I received an ARC from NetGalley and I am happy to give my honest opinion.

This is my first book by this author and I really liked it. I had a hard time getting into it at first with the over the top side characters and connecting with Cade who seemed, at first, very one-dimensional. I'm glad I came back to it because it was so lovely.

Cade is the daughter of famous artists and runs their art gallery. Her whole family is loose, open to the spirits of the world, and too distracted to pay the business any mind. They call Cade their accountant daughter and a changeling. Honestly, this kind of hurt my heart. She was different than the rest of her family and got crap from them for being different, even if it was joking or gentle teasing. Her aunt dies and at the funeral she meets Selena who was a close friend of her aunt and helped run her sex toy business. Her aunt leaves the business jointly to Cade and Selena, leaving them in $100k in debt to solve in one month.

Selena is a talented artist who dropped out of art school after an affair with a professor (trigger warning: this professor was not a nice person and this relationship would definitely be categorized as abusive). She takes a vow of celibacy until she gets herself straightened out but really enjoys being a sex educator at their shop. She hates all the stuff Cade wants to change to get the business running again because it feels like she's losing a piece of her friend who died. I totally get this.

Cade comes out of her shell and she was my favorite part of this book. I wanted to gather her up in a big hug and soothe her worries away. Selena settles down a bit and tries to help Cade in the ways most tangible: entering paperwork into QuickBooks, creating a PowerPoint presentation, and feeding Cade. I loved this use of "love languages" to show the other person they cared.

In the end, this book was super sweet and really a great read. I was a little overwhelmed by the side characters and outrageousness that is Portland but that's coming from someone raised in Midwest. I wanted better for Cade and how her parents treated her and would really like to know if Cade and Selena will last given how different they are.

Thanks to Netgalley and Grand Central Publishing for the ARC of this in exchange for my honest review.

I greatly enjoyed this own-voices, sapphic romance. I’m maybe a little in love with Cade myself now. The plot was trope-filled in all the best ways, from the couple to be inheriting a adult toy store that they need to save, to some light fake-dating, and I enjoyed all of it. The chemistry was fantastic, and I love that there was buildup to the steamy scenes and that it felt special.

I thought this story was really funny and sweet - this was very evident in their conversations. I also liked the journey that both women went on - Selena “getting her shit together” and Cade accepting pleasure in all aspects of her life and how they were able to come together because of a kitschy sex toy shop. However, I felt like the POVs were a little confusing in the beginning, especially with it being a WLW story (as in both of their pronouns are she/her).

3.5 stars

This was a cute and funny book. The main characters had great banter and chemistry and were very likeable as a couple. The premise is funny and has a lot of body and sex positivity which is always appreciated. This is a short read and went by very quickly, easy to read in one sitting.

Cade is the serious professional in a family of eccentric free spirits. She hasn't dated much and isn't comfortable talking about her sex life. Selena is the complete opposite of Cade, she's an artist and very open with her thoughts and sexuality. The women fit well together, each helping the other. Selena shows Cade that it's okay to be spontaneous and Cade helps Selena realize her true worth.

I enjoyed reading this and chuckled a couple times at the character's antics. I did think the plot was fairly predictable, but it's a fun book.

I voluntarily read and reviewed this book. Thank you to Forever and NetGalley for the copy.

I love this! The cover drew me in and I knew I needed to read this book and preorder a copy. I love seeing more sapphic romance books. The premise of this is wonderful, the characters are so engaging .. everything about this book worked!

When Cade’s aunt Ruth dies, she’s given the unexpected gift of her house and a failing sex toy shop, Satisfaction Guaranteed, which she is to share with Selena, the store’s sole employee and Ruth’s friend. They have to work together to save the shop and preserve Ruth’s memory but they are very much opposites. Cade is very detail oriented, very by the book and logical, almost cold with her attention to accounts and money. She is the black sheep in her very eccentric family. Selena is very open and artistic, often doing things on a whim and following her heart instead of the same kind of logic Cade relies on.

God knows I don’t read enough sapphic romance! I was so happy to receive an egalley of this book! I love the contrast between Cade and Selena, how different they are as people yet how well they work together. Cade is the impetus, she is the driving force, but Selena is the one that keeps them going, the one that finds the meaning in things. I definitely appreciated Cade as a person and identify with her more closely but Selena is the one I admire. She’s so accepting and kind, so self assured. Cade is intelligent and she knows what she’s good at, but she’s incredibly unsure of herself in certain aspects. She doesn’t know how to fit with Selena, not at first.

Cade and Selena have one month to make enough money to pay off the store’s suppliers, amounting to $100k. It’s an insurmountable amount of money yet they keep on trying, discovering that through clever marketing tactics and the uniqueness of their shop, they can keep the dream alive, if just a few things go in their favor. Even if not everything works out, that’s okay because it just makes room for new opportunities. Though the future of the shop is looming over them, they find happiness and possibilities. Cade finds someone who makes her heart and body sing, when she’s never had that before. She’s literally never had an orgasm before, never been able to get there. I could tell she wanted to, but it was also clear that she didn’t really do her research on that front. Though that could be explained away as her being busy as a part owner of her family’s art gallery, I find it unlikely that she wouldn’t have done more. Selena finds confidence in her abilities and gets her life together, when it always felt like it was falling apart.

I enjoyed the setting of Portland, how dreary it was. Dreary and rainy and full of art. I loved the group of queer friends and how comfortable Selena is with intimacy of all sorts, sexual and otherwise. I am entirely too jealous of fictional characters! Her life made me want to move out to Portland and find a bunch of queer people and just be.

I enjoyed how comfortable this book was, how easy it was to read and fall into. It’s very much about the characters, with a little background drama to ease the story along. With a premise like this, it’s not surprising that this story is very sex positive, with some explicit scenes. It would be a great read for anyone who wants to read more queer, specifically sapphic, romance. While some pretty deep topics are covered, the story remains lighthearted and an easy read. Some topics could have been expounded upon more but I was happy with the light read.

Cade unexpectedly inherits her aunt’s sex shop and needs to save it from bankruptcy with co-owner Selena.

This was such a fun and tender opposites-attract romance. While the sex toy shop provides an entertaining setting, the book goes deeper on sexuality and being unapologetically yourself. I assumed with the store backdrop that the story was going to be more salacious, but it’s quite a slow-burn romance.

Cade and Selena were both well developed characters, each haunted by their pasts and working on healing themselves. Their chemistry was sweet and reminded you of having a crush — you get excited and swoony right beside them over the smallest touches. I love how they see one another for who they are, and love and accept the other for it.

If you’re looking for a feel-good, sex-positive romance then I highly recommend picking this up.

If you're looking for a slyly funny, sexy romance, Satisfaction Guaranteed is a perfect summer read for you. This opposites-attract story about Cade, a career-oriented, put-together professional, and Selena, a literal hot mess, who are thrown together when they together inherit a sex toy shop, was spicy and sweet, but also touched on sex positivity in a really compelling way. I tore through this book very quickly, and am grateful to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I really liked the premise for this book and was excited to read it. After loving many sex positive books such as The Roommate, The Intimacy Project, and Happy Endings, I was really excited to read about two women who end up having to co-run a sex toy shop. Alas while this story was cute and had some very funny moments, I felt like it was missing some tension/chemistry between the main characters, Cade and Selena. I loved them as individuals, but not sure how I feel about their relationship.

One thing the author does well with in this book is capturing the atmosphere of the setting and I loved almost every single character in this book, from the MCs to the side characters. They all were so unique and memorable. I just wished there had been a bit more romance to the book and it would have been a solid read.

Thank you to Netgalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I had high hopes for SATISFACTION GUARANTEED and unfortunately the book did not meet them. (I hate posting this because negative reviews feel hard!)

It’s about Cade, the 29 year old daughter of famous gallery owners. She inherits a sex toy store and has to work with Selena, her new co-owner, to try to get it out of debt.

What I liked: Like Xeni, this was a partnership of convenience book of sorts, except in this one Cade and Selena only have to work together with their inheritance, not get married. I liked how sex positive this book was.

What I didn’t like: I didn’t particularly connect with any of the characters, and in many ways the whole thing felt like a parody. Of what, I’m not exactly sure, but it sort of felt like the Portland queers thing was heavily done in a way that felt strange. I also felt like the book was trying to do a lot and things got lost.

What I loved: the author’s note at the end was particularly nice and I do feel like it helped me appreciate the book more in regards to seeing what she was trying to do.

Overall it was an easy breezy read and I’m glad this book exists in the world, it just wasn’t for me. 2.5 stars rounded up.

Thank you to @netgalley and @readforeverpub for the advanced readers’ copy!

Oh. Oh my god! I started this book last night and I BLEW through it in a day. There is so much heart and hilarity in a book that starts with a funeral.
Satisfaction Guaranteed is a lot of things. It is a Sex Shop romcom with two leads I absolutely loved in different ways. It is a book about finding yourself when you feel like you’ve lost it all. It’s reevaluating who you think you are and who you want to be. It is a story with as much heart and soul as Selena’s artwork.
While I love this book I do feel like it could have more diversity in its cast. While it is a queer romcom I would have liked more identities and people of color represented.
I love seeing these messy women find themselves and each other. Let women make mistakes! Let them try and fail and try again! I want more stories like these.
Thank you NetGalley and Forever for providing me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to Forever and Netgalley for an advanced copy of Satisfaction Guaranteed by Karelia Stetz-Waters.

Satisfaction Guaranteed is an entertaining opposites attract romance. Cade Elgin is the serious one in her pot loving hippy family and after her free spirit aunt dies she inherits her aunt's sex toy shop in Portland. Except, it's seriously in debt, she has a month to turn it around and she has been named co-inheritor with Selina, her aunt's protégé. Selina is a free spirit former artist trying to figure out her life.

I'm a big opposites attract and liked the slow burn, crush/flirting relationship between Cade & Selina throughout the book. There were a few funny scenes and this was a very sex-positive book. The book is all about being yourself and finding someone to love you for who you are.

Such a cute and good sapphic romance! The story follows Cade, an accountant from a well known art family who doesn't think she belongs, and Selena, a sex shop owner. When Cade's aunt dies, Cade and Selena both inherit the sex shop and Cade tries to help Selena revive it from potentially going under. Throughout the process, the two fall in love and have to navigate Cade's decision to stay in Portland or move back to New York, as well as Selena deciding if she wants to go back to school and pursue her dream of being an artist after her ex shattered that dream. I really enjoyed it and thought the love story was so so cute with also being open about embracing your sexuality.

Thank you to NetGalley for my advanced review copy of this fun, opposites attract, super sex positive Sapphic romance. When sex toy store owner Ruth dies, she bequeaths it to her star employee and tenant Selena and her niece Cade, hoping that together the two can turn it into a successful business. Selena is a struggling artist on a self-imposed love hiatus and Cade is a type-A accountant who hasn't had much luck in either self-love or romantic love. Together the two come together to save the store and find an amazing chemistry with one another. I really enjoyed the journey these two went on and how explicitly the author writes about discovering one's own body and desires. There are definitely some steamier/graphic open door scenes so beware if that's not your thing. A great book to read especially during pride month, recommended for fans of One last stop, Honey Girl or Written in the stars

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with the e-arc of this book. This one is definitely added to my list of all time favorites! The story follows Cade as she inherits her aunt's sex store after her aunt's death. She is tasked with the job to save the store, as its very close to shutting down, along with her new partner Selena. While they work together to save the store, they quickly realize the growing attraction they feel for one another.

This book was just overall amazing. Cade and Selena are great, they're complete opposites which ends up making them complement each other and make an awesome couple. They're both so unique and the author really gives both of them room to grow and change throughout the novel. Also, there's a lot of talk surrounding sex in a positive light! I cannot recommend this book enough, it was so good!

https://www.instagram.com/p/CPiipAOr8sv/

Thanks to Forever + NetGalley for the e-ARC of SATISFACTION GUARANTEED by Karelia Stetz-Waters, expected pub date 6/1/21.

Rom-coms are my favorite and SATISFACTION GUARANTEED is a perfect example of why I love them - characters I root for, storylines I want to see in literature (FF romances are needed, especially good ones like this), smart + sexy is not mutually exclusive, and a storyline I do not want to put down.

I highly recommend!

A sapphic rom-com that will make you both swoon and shake with laughter. Cade and Selena are forced into a business relationship when they co-inherit Cade’s aunt’s sex toy store in Portland. Cade--an only child who’s been the driving force behind her parents’ super successful NYC art gallery, is always responsible, business-minded, content and set in her routine. She’s finding out that she’s craving connection more than she lets on.

Selena is an art-school dropout who found a second mom in Cade’s aunt and her “found family” in Portland. Cade’s interest in Selena is immediately piqued during her aunt’s funeral when Selena delivers a very original eulogy. When the pair is forced to work together to try to save 'Satisfaction Guaranteed’, they both try to resist the instant “vibe” between them. It’s an opposites attract/kinda fake relationship situation that will leave you totally satisfied. I love the Elgin family, the story, the romance, the steam--all of it. If you’re a rom-com fan who enjoys a good balance of romance and comedy, this is one you won’t want to miss. Thanks to Forever Pub and NetGalley for a digital review copy.

This author was a first for me and I was pleasantly surprised. Cade has traveled out from her home in NYC to Portland for the funeral of her aunt. She learns that she inherits half of her aunt's property, including her home and her sex toy shop. The other half has been given to Selena, a friend and co-worker of Cade's aunt who also lives on the same property the house is located on.

This is an opposites attract sapphic rom-com. Cade is serious and disciplined in every aspect of her life. Selena is more free with her feelings and experiences. While I did like how their relationship developed and thought the characters were well written, the chemistry wasn't 100% there for me. I did love the sex-positivity in the book and the openness and acceptance that is needed so much in the world today. I enjoyed the setting of Portland and the art descriptions in the book. I laughed out loud at several points and found this to be a fast, entertaining read. There are sweet and serious moments in the book that make this an overall good book that I would definitely recommend to those who are looking for that open, sex-positive, sapphic romance.

4.25 Stars. This was a fun read. I’m not the biggest rom-com book fan, but I took a chance since I have read some of Stetz-Waters books before, plus the blurb caught my eye. I’m glad I gave it chance because this was a nice, lighthearted read that made me smile and ended up being the best book I have read that was written by Stetz-Waters.

This is an opposites attract, but also a relative dies and leaves you something, romance. Does that trope have an official name? It’s such a common trope in WLW fiction but I can’t think of the name and I know that “dead relative” trope isn’t that great so I’ll just call this the “inheritance” trope for now. What made this trope more entertaining for me is that it’s not just about a house or money, it’s that the characters are left a sex shop. Try to imagine a laid-back artist and a responsible accountant having to figure out how to save a sex toy shop together. Well, I’m sure you can imagine how this turned into a fun romance.

Stetz-Waters' writing felt really good in this book. While there were a few things that were a little over the top –that was some of the ‘com’ part in this rom-com- but I enjoyed it all and I read this in one sitting. The main characters are super cute together and I loved seeing them really discover what each had to offer and it turned into a sweet romance. There is a little angst in the book but this is a mostly feel-good romance.

I only had two little issues. There was a part when Cade was discussing making the shop more inclusive for everyone, not just cis-women, and it bothered me how Selena completely dismissed it since it seemed unlike who her character was, and it never was addressed again. Last small complaint is that while the main characters were great, I was not big on the secondary ones. The friends were really 2D-ish and I could not tell them apart easily. Plus, the parents and the ex were a little too cartoonish for me. Luckily, this book really is about the two mains and their journey of discovering themselves and each other so secondary characters just weren’t that important.

All in all I had a lot of fun with this read. I had a smile on my face most of the time and I just enjoyed it. While things were a little zany or a little over the top at times, I didn’t take things too seriously and I just had fun. This book had a nice warmth and sweetness to it that I really enjoyed. I think rom-com fans that don’t mind a book with a lot of sex toys in it, will enjoy this one too.

I am so pleased to have had the opportunity to read this book. It's always fun to read books set in places I know and love, but the Portland setting here was extra special. I laughed out loud at some of the rainy weather references. (We really do rejoice in dry, grey days in winter.) And the Keep Portland Weird vibe is absolutely part of what makes this city.

Cade inherits a Portland-based sex toy shop from her aunt, and with it, Selena as a business partner. But the shop, Satisfaction Guaranteed, is in bad shape, and they only have a month to make it profitable.

This book is so beautiful and defies a lot of potential stereotypes. Selena teaches sex ed at the store, and that positivity pervades the book. Cade has never felt she fits in her family. Their relationship is so special, as they see the best in each other.

I also really loved all of the side characters, both in Portland and Cade's friend Amy in New York. They created an excellent and supportive community.

Thank you to Forever and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy. These opinions are my own.