Sugar Daddy by Lisa Kleypas

4 Stars!
Amazon link- Sugar Daddy by Lisa Kleypas

*Reviewed by Alyssa*

To sum it up: 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.

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.

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...


This was my first Lisa Kleypas book, and let me just say- it won't be my last! I was thoroughly impressed with her writing style, and she truly did write a beautiful story when she wrote Sugar Daddy... note that I said story... not LOVE story. Sure, the book might have revolved around her love for a man that she's never been able to have, but I just didn't feel like I got heavily into the romance aspect until I was a little more than half-way through the book. The first half of the book walks us through the heroine's life during adolescence. However, the romance and conflict that took place during the last half of the book seemed a little too rushed for my taste. The scenes between Hardy and Liberty were few and far between, unfortunately. I just couldn't help but feeling not only disappointed, but a little frustrated that so little of the book involved the two of them together. As for Gage and Liberty's relationship, I just felt that there love story should have been longer and more detailed. When Gage first meets Liberty, he absolutely can't stand the sight of her- yet after only a few pages or so later, his feelings have magically changed, and now he's in love with her. It just seemed as if there feelings for each other were nothing stronger than lust. Everything about their relationship just seemed to fall into place too quickly, and too nicely wrapped up, if you know what I mean.

This book just wasn't so heavy a romance novel, as it was just a good old-fashioned story. And unfortunately for me, that's enough to take away some stars. One thing about this book that seemed a bit too over-the-top, is how descriptive everything was. And I mean EVERYTHING. From the inside decor of a fancy restaurant, to a cashmere throw- it just got to be a little too much, and I found myself wanting to skim through quite a bit, just to get back to the main story-line. To be fair, maybe that's one thing fans of Lisa Kleypas love about her writing- for me though, it just became over-bearing.

Hardy was put on such a high pedestal in this story, that I found it disappointing to see that he turned out to be much more absorbed in his business endeavors, than he was about Liberty. Let's just say that it was pretty obvious that Kleypas used this as an easy way out, in order to achieve that happy ending we all crave. After the amount of time that was invested into the whole Liberty and Hardy storyline, I couldn't help but feel a little cheated with how neatly packaged the story wrapped up. With that being said though... I can't wait to read Blue Eyed Devil- instead of only glimpses and a few short scenes involving Hardy, we get to read his entire story! ...*sigh*... I think that more than makes up for his lack of appearance in Sugar Daddy!

All-in-all, I felt that this book was more "chick-lit" than romance, considering that we really don't see the romance come into full effect until you're more than half-way through the book. I did still enjoy reading about Liberty's life journey, but let's face it: when you're an avid romance fan, it's a big bummer when you come to find out that it takes a backseat in the book. All of the negative criticism aside though, I still felt that this was a good read- it felt deeper than your average romance novel, even though at times, I was left wishing for a little more of this, and a little less of that. Regardless though, Lisa Kleypas has a gift for story-telling, whether it's filled with full-fledged romance or not.