Vow of Celibacy by Erin Judge [e-book]

Winner of the Bisexual Book Award for Best Novel

Natalie has made a promise: a vow of celibacy, signed and witnessed by her best friend. After a string of sexual conquests, she is determined to figure out why the intense romantic connections she's spent her life chasing have left her emotionally high and dry. As Natalie sifts through her past and her present, she confronts her complicated feelings about her plus-sized figure, her bisexuality, and her thwarted career in fashion design.

Piecing together toxic relationship patterns from her past, Natalie finds herself strutting down fashion runways and rekindling her passion for clothing design in the present. All the while, her best friend, Anastaze, struggles with her own secret--whether or not to reveal her true identity to the thousands of fans of her popular blog and her potential first sexual partner.

Clever, sexy, and hilarious, Vow of Celibacy delves into the perilous terrain of love and relationships, the uncertainty of early adulthood, and the sustaining force of friendship. This is an irresistible novel about the stories we can't help but tell ourselves about others, and it captures in perfect pitch what it's like to be a young woman coming of age in America today.

"A sexual bildungsroman...Vow of Celibacy is both readable and fun--Natalie is no shrinking violet, and her life and observations make for quite a ride."
—Lambda Literary

"A smart, funny, and fast-paced book about sex, love, body image, and friendship."
—Kirkus

"Millennial women: Natalie is all of us...Vow is a coming-of-age story for our generation, told with all the honesty we'd expect from Judge."
—Wellesley Magazine

About the Author

Erin Judge is a writer, comedian, host, producer, and lifelong learner based in Los Angeles. Her debut novel Vow of Celibacy won Best Fiction at the Bi Book Awards, received great reviews and coverage from Kirkus, the Village Voice, Longreads and more, and was named a "Must-Read Indie Press Book" by Book Riot. Erin co-hosts Romantic Comedy, a popular monthly stand-up show at the world-famous Ripped Bodice romance bookstore.

As a playwright, Erin wrote on FEED (2018 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, touring the UK in 2020) and co-wrote the Meaning of Wife (New York Fringe Festival, 4 stars from Time Out New York). She’s written for Vanity Fair, the Advocate, and several prominent online recipe comments sections.

Erin has performed stand-up on NBC, on Comedy Central, and at lots of festivals, including Sketchfest, Women in Comedy, Bridgetown, Boston, and Laugh Your Asheville Off. She’s told jokes on boats, at clubs and colleges, and in Europe, and she’s done shows in more than 60 North American cities with the CAKE Comedy Tour. Her comedy album So Many Choices is available from Blonde Medicine's website and anywhere you buy or stream recorded comedy.

Erin's talking head and weird ideas have been featured by BuzzFeed and on zillions of podcasts like The JV Club, LGBTQ&A, Hang Out with Me, Keith and the Girl, Baby Geniuses, and the Dork Forest. She loves talking to interesting people, and she's moderated panels at the LA Times Festival of Books, indie bookstores, Pride events, comedy festivals.... pretty much anywhere that lets her.

Erin talks and writes about queerness, open relationships, bisexuality, sexuality in general, body image, culture, family, and her life. She loves words, ideas, mysticism, humans, justice, love, friendship, art, science, and comedy. She’s currently working on a horror screenplay, a couple of TV pilots about chosen families, and a novel about a bunch of dudes getting their emotional acts together.