praise from coaching clients
"You know, I wasn’t always the Pleasure Queen. A year ago I would have either scoffed or cowered (likely both) at the idea of it. I’d like to go back in time and gently hug her, sometimes, let her know it’s okay to feel all those feelings and that, if she wants, she could invite joy in, too. It’s impossible to summarize what I have learned in the last several months working with Mary Adelle, because I can barely distinguish what I have learned and who I am now. I’m so thankful for that. She has helped me see myself and trust my intuition.
I knew something didn’t feel right with my sexuality and sense of sensuality but I was oblivious to how much shame I was feeding myself daily. I thought what didn’t feel right was me, but that wasn’t it at all. I’m so relieved to know that I am whole, I deserve to experience joy and pleasure. The most powerful thing Mary Adelle did for me that is just true to her being is she lovingly and genuinely opened up the space for me to think and cringe and question and cry and smile mischievously. She provided me with the most magical, buoyant floaties so I could learn how to swim when before her guidance I was curled up in a ball, shutting my eyes tightly, afraid to even look at the pool (the pool that is my sexuality— my wonderful, beautiful, sexuality! It lives!). She allowed me to feel safe to explore and in that I discovered so much about myself that I thankfully can’t unlearn. The world needs more of the work that Mary Adelle so knowledgeably provides."
- KP, Maryland
"Mary Adelle is a dynamic, engaging sex coach and facilitator. She infuses her sessions with openness and heartfelt wisdom that encourage honest dialogue. Mary’s ability to inspire creative expression, while holding a safe and fun space for healing, is unparalleled. I highly recommend working with Mary!"
- MK, California
"Cara and I are so thankful we went through the coaching process together. Mary Adelle was such a personable and informative resource in this vital aspect of our lives, which can often go overlooked."
- Cara and Drew, Maryland
praise for nadia
"You can really tell when a sex educator writes a queer romance novella because it's full of not only hot, realistic sex, but also snippets of sex education, so deftly woven into the book that you won't realize you're being educated! This is a story about a queer femme owning her pleasure- all of her pleasures, and experiencing healing through it. Every small pleasure that Nadia experiences and gives herself is so vibrant, so enjoyable for the reader, that I felt my five senses being stimulated, too. Even the prose itself is sensual. Everyday things like holding hands, popping popcorn, and exchanging a smile with a stranger become erotic in Nadia's world. Which reminds me that they can be that way in my life, too."
- Erica Smith, M.Ed.
sexuality educator
"Mary Adelle’s Nadia is a slow bloom of radical pleasure. Poetry, narrative prose, and playlists interweave to create a deeply sensory story of feeling good both through and beyond sex and gender. Nadia, a “roller-skatin’, gin drinkin,’ bewitchin’ beauty” gives us a window into the big, varied vistas of love and lust, pain and ecstasy. Sewing gorgeous curtains, working in an apothecary, finding new people to love around every turn, Adelle’s Nadia uncovers a community—and a politics—in her embrace of the tenderness flowing through queerness, disability, and the unexpected curves of everyday life. In Nadia, Adelle miraculously tells the story of joy."
- Karen Leona Anderson, Ph.D.
author of punish honey and receipt
"Mary Adelle’s novella debut Nadia is a delicious buffet of sex positive, body positive, intersectional intimacy; a genreless exploration of pleasure that delights through vignettes, pleasure lists, playlists, and more. It digs its nails into the complexity of pleasure and identity through the characters’ empathy and compassion for each other. It is platonic, romantic, sexual, and sensual. It is essential.
Mary’s tender, intimate prose invites the reader to grow with Nadia as she learns to love, accept, and celebrate herself. It is a body love, a mind love, a spiritual love that blossoms in this beautifully inclusive queer community, a pack of howling desert wolves primal with pleasure.
It is no stretch or exaggeration to say that this novella will vibrate through you, remind you of pleasures and sensations forgotten, stir your lust, provoke your love. It is rich with texture, color, the smell of sandalwood, the curl of smoke rising above a Clementine Couch. Nadia is juicy; it gushes; and it liberates."
- Mandy May, M.F.A.
author of Magic: Moon Tides Sing Violet Petals