Sugar Daddy by Lisa Kleypas

SHE'S FROM THE WRONG SIDE OF THE TRACKS

Liberty Jones has dreams and determination that will take her far away from Welcome, Texas - if she can keep her wild heart from ruling her mind. Hardy Cates sees Liberty as completely off-limits. His own ambitions are bigger than Welcome, and Liberty Jones is a complication he doesn't need. But something magical and potent draws them to each other, in a dangerous attraction that is stronger than both of them.

HE'S THE ONE MAN SHE CAN'T HAVE

When Hardy leaves town to pursue his plans, Liberty finds herself alone with a young sister to raise. Soon Liberty finds herself under the spell of a billionaire tycoon - a Sugar Daddy, one might say. But the relationship goes deeper than people think, and Liberty begins to discover secrets about her own family's past.

WILL THEY FIND THEIR HEARTS' DESIRES OR WILL HEARTBREAK TEAR THEM APART?

Two men. One woman. A choice that can make her or break her. A woman you'll root for every step of the way. A love story you'll never forget.

So here's a test for a book! I read it weeks ago but only wrote down a couple of notes of my thoughts...so can I remember enough to write a review! Actually, I don't think it is too bad. It must be a sign of a good book that you can recall it fairly well after this length of time.

As everyone is no doubt aware, this was historical romance darling Lisa Kleypas' first foray into contemporary romance. Given how much I have enjoyed just about all of Kleypas' books that I have read, I was pretty confident that I would enjoy this one.

Reading the first part of the novel, I did begin to wonder whether or not the book was actually going to turn out to be a romance at all, because it is very unusual to get first person background for a character in the way that we did in this book. We hear about Liberty's youth and childhood, and in particular the effect of her life when she had to become the carer for her much younger sister Carrington. Also, we meet Hardy, the older teen that Liberty comes to love, in what is pretty much an unfulfilled relationship, because Hardy is determined not to capitulate to the cliches as so many others have done in their home town of Welcome, Texas. Hardy is determined to be something.

Having moved to Houston with Carrington, Liberty has a couple of pieces of luck and she begins to make her way through life. She eventually meets an older gentleman by the name of Churchill Travis, and I began to shudder - surely, surely not...this couldn't be what the title kind of implied! Churchill ends up being more of a guardian angel than a sugar daddy (thank goodness), offering Liberty a job, and both Liberty and Carrington a place to stay. Churchill's son, Gage, is particularly concerned by Liberty's motives in getting so involved in his father's life, but it isn't long before sparks begin to fly between Liberty and Gage.

In the last third of the book, the romance aspect definitely kicks in, and all looks to be smooth sailing, until just as Liberty begins to trust her feelings for Gage, Hardy shows up again, and this time he's ready for love, and Liberty needs to figure out her feelings and choose between two very different men.

I did think Hardy was a bit presumptuous waltzing into Liberty's life and expecting her to choose him, but I did think that Gage was a great match for Liberty.

One thing though...to me it did feel like a bit of a historical romance novel epilogue! But I guess some habits are hard to break!

As well as the upcoming release featuring Cam who made a brief appearance in Devil in Winter, there apparently is going to be another contemporary novel from Lisa Kleypas. I will be reading both of them! I do have just a few more of her historicals to read at some point to, but I am just about caught up on her backlist I think.

Rating 4/5