THE SECRET DIARY OF A SEX ADDICT

The Secret Diary of a Sex Addict

Amber Stephens

UK rights: HarperCollins (Avon)

Complex Chinese Characters: Fine Press (The Eurasian Publishing Group)

German rights: Goldmann Verlag

World Spanish rights: Ediciones B

US rights: Working Partners Ltd

All other rights available

Twenty-six-year old Shelley Matthews works at a failing magazine called Female Intuition. It’s enough of a shock when dishy marketing man Aiden Carter is brought in to take over the editorship of the publication, but Shelley is in for a bigger surprise. In the quest for higher rankings, her new column is entitled ‘The Secret Diary of a Sex Addict’.

Shelley’s horrified, not only because the column stands for everything she dislikes about twenty-first-century cheap thrills, but also because ... well, she’s not all that knowledgeable about sex. That’s not to say she doesn’t like it, just that she doesn’t practice all that often. In fact, it’s been over a year since her last sexual experience, and even that wasn’t great.

The pushy new editor has a plan though, and Shelley doesn’t have a say in it. He’s enrolled her in Fresh Paths, a residential therapy group forsex addicts, and she’s told to smuggle in her BlackBerry to file her copy each day which will then run on the magazine’s blog. Aiden wants tales of titillation to make people realise that Female Intuition, now re-titled Vixen, is not a dead horse.

Shelley is anxious on her first day in the clinic, and the other patients do little to ease her sense of alienation. There’s Cian, lead singer of a hot new band, enjoying ALL the trappings of fame.

Dominatrix Abigail can’t lead a fulfilling sex life without inflicting pain. Will is a family man who knows his marriage is in jeopardy because of his serial adultery. Former porn star Rose can’t enjoy herself if she's not in front of a camera. Cliff and Cheryl are a couple whose swinging is out of control, and Larry is a young man addicted to pornography and masturbation.

The group is steered by a prim and sanctimonious counsellor called Verity Parrish and supervised by Dr Janet Jones, manager of the clinic. There’s temptation in the form of handsome doctor Mick Galloway. It’s a tough assignment for Shelley to maintain her cover as a nymphomaniac nurse who can’t stop having affairs with colleagues and patients, but she diligently records the other patients’ confessions and files them to Aiden back at the Vixen offices. Meanwhile, she enjoys the company of the other residents and learns to lighten up about sex.

When it finally comes to her own admission, Shelley gamely makes up a fantasy of hedonism in exotic locales. To her surprise, no one rumbles her. After a week in the company of the other addicts, she’s learned to love sex again.

It’s Dr Galloway who raises a suspicion that Shelley is not whom she says she is, and threatens to blackmail her. But she has a trump card – through keeping her eyes open, she’s learned that he’s having a secret affair with none other than Verity Parrish. She manages to persuade him to recommend she’s signed off the course as cured, and thus makes her escape.

Back at Vixen, Shelley is the toast of the office and the rebranding has been a great success. What’s more, Aiden’s now taking an interest in the ‘new’ Shelley Matthews, and after offering her the editor’s job, also suggests they meet for a date. It looks like inspiration for her column won’t be second-hand in future!

The Secret Diary of a Sex Addict was developed by Working Partners Ltd.Since 1995, Working Partners has created some of the most recognised series in children's fiction including Animal Ark, Heartland and, more recently, Rainbow Magic and Warriors. Rainbow Magic now has sales of five million copies in the UK and Commonwealth and translation rights have been licensed in seventeen territories. Animal Ark, now with its own Classics list in the UK, has sold over fifteen million copies worldwide.

In 2006 Working Partners Two was formed to develop book ideas and to establish a network of writers to emulate the children’s success in the arena of adult fiction.Amber Stephens is a pen name.