has been intimate with, and then summations of what she thinks she's learned. As a so-called "relationship guru", there's also an attempt at schooling the reader on do's and don'ts. Much of it is common knowledge, certainly nothing I didn't already know...the "Internet Dating Advisory" type warnings are info you should be able to find (where else?), on the net...so nothing unique there, either.
Pepper jumps directly into the intimacy thing with a suitor first - long before examining lifestyle compatibilty. Then she seems surprised and disappointed that so many of her romances fall apart. Pepper admits to having so many other priorities in her life - (besides taking care of a man) - that she seems to subconsciously target men who are the same way (UNavailable)- and then they just keep "missing" each other. If you want more from a man and a relationship, then you have to give him more of yourself, and make sure he has time for you in return. If all Pepper can handle is a little intimacy once in awhile, while requiring personal space the rest of time, she shouldn't expect to have all the accompanying blossoms and emotional depth that come easier with a manicured, well-maintained love affair.
Is Pepper really a relationship expert?
Well, she's learned a bit about how her relationships DON'T work. The dating advise and her new-found insights she offers isn't bad - but it lacks complexity and real wisdom. Her writing has a warm, personable, but juvenile tone.
Not expert-like...more "novice-like"....
All-in-all, the book makes for amusing, light reading...but it's not the comprehensive treatise on dating advise for us mature women that I was hoping for. Basically, it's just PG-rated excerpts from Pepper's diary. Read more ›

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Marriage saver? July 31, 2007

By Ana L.

Format:Hardcover

I loaned my copy of Prime to my 60 year old cousin, Janice, who wrote, "Thank you, Thank you. I couldn't put it down. It is the best book I ever read. I think Pepper saved my marriage. The 3 'C's made my appreciate Jeff, and the chemistry we have together. Compatibility isn't always great, but she also made me realize some men (and maybe women) just aren't going to change, so get over it."

Janice talked so much about Prime, I bought a copy for another cousin, my sister-in-law, neighbor and my 83 year old mother. It is actually a sizzler with relevant advice.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Tom Jones grows up and changes gender July 30, 2007

By Tobey Hiller

Format:Hardcover

In a world where men and women both tend to be dishonest or silent about their sexual lives, it's refreshing to read such an honest and self-searching book. This book is zestful and sensitive at once--more Tom Jones than Jane Eyre, thank god, with Dr. Pepper playing a female Tom Jones. Yes, there are sad parts. And accounts of the kinds of emotional mistakes we all seem prone to. It's much more personal than academic, and that's great. It's not so easy to be frank (and vulnerable) about the volatile and rather mysterious mix of lust and love that moves us all into our relationships, and while you may or may not identify with Dr. Schwartz's gregarious and wide-ranging sexual and social style, there's so much in this book that's life-affirming, brave and supportive of female efficacy and freedom, that I highly recommend it to any women who's in transition, or facing growing older and all the limiting messages we get about that, or simply wanting to make sure she keeps her mojo in good working order.