Sugar Daddy
Sawyer Bennett     


Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Sugar Bowl
Part: 1 of 3
Heat Level: Scorching

In Sugar Daddy, hailed by Marquita Valentine as “raw, gritty, and exceptionally hot,” the New York Times bestselling author of the Cold Fury series proves that vengeance is sweet—but seduction is to die for.
 
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.
 
Note: Sugar Daddy ends on a cliffhanger. Sela and Beck’s story continues in Sugar Rush and Sugar Free!

The story is centered on Sela, who is damaged after a traumatic incident that left her viewing life differently. The book opens with Sela watching TV. She spots a tattoo on millionaire playboy, J.T., that triggers the memory of a painful night when she was raped.  Despite the years of therapy, she is still not able to move forward with her life, temporarily paralyzed by the event. 

Sela devises a plan to infiltrate J.T.’s online group, Sugar Daddy, to bring down the rapist who destroyed her life.  In her quest to bring down J.T., she meets his business partner, Beck.  As always, things do not go as planned. The more time she spends with him, she loses focus on how to bring down the one man she wants to.

I love Beck! He's strong and has trust issues of his own. He is the one-night kind of guy but Sela is slowly changing his views on life.  He is not sure what to do with his new feelings and it has him questioning his partnership with J.T.  When he discovers the real reason why Sela is there, can he forgive her or help her bring down one of his closest friends.

At times, I hesitated with this review. This story has the potential to delve into the serious trauma of rape and the effect it has on the individual and still lead us to a romantic conclusion between the main characters. The author focuses a lot on the sex between Beck and Sela instead.  I’m a naughty bird so sex is always a bonus with me but when the author uses that as filler instead of progressing the plot along, I have some issues.

The plot is off and a bit contrived. I’m not sure how realistic it was for Sela to go down the route she did. However, I still wondered how it will all end. Can Sela really succeed with this outrageous plan?

There is a trend with books lately that leaves little to be desired and that is cliffhangers. Warning: This book ends with a huge cliffhanger. I went in knowing this so it didn’t have that punch that normally triggers me into a bit of rage but it still hard not having closure on a story.

Despite my sometimes lukewarm feelings toward certain issues in this book and that abrupt cliffhanger, I’m still interested in reading the rest of the story.

~ Samantha