BOOK REVIEW for Ratex X by Maitland Ward

A big thank you to Atria Books for sending me an e-copy of this book to read and review.

TITLE:               Rated X

AUTHOR:         Maitland Ward

GENRE:            Memoir

RATING:          3.5 stars

I normally don't like "when I was young" stories in a memoir. However, I made an exception with this one because Ward did a great job of giving us just enough information to understand what he youth was like.

Surprisingly, there are very few stories of her time on Boy Meets World.  I am always annoyed by artists who write memoirs but don't bother to tell us much about their experiences with that TV show, band, etc.  Let's get real, this book (and other memoirs) would not even be written if it was not for Boy Meets World as we would have no idea who Maitland was.  Sure, she has so many more layers to her life, but what INITIALLY attracts the reader, for the most part, is what they are most known for.

In Ward's case, she basically has two careers - actress and porn star, but ultimately, I am willing to bet that many of the people who will buy this book are doing so because of her connection to Boy Meets World - whether she likes it or not, so why not embrace it and tell us stories about being on the show = its almost like she is afraid to go there, which is too bad.

As for the second career, she does a very good job of describing for us, what its like to work in the industry and how it makes her feel as a person.  From the very beginning of this book, we are privy to the fact that Ward is constantly trying new things in the hopes of gaining a better understanding of what makes her tick.  It is a thread that runs through the book and is quite interesting.

The writing is down to earth and very honest.  If you have issues with overtly sexual content, then I would recommend you not read this book.

For those of us who are okay with it, I find this the most interesting and honest part of her story.