Read this book: Jessica Z by Shawn Klomparens

As evidenced by several of my blog posts being about books, I love to read and I read a lot. Some of what I read is good, noteworthy fiction; some of it is complete brainless nonsense. And I love it all. But sometimes I'll fall into a book that's so good and so amazing it seems to defy any kind of category I try to put it in, and I'm reading one of those now: Jessica Z by Shawn Klomparens.

This book is like literary crack - I can't stop reading. I was up two hours past my usual bedtime last night devouring its pages. The premise of the book seems simple: Jessica meets Josh, a handsome artist, at a party and immediately falls head-over-heels. She ditches Patrick, her upstairs neighbor with whom she's had a long term "friends-with-benefits" relationship, and starts spending all her time with Josh. When she becomes the subject of Josh's next avant garde art project, their relationship escalates to an intense, volatile level. And in a dangerous and crazy world, the intensity of their relationship may be too much for Jessica to handle.

This book is sexually explicit without being graphic. It is emotionally touching, and at alternate times has (literally) made me laugh and cry. The plot twist of terrorism (suicide bombers) gives the story the all-too-real undertones of fear and urgency. I don't always like Jessica and the other characters; in fact, at times I hate them. But I always care about what happens to them, and I always want to know more.

Perhaps most amazing to me is that the author, Shawn Klomparens, is a man. I'm amazed that a man can so completely inhabit a female's perspective. If I hadn't seen his photo on the back cover of the book, I would've thought Shawn was a woman.

I'm almost done with this book, and I think I'm going to be sad to part with it. I'm not usually one to re-read books, but I'm going to revisit this one down the road. I think this is a story that will stay with me long after I'm done with it.