from www.dal;lasnews.com – Even porn stars have romantic illusions. Just take a stroll through the new Sinner Takes All (Gotham Books, $30) by Tera Patrick. The fast-reading memoir whips from knowing to naive and back as it tracks its plucky protagonist from ugly-duckling school days to international adult superstardom. All the while, Patrick keeps looking for her “happily ever after” relationship.

The statuesque, exotic brunette is transitioning from a decadelong movie career to new vistas as an author and impresario. Her Sexy burlesque show is expected to open in Las Vegas in March or April, at a hotel-casino venue that’s still under wraps. Patrick landed in Dallas for a book-signing at the Uptown Borders on Tuesday and took time to chat the night before at the Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek.

“Writing this book was cathartic. It was free therapy,” she said, describing the wrenching process of talking through her story on tape with entertainment journalist Carrie Borzillo – errant parents, dicey companions, too much partying. “There’s no manual to this life, no Stripper 101.”

“Stripper 101” is an apt description. Sinner Takes All serves up a pungent cocktail of real-life romantic melodrama and perverse Miss Manners column. With pathos, humor and squirm-provoking detail, Patrick relates her courtship by and marriage to Evan Seinfeld, the former Biohazard vocalist and bassist, and, in an unexpected last-chapter coda, their breakup. Interspersed with the unconventional love story is pithy advice regarding ménage à trois etiquette and grooming for lovers.