Sugar Daddy
(Sugar Bowl, #1)
By: Sawyer Bennett
Published: Loveswept
Release Date: May 24, 2016
Genre: Romance
Rating:
Sela Halstead lost her innocence in a way that no sixteen-year-old should ever have to endure. She’s spent years trying to forget that night even while wondering about the identities of the monsters who brutalized her—until a telltale tattoo flashes across Sela’s TV screen. The incriminating ink belongs to Jonathon Townsend, the millionaire founder of The Sugar Bowl, a website that matches rich older men with impressionable young women. Obsessed with revenge, Sela infiltrates Townsend’s world, only to come face-to-face with a tantalizing complication: Beckett North, his charismatic business partner.
The tech mastermind behind The Sugar Bowl, Beck always gets what he wants, in business and in bed. And yet, for a man who’s done every dirty thing imaginable, there’s something about the naïve, fresh-faced Sela that sparks his hottest fantasies. Because with her, it’s not just about sex. Beck opens up to her in ways he never has with other girls. So why does he get the feeling that she’s hiding something? In a world of pleasure and power, the shocking truth could turn them against each other—or bind them forever.
My Thoughts
Sela was raped when she was 16 years old. Actually she was drugged and then gang raped on her 16th birthday. Sela’s tried to get past that moment in her life but 10 years later, it still haunts her. She’s definitely not expecting to see one of her rapists on T.V. as one of the creators of Sugar Daddy, a dating site for rich old men to find young women to lavish with money and gifts. However, once she sees him, she starts to plan her revenge. Her plan is to infiltrate the Sugar Daddy system by pretending to be a sugar baby, get close to her rapist, J.T., and kill him. However, things don’t go as she planned and she soon finds herself living with his partner and actually being comfortable with him. Which is something that she’s had trouble with since she was sixteen. Will Sela get her revenge? Will her relationship with Beck change her mind? Or will she confide in Beck and they both take action?
Sugar Daddy is the first book by Sawyer Bennett that I’ve read and if I’m being honest here, I really didn’t have a clue as to what I was getting into. I picked up this book at the RT Booklovers convention after hearing my roommate talk about her excitement of meeting the author. So, when the opportunity presented itself for me to snag a copy of her book, I figured why not. I’m really glad I did because this is a really good story. There is rape in it, so please keep that in mind if that is one of your triggers. It’s not just a mentioning of rape either, the beginning of the book starts off with her being raped at 16. After all, it is the catalyst that sets her on the path of murder.
It’s hard not to fall in love with both Sela and Beck. Sela, obviously, had some pretty horrible things happen to her at a young age that has really messed her up psychologically. She’s unable to get close to anyone, doesn’t enjoy sex, and just sort of floats through life. However, when she signs an agreement to be Beck’s sugar baby, she finds herself loosening up, enjoying sex, and experiencing life a little more. Beck was also great because he’s not a sleezeball. He is the computer programmer for the Sugar Daddy website. He doesn’t partake in sugar babies, he doesn’t hop from woman to woman, and he really isn’t in the spotlight much, if at all. He leaves all of that to his partner, J.T.. However, when he meets Sela at a Sugar Daddy mixer event, he can’t help but be drawn to her. She’s dressed like a sugar baby but she doesn’t act like one. She’s got this demeanor about her that is both vulnerable and determined… and not the usual “looking for money” determination that he’s used to seeing on the sugar baby’s faces. So, when he asks her for a night and finds out that he can’t get enough of her, he decides to take a leap and asks her to sign a sugarship agreement securing himself as her sugar daddy and asks her to move in with him for one month. He treats her insanely wonderful, doesn’t push her too hard, and gives her her confidence back. He was an all around great guy.
Sugar Daddy was a very interesting read. I went in not knowing what to expect and came out dying to read the next book in the series. The whole idea of the Sugar Bowl is both mind boggling and not. I mean, I can honestly see a site like this existing if it doesn’t already. I’m pretty sure there’s an app for this. I mean, they have those Gaydar apps (yes, it’s a thing) where guys can log in and see if there are other guys in the immediate area who are looking to hook up. So, I mean, why wouldn’t there be an app or dating website for sugar daddies to meet young women looking for money and gifts? Like I said, this story was an interesting read that had me glued to my seat until the end. I will definitely be picking up the next book in the series when it’s released.
Favorite Quote
“I, Sela Halstead, am not as broken as I thought I was. While I thought Jonathon Townsend took everything away from me, I’ve realized just not that he took nothing. He only warped my perception.”
I want to read this! I’ve read one of Sawyer’s books and enjoyed it, so it’s about time for another. lol – I’m sure there are sites like this. 😀
There has to be. That or an app or something. It still doesn’t change the fact that it’s a little creepy though. LoL
Sounds interesting, I just read the blurb on that on another blog and it caught my eye. Glad you had a review for it!! 😀 It doesn’t sound at all like what I thought it would be lol
I honestly didn’t know what I was getting into when I started read it. The blurb just kind of sounded like maybe a thriller? I wasn’t expecting it to be more on the romance side but I really enjoyed it.
She has some really good ones. I skipped this one since it looked like a cliffhanger and those make me feel stabby. lol Glad to hear it was a good first experience for ya!
Ya know, it wasn’t really a cliffhanger. It was just more or less not the end of the story. It wasn’t like an intense scene and then “the end.” I saw there are already covers out for the next two book so hopefully she’s already written them and they come out fairly soon.
Sounds like there’s a bit of angst, but I still MUST read it. Glad you enjoyed your first Bennett book!