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Introduction Read an Excerpt Listen to an Excerpt Reviews Purchase 3 |
"When tragedy intervenes, it's no surprise but shocking nonetheless — testament to Hilden's rather uncanny abilities. With a cool, clear detachment in highly burnished, efficient prose, the story manages to be sensual without losing its head, and psychological without wasting too much time navel-gazing. A powerful, sexy, moody scenario."
—Kirkus Reviews, June 15, 2003 "Occasionally, a book comes along that makes me want to call up my old first grade teacher, Mrs. Lillian Gang, and thank her for teaching me to read. "3" is such a book. . . . Hilden can't be compared to Jean Rhys or Marguerite Duras just yet, but she certainly blows away such contemporary "masters" as Jonathan Franzen and David Foster Wallace . . . .Hilden had me hooked from the first sentence. . . . [She is writing about] humans and the madness that twists them when they pursue what humans are most inclined to pursue, the things that make us human by the very act of pursuing them: love, work, pleasure. . . . 3 is a must read. . . . It is a work of art." —Adam Engel, Counterpunch.com, August 16, 2003 "Julie Hilden's 3 is beautifully written and more than just an erotic novel. It is literature; lyrical, delicate, sensual and haunting. It is, from the start, impossible to put down." —Blue Food: The Adult Literary Website 3, by Julie Hilden, is an erotic murder mystery full of twist and turns. It is an intimate look inside a woman not yet her own person. It is a book of discovery, sacrifices, obsessive, co-dependent behaviors and evolution. In this book, Ms. Hilden touches so many places - so deeply at times - that you can almost hear the fear, wants and desires of the characters. Yet the story is disturbing in what it leaves out. There is a distance, an almost purposefulness to the hiding of essential elements as though pieces of Ms Hilden herself were hiding not to be shared. Unlike many erotic thrillers the sex is exhilarating, not gratuitous. There are no car chases.. no she was a 36-24-36 blue eyed blonde porn story. The main character of this novel, Maya, grows before our eyes, her struggles with identity, love and need all intricately wrapped, layered, presented in full view bite size pieces so that the reader feels that they getting to know her like one would a real person. This is more than a sexy thriller it is a life journey that many women may find parallel. Is the loss of identity or the finding of one's destiny the greater sacrifice one can make for love? —Oceania, Girlphoria.com, December 4, 2003 "Different, certainly, unusual, yes, with a driving force that enthuses the reader, that delivers a breath of originality." —In the Buff Magazine "I would recommend [3] to readers such as myself who are fascinated, perplexed, stymied, and occasionally even arrested by the power and complexity of sex and the endless permutations of sexual power dynamics. ... [3 is a] novel that is almost painfully impossible to put down. It's first of all a love story -- about a relationship that is all-consuming in both positive and negative ways -- and only secondly a sexual adventure....[The novel uses] remarkably poignant metaphor ... [and] beautifully detailed descriptions ... This is a deeply unsettling book, one that's difficult to get out of your mind. But it's one of very few novels I've read that perceptively expresses the somewhat insurmountable power that sex can exert." —Amanda Nash, The Women's Review of Books, November 2003 "3 by Julie Hilden is [a] sizzling and daring novel .. . . . not your normal chick-lit read . . . ." —Chicklitbooks.com, August, 2003 3 is a now a "Featured Book" of the Erotica Readers and Writers Association. "I don't think I was quite prepared for what was in store for me in 3: A Novel. I was surprised and intrigued over and over again. In 3: A Novel, Julie Hilden creates a tale that is both touching and, to me, at times horrifying.....Julie Hilden's 3: A Novel is fascinating, intriguing and powerful. For anyone who wants to experience a sexual thriller, this is just the book for you. This is not just your standard erotic fare. 3: A Novel is deep and intellectual with a sexual aura that is provocative and exciting." Rating: Four of out four Paws (best possible) —EroticabyClohi.com, August, 2003 "Wrapped up in the sensual mystique of threesomes are the ever-present questions that women ask themselves: what does it mean to fuck someone who isn't your "partner", what is commitment, and what are our boundaries? Ms. Hilden's book examines the balance of intense physical desire with the emotional need for love and acceptance in such a way as to be oddly passionate and deeply disturbing at the same time.... While '3' is about sex and sexual acts, it is a complex story about how obsessions can become so binding as to choke out the life of their givers. This book is a dark look at the emotional and mental workings of fetish, desire, and codependency.... —Kristine Hawes, Sliptongue.com "The twists of plot ... are part of the delight and anguish of reading '3'. .... Ms. Hilden writes with authority and sensitivity about the darker aspects of sex. She shows clearly how Maya and Ilan's connection, rooted in complementary perversities, becomes an obsession that literally threatens their lives.... Ms. Hilden has created a compelling and disturbing novel, one that will haunt you long after you have finished reading, as the vanished Ilan haunts Maya. Weeks after I completed the book, it still colored my thoughts." —Lisabet Sarai, Sliptongue.com THREE is a definite charm!  Julie Hilden's Three is described as a "modern-day Story of O." I will have to agree with the aforementioned comparison. This is one of the darkest stories of love, sex and obsession that I've read in quite a long time!When Maya discovers Ilan's infidelity, she makes the conscious decision to allow him to engage in all sorts of exploits with other women. However, there's a catch: Maya has to take part of said exploits. The threesomes are as tantalizing as they are disturbing, and Maya is reluctant to admit that she's relished the experiences. But then Ilan becomes intimidated with Maya's thriving journalistic career and the sexual games become dangerous - possibly fatal. The novel's disarming twists give a whole new meaning to the word "threesome." The ending floored me. Three is a unique and sinister love story. The comparison with Story of O is well deserved. There are elements of S&M in this novel - and said elements are the undertones of the story. Also, the character development is excellent - Ilan and Maya are two of the most interesting characters ever written. This is a drop-everything-you're-doing-and-read-this-in-one-sitting novel.. I savored the last pages with gusto because I hated to see it end. After all, erotic/psychological thrillers this good are scarcely written these days.. Hilden is a great author and I look forward to reading her other books with utmost anticipation. —An Amazon.com Customer from Holyoke, MA, July 29, 2003 "The novel [3] begs us to ask the question ;— what makes good sexy writing for women, by women? .... [W]here do we go to find a good representation of well-written verse about the details, nuances, successes and failures of sexual interactions that is also female-pleasure focused?.... Where do we hear a female sexual voice that is not forced or contrived as a means to an end, but rather is a description of the actual psychology of the moment? ... To understand the moment to moment thought process of a new sexual encounter from a female perspective is to break down long held myths about women and how much emotional and physical pleasure play into the motivations of and realizations of sexual interactions..... [T]hank Julie Hilden ... for creating a female sexual voice that we can all relate to. " —CakeNYC.com, Cake Byte, July 16, 2003 |