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midnightmarauder's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Sugar, Baby by Celine Saintclaire follows Agnes, a young woman in her early 20s who's trying to find herself. She feels stagnated in her life, as she's working a dead-end job as a maid for rich residents. The daughter of one of her clients, Emily, sees Agnes' disdain and offers her an alternative: sugaring.
Agnes grew up in a household where she was raised by her single mother, Constance, alongside her sister, Marlena, in a boring town Agnes calls "The Wasteland". Constance, a very religious woman, sheltered her daughters as much as possible and didn't really allow them much room to fly away from the nest. This caused Agnes to resent her and the life she had to live under her mother's watchful eye, which eventually lead her into sugaring.
Agnes' decision to go into sugaring was definitely something she did initially to spite her mother. After getting caught in a lie about her whereabouts, Constance puts Agnes out . She has nowhere to go other than Emily's apartment in London that she shares with shares with three other girls/sugar babies: Yomawu, Sara, and Kiki. There, she is able to continue her endeavors with no judgement. Eventually, she grew to somewhat enjoy it.
This book covered a lot of different themes. Aside from the theme of parental rebellion, another theme that was explored in the novel was how wanting a better life for yourself could lead you into destructive paths. At first, sugaring wasn't so bad to Agnes. She found one consistent person, Matthew, who she was able to explore with, alongside getting paid. But,once that fell through , finding someone else to fill that void took some more effort. The contrast between the amount of work it took for Agnes to make money from sugaring in comparison to her counterparts (i.e., Emily and the rest of the girls in the flat) was pretty big. Especially the amount of effort that her white counterparts (Emily and Sara) had to contribute. Sugaring also became stressful for Agnes when she eventually started to feel overwhelmed at being treated like a sexual object instead of a person (an aspect of sugaring that initially made her reluctant to try it).
Agnes grew up in a household where she was raised by her single mother, Constance, alongside her sister, Marlena, in a boring town Agnes calls "The Wasteland". Constance, a very religious woman, sheltered her daughters as much as possible and didn't really allow them much room to fly away from the nest. This caused Agnes to resent her and the life she had to live under her mother's watchful eye, which eventually lead her into sugaring.
Agnes' decision to go into sugaring was definitely something she did initially to spite her mother. After getting caught in a lie about her whereabouts,
This book covered a lot of different themes. Aside from the theme of parental rebellion, another theme that was explored in the novel was how wanting a better life for yourself could lead you into destructive paths. At first, sugaring wasn't so bad to Agnes. She found one consistent person, Matthew, who she was able to explore with, alongside getting paid. But,
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Grief, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Classism
Minor: Body shaming
dionnesims's review
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
a fantastic debut novel. a Black sugar baby with religious trauma is such a great concept and it's pulled off with nuance and without shame. the writing style is one I had to warm up to, by now I can't wait to read anything else this author writes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Classism
Moderate: Eating disorder and Panic attacks/disorders
spaghettireads's review against another edition
dark
funny
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Alcohol
lcdavenport's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Sexual content, and Alcohol
bethantg's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
An interesting concept but unfortunately lacks insight — lots of themes broached, very few explored in much depth. I liked the relationships between Agnes and Marlena, but would have liked more on her relationships with her friends. The girls from the flat are introduced in a pretty one-dimensional way, which is clever in that it makes them easy to differentiate between, but disappointingly they stay like this throughout — even Emily and Yomawu, who I really think had a lot more potential for development.
The thing that sticks in my head is the bit about Agnes' Instagram account, since it was built up quite a bit and had no actual pay-off; this maybe would have been more worthwhile if Agnes and Jess' argument and relationship had been developed more, but instead Agnes just talks about feeling a bit miffed with Jess and then changes her mind, when her initial annoyance isn't really given any explanation either. She didn't seem annoyed, then said later that she was, then as I say she just changes her mind. There are lots of characters but even the main character lacks consistency and well-roundedness. It's very unfortunate as I think this book could have done something really interesting if it was just more fleshed-out and polished.
The writing was very easy to read for the most part, but was sometimes way too conversational. I will say that the visual descriptions were done really well — easy to picture without taking away from the story — so I could often be properly immersed in the setting. I just wish this was the same for the characters.
The writing was very easy to read for the most part, but was sometimes way too conversational. I will say that the visual descriptions were done really well — easy to picture without taking away from the story — so I could often be properly immersed in the setting. I just wish this was the same for the characters.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Infidelity, Sexual content, and Alcohol
Minor: Racism, Sexism, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
damaso194's review against another edition
funny
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I think this book is very sad. Very plot driven and sort of feels like the MC gets caught up in what’s happening but doesn’t have much development in her character? She emotionally is right back where she started at the end of the book- it’s a sad story to read but a good book
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Alcohol
laurakfinnegan's review
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Sexual assault, and Sexual content
Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Toxic relationship, and Alcohol
Minor: Body shaming
noshinbean's review
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Infidelity, Sexual content, Religious bigotry, Alcohol, and Classism
Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Blood, and Abandonment
erynelle's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
+ a somewhat dark but fun and humorous account of a sugar baby’s experiences. Saintclare exposes the realities of seemingly glamorous lives, as well as the fact that, at the end of the day, sugaring is sex work and it can take a toll.
+ I like that Saintclare chose to focus on the relationships between the sugar babies, and the importance they had in each others lives.
+ I like that Saintclare chose to focus on the relationships between the sugar babies, and the importance they had in each others lives.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Alcohol
sallie_ees's review
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use and Alcohol