Quickies

“A funny, compassionate guide to inspire anyone in mid- or late life to embrace sexual changes.”–Kirkus–Kirkus Staff Writer, Kirkus Media
“A women’s health advocate guides readers through the ups and downs of sexual health in midlife.

Bartos, an OB/GYN and menopause specialist, walks female readers through 100 different ways to embrace their sexuality as they age. Presented in bite-sized chunks (typically three to four pages long), these lessons tackle every aspect of intimacy and aging. Readers delve into the various factors at play and how the interactions between these factors can affect sexuality as a whole. These elements include emotional health, such as the role that gratitude can play in foreplay; social pressures, like the constant barrage of unrealistic, media-driven beauty standards; and sexual fluidity and its various configurations. The author offers many suggestions along the way for readers to make the most of her advice, such as making a “freebie fantasy list” that reflects one’s ideal combination of different people, places, and scenarios to share with a sexual partner. She provides more mundane, practical tips as well, advising readers on how to properly clean sex toys or how and when to bring in outside bedroom help via a sex coach. Bartos tackles her subjects with a breezy, nonjudgmental tone (exemplified in a delightful prologue written by “Your Vagina”); her approach deftly leavens the often emotionally fraught issues of fluctuating hormones and evolving sexual urges that many women experience. Certain topics may be uncomfortable or confusing for certain readers–for example, when discussing the do’s and don’ts of “vabbing” (dabbing vaginal fluids on pulse points to promote pheromone-based attraction), Bartos emphasizes that one should never touch people with “vabbed” body parts without consent–but the awkward logistics of gaining such consent are never explored. Still, the author advocates for women’s sexual health in a positive and entertaining manner. The vast majority of her suggestions and advice will provide much-needed answers to often-overlooked issues.

A funny, compassionate guide to inspire anyone in mid- or late life to embrace sexual changes.”–Kirkus–Kirkus Staff Writer, Kirkus Reviews

Dr. Heather Bartos is an OB/GYN, menopause specialist, podcaster, author, and speaker. She is recognized as one of the nation’s top five menopause experts by Oprah Winfrey and Maria Shriver.

Her mission is to dismantle the taboos surrounding menopause and sexuality, empowering women through transformative midlife transitions. Leading the Menopause Rocks™ and Menopause Works™ programs, Dr. Bartos is at the forefront of revolutionizing care for menopause, both personally and in the workplace.

Her diverse background, from PR to medicine to Reiki Practitioner, and service in the Navy, underscores her holistic and personalized approach to healthcare. Featured in Shape, Glamour, Refinery29, ABC News, and named “resident gynecologist” by Poosh, her insights are pivotal in changing the narrative around aging and menopause. Cosmo Magazine celebrates her as a ‘supremely badass gyno,’ highlighting her significant impact on women’s health advocacy.

Heather J. Robertson is the author of Are You There God? It’s Me, Menopause, a sharply funny, emotionally honest novel about Gen X women navigating menopause, friendship, reinvention, and the beautifully chaotic realities of midlife. She also writes under another name and is the bestselling author of Quickies: 100 Little Lessons for Living Sexily Ever After in Midlife, a beloved guide to confidence, intimacy, and women’s wellness after forty.

A board-certified OB/GYN with more than twenty years of clinical experience, Robertson is widely recognized as one of the nation’s leading voices in menopause and midlife women’s health. Her work and expertise have been featured by Oprah, Maria Shriver, and major national media outlets focused on women’s wellness, aging, sexuality, and hormonal health.

Known for blending humor, candor, and emotional insight, Robertson writes stories that explore identity, relationships, motherhood, sexuality, aging, friendship, and what happens when women finally stop apologizing for wanting more. Her fiction speaks directly to readers of contemporary women’s fiction by authors such as Catherine Newman, Ann Napolitano, and Meg Wolitzer, while bringing an authentic medical perspective rarely seen in commercial fiction.

She lives in Texas with her children and an enthusiastic menagerie of pets.

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