Rock bottom would be a step– or three–UP from where I am right now… A year ago, I had it all and now I’m just grateful for a part time, minimum wage job scrubbing the gas station bathroom and a cot to crash on in my aunt’s garage. I’ve never been the kind of girl that looks for a man to pay her bills for her, but right about now I sure could use a sugar daddy. Too bad I’m too old for that … too old for that now– or am I?
He’s everything I could hope for: Rich, smart, easy to be around, and smokin’ hot! He’s offering me a fabulous beach front condo, a chance to finish my education and restart my career, and a life of high end cocktail parties, celebrity-studded charity fund-raisers, and gallery openings on the arm of a successful private art broker.
To bad he made it clear that we’re strictly platonic– all business. Because Brighton Ford is the kind of sugar daddy that Cinderella fantasies are made of.
—
Dipping a Toe in Sugar is a quick read that follows on couple to their happily ever after, high on cute, low on drama with a little naughty thrown in for fun and absolutely no cliff hanger ending.
more
Omg Rocklyn has another hit on her hands. This book has all the warm and fuzzies and funny with a side of spice oh my lord that was some kind of heat to. I’ve read all of her stories and I’ve yet to find one I didn’t love her stories are just what you need after a long day. I’d definitely recommend one clicking this.
3.5 stars. This is a quick story of a woman down on her luck & looking to start fresh. Paula is newly single after a being taken for a ride by her ex fiancee and all she wants is someone to support her for a change. Enter Brighton, who is looking for some arm candy that can hold her own in upscale events that he attends. What better way for them to solve their problems than through the sugar baby/ sugar daddy website. They both agree to a platonic contract but with spending time together, they find themselves wanting more & more. This isn’t your average sugar daddy tale & I honestly wanted a bit more from this book as there’s a bit of time between their events that are required in the contract. But overall this was a good start to a new series for Rocklyn.
When you’ve been broken and burned by what falls under the guise of love, it is hard to trust or to allow yourself to feel again. Paula and Brighton are both in this grey area, only how they arrived there is where their tale begins.
Her story is full of heartbreak, spite and full of cruelness. Paula was living what most girls dream of…she had the house, her own bakery (well sort of,) and best of all her fiance. Oh yes, she felt on top of the world. Then she blinked…her fiance was cruel, malicious and heartless and he accomplished his goal of breaking her completely. Now she is filling out an online application for a sugar daddy. Who would have believed all of this happening in one short year?!
He has never been very lucky in the whole fall in love and live happily ever after department. Brighton is a successful businessman. After a fiasco of a “date” (which is putting it mildly) has him reevaluating, and requires him to do something he never thought he would do. He finds himself online looking at applicants for a sugar baby. All to help him get back into the good graces of his business image, not to mention his ego.
They begin under Brighton’s one rule for this agreement…NO ROMANCE. Things start off rather seamlessly, they talk and it seems easy. As they get to know one another better Brighton sees who Paula really is not just on the outside, but what makes her who she is. His resolve isn’t going to hold strong without a big fight. Paula sees what Brighton let’s others see, and she sees him for who he really is, she was attracted before, but this is testing her to her core.
They fit well together, and that is when temptation steps in and throws ever growing curves at them both. Small breaches to the rule begin and it seems one or the other remember the “rule” and end just as quickly. It is getting harder to remember each time though. One night, a very special event for Brighton to rebuild his career, the excitement and their chemistry cause the boiling point. The rule has been broken and then nothing at all. At least that is what seems to be happening. It was so good, and now there is too much silence.
A misunderstanding snowballs into more misunderstandings and deeper hurt. The strain between them is unbearable. When it is brought to Brighton’s attention what is happening he has to work very diligently to explain and get Paula back. How did it go this wrong in such a short time? The understanding is clear, the air is clear, and something else is looming. True, pain free, honest, and the best…all consuming love.
Rocklyn Ryder does it again with this fantastic new series!
I love the characters and the fun flirty sexual tension between Paula and Brighton. When they finally give into their feelings it’s just WOW!
Paula never thought she would be looking for someone to take care of her on a Sugar Daddy website. But life throws you curves and she’s about to experience the best one yet!
Brighton never thought he would find the love of his life with his very own Sugar Baby!
“I voluntarily received this arc book for an honest review”
Whenever I need a touch of romance with a HEA, Rocklyn Ryder is my go to author. Her books always give me warm wishes with lots of feel goods. This story is about Paula, who goes from living her dream to being her fiance’s door mat. After evaluating her present situation, she decides to become a Sugar Baby where she meets Brighton. We get to watch the relationship grow and eventually their HEA. This story is well written and keeps the reader’s interest. I look forward to the next book in this series.
I have enjoyed the other books from Rocklyn Ryder. This is a new series. I must live a sheltered life, because I did not know that there were online sugar daddy websites. I personally find a man having a relationship with a woman young enough to be his daughter as pathetic and nauseating and never read those books, and didn’t realize what this series was going to be about, but it really wasn’t that.
Paula thought she was living the life of her dreams. She had a fiance, who she loved (and she thought he loved her), her own bakery, a lovely home that they had purchased together, a car …etc. But it turned out that her fiance was a sleazy manipulator, who ruined her credit, and took everything away from her, when he decided to replace her with another woman. At 34, she was working at a gas station and living in her aunt’s storage shed, when she had an epiphany, after seeing a 20 something woman with an older gentleman, who was not her father. She then discovered Sugarmesweet.com. and added her profile, as a way to build herself up again.
In his forties, Brighton is not ready to settle down, but needs an available companion for events he needs to attend for his art broker business and does not want to use an escort service. He finds Paula on the website, refreshing older than all the other young things and makes her an offer, that involves him taking care of her in exchange for her being available when he needs a date for an event. He sends her a contract with a no sex stipulation, which she interprets as a put down and he regret the minute he meets her. What fun!
I read an ARC as part of the authors review team. This is my unbiased and voluntary review.
I have read everything Rocklyn Ryder has written and have loved them all. This one felt incomplete to me. I liked the premise, how Brighton and Paula meet, how their relationship develops, and how they finally “do the deed”. I felt something was missing at times, almost like I skipped a chapter or something. But, as a fan of Rocklyn, I will read more from her.
I received an ARC and this is my honest review.
What a wonderful start to a new series by Rocklyn Ryder. Paula and Brighton were such a great match. I also enjoyed the fact that this story was about a couple a little older than most of the books out there. Paula is 34 when we meet her and Brighton is in his early 40s. Who says older people can’t have a hot and steamy love story? I enjoyed their story from beginning to end. At times I found myself wanting to yell at Brighton for the way he was having trouble explaining his growing feelings to Paula and causing her to doubt whether the connection she felt between them was all in her head or if it was real. This was a well written story and I can not wait for the next book in the series. I loved the HEA!
I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book.
Paula was burned by her ex, sleeping in her office and car for a while before losing everything and working for minimum wage. Brighton needs someone on his arm to attend parties and events with him who isn’t a young airhead. Paula and Brighton’s relationship starts off as an arrangement and ends up much more. I love Rocklyn’s books which is why I’m surprised by this one. It had promise, but it just wasn’t all the way there for me. There was weeks or months between chapters that we didn’t see, that the characters weren’t together and so many holes that weren’t filled. It was a still a good, sweet story to read.
This new series is going to be fun to read if this book (book one) is any indication. This story had a bit of everything, humor, romance, heartbreak, angst, and heat.
Paula is down on her luck, but making it back to right side up when she meets Brighton. She’s always been an independent woman, never looked for a man to take care of her; but life teacher you to never get too comfortable. Brighton strikes a deal with her, she can have a life she hardly new existed, she just has to be his arm candy (that’s platonic arm candy). What could go wrong?
The pages fly by in this touching and sweet Cinderella meets sugar daddy story. I very much enjoyed every page. Well written and thought out, this is a story that’s sure to delight. Oh and thank you for making these characters older then average (mid thirties to early forties) I love reading about more age appropriate characters.
3*
Paula’s life changes when her boyfriend decides he’s had enough & takes the house and her bakery.
Brighton really needs an escort to help his business but he doesn’t want a young fortune hunter so finds Paula in the sugar babies website.
I voluntarily reviewed an advanced reader copy of this book.
Sweet quick read.
3 1/2 Stars! Book one in the Taste of Sugar series. Can be read and enjoyed as stand-alone. Novella length told in dual POV with HEA. Down on her luck and hitting rock bottom has Paula signing up with an online agency to be a “sugar baby”. Brighton needs an escort for his work events that won’t embarrass him or cost him business, so he signs up with an online agency to be a “sugar daddy” with a no sex clause in the contract. Because the length of the book is short the pace is quick and covers months of time. I liked that there was little drama and the one misunderstanding / miscommunication was not drawn out. Short & sweet!
I always look forward to read Rocklyn Ryder’s new books and this one was no exception. I was not disappointed. This book is just as amazing as her other books. It is also fast-paced and easily read in one sitting.
It is a standalone book with no cliffhangers and a HEA.
I voluntairly reviewed an ARC of this book.
ARC review For honest review. Paula Jacobs has been down on her luck after her fiancee did her dirty. Now she goes surgarmesweet website where she becomes Brighton Ford’s sugar baby . I love how even after all she goes through she still standing on her feet. Awesome beautiful story
After an epically bad relationship and resulting dissolution of what she thought would be her future, Paula decides to take matters into her own hands. This is when she finds herself in a place she never expected, as a sugar-baby.
This book is amazingly good. I have followed this author for years, and I love her books!! This book was sweet, funny, sexy, and unexpected. I love the characters in this book, their story was fun to read. Definitely recommend!!
Dipping more than a toe
Dipping a Toe in Sugar is Book One in the new A Taste of Sugar series by Rocklyn Ryder. This story is a wonderful way to kick off the new series as it is sweet, funny, poignant, heartbreaking and heartwarming, romantic, fiery, sexy and has a whole lot of sexual tension running between the H and h.
A year ago, now thirty-four year old Paula had everything she thought she wanted, if in a bit of a dulled down way. She had the boyfriend who she thought she would marry. She had her own home that she purchased with her bf. She had her own business, a bakery, that she had been working at hard for the last couple of years to make it finally turn a profit. And she had friends who she thought were there for her. Well it turns out it was all just a mirage that quickly disappeared when her bf broke up with her over a $12 tuna sandwich at lunch one day after having moved all of her things into a storage unit that morning, without her knowing anything about it. All but one friend went with him and within a short time she also lost the business because the lease was a co-sign on the lease and wanted out. So the rat bast@rd bought her out. Within a few months she then found herself flat broke, living in her hoarder aunt’s garage workshop, working at a local gas station/convenience story for minimum wage. With on further down to go she wonders if she is to old to have a sugar baby/daddy arrangement.
Brighton is a successful art broker who at mid 40’s and needs a “mature” woman to be his companion for business functions. She needs to be able to not embarrass him along with be able to talk to clients and not get jealous when he chats up and flirts with clients or contacts. So far he has not had any luck and has a reputation as a playboy because he takes different women to different events, usually models and actresses. But he is tired of this and instead just wants a steady companion. So he wonders if maybe finding a woman on a Sugar Baby website might be the best way, with the stipulation that there will be no sex. After all he does not need to pay for it since he is a very handsome and sexy man.
Brighton and Paula enter into an agreement and things are more than a little interesting right from the start as they are both attracted to each other and both wondering if the “no sex” clause can be broken. Paula begins to fit into Brighton’s business world as they get to know each other better. Brighton has offered Paula more than he knows and she is great with the kooky characters that are at some of the events he attends. Will their attraction eventually becomes too strong to ignore? What will happen with their agreement if more than a toe is dipped in the sugar?
This new series is different from Rocklyn’s prior series. However, her story telling abilities and wonderful writing style are on full display in this book. I really enjoyed this new book as my heart broke for Paula in the beginning, as it reminded me a bit of some things in my life when I lost a lot all at once, and then made me laugh and root for Paula when Brighton came into her life as her Sugar Daddy and so much more. I look forward to reading the new series.
I was given an ARC of this book to read for my honest review. The opinions all all my own.
This story was just so freaking adorable. First off, I love that our hero and heroine are past ‘the first blush of youth’. There’s just something extra special for me when I read about a leading couple that have some experience behind them. And Paula has experiences that I’m grateful never to have had, though I do have my own that are close cousins. Brighton is just the cutest thing ever. (There’s a phrase I never expected to ever use about a romance hero.) It was so much fun watching him trying to fight his desire, trying to keep it the platonic relationship he set out in the beginning. The mess they get into when they start blurring those lines nearly broke my heart, but I adored seeing them put it all back to rights.
I received a complimentary advanced copy of this book from the author.
The title of this was cute. I’ve always been a fan of anything written by Rocklyn Ryder, and am excited about a new series. There were a few things I didn’t love, like the spaces in time where the characters didn’t interact at all, and how dumb the guy was in the way it all unravelled. Like, his communication skills were a mess. However, this did pull tears from me and was a read in a day, enjoyable story.
An enjoyable read about Brighton, who deals with art and Paula, a woman who has hit rock bottom and needs a new start. She joins a Sugar Daddy website and get picked by Brighton to accompany him to events and not embarrass him, he’s specific, no steamy times and he will pay her to be his companion at these events. He’s entranced by the woman and she entranced by him…how long till the clause of steam gets thrown out the window.
A great read with some steam and great characters. I like the fact that there were no jealousies, no over the top drama and that they both handled miscommunication like mature adults. I liked the build up to their heat and how the miscommunication gets settled with no drama.
*I voluntarily read an advanced copy and expressed my honest opinion*
This story is sad and cute an a very quick read but perfect when you want a bit of lightheartedness. Paula is scraping the bottom of the barrel when the sugar babies website contacts her, it seems Brighton needs a woman on his arm for functions and such. Brighton decided he is done taking random dates to events so he hires a Sugar Baby that will make small talk with clients but he specifically stated no personal involvement but one look at Paula and he kicks himself. No cliffhanger but you aren’t quite sure till the last few pages.