I had high hopes for Sweeten the Deal and was instantly intrigued by the cover. While I enjoyed this "pretty woman" gender swapped tale, I wasn't able to find a connection to either character. I found some parts of the plot to be fully fleshed out while others to be quickly forgotten. Overall, I may pick another Katie Shepard book to read and give her another chance. However; Sweeten the Deal wasn't so "sweet" for me.

There were things about this book I enjoyed. Caroline is a 22 year old business graduate student who has just inherited a small fortune from her grandmother and Adrian is a 33 year old starving artist who has been dumped by his cheating gallery owner fiancé. Adrian's roommate Tom advises him to join a sugar baby site to make some money, where he pairs with Caroline. She is seeking sophistication and the arts and a relationship. He quickly falls for her.

Things I liked: The premise is fun. The discussion of the art world and painting was enjoyable. I liked the representation of a neuro divergent character. I loved Adrian's roommate Tom.

Things I didn't like: It is referenced that Caroline is probably neuro divergent but then it's never really brought up again or developed. Caroline's character is kind of underdeveloped and unbelievable/unlikeable. Her tennis storyline is sort of thrown in as a weird aside. Adrian is also kind of unlikeable. I didn't really get their chemistry.

Overall, I think this could be a good book for someone else, just not me. I'd still recommend it to anyone looking for a fun romance with light spice.

Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley for the free review in exchange for an honest review.

Read if you like:
💰 Sugar Mommas
⏳Age Gap Romances
🎾 Tennis Player FMC’s
🎨 Artist MMC’s

This book was so good!!!! I absolutely loved it and it was just such a great romance to read!

I loved the dynamics between the MC’s and how mature the FMC was and made this age gap romance work so well for me personally.

If you are looking for your next romance, please don’t look further than this debut romance! I’ll definitely be reading more from this author!

Thank you so much Berkley for my ARC in exchange for my honest review!

I have mixed feelings about this book. The premise had promise, but something was just lacking for me. I never quite bought into the romance, and I found the male character’s behavior toward the female lead kinda patronizing. (The age difference didn’t help.) I also wished she had opened up to him more about what she was dealing with.

This book thoroughly confused me. Neither character had enough backstory/explanation or growth. I never really understood why Caroline was so set on doing "cultural" things. There was no real explanation of this by the author. Caroline also really liked baking, but again, no explanation of why or where that came from. Did she watch a lot of cooking shows or youtube? Did she do it because she dreamed of traveling to exotic places? No idea. From the beginning, I assumed Adrian would eventually help her figure out more about herself or at least how to network and act around her fellow students, but no. He was just straight up a douche for the entirety of the book. I've never read a more whiny, woe-is-me character who had such little self awareness. I get that people struggle and don't always become successes overnight, but I'm sorry, reading about two men in their 30s who are still living like college kids was not attractive or interesting. The age gap also really bothered me. It was clear how inexperienced Caroline was with literally everything (even just having conversations with people?) even though I felt like she had a lot of potential for growth, but we never saw it. Adrian being so much older than her but still having zero maturity (or personality) just further highlighted how he literally didn't even try to help her or do anything (even when she was paying him) other than sulk in his own issues, which he never actually make bold attempts to improve. In the end, them ending up together made no sense and almost felt like Caroline was reverting back to some of the ableism and manipulation that her family supposedly did to her during her childhood and teen years (again, zero explanation of this). Disappointing and hard to read when I couldn't root for either character.

This cute cover sucked me in right away, and I thought this was a fun take on the sugar momma,
and age gap trope.

I loved the characters, and thought Caroline was such a sweet, naïve young woman, but after a few books with some of the worst characters, it was a refreshing read for me. I’ve seen it mentioned that her character is neurodivergent, and I am curious myself is this was the case, since it is not written clearly.

🎧The audiobook paired with the digital copy was such a great reading experience for me, and I loved the narration once again, by Savannah Peachwood, who also narrated Bear With Me Now.

*many thanks to Berkley Romance, Netgalley and PRH Audio for the gifted copy

Enjoyed this one! About a girl with an inheritance and a family who is awful to her for it. And the "escort" she hired to teach her about the arts. Well she wants to learn all about what her parents sheltered her from. She wants to experience the opera, symphony, arts from the eyes of an artist. They are very much crushing on eachother but that isn't their arrangement.
I like a age gap but they both have a few friends and family hurdles to overcome.
They also have to get past how they met and be more independent so they can start a relationship. Loved the banter and the chemistry.

Thank you berkley for the e-ARC for my honest and voluntary review.

This is a sweet romance about a sheltered former athlete heiress and a painter she meets on an escort website.

Caroline is an NCAA tennis champion who grew up under her parent’s thumb. She’s been sheltered from reality her whole life, so when she
inherits money from relatives, her parents believe it belongs to them, and they manipulate her to get at it.
She moves away and starts school because she wants to leave parents and live a more normal life. However, no matter what she does, she has trouble making friends. She sees other girls with their boyfriends doing exciting things on the weekends, and she decides that she’ll hire herself a boyfriend.

Adrian is a talented painter who’s lost his desire to paint more commercial paintings. He became a “social” escort for the money he wants to open his own gallery.

When the two meet, Adrian feels bad for taking her money, she’s not a wealthy older woman who wants a younger man to show off, like some of his other clients. As they spend time together, they start falling for each other. Adrian doesn’t know how he can accept Caroline’s money, but she’s giving him emotional support like no one else has. They need to resolve their issues if they’ve got a future.

Great premise and the romance was really sweet, I liked the characters. 4 stars.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed as in this review are completely my own.

This was an interesting premise! MBA student Caroline has come into some serious money. She’s lonely in a new town and isn’t quite sure how to properly be an adult. Her parents kept her busy with tennis and totally sheltered. Now that she’s out on her own she wants to learn how to be cultured, independent and not so lonely.
.
Adrian was an art prodigy but he’s couch surfing at his best friends after his boss/girlfriend broke up with him. He has zero interest in painting and feels totally lost. Between him and his roommate they are barely making rent and they need a drastic solution. This drastic solution has him signing up online to be “sugar baby” to Caroline’s “sugar daddy.” Neither are looking for romance. Caroline is looking for someone to accompany her on evenings out and introduce her to a more cultured taste. These two end up finding love but not without some obstacles in the way. There were some things that were super fun in this and some parts I didn’t love but overall this was a fun time!

Huge thank you to @berkleypub @berittalksbooks @thephdivabooks @dg_reads @prhaudio and @netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Sweeten the Deal is a stand-out romance that is funny, sharp and sweet.

Here’s three things you should know about me: I live for contemporary romance, I love a good age gap, and Pretty Woman is one of my favourite movies. Sweeten the Deal is the perfect blend of everything I enjoy in a romance book. Adrian and Caroline and smart, realistic and flawed main characters who pulled me in from the first pages. One of my biggest complaints was that the book ended. I wasn’t ready to be pulled away from them, and would have happily kept reading to watch their relationship and lives continue to develop. Adrian and Caroline both are struggling with life: Adrian’s career and love life are stalling and at 33 finds himself living on his friend’s couch. Caroline is 22, recently inherited a ton of money from her grandma but has realized she doesn’t know how to live life after giving up a life of tennis. If she’s not an athlete, how does she live? Caroline is shy and awkward and struggles to meet people. So, she decided to join a sugar daddy type of website so she can hire someone to help teach her how to live a full life. When Adrian matches with her, he’s expecting a 60 year old widow and not some young and naive woman. What’s he supposed to do with her? His awkwardness is hilarious as he tries to teach her everything she wants to know: does she like the opera, sushi, farmer’s markets? Is he okay with a young woman paying for his life? And why does he feel like he’s suddenly starting to live again? God I love a proper and angsty man. Adrian is like the modern version of Mr. Darcy in the best way.

I loved watching Adrian and Caroline figure each other out. The age gap could feel icky, but Katie writes it with grace and humour. It helps that Adrian, who may be one of my favourite book boyfriends of 2023, is so obviously stressed out about it. He fights his attraction to her for so long because he wants to do the right thing and make sure he’s not taking advantage of her. What this does is give Caroline such a lovely space to grow into her own character and own her feelings, her attraction and her choices. Caroline and Adrian are both flawed characters who have to do a lot of work on themselves to get to a point where they can be good partners for each other. It’s been a long time since I’ve read a book where the characters so actively understand that they need to develop themselves in order to support another person. Their chemistry is slowly developed and they have this delightful friends to lovers relationship. You can tell they truly LIKE each other and don’t just LUST for each other. When they do finally get together, in this slow-burn book, I was celebrating for them! They are very sweet to each other and Adrian really works to help Caroline understand how to champion for her own needs. Caroline is a complicated character – I think she could have easily tipped to an annoying individual without the right care. She’s multifaceted and cares deeply about others – she’s just not always good at understanding how others react to her. She’s 22 and finally getting a chance to discover what she actually likes after a life of being told what to do every hour of the day thanks to a demanding parent who pushed her into a sport for his own sense of achievement.

At the root of this book is the theme of joy, and the importance of living a life filled with joy. It feels like a dark world out there right now, and Sweeten the Deal reminds me why romance novels are so important: sure there’s a happy ending, but they also let us explore human nature and let us analyze and evaluate what is really important to us: shared experiences with other humans, common bonds that unite us, and the joy of living a full life, however you define that.

If you loved One to Watch (Kate Stayman-London), Reasonable Adults (Robin Lefler) and Love, Lists and Fancy Ships (Sarah Grunder-Ruiz) then you will adore Sweeten the Deal.

Where do I start? I knew that I was going to neither going enjoy it or dislike it Sweeten the Deal. Why? Because I didn't like Katie Shepard previous book, so I kind of knew that this book was going to be doozy.

The premise of this book kind of reminded of a previous book that I read beforehand. A ambitious main character that focuses so much at work that she doesn't know how to date or have fun so she hires someone to help her. Kind of sounds familiar to The Kiss Quotient. I still decided to read this book.

Ultimately, this book was meh in my opinion. Nothing special. Nothing that I am going to obsessed with. It's just meh. I read it. It was okay romance read. Sounds a bit too familiar to The Kiss Quotient in my opinion.

I am still stunned by how much I not only enjoyed this story, but also felt emotionally invested in every aspect of it. There is a delightful streak of light-hearted humour tied in with the intense emotions driving this story forward, and it is this perfectly balanced contrast that hooked me in and kept me enthralled until the end.

3.5 Stars
Oops, another late ARC review because this took me longer than I was expecting to get through but despite that, I enjoyed it and found it to be a refreshing take on the sugar daddy/baby trope. Caroline was a little too naive than what's believable but she was a really sweet character, though I do wish she had a bit more character growth (I felt that her conflict wasn't really resolved well

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley for the ARC!

I wanted to love this book. I loved the premise, I didn't mind the age gap and I enjoyed Adrian. But I really could not get on board with Caroline. As someone who also grew up in an isolated family I still knew more about theatre and opera than most of my peers. Pop culture no? Things I could read about? Yes. Anyway, it really threw me out of the story. I dnf'd at 54% as there had not yet been much of what one could call a romance. I thought there was lust on Adrain's side and maybe a crush on Caroline's but it just did not feel like a romance yet.

Caroline is an MBA student who is incredibly lonely. After receiving her grandmother’s inheritance and pretty much being cut off by the rest of her family, she wants to start living life a little bigger, but doesn’t know how. So she hired Adrian, a man she finds on an escort site, to be her fake boyfriend and help her become more cultured. Adrian is a struggling artist in need of a little cash, but Caroline is not at all what he expected. As they spend more time together, the relationship and feelings become a bit more real and lines get very blurred.

This premise is very unique and so much fun! It gave me Pretty Woman vibes and I was here for it. The dialogue was hilarious, my heart felt for Caroline and how she struggled socially, and Adrian was an A+ hero. This book was a quick fun read and I really enjoyed it!

Thank you to Berkley Publishing and NetGalley for the advance copy.

MBA student Caroline has a substantial inheritance but lacks life experiences and close relationships. Former art prodigy Adrian is broke and troubled by his stalled career. They agree to a strictly platonic sugar baby agreement. As he exposes her to cultural experiences, they forge an unexpected bond beyond their arrangement. But can it lead to more?

I loved this so much. Caroline is clearly neurodivergent and undiagnosed, with no one in her life she can rely on. Adrian is coming off a relationship with an older woman who managed his career and led him in a direction that made him miserable. The struggles between them are genuine, yet their differences—her pragmatism and his artistic temperament—make them a perfect fit if they can learn how to communicate and let themselves be happy. It's a smart, funny, poignant novel that's entertaining from start to finish.

Thanks, NetGalley, or the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

You’re going to be hearing a lot about this book—and for good reason. It’s a very sweet take on a premise that can sometimes be icky. Just really deftly done.

Caroline has spent her entire life playing tennis and listening to her father before inheriting 2 million dollars and promptly running away. In the spirit of trying new things, she hires an escort to show her new experiences around the city. Enter Adrian, a decade-older artist fresh off a career ruining break up. The more time they spend together, the more they have to question how truly transactional their relationship really is.

What I loved:
-fake dating
-the banter/tension between Caroline and Adrian
-unique plot
-Caroline’s character- she was so generous and kind. I loved seeing her character develop throughout the book!

This was such a sweet read. I really didn’t want to put this book down!

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for the advanced reading copy.

A fun premise and an unexpected take on age-gap romance! I do love the woman finally having the money and the power in a romance genre which is dominated-pun intended by wealthy, masculine MMCs. Let's just throw all those traditional gender stereotypes away!

I really enjoyed the balance between the romance and self-exploration and self-discovery in this novel! The FMC really grows and the character development was incredibly well written!

I really could not put this down! Engaging and so freaking cute! Loved it!

I just finished Sweeten the Deal by Katie Shephard and here are my musings.

Caroline has very little control in her life and when her grandmother opens all the doors to a future she can map for herself, she decides she wants to immerse herself in culture but she needs someone to guide her. Being 22 and ready to do something for herself for once.

Adrian was at the top of his game with his art, a beautiful man creating beautiful paintings. His whole life is now in tatters and he is sleeping on his friends couch. A 33 year old failure but he needs money. He needs to get his work back in a gallery to help pay rent.

When his roommate suggests a sugar baby arrangement, he is horrified by the idea but when Tom adds his profile to the site and Caroline arranges a meet up, he wonders if he can really do this. Complete opposites and she is so young but somehow, Caroline awakens something in Adrian and the more time they spend together, the more they realize that maybe, what they want and what they need are very different things.

This book was so good! I knew from the synopsis that this was a book I needed in my life and it didn’t disappoint me one bit!!

The writing was so brilliant and the author had an incredible way of bringing these characters to life that I was smiling all the way through the book. Caroline is my kind of girl. She knows what she wants and she isn’t afraid to make mistakes to get to her end goal. Adrian is that handsome grump that no woman can help not falling in love with. I know I did.

The plot was genius! The verse sugar baby concept was really very clever. I loved the grumpy sunshine vibes and the way Caroline dresses herself is epic! I wish I had her courage. She did what was right for herself even when it meant making her family angry at her. That’s a hard thing to do and that just made me love her more. I am a huge art fan so having the book based around artist endeavors made this book an even bigger winner for me.

This age gap romance checked every box for me and it is out NOW so go grab a dozen copies and hand them out to your friends!

5 stars! Thank you @netgalley and @berkleypub for my gifted copy