Not in a dramatic, life-imploding way. Just... a quiet, unexpected, slightly terrifying shift in what you think you deserve.
That's what happens to Isabella, Claire, Jeanette, and Amy when they show up — reluctantly, enthusiastically, and everything in between — to the Taboo Sex Show on one ordinary Sunday.
They didn't plan on having revelations. They planned on leaving early.
Neither happened.
"Dr. Trina is your best, funniest friend telling a story that's bracingly honest, sexy, heartbreaking, fearless, and provocative. It's the conversations you're too afraid to have, but need to hear."
"Yes, The Taboo Show is hilarious, but each character's sexual challenges are real, serious, and complex. Dr. Trina brings depth to self-help-fiction, and I was rooting for the four characters."
"A brave, unflinching look inside the messy reality of modern marriage and friendship."
The Taboo Show is a sexy, funny, deeply human novel about four real women — messy, smart, hilarious, complicated — who attend a sex show together and discover that the most taboo thing of all isn't anything on the trade show floor.
It's wanting more.
It's actually saying so.
Dr. Trina Read — Sexologist, bestselling author, and the woman who started the conversation your book club has been too polite to have — has crafted a story that's part fiction, part fiction, part self-help to every woman who's ever wanted more.
The Taboo Show is Book Two of The Sex Course. You don't have to read the first book to fall in love with this one. (But you will want to after.)
Inside The Book
❤︎ A marriage that has so much love in it — and needs new tools to let it breathe
❤︎ A relationship where communication is happening, just not quite in words yet
❤︎ A friendship group that holds each other accountable even when they'd
all rather bolt
❤︎ The slow, brave, imperfect, completely beautiful work of deciding
you deserve more
The Taboo Show follows four best friends as they navigate one wild Sunday at the Taboo Sex Show. Each woman is chasing something she can barely name yet — and each one finds it in the most unexpected way.
The wife, the mom, the multitasker — the woman who stepped into a puddle in her "fuck-me shoes from her twenties" just trying to get to the entrance and nearly turned back three times before she made it through the door.
Isabella wants her marriage to feel electric again. Not perfect. Not fixed. Just... electric. She's learning to see herself through a new lens — one without the self-hate filter — and that's equal parts thrilling and terrifying.
The lawyer. The overachiever. The woman who showed up on a mission — solo — because she needed to figure something out and she needed to do it herself.
Claire is smart enough to know exactly what she wants and brave enough to finally start saying it out loud, even when the words come out sideways. After the Sex Course cracked something open, she's now in the beautiful, wobbly middle of actually communicating — and discovering it's messier and funnier than any textbook prepares you for.
Jeanette arrived at the Taboo Show under protest. She crossed her arms. She blanched at things. She said "hard pass" at least four times before they even got inside.
She also stayed. The whole time. And that, more than anything, is her story.
Jeanette is the woman who shows up even when she's not sure she should — and quietly, privately, starts questioning everything she thought she knew about herself. Her arc is the one that will sneak up on you and break your heart open in the best possible way.
Amy is the one who planned all of this. The enthusiast. The sex-positive, Wiccan, full-moon-masturbation advocate who believes everyone deserves an awesome sex life — including her.
But beneath the bravado, Amy is working through her own clarity. What does she actually want? Not for her friends. For herself.
Think: drag queens handing out programs. Pole dancing demonstrations. Tantric Sex seminars. Hundreds of vibrators. A sex swing display. A communication workshop run by the most stunning sexologist you've ever encountered. And four women trying to act completely casual about all of it.
The Taboo Show (the trade show inside the book) is exactly as chaotic, colorful, and surprisingly moving as it sounds. It's a world where every booth holds a mirror up to what you've been longing to explore — and what you've been quietly telling yourself you don't need.
Dr. Trina didn't just write a book set at a sex show. She wrote a book about what happens when women finally give themselves permission to be curious.
The Taboo Show is the book club pick that finally gets people talking. Not around the edges. Right into the middle of it.
Dr. Trina is available to join your book club — virtually — for a conversation that will be equal parts enlightening and unforgettable. Live Q&A with a Sexologist who has zero interest in making you feel awkward and every interest in helping you feel empowered.
Dr. Trina Read has spent decades as a sexologist, speaker, and author doing the one thing most people avoid: starting the real conversation about sex, intimacy, and what women actually want.
Her previous book, Till Sex Do Us Part, was called "a must-read for couples" by international bestselling author Marian Keyes. It was praised by TV hosts, journalists, and couples therapists alike — because it was real.
The Sexy Universe series is her most ambitious project yet: fiction that reads like your best friend finally stopped holding back. Smart, warm, wickedly funny, and full of insights that will stay with you long after the last page.
Dr. Trina categorizes The Taboo Show as fiction that works like a self-help book — because the best stories don't just entertain. They change you.
Nope! The Taboo Show is written so that new readers can jump right in and feel completely at home with the characters. That said — once you meet Isabella, Claire, Jeanette, and Amy here, you'll want to go back and read where it all started. Consider it a gift to your future self.
The Taboo Show is available on Amazon, Kobo, Apple Books, and Smashwords. Grab your copy wherever you love to shop for books!
Dr. Trina calls it fiction that works like self-help — and that's exactly right. The story is completely fictional, but the insights are real. You will recognize yourself in these women. You will feel things. You will probably text someone a passage at midnight. That's the goal.
No — but it is sexy. The Taboo Show is women's fiction with a deeply sex-positive heart. Think: frank conversations about desire, real talk about what happens in long-term relationships, and characters who are figuring out their pleasure without shame. There's heat here, but the real heat is in the honesty.
This book was practically made for book clubs. The rotating POV chapters make it easy to pick a character and talk about her arc. Dr. Trina is available to join your club virtually or in person for a live Q&A. Reach out through the contact form on this page.
Completely. The Taboo Show doesn't shame. It doesn't judge. It doesn't tell you what to want or how to want it. It shows four very different women — with very different comfort levels, values, and starting points — finding their own way to more. Whatever "more" looks like for you is exactly right.
The Taboo Show is for the woman who's curious and finally giving herself permission. For the couple who loves each other and is ready to start really talking. For the book club that's been waiting for the right book to crack it all open.
For anyone who's ever thought, quietly, in the dark:
I want more. And I'm finally ready to say it.
Dr. Trina wrote this book for you. The women in it are you. And if you let them, they'll show you something true about yourself — wrapped in laughter, a little awkwardness, and a whole lot of heart.
Your permission slip awaits.
