Book Review — Sugar Daddy by Lisa Kleypas

A couple of times in your life, it happens like that. You meet a stranger, and all you know is that you need to know everything about him.

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So… I’ve had this book on my reading list since 2011. Over 5 years!! The reason I never read it prior to now was that, based on everything I’d heard about it, I really didn’t think I’d like this story. But I was going over some of the older books on my eReader and, on a whim, I randomly started reading this… and was so curious to see how this story would end that I actually read straight through to the end. To be honest, I’ve heard both criticisms and praise for this book and I actually agree with both sides. For me personally, I did have issues and frustrations with this book, and it’s not a top favorite, but I enjoyed it and the writing was strong so I figured I’d share!!

I’m usually not a fan of love triangles. I prefer when it’s crystal clear all along exactly who the hero of the book I’m reading is. However, in this book, there are two main guys in the heroine’s life — the sweet boy she grew up next door to in her trailer park who always knew he’d have to leave her, and the man she meets years later who teaches her to love again — but when the boy from her childhood reappears, she has to make a choice. It’s a bit of a roller coaster, and I usually do have pretty strong feelings about who she should choose but I have to admit I was pretty torn here. Up until the verrry end, I wasn’t sure who I wanted her to end up with.

Sometimes life has a cruel sense of humor, giving you the thing you always wanted most at the worst possible time.

The other thing I was wary of was the whole Sugar Daddy thing. Not judging at all, but it just kinda rubbed me the wrong way. I will say though that there was a good twist to the story with regards to that and also I wanted to reassure you that it has nothing to do with anything sexual. But even still, the title just makes me cringe.

I found this book to be leaning a little more towards Women’s Fiction than Romance — or even more of a coming of age story — and I kind of feel like I would have preferred more of a focus on the Romance. However AS a coming of age story with a romance in it, I have to admit that it’s a really well done novel! And I mean, the romance is definitely there and I certainly had strong feelings for both men in her life. But I wish the romance(s) been more developed.

I’ve read both good and bad critiques of this book and to be honest, I can agree with both of them. This author (and series) has a lot of passionate fans and I can totally understand where they’re coming from. There’s an addictive quality to this author’s writing and she makes you care for her characters. On the other hand, one person said she skimmed parts of the book and yes, I did that too (for me, as a romance reader, I found that I wanted to skim the non-romantic parts). Another said that if the heroine ended up with ****** then there should have been more build up with ****** and I also agree to a certain extent. But others say that they loved the struggles the heroine got through and all the heartache and love, and yes, I also agree that those elements were very well done.

See, there are definite feels…

I felt his fingers clench in my hair, tugging until my head tilted back. “Christ,” he whispered. “You want to make this as hard as possible, don’t you? I can’t stay, and I can’t take you with me. And you want to know if I’m sorry for anything.” I felt the hot strikes of his breath on my cheek. His arms wrapped around me, stifling all movement. His heart pounded against [me]. “I’d sell my soul to have you. In my whole life, you’ll always be what I wanted most. But I’ve got nothing to give you. And I won’t stay here and turn into my father…”

This is the first standalone in a series of standalones. From what I’ve heard, the next two are actually considerably better than this one, however I usually prefer to start reading series at the beginning (which is why I read this one) and also I’d like to warn you that the blurb for the second standalone (Blue-Eyed Devil) is really spoilery for this book — so beware — but many readers told me they loved it! And I’ve also heard that the third standalone Smooth-Talking Stranger is a great read and that both of those are more strongly romance focused which makes me happy.

So I wasn’t really planning on reviewing this book at all. But I wanted to just get my thoughts down because I really have to give credit to any book that keeps me hooked on the story like this one did. This isn’t a top recommendation, but as I said above, I did enjoy reading it and the writing was very strong so I felt the need to share that.

As for rating, I’d give the story 3.5 stars, but the writing 4.5 stars.
So that would round the final rating to 4 stars.

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Series of standalones.

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