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A review by luluwoohoo
Satisfaction Guaranteed by Karelia Stetz-Waters
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Satisfaction Guaranteed by Karelia Stetz-Waters
☀️☀️⛅
▪️For a queer romance set in a sex shop, I found this story underwhelming, underdeveloped, and a bit cringe
▪️The concept is solid, but Stetz-Waters seems to lean away from the hook of two women working to save a sex shop by focusing on their mutual connection through art. This would have been fine if the book was sold as an art romance, but the sex shop felt like it existed in the story as comic relief only, and was blatantly cis-centric with zero resolution when the issue was raised
▪️I always struggle with fast-paced romances like this, but going from strangers to being in love in less than a month cannot be believable except in extremely specific circumstances (which this did not have). Their chemistry was okay and I appreciated Selena's mindframe around their sexual relationship, but the combination of lacklustre sex scenes and Cade magically undoing all of her sexual struggles in one night totally ruined the setup for me
▪️The supporting characters were all severely underdeveloped and cringe-worthy in their execution - their presence felt like it existed for the shock factor only, to show how 'generic' Cade is, and not to actually progress the very basic plot forward
▪️I wanted to enjoy the quirkiness of this story, and it was relatively quick and enjoyable to read, but after minimal contemplation I realised just how many issues I had with it. It's not objectively bad, but it definitely isn't for me.
☀️☀️⛅
▪️For a queer romance set in a sex shop, I found this story underwhelming, underdeveloped, and a bit cringe
▪️The concept is solid, but Stetz-Waters seems to lean away from the hook of two women working to save a sex shop by focusing on their mutual connection through art. This would have been fine if the book was sold as an art romance, but the sex shop felt like it existed in the story as comic relief only, and was blatantly cis-centric with zero resolution when the issue was raised
▪️I always struggle with fast-paced romances like this, but going from strangers to being in love in less than a month cannot be believable except in extremely specific circumstances (which this did not have). Their chemistry was okay and I appreciated Selena's mindframe around their sexual relationship, but the combination of lacklustre sex scenes and Cade magically undoing all of her sexual struggles in one night totally ruined the setup for me
▪️The supporting characters were all severely underdeveloped and cringe-worthy in their execution - their presence felt like it existed for the shock factor only, to show how 'generic' Cade is, and not to actually progress the very basic plot forward
▪️I wanted to enjoy the quirkiness of this story, and it was relatively quick and enjoyable to read, but after minimal contemplation I realised just how many issues I had with it. It's not objectively bad, but it definitely isn't for me.
"Your parents love you.”
“Fine, but they don’t…” What was it that had touched Cade so deeply about Selena sitting down in front of the laptop? “They don’t take care of me. She did.”