Satisfaction Guaranteed by Karelia Stetz-Waters is an opposites attract, rich girl/poor girl romance highlighting how love can be found under the strangest of circumstances.
Cade Elgin jokes that she’s adopted because she’s nothing like her carefree, hippy parents. Her life is all about her career. Her interactions with people are limited to “professional talk” while running the family’s prestigious New York art gallery. She thinks that’s the only thing she’s got going for her. An ex-girlfriend told her she was an awful lover, so Cade’s all but given up on any type of sex life. Just saying the word “orgasm” makes her feel like a failure.
When her eccentric Aunt Ruth dies leaving Cade, Satisfaction Guaranteed, a failing sex toy store, she finds herself in Portland trying to figure out how to salvage her aunt’s estate. Cade can work wonders when it comes to spreadsheets and numbers but being surrounded by dildos and vibrators is way out of her comfort zone.
Selena Mathis is grieving. After her dear friend Ruth Elgin dies, she feels completely unmoored. Ruth was like a mother to her. They shared the same Bohemian sensibilities, and Ruth was there to comfort Selena after she dropped out of art school. She’s flabbergasted when she finds out Ruth left her half of Satisfaction Guaranteed. Selena desperately wants this to work. It’s the best way to honor Ruth’s memory. She’s even taken a vow of celibacy to get her act together.
Selena reminds Cade of her laid-back, unreliable parents. How can she work with such an irresponsible woman? Selena may be deliciously sexy, but she’s got no business sense. To make matters worse, Selena talks about sex so freely and naturally it reminds Cade of what a failure she is in the bedroom.
Both women are surprised and a little bit reluctant when they realize they’re falling in love. Neither of them is willing to let on how much they care for the other. They’ve got a business to save, and Cade has a life in New York to get back to.
Can two women who seem so different find a shared happily ever after or should they cut their losses before it’s too late?
Pros And My Favourite Parts
Stetz-Waters does a wonderful job creating two characters who are completely different in almost every way, yet they’re both endearing beyond words. The emotional appeal I felt for Cade and Selena was just as strong as the connection they feel for each other. Cade is quiet and unassuming while Selena is vivacious and unconventional. There is a tenderness that develops between them that’s just as strong as the physical attraction pulling them together. They bring out the best in each other, and that’s just one of many highlights about this book.
Let’s talk about sex! Nope, I’m not talking about the sex scenes (which are great). I’m talking about the sex positivity that’s entwined throughout the story. Selena encourages Cade to talk about her sexual experiences with absolutely no judgement on her part. She never pressures Cade for sex, and when they decide the time is right, Selena lets Cade set the pace. Consent is woven into every scene, and the women talk about vulnerability and inexperience without shame. I’ve never read a book that delves so deeply into sexual health and well-being.
Cons And Heads Up
Heads up – you’re going to love this book.
The Conclusion
I’ve never read Stetz-Waters before, and now I’m looking forward to getting her entire back catalogue. This book has joy written all over it. Even when Cade and Selena are at odds with each other, there’s a natural goodness within each of them. I was so invested in their happiness! The story moves at a great clip, and it’s full of brilliantly realized side characters. Satisfaction Guaranteed is full of humor but not at the expense of Cade’s self-consciousness around sex. I like everything about this romance, and I hope you do too.
Excerpt From Satisfaction Guaranteed by Karelia Stetz-Waters
Selena hurried outside and walked to her motorcycle, parked on the sidewalk. She’d drunk too much to ride home. She’d gotten that far in her vow to get her life together. To-do list item one: Do not die in a motorcycle accident. She considered going back inside and asking Becket to call an Uber for her. Selena’s phone still had a physical keyboard, and it didn’t type reliably. The letters B, E, H, K, L, M, N, O, and Z were the most problematic, but sometimes it typed those and missed A, F, G, R, S, and T. She could get to numbered streets but not Wisteria Lane. That was okay. She needed a walk. She set off down the tree-lined street, pulling her fake-fur jacket up around her neck to keep off the rain.
An image of Cade Elgin flashed through her mind. Cade had looked sexy and elegant and powerful. Her short blond hair was cut perfectly to accentuate her high cheekbones. Her clothes hinted at strong shoulders and flat abs. She was athletic. Selena saw it in her lean jaw. But Cade was cute too. The way her blue eyes had widened at the idea of keeping Ruth on the kitchen table. She’d looked distressed and amused at the same time, her furrowed eyebrows saying, Not this again. All that straight-backed decorum made Selena want to ruffle Cade’s perfectly cropped blond hair…and maybe kiss her.
But that was why she’d taken the vow of celibacy. Sadness made Selena horny. Stress made her horny. Worry made her horny. She was wired that way. The more upset she got, the more sex felt like an answer. Her body told her that if she could just fuck hard enough or come fast enough, her anxiety would melt away. It never worked. Afterward, she lay there, still stressed and sad and now worried that the man or woman in bed beside her would show up at her door with flowers. She’d have to tell them they weren’t at the start of something beautiful; it was just that she owed a thousand dollars in parking tickets and that made her want cunnilingus. Trying to track Cade Elgin down after the funeral was not a life plan. Selena was twenty-nine. Almost thirty! And it was time to get her shit together on her own.
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Bits and Bobs
ISBN number: 9781538735527
Publisher: Forever Publishers
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