Praise For
Barbara

This one might get bleeped by some uptight conservatives, but that would be a shame, since it contains so much valuable and frank sexual information for teens (and for some ill-informed adults as well). Barbara is an incredibly detailed, no-holds-barred novel that will appeal to young and old alike. For young folks, it could almost stand as a textbook of the complex and unexpected highs and lows of early sexual experimentation. For us oldsters, it rekindles memories of those days in our youth when rules were nervously thrown out the (car) window in favor of that first taste of love in all its screwy, surprising and often emotionally wrenching aspects. Not only that, but it’s an exciting, long-ranging story, well written, fun to read, and intriguingly provocative – a refreshing sip of clear cool water in a world of mostly stale and stagnant literary fiction.
- Hack Taylor—Book Review Editor, bleepthem.com

Explicitly sexual, though never crude, R. LeBeaux’s new novel, Barbara, is both heart wrenching and spiritually uplifting. Through page after page, the word that kept coming to my mind was, "real." These people are real. As one who grew up in the 1960's in Florida, I often felt I had been one of these people out there on the beach discussing God, the world and everything. As I remember, we were quite certain we had the answers—If not all, at least a good many more than the "clueless" generation that preceded us. This novel is a triumphant portrayal of all that is beautiful about sexual intimacy, love and respect, even when—perhaps especially when—experienced for the first time by unspoiled innocents. I couldn't put it down until the last page. I envy all who still have the reading of Barbara ahead of them... Enjoy.
- The Reverend Dr. Angeline Theisen

What a rumbustious, rollicking, sweet holy monster of a book! I admit that what I thought I was getting when I first started reading was “Orgasms I Have Known,” but what I encountered instead – and what held me spellbound – was the story of a man’s search for self-knowledge through intimacy. This is some of the most compulsive reading I’ve had in quite a few years. I literally couldn’t wait to see what would befall Tom next, thanks to the book’s cast of endearing and lovingly-rendered female characters. And while our hero does indeed grow sadder as he becomes wiser, there is an underlying celebration of life in all its untidy, awful and exuberantly glorious aspects that keeps the proceedings from becoming maudlin. This is an uncommonly rich reading experience.
- Burt Kempner—Wordtender, writer for Screen, Stage & the Page.

Barbara is an erotically provocative novel that wrings emotion from every pore. Tom, the protagonist, has decades to come to terms with his conflicts and confusions, but the reader gets it all in one mighty wallop. A must read!!
- Elaine Campbell Smith—novelist/short story writer and former Senior Editor of Snap Magazine

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