Woman's book mistaken for sexy novel

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PARKLAND, Fla., May 13 (UPI) -- A Florida woman says her new book based on her work as a dropout-prevention teacher is regularly mistaken for a racy bestseller.

Susanne Jacoby Hale's recently released her first literary work, "Shades of Gray," the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported Friday.

Unfortunately, her book's title is very similar to "Fifty Shades of Grey," a sexy novel with a sadomasochistic storyline by E.L. James.

Both books were published and released online at the end of last year. James' book was picked up by a publishing house and hit the bestsellers list in March, which is when the confusion began.

Since then, Hale said her book has received positive reviews and "sales are going fairly well," but admitted she it is hard to assess whether people are buying her book for what it is or because they think it's James'.

"Shades of Gray," Hale's work, is based on her years as a teacher at a riot-ridden, inner-city New York school and deals with teen pregnancy, interracial adoption, infertility, but it does not have the explicit sex scenes "Fifty Shades of Grey."

"You get looks like, 'Whoever would have thought that was going on in the Hale house?'" Hale said. "It's a weird thing because people seem to think I am something I'm not."

Hale said she has received "E-mail, Facebook messages and people calling me," thinking she is the person who wrote "Fifty Shades of Grey."

"It's frustrating, but I have to laugh about it," she said.

"I'll ride on [James'] coattails as long as I can if it's going to get it out there," said Hale, who is working on a second book. "At the same time, I don't want my reputation to be scarred forever."