Reviews with content warning for Infidelity - Mercy

"We collided like two stars moving in the same direction for longer than we knew. There was no changing course or avoiding it. I didn't mean for it to happen. But there's no going back now."

Maggie knows what she's good at - managing shit. She can whip a business into shape in seconds, delegate directions to people seamlessly, and keep every moving part well-oiled - Except her own life. But when she suddenly finds herself taking a second look at her friend's son of all people - and Beau butts his bratty head into her life, what seems easy to control becomes a lot more loaded than either of them anticipated.

Will Sara Cate ever not make me ugly sob?? Can this woman let me LIVE?! I wasn't looking forward to Beau's story, I thought it was far too much of a jerk for me to even remotely find it in my heart to redeem him, let alone love him - but I was wrong. There is so much to say about this story, particularly, that just hit different for me. Maggie's worry that her time is running out, her issues with reclaiming her sexuality after religious trauma, and on top of it all - her body issues, really made this book climb to the top of my favorites this year.

The Salacious Players Club series has undoubtedly shocked me with my sheer joy as I read them. Maybe I finally just embraced it in a point in my life when I needed it, but every conversation and topic brought up in these novels has been nuanced and beautifully done. Discussions aren't handled lightly, every hard subject is really handled with a level of care that is noticeable throughout. Reading Cate's acknowledgements in this book, however, had me fighting back tears. There's a scene where Maggie remembers being told her heart will never recover if she has sex - that she's physically giving pieces of it away each time - and to have that suddenly appear in a book when I heard it my entire life growing up made me pause and reconsider everything. I loved this, I'm now a fierce advocate that anyone who has ever had to come back from any kind of sexual trauma should read these. They're so wonderfully done and I'm so happy Sara Cate wrote them.

Content Warnings: Sexual content (there's pegging, lads), Violence/Injury/Injury detail (both in sexual contexts with impact play and a third act plot), Body shaming (brief internal), Infidelity/Toxic relationship (in past)

Content Warnings

annahamburger's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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ednam0dewannabe's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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rickireadss's review against another edition

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4.0

this was vvvvvvvvvvery hot ;) i hated beau in book 1 so i was nervous to even read his book. he came around, i guess. i'm still not a huge fan of him BUT i do think him and maggie are a great couple. they balance each other and just had me smiling a lot.

⚠️: violence, injury/injury detail, body shaming, infidelity, toxic relationship, purity culture references, bigotry

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sdupont's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I really enjoyed this book! I liked getting to learn more about Maggie, since she was the friend in the group we had known the least about. Up until this book I hadn’t liked Beau very much. Over the course of the book I found myself liking him more, he gained a little more depth that helped round out his character. This book is great for readers who want a smutty read that doesn’t involve a third act break up.

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pingureads's review against another edition

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fast-paced

Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Liked this one more than Praise and Give Me More but the levels of secondhand embarrassment I got from some of the scenes in this was very high. Almost entirely sexual content.

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kyeruhh's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I am SHOCKED at how much I enjoyed this. I typically really don’t like age gaps, especially ones with someone in their 20s, but I found I didn’t mind this one as much?? I love a man with daddy issues and Beau has a whole host of them. I also loved that Maggie was in her 30s, it’s refreshing to read about a romance heroine who wasn’t 22.

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