Tampa by Alissa Nutting

I was lucky enough to receive an advanced reading copy of this book through NetGalley and when I saw that it was advertised as being the most controversial book of the year - I had to read it.

And my initial reaction to this book is - WOW! They weren't wrong.

It tells the story of Celeste Price, who is a teacher in Tampa, USA. She is married to a devoted husband and outwardly, leads a normal life. But she is attracted to 14 year old boys and has launched her teaching career for one reason only...so that she can seduce them.

Now, if you thought 50 Shades of Grey was graphic and controversial, then this is 100 times worse. Tampa makes 50 Shades look like a children's novel in comparison.

There were times when I was reading this book and I thought that I really shouldn't be. Sometimes it was easy to forget that the person Celeste was doing these things to was a 14 year old boy and that it is frowned upon and actually, illegal.

I don't really want to shout about this book too much, because is it wrong that I enjoyed it?! Surely it should have made me feel sick and twisted, enjoying reading about the things Celeste is doing, but I did actually get hooked, only for the reason that I wanted to know what would happen to Celeste and would she get her comeuppance?

The ending actually disappointed me. With the fast paced, exciting writing throughout the book, by the time is got to the last 10%, it dragged and really wasn't interested. I skipped thorough it, reading a few lines here and there and the actual last paragraph was awful. It was almost like the author had put so much work into getting the graphic details into place, the ending was just an afterthought in order to bring it to an end. I'm not sure how I would have made it different but I don't think it was right.

I think you have to be very open minded to be able to enjoy this book and it's certainly not for the feint hearted. I would recommend it, but only if you are willing to take it with a pinch of salt and enjoy graphic images and descriptions - because there certainly are a lot!