July - November 2025: Self-Help Smut Club

Join us and LMFT Caitlin Harrison for a special bimonthly book club, Self-Help Smut Club!

Self-Help Smut Club is a therapeutic book club focusing on feeling instead of producing. Too often we get overwhelmed by attempts to optimize ourselves through self-help endeavors, when the ways that we can improve are through play! Playfulness allows for feeling, connecting with ourselves authentically, and stress relief. What better way to do that than by reading some fun smut? Led by a licensed MFT, this book club will explore different popular smut books in order to offer you an increased permission for pleasure, alongside a community of like-minded individuals.

This book club is open to all genders and sexual orientations, with each meeting featuring a different relationship orientation. This discussion group is for anyone age 18 and up and is free to attend, but space is limited and registration is highly encouraged.

About Caitlin Harrison: Caitlin Harrison (she/her) is a Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist who believes that joy is an act of resistance and coming home to yourself is a journey that requires being seen and celebrated. Her work as a therapist focuses around issues of religious trauma, sex, and perfectionism. Outside of work, she is a wife, mom, and friend who enjoys starting hobbies, going to the movies, and having a laugh.

Schedule:
Meeting 1: Sunday, July 27, 2025 from 11:00am-12:00pm
Meeting 2: Sunday, September 21, 2025 from 11:00am-12:00pm
Meeting 3: Sunday, November 23, 2025 from 11:00am-12:00pm

Location: Black Cat Fables (415 S. Myrtle Avenue, Suite B, Monrovia, CA 91016)

Book Club Picks:
Meeting 1 - The Ex-Vows by Jessica Joyce 

Estranged exes must stick close together to save their best friend’s wedding after a string of disasters in this swoony and steamy second-chance romance from the USA Today bestselling author of You, with a View.

(cw: Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, Grief, Pregnancy, Mental illness)

Meeting 2 - Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert

Hibbert’s follow up to Get a Life, Chloe Brown, featuring Dani’s sister, is another superb and emotionally rich romance. Grief and turmoil are expertly balanced with hilarious wit, making the story both complex and immensely readable. The characters are vibrant, and their chemistry is scorching.

(cw: Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Death, Grief)

Meeting 3 - Late Bloomer by Mazey Eddings

Two people with nothing in common find the most improbable but delightful love in Late Bloomer. This sapphic romance starring neurodivergent women is a delight, with a meet-cute trope, farm setting and real-world implications. Good luck not getting charmed by this one. 

(cw: Sexual content, Abandonment, Grief, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship)