Great fun book.
Julia’s not had sex for 3 years and wants to do something about it.
It’s funny and she certainly makes up for the lack of sex. There is a lot of sex in this book.
Very frank and to the point but very funny.

I really enjoyed this book. Julia hasn’t had sex for three years, and is keen to change this. She meets a few people on the way, falls in love and has a lot of sex. It is very descriptive and graphic but not in a way which felt voyeuristic or unnecessary. I liked the ending, I felt it was right for the characters. Would recommend!

This book is hilariously funny. I read it in one sitting and enjoyed the complex characters Davies created. It’s a story of discovery, obsession and identity with a lot of sex thrown in for good measure. It’s Bridget Jones’ diary for today - but with a bit more about it.
Fast-paced, moving in places and always honest, this is a refreshing and fun read. I’ll be recommending it to friends although I’m worried they will assume my life as a gay woman is waaaay more exciting than it actually is! What an excellent find - I can’t wait to read more from Davies!

Absolutely loved this book and couldn't put it down. Filthy, funny and heartbreaking at time, it was a pacy read. I loved Julia and all her complex friendships and relationships and how she discovers her sexuality and her true sense of self. Definitely recommend.

I have mixed feelings about this book. I liked the writing and loved most of the characters apart from one. I can't say who without it spoiling the book but the way they treated everyone around them was shocking and it made me want to cover my face when they were in a scene. I look forward to what Kate writes next.

Thanks goes to net galley and the publishers for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

A fun and well written book about a woman realising that she is in fact gay and her life as she learns about and discovers herself

When I first started reading "In at the deep end" I had an impression it will be all fun and jokes about broken penises and buying toasters, possibly a bit filthy and maybe not really my kind of stuff. But it tuned out to be a book about not so much finding yourself and trying new things, as a book about relationships good and bad and about what love and attraction can make you do. Do we idolise queer relationships, seeing them as ideals that heterosexual couples want to live up to, or are they exactly the same as any other relationships - messy and full of guilt, regrets as well as fun and happiness? Kate Davies' debut novel is a story of a woman discovering her sexuality for the first time, but is also a story about love and obsession. It is funny, blunt and also moving in places and I really did not expected to like it so much. So, big thumbs up from me.

Julia is stuck in a rut: she realises she's not had sex in 3 years. After a seemingly random hookup with a woman at a party, Julia comes to realise that she is a lesbian.

This darkly funny (and quite filthy) book follows Julia as she begins to explore and learn more about her LGBT identity. Julia begins a relationship with Sam and falls madly in love with her. Cue lots of very descriptive sex scenes, including BDSM and fisting (!) - I'm glad I didn't read this on my commute to work!

Though the book starts off as very funny and light, it eventually descends into much darker themes, as the relationship between Julia and Sam turns manipulative, controlling and abusive.

In at the Deep End is a really well written and brilliant debut, I read it in a day. Very much looking forward to reading more by Kate Davies.

Hilariously funny and delicious raunchy.
The main character was relatable and easy to get along with. The story was a fun one to read, with a lot of cringe worthy moments and laugh out loud capers.
A great read, thank you to Netgalley and Katie Davies for the advanced copy.

I honestly could not put this down, it was funny, really rude with lots of explicit sex in fact a real eye opener, though the sex parts were relevant to the story and not there just to shock. Really liked the main character. Most importantly it was really well written with a good story. Would highly recommend.

A frank and entertaining coming of age story with lots of interesting plot points - sexual awakening (primarily this), career twists and turns, friendships, marriage, family, mortality, learning to remake your life after disappointment. I could relate to a great deal of it. Fabulous characterisation, a little disturbing in places (SM, etc! Not my scene!) but overall very well written and hugely enjoyable.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for a kindle ARC.

Tender and beautiful tale of discovering real love after a controlling relationship with a narcissist. Hot and passionate, I recommend!

It’s Valentine’s Day and I want to share the love for this book. It is SO good! My favourite read of the year so far, and definitely in my top ten for best books ever.

It is like nothing I have ever read before and that is fantastic! The writing is flawless, the storyline realistic and punchy and the sex scenes were relatable and realistic - not just erotica gone mad.

Whilst it made several over-shoulder-readers on the tube flinch (particularly when it came to the squirting scene) I loved it.

Can’t wait to see what Kate Davies delivers next.

It's funny, sweet, incredible sexy and ultimately really thoughtful novel about relationships and how they can go wrong. For all of its outrageousness there's a lovely subtlety to this one too.

I adored Julia and the way she embraces everything with an almost naive enthusiasm and isn't afraid to take a chance on life. The depictions of friendships is just brilliant and the way the flaws in her relationship with her new partner are slowly revealed is very clever.

This book manages to be fun and crude but also surprisingly deep and meaningful. It follows Julia, a 26 year old woman who hasn't had sex in three years. She decides it's time to break her dry spell and adventures ensue. This is told in first person from Julia's point of view which means you get to truly understand her logic and torment. However this is more than just a rude tale about a young woman's sex life, it covers deeper issues including coming out as gay and experiencing gay dating and relationships for the first time. Plus drugs, heartbreak, impacts of BDSM and also... a lot of fisting. I really loved this book and wish something like this was around to read when I was a bit younger!

Follow Julia who is 26 years old and is single. She lives in London but has not had sex for 3 years. Julia decides her dry patch has lasted for too long and jumps In at the Deep End to have some fun in her life.

I was really attracted to the cover of this book. It shows two red chilli peppers arranged together to let the reader imagine they were labia. In at the Deep End gets off to a great start from the first paragraph by informing the reader of Julia’s sex life.

The writing style within this book is jolly and the mild humour will make you smile. For example…

Staring into my eyes, he went to push himself into me. He missed. ‘Jesus. That’s never happened before,’ he said. He picked up his penis and guided himself in, frowning as though he was trying to assemble a particularly tricky piece of IKEA furniture.

...In at the Deep End is a story told in the first person and this format is ideal for this book as it lets the reader walk in Julia’s shoes. It does not matter what gender or sexuality the reader has, because Julia tries many, many things for the first time and like her, you can enjoy what happens like a virgin too.

I liked how this novel was not just about sex. Character development of Julia was very good and I found it very easy to enter her world of work, flat sharing, friends and family. In at the Deep End is Kate’s debut novel but it does not show. Kate is a great storyteller and her book is an intelligent read. I loved all the observations and social commentary. I found the novel to be very well written and although there was a fair amount of sex within the pages, there was no dumbing down of language or content. This is a quality read that I found to be enjoyable, fun and informative.

In at the Deep End guides you into a lesbian lifestyle and demystifies how women can find love. This book allows the reader to access a lifestyle they may have no knowledge about, it is a kind of Lesbians for Beginners. Kate’s outline of sexual acts are told with skill and were not gross and do not make the reader feel uncomfortable.

I loved the explanation of the lesbian lifestyle and it’s culture. I now know the importance of a toaster to lesbians. Because of my age, work, family and friends, I already knew there were many different types of lesbians but this book also mentions by name the different types. Going about your everyday life would you be able to spot the differences between butches, femmes, pillow queens and bull dykes?

I thought the explanation of polygamy within the lesbian scene to be very helpful to heterosexual readers. I thought polygamists were just greedy people who wanted lots and lots of sex, with one partner never being enough for them. I have NEVER strayed away from my wife and would not dream of it. But In at the Deep End does offer the opposite view which helped me to understand why some people are polygamists when Kate writes…

‘I wouldn’t want to limit myself to one woman. It would be like only eating cheese sandwiches for the rest of your life. Sometimes you just want pastrami, don’t you? Which is why I’m non-monogamous.’

...I loved reading In at the Deep End and found it a pleasure to read. Kate’s writing is so good that I just imagined I was Julia and thoroughly enjoyed playing her part in this story. For an author to make the reader feel they are the central character of a novel is really good. For a reader to identify with Julia because they are a woman, or in their 20’s or a lesbian is very, very good. For a 60 year old, heterosexual married man to feel as though he is Julia having all this fun, is absolutely BRILLIANT. I felt really included and could live out a lesbian sex life from the comfort of my armchair. I thoroughly enjoyed reading In at the Deep End, so it gets the top score of 5 stars from me. Only thing is trying to keep a straight face when moving past red chilli peppers in ASDA but I can live with that.

After living for 3 years without sex, Julia discovers she's a lesbian, and takes us on a thoroughly riotous romp through her new found, sexually liberated life. This book is so graphic, it actually shocked me. And I'm generally unshockable! It would not do for prudes, but me? I loved it. Whilst there is also a deeper, darker under tone to this story, as book touches on abuse within a same sex relationship, the vast majority of it is utterly hilarious. In fact, I embarrassed myself several times by snorting loudly whilst in completely inappropriate surroundings. Great stuff!

Don’t say the blurb doesn’t warn you. In at the Deep End is indeed extremely frank and deep down dirty. It is also gut achingly funny, tender, poignant and as a coming of age novel for the 21st Century, pretty unbeatable.
I wanted something different for my first read of 2019 and In at the Deep End with its LGBTQIA affirmation felt like an interesting approach.
Written in an engaging and slightly naïve voice, this novel begins in a traditional enough fashion with a young woman in a relationship that is bringing her no joy at all. In no time, I was laughing my head off, recognising some of the more awful moments I have had with fleeting relationships. It was great to revel in the female camaraderie, enjoying the rapport and sharing that marks out a group of close friends. But underlying this slightly Bridget-Jones-ish voice is someone more serious. A young woman searching for her sense of self; grappling for the first time with gender politics and struggling to find her own voice and sense of self-worth.
I know young women who have entered into the kind of toxic relationship portrayed here. It feels valid and authentic and while this is ultimately a highly enjoyable, well written feel-good story with lots of graphic sex, it is also a vivid portrait of one woman’s struggle to assert her sense of self-worth in a toxic relationship.
Funny, filthy, feel-good and frank, I loved this book for its authenticity and its honesty.

I really enjoyed this, it was darkly funny and the characters were really entertaining. This definitely isn't for those that are easily offended, the sex scenes were extremely graphic.
An interesting look at the dynamics of relationships, both personal, familial and workplace.

In at the Deep End by Kate Davies a four-star read that will rock you. If you like your writing gentle and soft, then this isn’t the one for you this was crude and honest and fantastically brilliant. This one had me grabbing my kindle and announcing to my work crowd with a crazed look on my face and going ‘I’m diving in and I may not come out alive or at least not without blushing’ they are used to my brand of crazy and know it takes some to get me blushing with my lunch time reading. This one had me blushing and snorting, Julia is such a great character you will have a hard time not loving her, her journey is a tough one but its also revealing in many ways.