REVIEW: Sweeten the Deal by Katie Shepard

In Sweeten the Deal by Katie Shepard, After inheriting what she considers to be a fortune from her grandmother, twenty-two-year-old MBA student Caroline Sedlacek has revamped her life. To others, it might not seem like that big of a deal to move from small-town Texas to Boston or to change schools. But for her, it’s huge. And so far, it’s going…meh. Caroline loves her classes but it’s the social aspect she’s always struggled with that is still plaguing her. The answer appears to be hiring an escort online–but not for sex. No, she needs someone who knows how to act accordingly in public and who will broaden her horizons culturally as she explores Boston. But Adrian Landry isn’t what Caroline was expecting. In good and bad ways. As she spends more time with the down-on-his-luck artist, though, she realizes she might have to rethink the parameters of their relationship to include something much more personal.

‘It had seemed like such a simple transaction–his time for her money. But as with most things, it seemed like there was some set of unwritten rules that ought to have been written down and provided to her.’

Adrian never thought that after the success he had right out of art school he’d have trouble selling his paintings at the age of thirty-three. His recent break up didn’t help matters. But never before has he worried about becoming homeless or slinging burgers for a (meager) living. Then his best friend Tom suggests working for an online escort service. Adrian isn’t sure he’s that desperate *quite* yet. Although the money is tempting. His first client is Caroline, who is way too young and too pretty to have to hire someone to pretend to be her boyfriend at the theater or opera. But Adrian can’t complain once the cash starts rolling in–and he gets to enjoy the arts with sweet Caroline on his arm. As the days pass, though, he’d like to make their situation more permanent. And with no money passing hands. But he’s not sure Caroline is looking for the same thing.

‘I realized I have a choice about what kind of art I make. Like I have a choice about what my life is about. And I want them both to be about the things I love. The things that bring me joy.’

A role reversal, slow burn, age gap romance whose heroine put the “aw” in awkward social interactions, Sweeten the Deal is a story that will most certainly warm your heart and put a smile on your face.

“I think we got off to a poor start. Can we try again? Adrian Landry,” he introduced himself. “Starving artist. Not a prostitute.”
That finally got a smile out of her. “Caroline Sedlacek,” she replied. “MBA student. Not a john.”

CW: View Spoiler »Cheating (historical), emotional abuse by a controlling/sexist parent. « Hide Spoiler

I was excited to read Sweeten the Deal after having a wonderful time last year with Katie Shepard’s feel-good debut novel, Bear with Me Now. And while the setting and characters this time around were quite different from her debut, I was oh so happy that the role reversal element made a comeback. Because in this case, twenty-two-year-old Caroline was a sugar mama and thirty-three-year-old Adrian was her sugar baby. (Right?!) It was like the movie Pretty Woman flipped upside down. But without the promise of sex. At least to start with.

Caroline charmed me pretty much from the start. She was a unique blend of maturity and naiveté with a penchant for super dry, subtle humor. I enjoyed how her analytical brain–she was a business graduate student, through and through–was very different from Adrian’s creative, artistic brain. He was a painter who had a lot of acclaim in his twenties but after a recent break up, had hit rock bottom. Well, almost. So the escort job was a last-ditch effort to keep a roof over his head. Caroline, though, had the opposite issue with a windfall of money after her beloved grandmother passed away, leaving everything to her in her will.

Caroline and Adrian might have wanted different things: she wanted a partner to count on to go to cultural events and to help her navigate social situations, while he needed money. Desperately. But (without spoilers) it turns out that what Adrian and Caroline both truly needed was someone to be honest with them–and to care for them without strings attached. And Shephard cleverly created situations where just such events took place while weaving in a lovely and sweet slow-forming romance that felt perfect for the duo. Sigh.

QOTD: This story had comparisons between the business world and the art world. Are you involved in (or prefer) either one?

Book Info:

Publication: Published: October 17th, 2023 | Berkley |

She’s lonely, rich, and ten years too young for him—but she’s also his “sugar daddy,” and they couldn’t have less in common. Opposites attract in this charming new romance by Katie Shepard.

MBA student Caroline Sedlacek knows her personal balance sheet is a little lopsided. On the asset side, at twenty-two she’s got an NCAA trophy, a great education…and the two million dollars she unexpectedly inherited. Liabilities? She’s never had friends, a boyfriend, or any life experiences away from the tennis court or the classroom. She’d love to invest herself in everything else, but “everything else” never came easily for her.

In the ten years since he left art school as a vaunted prodigy, Adrian Landry has won shows and major prizes—and done his best to shed his reputation as a pretty man who makes pretty paintings. Though currently broke and sleeping off a bad break-up on his college roommate’s couch, he knows this is the chance to get his life back on track at thirty-three—he just needs the money to find a new gallery.

When Adrian’s roommate lists him on a thinly veiled escort site, Caroline is not the patron he expected. She’s way too young, way too naive, and loudly uninterested in having sex with him. Instead, they’re both going to get exactly what they want: a little culture on her side, and a lot of cash on his. Aside from their sugar baby arrangement, they’ve got nothing in common. But as they reel from the symphony to the Haymarket, they learn that what they want and what they need might be two very different things.