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A review by 1943tre
Sweeten the Deal by Katie Shepard
3.0
3.5 rounded down. I absolutely enjoyed this more than Shepard's debut, Bear With Me Now, and I think she's a very competent writer--but I did find it relatively easy to put down.
Like in Shepard's debut, she loves an ethically complicated romance, and this one has a fun concept--she's the sugar daddy, he's the sugar baby, and as they fall in love, he's confronted with the very uncomfortable fact that he is...being paid for all of this. Also, he's ten years older than her so he's worried he's exploiting her in, like, multiple ways. It's pretty delicious and complicated!
I liked the chemistry here and Shepard sells them well. At the end of the day though, it's a very slow burn, and it didn't burn quite as hard as I wanted it to. I like Shepard's writing in general, but the prose comes off as sort of detached in both books, and I wonder if this is what dulls the flame slightly. Even when Caroline feels intensely out of place or when Adrian feels in over his head...I as a reader always feel fine lmao because Shepard has this sort of narrative distance that doesn't immerse me as far into the story as maybe I'd want to be. I found this one slightly less spicy than Bear With Me Now, in that it has only one open door scene. It's relatively hot what we get, but because Shepard makes you wait so long to get there and she pulls back right at the moment of climax, I was left with metaphorical blue balls. Unfortunate!
Still, this was a step up from her debut, and I will most likely read a future book by Shepard. I'd just probably crave a bit more intensity from the prose.
Like in Shepard's debut, she loves an ethically complicated romance, and this one has a fun concept--she's the sugar daddy, he's the sugar baby, and as they fall in love, he's confronted with the very uncomfortable fact that he is...being paid for all of this. Also, he's ten years older than her so he's worried he's exploiting her in, like, multiple ways. It's pretty delicious and complicated!
I liked the chemistry here and Shepard sells them well. At the end of the day though, it's a very slow burn, and it didn't burn quite as hard as I wanted it to. I like Shepard's writing in general, but the prose comes off as sort of detached in both books, and I wonder if this is what dulls the flame slightly. Even when Caroline feels intensely out of place or when Adrian feels in over his head...I as a reader always feel fine lmao because Shepard has this sort of narrative distance that doesn't immerse me as far into the story as maybe I'd want to be. I found this one slightly less spicy than Bear With Me Now, in that it has only one open door scene. It's relatively hot what we get, but because Shepard makes you wait so long to get there and she pulls back right at the moment of climax, I was left with metaphorical blue balls. Unfortunate!
Still, this was a step up from her debut, and I will most likely read a future book by Shepard. I'd just probably crave a bit more intensity from the prose.