I feel like I read a draft, so I genuinely thought I accidentally received that in the ebook format. The writing was so repetitive with the same similes and phrases used nearly every page. For the first 15-20% of the book, I thought this would be a 4 star read. By the end, I flew through this because nearly ever sentence and scene was the same. Maybe it was supposed to represent her losing her autonomy and voice, but it didn’t necessarily read that way. The words “raw” and phrases like “time stretched thin,” were used over and over and over.

Besides that, her actions made little sense. There wasn’t enough plot showing the desperation of her situation for it to feel somewhat reasonable as to why she’d agree to this. Same with how quickly the abuse happens, so the pacing was off. Her OCD and mental illness wasn’t explored in-depth, and I thought it’d play a bigger role which is a bummer because it may have helped her motivations make more sense. Her friendship and conflict with Kennedy was hollow.

This was a great premise, but the repetitive writing, lack of character development, and the pacing was unfortunate. The last 5-10% felt so fast, and there didn’t seem to be enough real character development for it to be compelling. It didn’t feel empowering either.

I’m in the minority with this opinion, it seems, so I may have just missed the point. This is 2-2.5 stars for me.

I don't even know where to begin on this book.

We follow Gia, a 30 year old down on her luck after she is fired from her job. She is estranged from her father, has no other family, and has one friend from college whose life has taken a completely different path than hers. She has struggled to maintain long term relationships. When she gets an eviction notice, she decides to take drastic measures and meets up with a potential sugar daddy. From there, things take a shocking, horrifying, and unexpected turn.

I struggle to say any more than that about the plot of the book, because I think its best to go in blind. But do heed the TWs. This is not for the faint of heart.

I have recently ordered Mia Ballard's other release, Sugar, on multiple recommendations. Curious to see how that one is.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the early copy.