SHE WAS HORRID Is the Sex Work-Positive, Relentlessly Feminist Novel You Didn’t Know You Needed
PORTLAND, OR — In a literary landscape that still clutches its pearls at women who fuck for money, Morgan Waites unleashes SHE WAS HORRID, a raw and unflinching debut novel about a Portland-based sex worker who refuses to be anyone’s martyr — or muse.
Eve is 27, emotionally detached, and economically empowered — by way of escorting, stripping, and transactional intimacy with men who think they’re in control. She works not just for survival, but for leverage, for autonomy, and for the sheer thrill of subverting systems built to exploit her. She has an eating disorder and a tangled inner life, but honestly? Who doesn’t. At least Eve’s honest about her demons.
Everything unravels when she catches feelings for Joseph, the hot, broke, not-a-client handyman in her building. Spoiler alert: vulnerability doesn’t pay. When love fails her, she spirals into a sadomasochistic entanglement with a rich client who believes control is affection and consent is implied. But Eve isn't some damsel in distress waiting for liberation. She claws her way through, kicks open her own cage, and dares readers to question every assumption they’ve ever made about sex work, womanhood, and emotional survival.
This is not a redemption arc. It’s a war cry.
Morgan Waites — a software engineer, activist, and Southern transplant now based in Portland — delivers a blistering, sex-positive, gloriously messy portrait of a woman carving power from the margins. SHE WAS HORRID spits in the face of respectability and asks what it actually costs to live unapologetically.
If you’ve ever been called “too much,” “too sexual,” or “a little difficult,” this book is for you.
AVAILABLE NOW from Unsolicited Press
📚 Buy the book on Bookshop.org
📦 Distributed by Asterism | Paperback + eBook | ISBN: 978-1-956692-31-0
About the Author
Morgan Waites was born and raised in rural Alabama and now lives in Portland, Oregon, where she works as a software engineer and engages in feminist and LGBTQ+ activism. SHE WAS HORRID is her unapologetic love letter to messy women everywhere.
Media inquiries, interviews, and excerpts: info@unsolicitedpress.com
Visit us online at www.unsolicitedpress.com
