Sex As a Second Language Author:Alisa Kwitney From Alisa Kwitney comes a wickedly funny new novel about adult education. A teacher of English as a second language, Katherine Miner is an expert in idiomatic phrases, subtle verbal cues, and unwritten cultural rules, but when it comes to the opposite sex, she's baffled. Her girlfriends and her mother keep telling her that a woman who is about ... more »to turn forty needs to approach dating as a job, but Kat's decided to opt for early retirement. It's not that she hates men; she just doesn't trust them. After all, her soon-to-be ex-husband, Logan, has dropped all contact with their son, just as her own father did to her thirty years before. While Kat prepares her students for the messy business of getting personal, she has no intention of getting herself tangled up in bedsheets and emotions. But Magnus Grimmson, the tall, good-looking, tongue-tied Icelander in the front row, doesn't appear to pose any threat. In fact, the man seems to need more help deciphering women than Kat does decoding men. Then Kat receives a letter from her father that turns her life upside down. A former spy, Kat's father writes that he wants to get to know her. But her father's reappearance causes unexpected complications, and suddenly Kat finds herself questioning whom she can trust and discovering that she still has a lot to learn about men, friendship, and the kind of nonverbal communication they don't teach in school. Darkly humorous, emotionally honest, and unabashedly sexy, Alisa Kwitney's novel affirms that forty isn't the end of the road -- sometimes, it's a new beginning.« less
A teacher of English as a second language has in her class a handsome Icelander who is not exactly who he seems. The story contains some subtle insights into romance.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I found it to be a page turner. Curl up with this book on a stormy evening with a cup of Cocoa and realize that life happens....and divorce is survivable.
Alisa Kwitney also writes paranormals and sci-fi under the name Alisa Sheckley. I think I like her paranormal series a bit better although in some ways the plot of this book is strikingly similar- swap "werewolf" with "spy" and you about have it. This is not to say that this book is at all bad. I enjoyed it although I thought she overdid the "bad ex-husband" bit (though I have heard plenty of stories from real life to know her portrayal is acceptably realistic!) The pace of this book was uneven- some points dragged as she tried to express her theme of nonverbal communication- in many places,Kwitney did a great job of demonstrating what she was trying to express, and made the reader sit back and say, "huh! I would never have seen that but now that she has pointed this out, it makes complete sense!" with regard to everyday communication between people. However, at other points she over explains, as if she feels the reader won't be able to follow a more subtle example and need extra help.
In all- a good, entertaining read that misses by just a few degrees of being a great read.