Review of Satisfaction Guaranteed by Karelia Stetz-Waters

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. The last small complaint is that while the main characters were great, I was not big on the secondary ones. The friends were really two-dimensional-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. 4.25 Stars.

An ARC was given to me for a review.