This was not what I was expecting, but I still enjoyed it. There was a lot of promise: a free spirit mixed with a quiet rule follower, forced proximity, and fake dating? Rom Com gold! This was not a comedy. The story starts with a funeral, and keeps that heavy tone most of the way through, not that it is dark or sad. I would categorize it as more of a Chick Lit about growing up. The intention might have been that by revolving the story around an adult toy store that hilarity would ensue and you get a couple moments of Cade being awkward and Selena oversharing but thats it.

I really liked both Cade and Selena as characters. I enjoyed following Selena as she learned to stand up for herself and take a bit more control in getting her adult life organized. I loved Cade's personality and her journey to gain confidence in herself after being insulted by her parents her entire life; her parents who she essentially financially babysits. I did not enjoy that concept of Cade and Selena together. They did not work for me as a couple, I actually thought getting together held both of them back.

Cade's family is toxic and they treat her poorly. If it were not for her parents fame boosting Cade's career, I would say she should leave them. Instead of finding a partner who shares her hobbies and with whom she could relate, she finds Selena, who is basically the daughter her parents wish they had.

Selena is on a journey to make a life for herself as an adult. Cade's aunt Ruth was a mother figure for Selena, even giving her a place to live and a job. When Ruth dies, Ruth traps Cade and Selena together, allowing Selena to transfer her reliance on Ruth to Selena. I don't see what Selana has to offer Cade - anything Selena could contribute to the relationship about taking life one day at a time and relaxing, Cade's parents already have covered.

This was a romance novel where I was not in favour of the romance pairing.

It took me quite awhile to get into this one. I wasn’t sure where the storyline was going and which character was which, but I totally knew where the trope was headed.
Cade has a past of very little relationships whereas her new co-owner of her late Aunts sex shop has a wild past and is celebrating a year of celibacy to find herself.
These two couldn’t be more different, yet there is something brewing between them...

Satisfaction Guaranteed follows Cade and Serena as they navigate the tumultuous chore of keeping Ruth's feminist sex shop afloat after she passes. There are so many things this book does well. Discussions on female pleasure, the easy inclusion of sex toys in non-het relationships, and life after loss. This is a beautiful and funny sapphic love story.

Review posted on GoodReads (June 7th, 2021)
Review linked.

4/5 stars!

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Forever for sending me an E-ARC of this book for an honest review.

To say I was excited for this book would be an understatement. I read the synopsis a few months ago and knew it was going to be such a cute romance. And I was right! It was an adorable, emotional, strong, and super fun romance to read. I read this book in one sitting. I could not put it down. I really fell in love with both of our main characters, Cade and Selena. I loved how sex positive this book was, and I found that the story made me laugh, cry, and love alongside the characters.

I do recommend this book to anyone who loves adult romance!

Thanks for reading!
Caden

This book was SO cute! I sped through it because the story sucked me in so quickly. Cade and Selena were both fantastic characters and I found their connection totally believable and sweet. The premise of this story had me thinking it would go in a much different direction, but it ended up being so wholesome and reassuring. I liked that we had a butch lesbian character with a bisexual femme character that didn't fall into stereotypes--they were entirely unique and special, and I loved their connection. This is definitely a new comfort read that I'll be returning to when I need it. there were a few plot inconsistencies in the ARC I read, but I believe that they'll be corrected. Overall this is such a sweet read with a gorgeous romance!

Satisfaction Guaranteed is the kind of rom-com that I think will work for a lot of people, but unfortunately doesn’t for me. I know I say it all the time, but seriously: it’s not you, it’s me.

I knew from the first two chapters that this wasn’t going to be for me, but I still read and finished it with ease, and some parts were genuinely enjoyable. That’s absolutely a testament to the author’s talent and the book’s vibes (very good), but also one to how fickle it might be. I’m a firm advocate for sex positivity & inclusive, diverse, and healthy sex education. I absolutely believe there is nothing wrong with having sex, and also nothing wrong with not having sex. I’ve been known to say “say maybe to drugs”, for Christ’s sake, and that’s only half a joke! So it’s not like the topics covered were taboo or anything. It’s not even really that they were discussed, it’s the way they were.

Honestly, I don’t know if I could put my finger on it, but if I had to guess, I’d say it’s the way meaningful conversations about the why of those things were skipped over. Drugs and alcohol can be dangerous, especially when taken regularly, especially when done so with abandon. Sex can be dangerous too, depending on the type of mental and/or physical state you’re in, or simply the type of person you are. And those things are very important to acknowledge not despite of but in tandem with sex positivity & drug legalization. I understand that not every book that covers these topics has to delve into the nitty gritty of sexuality and consent for every single person. I just wish that, in this case in particular, it had been done a little bit more.

Beyond that, I honestly don’t have much to say. This was not a bad book by any means, but for me, it wasn’t anything super special (which isn’t a bad thing!). I think for people who like, for example, Christina Lauren and Talia Hibbert and Casey McQuiston, this could be totally worth the read. It’s cute, it’s fun, and it is meaningful at some parts in ways I’m very grateful for that made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

With its quirky humour, sex-positivity, and lovable characters, this book was a joy to read. Beginning with the most hilariously inappropriate eulogy, the opposites-attract dynamic between Cade and Selena continued to deliver some laughs and tender moments as they combine forces to save their inherited sex toy store.

I loved the delicate way this romance formed. Moments of grief were perfectly balanced with humour, thanks to the eccentric store and candidness from Selena. It also explores female pleasure in a really informative way that I’ve never seen in a romance.

I’ll admit that I initially struggled to make sense of everything happening, especially with the art gallery subplot, but I quickly became invested in these two memorable characters. The conflict was subtle and realistic, which felt like a perfect fit to the story. Selena and Cade truly brought out the best in each other!

A beautiful slow burn romance between a sex toy shop worker (former artist) and an art gallery manager. Both have inherited this sex toy store at Cade's aunt's death. Cade had the business sense with her work at the art gallery and Selena had the customer and product background. But the quirky beautiful earthiness of Cade's family, I can only infer her Aunt was trying to arrange for these two to have a close proximity romance and knew they would be perfect for eachother.

Cade is a pragmatist in a store full of sex toys had never had or given an orgasm. In a way she was ashamed of this as Selena was gorgeous and spoke of sex so casually. Selena openly shared everything and was trying to impress Cade who was famous in the art world. Selena who was currently celibate.

Both of these women were so vulnerable but each had put eachother on a pedestal secretly not thinking they were good enough. It's so hard being privvy to both of their thoughts when they don't tell eachother their feelings. Just cross your fingers and know the anticipation actually makes it so much better. 

I loved these characters. They tried so hard to save this sex toy store I forgot to mention it was really far in debt with little finger to turn it around. There was also a horrible art college teacher that took advantage of Selena's trust and youth to get her to quit. Ugh I hate disgusting people in "power". She was so toxic and she revelled in it. 

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐💫
Steam: 🔥🔥

Thank you readforever and net galley for the e-ARC for my honest and voluntary review.

I really need to read more sapphic romances because this was a lot of fun! I'm a big fan of the books that Forever Romance publishes, so I was excited to get to this one.

I almost DNFed this within the first two chapters though - for some reason the main characters didn't click for me. I was a bit confused about what was happening during the funeral because Selena had a lot of friends right off the bat. I think it was more that I was sleepy when I started reading, read like 2% of the book, and couldn't remember much of the intro portions when I started reading it again. I'm so glad I stuck with it though.

When Ruth Elgin passes away in Portland, Oregon, her niece and her roommate/coworker end up getting joint ownership of Ruth's house and sex toy shop. The only problem? Cade is a gallery owner with her parents in NYC and doesn't want to live in Portland for a month... especially because the sex toy shop is majorly in debt. She may be a brilliant businesswoman, but it seems beyond the point of saving. Selena, on the other hand, is committed to turning things around in honor of Ruth's memory. She's also out of a place to live if Ruth's house gets taken away as well.

Cade and Selena feel sparks starting to fly as the work together to see if they can fix the abysmal state of the sex toy shop. They both have reasons for hesitating on beginning a romance and luckily there was a good amount of communication between the two throughout. I liked how in tune with each other they were and how much chemistry they had. Both of them had personal issues to deal with as well, so they felt like fully fleshed-out characters with lives outside of their budding relationship.

For some reason, I even cried at the end of this one. It was just a super sweet story where I slowly fell for the characters as they fell for each other. I really wanted them to be happy and make it.

This book might as well have been written for me. You absolutely cannot go wrong with a sapphic, opposites attract romance set in an indie Portland sex shop. I was instantly intrigued by the two main characters, Cade and Selena. They are complete opposites in almost every way but both super interesting and fairly well developed. I also am just obsessed that Cade is compared to Megan Rapinoe. Swoon.

The background of Portland, with the art festivals and sexpos and burlesque troops, was a super fun part of this book, as were the supporting characters. The slow burn was just slow enough to be satisfying but not frustrating. The author had me rooting for the store to succeed by the end too. I think both characters had really important and realistic growth by the end of the book as well, which was very satisfying.

The only criticisms I have for this book is that some of it was overwritten and cheesy, which is expected for a rom com but this was a little much. The sex scene descriptions were this way as well, but it still didn't take away from the book as a whole. I also didn't love the way the characters acted when Cade went to New York, it seemed completely counteractive to all of the growth they had achieved over the book. I think they could have had a better way to get back together. Still, it didn't take away from my enjoyment of the book as a whole.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend it for a quick, fun, sapphic rom com read.


Thank you to Netgalley and Forever for giving me a chance to read an ARC of this book.

The setting of this book was very creative, and I loved that the two main characters seem to compliment each other well. I enjoyed this book overall, though at time it moved a bit slow. Selena drove me nuts sometimes with how she was clinging to a bad system for the shop, but I though that was realistic. I would have been as horrified as Cade by the clutter, so I definitely felt that tension.

I loved that Selena was an artist, and I thought the abusive relationship was handled sensitively. Cade’s own history of sexual issues was complex and realistic. I wanted the ending to play out slightly differently, but I love how Cade support Selena without overshadowing her or taking over. Overall, it was an enjoyable read.

Words escape me. . . such a beautiful novel telling the story of two stunningly brilliant ladies who are mourning the loss of a mutual loved one. Cade Elgin, the niece of Ruth, a put-together art gallery manager, athletic and the proverbial "black" sheep of the family. Cades parents (and her Aunt Ruth) are free spirits, hippies, pot smoking, life of the party, left the spirits guide them type of people and Cade is the exact opposite, hence black sheep, though her family is quite supportive of whatever she does, they just wish she would go with the flow a bit more.
Selena is an art school drop-out, but she is also so much more. She is the most talented painter, a sex educator, a goddess amongst her friends, a small town gal and she was Ruth's roommate and employee at Satisfaction Guaranteed. Satisfaction Guaranteed is a sex toy and gift store that sells everything from adult toys to fur cats to tea cups to merman Christmas tree ornaments.
Cade and Selena meet at Ruth's funeral. Both end up speaking and of course both notice one another. Selena notices Cade because of who she is, Ruth's niece, Ruth's beautiful, well put together, well spoken attractive niece who should have visited her aunt more. And Care notices Selena because she has a memorable eulogy, and because she is a gorgeous goddess with flowing dark hair in purple fur.
Without telling the absolutely beautiful story of Satisfaction Guaranteed just know it is heart-warming, sweet, funny, sexy and a whole lot of fun. It is also well written, the character development is wonderful and I was left wanting to read more about the rest of the characters, the rest of the Cade's story, the rest off Selena's story and so on.

Thank you so much for letting me read and review! I really appreciated the sex positivity in this book, and the characters were so easy to like. I rated this 3.5/5 stars. Sometimes the plot jumped around a little bit and wasn’t super smooth, but I still enjoyed it.

4.25

Enjoyed this book. It was a bit hard to like Selena as she was a little ‘out there’, just like Cade’s family, for me. Kind of how Cade was so ‘buttoned up’, Selena was the opposite.

What I liked:
The MC’s learning to like & love themselves.
Open dialogue about sex, sexuality, consent.
Using proper terms. Vulva!
Selena and her vow of celibacy. (Reasons for it and that it wasn’t ‘broken’ when they became intimate.)

My favourite part was what the author wrote in the Readers Group part.

A huge thank you to Forever Publishing and NetGalley for the free advanced copy of this book!
.
So many of my recent favorite reads have been Forever titles, so I need little else to know that I want to read a novel beyond that Forever has chosen to publish it. That said, this wasn't my favorite title to date. I felt an instant connection to Cade, but this also caused me to feel alienated as basically she is considered an outcast by every other character in the book. I had a hard time finding any common footing with Selena, Selena's friends, or Cade's family. I felt like I could see what was coming pretty early on in the novel, but this is also a contemporary romance, so I won't say that a happy ending is ever unexpected or unwanted.
.
I loved how sex positive the whole novel was, particularly when it comes to women's pleasure. While those might be words I never thought I'd type, I also strongly believe that these topics shouldn't be taboo in society and we should embrace the openness that Stetz-Waters did as she was writing. Selena is very particular about using the correct vocabulary when discussing anatomy, which is vitally important and is done in such a simple way, but makes a huge impact. I loved the care in which Stetz-Waters built this world and these characters. I may have hoped for more twists and turns along the way, but overall a solidly written romance.

Cade and Selena are forced to work together after they each inherit 50% of a failing sex toy shop owned by Cade's aunt and Selena's mentor, Ruth. They have they're own reasons for trying to avoid the attraction that is building between them.

I loved the way lthe grief Selena felt after Ruth's passing was handled. It was a really beautiful story of love growing in the wake of personal tragedy.

Interesting premise and I was definitely looking for a sapphic romance but I found I wasn’t as invested in the characters as I’d hoped. They were both a bit of the stereotype “free spirit” and “buttoned up all business” type and I felt like they could have been a bit more three dimensional. I was interested in knowing more about how Cade coped with her true free spirit family and more about Selena the artist.

Their relationship felt connected and not contrived and their eventual HEA/HFN worked.

The secondary characters weren’t as fleshed out for me either.

Satisfaction Guaranteed follows two women, Cade Elgin and Selena Mathis, who inherit a dying sex shop in Portland from Cade’s aunt. Cade is a sophisticated, level-headed woman with a career in New York City she can’t wait to get back to. Selena is an eccentric sweetheart who cares so much about everything. Cade thinks Selena to have an infuriating lack of sense when it comes to business, and an infuriating ability to turn her on. Selena finds it hard to ignore the feelings she has for Cade as the two of them work to save the shop.

This book has everything I was expecting out of a sex shop romance- sex positivity, female empowerment, self-love, and so much more. I was really in the mood for a light rom com and this totally fit the bill for me! It was so much fun, and I couldn’t put it down!

I loved the two main characters so much. I loved Selena because she was free-spirited and extremely open and positive about sex. I really enjoyed her blunt way of talking about sex, because it is something that should be talked about openly and honestly. Cade was someone who is considered boring by her family because she is “uptight”, and her family are weed-loving hippy types. I also really liked the juxtaposition of Selena and Cade’s personalities, because it really showed how they brought out the best in each other as their relationship strengthened throughout the book.

I felt that the romance between Selena and Cade was really natural and fun, and I just kept wanting to read more! Cade’s sexual history (not being able to orgasm and had been kicked out of bed by partners for not being good at sex) mixed with Selena’s celibacy vow (she did not want to use sex to distraction/coping mechanism) led to some really tender and sweet interactions. Their interactions were so well written, and I was extremely pleased with their steamy scenes as well!

The thing that really stood out to me about this book was the underlying theme of accepting and loving yourself, even when you’re different or think less of yourself. This is something that I think everyone has struggled with, and Stetz-Waters really writes a beautiful narrative about how important loving yourself is. Writing about a sex shop seemed weird at first, but as I read the book, I realized it wasn’t so much about the sex shop, it was about learning about yourself (and your body).

I will absolutely be on the lookout for Stetz-Waters books in the future! If you like rom coms, or LGBT+ books, this should be added to your TBR ASAP!

Satisfaction Guaranteed is the sex positive sapphic romance book I needed in my life this summer.

After Ruth died of cancer, she willed her sex shop in Portland, Satisfaction Guaranteed, to her niece, Cade, and her business partner, Selena. There's one problem, the shop is one step away from going into bankruptcy and her house is in trouble too since used it to help with the shop. Cade and Selena have 30 days to turn the finances around or they'll be saying goodbye to both. Cade is okay with this since she lives in NYC and is in charge of her parent's art gallery. Selena wants to save the shop; however, as it was her port against the storm when her life started to fall apart due to an ex-girlfriend. As Cade and Selena start working together, they find they have more in common. As they say opposites due attract.

There is just so much to love about this book. I love the banter between Cade and Selena and how Selena would sometimes push just enough buttons on Cade to make her blush. They really did make each other better in the month they spent together too. Are aspects of this relationship unrealistic? Yes but also it's a romance novel. Reading the acknowledgements and inspiration for the novel made me love it a little more. I love that Karelia Stetz-Waters thanks the sex shops she used for research as well. I will definitely be jumping into Karelia's backlist and look forward to what she writes for us next.

Thank you to Netgalley and Forever Pub for a chance to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

Edgy bantering turned to gentle flirting turned to steamy romance!

This book was real edgy, steamy, laugh out read that I zipped through in a day!
Cade, an uptight art gallery owner is forced to save her aunt’s dying sex toy shop along with Selena, a carefree artist who is also a sex educator!

It was really enjoyable to read these polar opposite females having their non stop bantering and eventually opening up to each other with their wants and desire! This book has a very body positive message, that I loved about!

I highly recommend this quirky, funny, edgy and sexy book to everyone out there looking to find sex and body positive message! It hit shelves on June 1, 2021

Thank you @readforeverpub and @netgalley for the #gifted copy of this book in exchange of my honest review!