A review by babewithabookandabeer
Sugar, Baby by Celine Saintclare

medium-paced

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

5.0

Thank you Bloomsbury Publishing for my Netgalley copy of SUGAR, BABY by Celine Saintclare, out 1/9/24!

For fans of Luster and Queenie, this novel is an unflinching portrayal of high-paid sex work in the age of the Internet. It follows Agnes, a mixed 21-year old whose life seeminly leads to nowhere. Living and working with her religious mother, she spends all her money in clubs on the weekends with her friends she feels disconnected from, looking for distractions from every day life.

The difference Agnes soon learns is the sugar babies around her come from money. She soon falls deeper and deeper in the hands of men who realize she doesn’t have the same safety net the other women do. Agnes starts to search for fulfillment and stems further and further from the faith that kept her grounded as she sought out her purpose.

This is a gorgeous coming-of-age story, very hard to read at times, with smart commentary on race, beauty and class in London. I think we needed more of Agnes’ back story leading up to her decision to engulf herself in sex work to truly understand her grapplings - sometimes I felt the novel fell to stereotypes and questions of morality. I don’t think there was anything new in this novel regarding sex work (I think of my time reading Revolting Prositutes), until we get to the part where Agnes goes to Miami with a billionaire and his wife (this part I found to be the most intriguing, with the most thematic moments). 

I expected more social media connections in the novel showing the modernization of sex work - more instagram DM’s, OnlyFans, Twitter porn, RedBook, Snapcash, shadowbanning… it seemed social media was mostly used as a diary to promote her lavish lifestyle than showcase how it pampers to the industry.

I guess I wanted more! I’m wondering how much was autofiction and what was researched. The writing is stellar and I very much enjoyed the book - I was just left wanting a little bit more.