Just what would you do for money? This is a pretty thought provoking book, and I enjoyed it. Even though I felt the character made some pretty poor choices, I though the writing was really good and the story was interesting and something different that makes you wonder “what if...”.

This is a fast-reading book about a young, college aged woman who is living in a big city and barely scraping by, looking for a way to make some money for living expenses and school. She is introduced to the option of hooking up with a "Sugar Daddy" who she winds up falling hard for and as her love deepens, he suddenly breaks it off with her. She also discovers that he is married and has a family and is never going to leave that life for her. She becomes obsessed with him because of his refusal to see her and the story gets interesting from there.
This book was okay for me. I found parts of it predictable. I also have found that I really do not enjoy the whole stalker trope or obsession trope, but that's just me. #minorityopinion I was not a fan of "You" for this reason, but that was a highly talked about book that was made into a series, so what do I know?
Not my favorite but okay too.
#TheArrangement #NetGalley GalleryThresholdPocketBooks #GalleryScoutPress

If something looks or feels too good to be true, then it probably is....

Quick money, spending a little time, getting spoiled, good food, travel, clothes...ahh.... the perks of being a Sugar Baby....

Adoration, sex, power, companionship, calling all the shots...the perks of being a Sugar Daddy

But what happens when those lines get blurred, when feelings get in the way, when the truth behind the lies comes out and when sugar no longer tastes so sweet?????

Struggling to pay her bills while attending art school, Nat meets another young woman named Ava who has an affluent lifestyle and shares with Natalie how she can afford her pricey apartment and designer wardrobe. Natalie decides to give it the old college try and soon meets with a man name Gabe. A wealthy lawyer who tells her, he is single and wants to take care of her, keep her on a monthly allowance. This is love, isn't it? Or is it? Then things take a drastic turn and Nat is blind sighted and things go from bad to worse – much, much worse.

I found this to be a fast read and I did guess the "whodunit" before the reveal but still found this book to be enjoyable escapism reading. I do wish the ending had a little more of a punch to it, but still, this was a fun one. Didn't require much thought - except about the Sugar Baby/Sugar Daddy arrangement. Secrets, lies, deception, heartbreak, anger, fear, guilt - they are all here which makes for a juicy tale.

Thank you to Gallery/Scout Press and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.

Haunting...gripping.....the possibility of something like this happening is scary but unfortunately in today's society we want a lot more than we can afford - not just financially but also emotionally and the results can be damaging to everyone involved...

Wow! The author certainly knocked it out of the park with this one! Five flipping scandalous stars from me. This book will leave you with your mouth hanging open. I loved it! I was submersed into a world that I had no idea that existed until a recent news segment and of course this book! Up until this point sugar babies were just a candy I had enjoyed as a child!

Natalie is 21 and is your typical college student, struggling each day to make ends meet. She is working as a waitress and must endure the endless raunchy comments and put on a smile in order to get tips and pay the bills. Yet she likes to party and makes some bad choices in the men department when she has her "beer goggles" on. Often waking up to regret her choices and wonder why she continues in this cycle.

Natalie ends up befriending a fellow student art Ava, unbeknownst to her, Ava has it all. The best zip code, clothes, possessions. Except Ava doesn't work and didn't come from money. Well Nat...welcome to the sugar bowl baby! Life here means you can have it all. As Ava introduces Natalie to the sugar baby lifestyle things start to heat up. Can Natalie handle this lifestyle? Can she deal with her inner self saying, hey girl you are making yourself a prostitute just without a pimp? One wrong decision and you could pay with your life in this profession....

I found myself absolutely fascinated and yet disturbed with this. It is so far removed from any reality that I have known, that I kept thinking what a great imagination that the author had. Except that this apparently is reality people! The author did a great deal of in depth research for this book and in my mind that made this even more intriguing. It was like a guilty pleasure to read this book. You know, you really shouldn't enjoy reading about stuff like this but my goodness I did! I couldn't put this down, it kept me up to the early hours of the morning. I was lucky enough to have some great book people to read this with - Traveling Sisters, as there was much to chat about!

Thank you so much to Scout Press for this ARC that I loved! Thank you to Robyn Harding for this fantastic tantalizing book!

The Arrangement was the first book I have read by Robyn Harding. I was looking for an easy and engaging summer read and this was perfect for that. We enter the world of city life, sugar daddies, obsession and murder...definitely brain candy but addicting!

The storyline was a little unrealistic but totally engrossing and while the characters weren't totally likable I do think it worked for this storyline. Harding pulled me in and keep me curious until the very end. Sometimes you need a book that is totally unplausible in many ways but hooks you anyway.

Ws this amazing writing? Not really...but it was exactly what I needed during a more stressful time of year. If you are looking for something different and definitely entertaining, you might like this too.

Thank you NetGalley for a copy of The Arrangement!

Oh Gabe... what a manipulative, smooth-talking sociopath you are! When young 21-year old Nat finds out about how her friend Ava is able to live in a gorgeous penthouse in NY, while going to school full time and not working, Nat is intrigued. She is struggling living with her roommates and can’t seem to ever catch a break financially until she becomes a sugar baby. One of her first dates is Gabe and when he continuously asks to see her she becomes obsessed with him, and then he breaks it off... she doesn’t know how to live without him, befriending his young daughter just to be able to see/talk to him. When a murder is committed everything falls around Nat. Did she commit the murder? If she didn’t, who did? While finding out who the murderer is isn’t all that unpredictable, finding out the circumstances surrounding the murder and who the accomplice was, is! Def worth the read!

I loved The Arrangement!!! I did know who the real killer was almost immediately—but there was a twist at the very end that I didn't see coming. The storyline was engaging and compulsively readable. I started it at night and finished it the next morning.

I have read another book by this author and I enjoyed it, so I was so happy to see another book coming out. I love the premise of the book, but I just hated the characters...but in a good. It was nothing the author did, I actually loved to hate them. The only complaint I really have is the ending.....it fell a little flat for me.

Robyn Harding weaves a fast paced page turner about the world of sugar babies. The Arrangement grabbed me from the first page and didn't let go. I highly recommend!

Wow- what a page turner!

This is the first book I have read from Robyn Harding and now I feel the need to read more from her.

Natalie, a young art student is struggling in New York- living paycheck to paycheck with two roommates who merely tolerate her. When she gets fired from her job and falls behind on bills, she is introduced into the world of sugar daddies/sugar babies. Natalie goes into her first meeting with a potential daddy telling herself she will not go on more than just a few dates to make some money and then she will walk away.

What she doesn’t expect is to make a connection with Gabe, a man 30 years older than her and to fall in love. Natalie may have fallen for him, but has Gabe truly fallen for her? She isn’t his first sugar baby and he has a wife and daughter that aren’t privy to this secret world he indulges in. When he abruptly ends things- it not only breaks Natalie’s heart but sends her over the edge. How far will Gabe go to protect his family from his secrets and from Natalie’s deranged behavior?

This book was so riveting and entertaining. What a killer ending!

Thank you Netgalley for this copy!

Thank you Netgalley for the advanced copy of this title in exchange for my honest review/opinion. This was a good book, and I was kept entertained. I'm not exactly sure what kept it from being a great book to me. The writer has a nice flow, and protagonist was easy to connect to.

This is one of the best books I have read lately. The way she portrays what happens in the sugar baby world was so spot on. The obsession that can come when you want someone more than they want you was so insightful. Hardt definitely did this story justice. Her investigation was worthy of this book and it shows.

4 STARS FOR THE ARRANGEMENT!! This book is fast paced and will keep you interested all the way through. If you are looking for a good read.....here you go.

Natalie is your everyday small town girl turned art student trying to make ends meet in the big bad city. And it’s kind of impossible. And she really doesn’t have a support system. Her roommates are major Bs and she isn’t great at holding down relationships.
When she meets Ava, a gorgeous girl who seems to have it all together–a gorgeous penthouse apartment, money and clothes, it seems too good to be true. And it is. Ava is a sugar baby. And even though Natalie tries to resist the temptation to take the “easy” way out of her debt (for the record, she doesn’t try all that hard), she ends up creating her own account on a sugar daddy/sugar baby dating site. And that’s how she meets Gabe.
He has it all–good looks, money, an amazing apartment and he’s willing to pay $500 just to have a drink with Natalie. What’s the harm in that? Except Natalie starts to fall hard for him and her whole life beings to unravel. And he’s also not being super truthful with her about his life…
The Arrangement is a great fast-paced read in the style of Fatal Attraction meets Pretty Woman. A great end of summer beach read! And it’s out now!
Special thanks to Gallery/Scout Press and Netgalley for an advanced e-galley in exchange for my honest review.

Natalie, a lost child from the beginning! Her father leaves her and her Mother when she is very young; she now feels rejected from an early age. She grows up, meets an alarming, control freak as a first boyfriend; she must get away from him; after all, her mother's new husband, and young children cannot be bothered by Natalie's problems of a stalker from her hometown, nor are they concerned about helping with her College tuition! Off she flies from Washington State to New York City, and art school. It becomes too much for her, working, paying rent to two roommates who could care less; after all, Natalie has turned promiscuous, alcoholic, and her room is always like a pigstye!
She meets Ava in art class, who introduced her to a better way of living; get a Sugar Daddy, no more working long hours, just be at the call of a wealthy man, who will give her cash, a lot of it; for any type of sexual games, no matter the age, or shape of the Sugar Daddy!
Gabe, a powerful attorney, had been madly in love with his College girlfriend, a passionate defense lawyer, then a helicopter mom, good offset to his greed in the Corporate World, they are the opposites attract, and it works! Until one day, his wife Celeste has been diagnosed with breast cancer, there goes the sexual side of their marriage, and once she is well, all Celeste wants to do, is stay in their beautiful home in the suburbs with their only child, Violette.
Gabe, handsome, powerful, stays in his penthouse in the City during the week, satisfies his sexual needs with Sugarbabies; the kiss off comes with one gold, and diamond necklace! He meets Natalie through the internet, the author makes you believe it could be, he might be willing to give up his cold wife, and his daughter, who no longer looks upon him, as Prince Charming; he is a toad after all!
What makes me angry about this book, is no one helps Natalie with her true gift of being an artist! I feel that she has been used by everyone, except Oleg, even he lets her down in the end! I read Celeste as a cold hearted witch! She knows her husband has been cheating for years! Natalie is not the first! I don't see her as this fairy godmother at the end of the book, I see her as the self righteous hypocrite that she is! Gabe, does he get what he deserves? Probably, but, the real killer, gets away with it! I find the injustice of a filthy rich woman who put her child before her husband, as despicable as if she had murdered him herself! This is a depressing book, most of the characters are self destructive, and do not deserve my pity, except Natalie! She needed help, and no one truly have a damn, until it was too late!
I recommend! Thank you Netgalley!
carolintallahassee.com

A cautionary tale - and a disturbingly realistic story of a young, broke college student who tries "dating" Sugar Daddies to pay off bills and make ends meet.
I remember going to school in the city, living with roommates and working as a cocktail waitress, when money was tight. I would be afraid if I had a daughter that age now -
But if if two consenting adults arrange to meet
for dinner and have sex and one of them gives the other cash, expensive gifts and a monthly allowance, isn't that prostitution?
The Sugar Daddy / Sugar Baby set up may even be a more dangerous version of prostitution, because they hook up online and don't have a pimp to act as a bodyguard.

During the course of the book I had sympathy for Natalie, the cute, immature, fumbling art student, but felt she wasn't a very reliable narrator and made some rather foolish, opportunistic decisions.

I liked the ending - it wasn't expected or even that plausible, but I think it worked.
However, I think the author did a little too much explaining at the end - all that should have been something for the reader to figure out during the course of the book.

4 Stars

There are books that make me cover my eyes in embarrassment and then there is “The Arrangement.” My oh my, this one was a doozy!

There is a website that young women can go to, one that will change their lives forever. Young women login to find a “Sugar Daddy” - a wealthy older man who will pay her for companionship - coffee dates or dinner, which can lead to even more, spending nights together and even a monthly allowance. She then becomes a “Sugar Baby.” Can you say cringeworthy.

Natalie is a young college woman who is having trouble making ends meet. She is literally destitute and is afraid her roommates are about to kick her out when she meets Ava, a girl in one of her classes who lives in a gorgeous apartment and seems to have it all. Natalie can’t help but ask how. Turns out Ava is a Sugar Baby. Natalie decides to give it a try and there, she meets Gabe. Thirty years her senior, he gives her everything she needs. Soon, she falls in love with him. Little does she know that he’s married. Tsk Tsk Natalie!

The beauty of “The Arrangement” is that Gabe can call it off at any time. Sorry Gabe.. that’s not what Natalie had in mind. Ahh, relationships these days, they are oh so complicated!

What a crazy read “The Arrangement” turned out to be! I was all in right up until about the ¾ mark - when unfortunately, I guessed the ending and felt like things went off the rails a little. All in all however, I thought this was a fun and completely wild read (even though I had to cover my eyes at the outset!).

Another fun buddy read with Kaceey!

Thank you to NetGalley, Gallery Threshold Pocket Books and Robyn Harding for an arc of this novel one exchange for an honest review.

Published on NetGalley and Goodreads on 8.3.19.

First book I’ve read by this author. The concept of a young woman becoming a sugar baby because she needs money for rent and school is very interesting.
I figured out her school mate was a sugar baby once Nat starts describing her.
There’s the suspense of who’d done it. Someone gets murdered but it can be quite a few people. It seems this is the type of world where people become obsessed or maybe they don’t want to let a good one go. Interesting read. I would recommend it.

This book isn’t great, but it was exactly what I needed this week. The writing isn’t fantastic (two separate characters have feelings in their “heart muscles” towards the back third of the book). Still, I found the somewhat predictable, “Mother May I Sleep With Danger” vibe went down like a sugary bowl of cereal on a Saturday morning. The acknowledgements discuss the amount of research the author put into getting Sugar Bowl culture correct, and sure to this low-risk lifestyle librarian it looks a tad more detailed than an SVU episode.