A Pretty Woman tale turns toxic and deadly in this provocative thriller of sex, obsession, and murder from Robyn Harding, the “master of domestic suspense” (Kathleen Barber) and the USA TODAY bestselling author of The Swap and Her Pretty Face. Natalie, a young art student in New York City, is struggling to pay her bills when a friend makes a suggestion: Why not go online and find a sugar … suggestion: Why not go online and find a sugar daddy–a wealthy, older man who will pay her for dates and even give her a monthly allowance? Lots of girls do it, Nat learns. All that’s required is to look pretty and hang on his every word. Sexual favors are optional.
Though more than thirty years her senior, Gabe, a handsome corporate finance attorney, seems like the perfect candidate, and within a month, they are madly in love. At least, Nat is…Gabe already has a family, whom he has no intention of leaving.
So when he abruptly ends things, Nat can’t let go. But Gabe’s not about to let his sugar baby destroy his perfect life. What was supposed to be a mutually beneficial arrangement devolves into a nightmare of deception, obsession, and, when a body is found near Gabe’s posh Upper East Side apartment, murder.
Emotionally powerful and packed with page-turning suspense, The Arrangement delves into the sordid, all-too-real world of shadowy relationships between wealthy, powerful men and the young women who are caught in their web.
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I really really liked this darker read! Ever since I’ve seen rave reviews about it all over IG I knew I had to read it.
So when I came home to find that @gallerybooks had sent me a copy I was ecstatic! I DEVOURED it. Like I planned to only get 50 pages read one night at 2:30 A.M. and 150 pages later I finally went to sleep.
This tale is dark and definitely deals with moral and ethical standards. The characters were people I felt you could encounter on your walk down the street.
You will be thinking ‘this will not end well’ then furiously turn pages to find out what happens next.
Even as Nat (the main character) does A LOT of stupid things you still root for her! Gabe is totally infuriating and charming at the same time and can I be Celeste when I grow up?
Seriously, now that is a capable woman.
The chapters weren’t too long, but they weren’t super short either. They didn’t always end in a cliffhanger so you feel comfortable stopping. And Harding named the chapters which I haven’t seen since my elementary school days.
I really should stop talking now because I will spoil the ending.
Short review: this book is twisted, probably morally messed up and such a good read!
4.25 STARS
Boasting a unique and compelling premise, author Robyn Harding’s, “The Arrangement,” is a suspenseful, psychological drama that delves into the salacious world of sugar daddy/sugar baby relationships.
For the struggling young art student, Natalie, this arrangement was simply a means to an end. It was about financial survival and nothing more. But when Natalie unexpectedly falls for her much older sugar daddy, Gabe, she becomes convinced that what she shares with Gabe is different—special, even. But truth be told, Gabe is nothing more than a lying, cheating, narcissist, who will do just about ANYTHING to protect his marriage, his family, and his good name. So, when his “relationship” with Natalie threatens all three, Gabe plans to rid himself of the obsessed Natalie by any means possible.
While I found this story enjoyable, overall, it wasn’t quite as dark and twisted as the premise had led me to believe. Hence, it fell just a bit short of my expectations. Still, “The Arrangement” is a very good read from start to finish and one I would highly recommend.
Robyn Harding weaves a fast paced page turner about the world of sugar babies. The Arrangement grabbed me from the first page and didn’t let go. I highly recommend!
THE ARRANGEMENT
By Robyn Harding
Natalie is a young, naive, art student learning the ways of New York City. With billowing debt and the contempt of her roommates, Natalie is adrift after losing her bartending job. She recently ended things with her friend with benefits, Miguel, and is floating along ungrounded at school.
When Natalie discovers that her friend, Ava, is a sugar baby she is appalled and certain she could never stoop to such degradation. Soon, however, Natalie is swept up into a world of gifts, money and attention.
Gabe lures young girls with his polished personality and large amounts of money. He moves slowly with Natalie but soon is in a relationship that borders on love. At least for the innocent Natalie. When Gabe’s daughter is in distress, Gabe ends the relationship with Natalie. Only Natalie won’t let go.
Without spoilers, you will need to read this book to discover the deranged, psychotic and complex puzzle that follows.
This book is unusual in that the protagonist becomes the wicked. You have cheered for her throughout the book when you find yourself conflicted about her behavior. It is refreshing to discover a plot outside the norm.
I found this to be an easy read, one that you do not want to end. The writing wraps you up from the beginning and does not let go. Even after the book has close, I wish I had a part two ready to delve into. I highly recommend this book: for the writing, for the characters, for the story, for the intrigue and for the description of what sugar daddies/babies involves.
I received an ARC from Galley/Scout Press through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review . This in no way affects my opinion or rating of this book .
The description on this one sounded too good to pass up. After looking at it a few times, I had to hit the request button.
Thank you to NetGalley, Gallery/Scout Press, and Robyn Harding for this ARC, in exchange for my honest review!
This was a fun read that brought back some of those teenage memories and bad decisions….back when I knew everything . Nat was a character that I couldn’t help but like, even though I knew she was a train wreck…a very slow one that I couldn’t look away from. Her behavior and choices were absolutely crazy at times, but I couldn’t stop reading!
The author didn’t waste any time. It begins with Nat calling her estranged father, asking for help after she tells him she killed someone. Then it jumps back four months earlier and the juicy parts begin!
We get all the background info on how Nat ends up in NYC at art school…her abandonment by her father, her mother’s remarriage and new family, her stepfather’s non-support of her art school dream, etc.
She becomes art student, struggling to make ends meet by working while attending school. Living in a grubby apartment with two condescending roommates, she can barely afford food and rent. Then Ava, a fellow student and “sugar baby”, has a solution. With the fear of eviction and returning home right around the corner, Nat decides to give the questionable lifestyle a try. Just a few dates, to get caught up on bills. Going out with older men completely grosses her out. Yea, right! She meets Gabe and forgets the biggest rule…it’s an arrangement, you don’t fall in love. Nat is young and naive…Gabe is a self-indulgent, narcissist who takes advantage of her innocence, until she’s no longer needed.
A great weekend read. This was my first book by Robyn Harding. It has everything…sex, obsession, betrayal, deceit and murder. I loved it!
My Rating: 4 ’s
Published: July 30th 2019 by Gallery/Scout Press
Pages: 352
Recommend: Yes
I want to thank Netgalley and Gallery/Scout Press for allowing me to read an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
Nat is in a terrible position. She is a broke art student struggling to pay her bills as well as trying to work things out with her two roommates who are not fond of her. One day after class she goes for a drink with the beautiful Ava who seems to be living a great life in NYC while Nat lives in a crowded apartment in Brooklyn Ava lets Nat in on a secret, she is a sugar baby. At first Nat equates sugar baby with prostitution but Ava says you only have to do what you want. You go on this site, meet up and usually get 500 dollars for a drink or coffee date. It’s that simple. Nat still is not interested until she loses her job and is informed by her roommates that she owes them money. Desperate she decides to give it a go.
When Nat meets Gabe, a divorced Dad of an 18 year old daughter she thinks she has really lucked out. Gabe is a good 30 years older than her 21 but he is handsome, seems nice and didn’t expect much from her. In fact when she drinks too much at the meet up he is kind enough to have his driver escort therm back to her place where he drops her off and leaves her money in her coat. He didn’t even try anything.
Gabe has a secret though. He is married and his wife lives in the country. He only spends weekends and feels that his wife and daughter do not appreciate him. Nat seems like she will be the perfect sugar baby. She is different than the other girls he has had arrangements with.
I had so much fun reading this novel. It is a quick but entertaining read.This twisted tale of an arrangement gone wrong will captivate you and leave wanting to read more by Robyn Harding.
Splendid writing! Natalie is a young girl who becomes ensnared with a man old enough to be her father. The relationship is supposed to be a business arrangement but it goes awry. She is too young, naive and unstable to figure out the dynamics and gets in over her head. Gabe is a user and tosses away those he no longer wants around. The story is fraught wit angst and insecurities. It is intense and will keep you glued to the pages until it is finished.
The Arrangement is a definite must add to your TBR. This is, as the synopsis says, a Pretty Woman turned toxic.
I was so enthralled with this book that I never wanted it to end, yet I did because I had to know how it ended. There was so much that kept me reading faster and faster while at the same time I was yelling at Natalie – “NO! STOP! Don’t do that!” and wanting to slap Gabriel for how easily he found it to throw people away when he was finished with them.
The settings, the playing dress up, the chauffeur driven Town Car, all of it served to suck my “I love to dream about that lifestyle” self right in. Even though I knew from the synopsis that there probably was not going to be a happy ending, I wanted it for Natalie so much.
I found myself really caring about these characters, especially Natalie and Violet. I have previously read Her Pretty Face by Robyn Harding and enjoyed that. With the addition of The Arrangement, she’s definitely going on my must purchase list of authors.
Do yourself a favor and read this book. It’s very good and will leave you caught up in the sugar life. Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for granting an ARC at my request. All thoughts in this review are my own and freely given.
Wow, this is one of those books that is going to stay in your mind for a long time! Natalie is a struggling art student who is having financial difficulties. Her classmate, Ava, seems to have lots of money, fancy things and a penthouse apartment. When “Nat” confides to Ava about her financial situation, Ava suggests that Nat get herself a sugar daddy and become a sugar baby which is what she is. Nat goes to the sugar daddy site and meets Gabriel Turnmill. Gabe and Nat hit it off until she falls in love with him and then things spiral out of control. This is a fantastic read and a great look into the sugar daddy/sugar baby scene. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this page-turner that kept me on the edge of my seat from start to finish. If you want to read a good thriller, I highly recommend this one.
Robyn Harding has hit it out of the ball park again. The Arrangement grabbed me from the first page, and made me want to do nothing but read! Nat gets involved in a Sugar Daddy/Sugar Baby relationship to keep a roof over her head, and pay the bills. When Gabe ends the relationship, things go south. Someone is killed, and someone is accused of murder. Well written and fast paced. I highly recommend it! I won this ARC in a Goodreads giveaway.
Nat is struggling to pay her college tuition and her rent in NYC. She meets a friend at school who tells her about being a sugar baby. There is a website that connects young pretty girls with older men who will pay for their company. Nat meets Gabe. He is 30 years older than she is but that have a connection. When Gabe tries to break things off, that’s when the fun starts! This is a crazy ride of a story with obsession, lies, and tons of secrets! I read this book in an evening as I just couldn’t put it down! I received an advanced readers copy and all opinions are my own.
The Arrangement is the first book I have read by Robyn Harding. I sat on the beach -I am on vacation and read this book in less than two days. This is the type of book where your feelings range from pity to disgust and everything in-between, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The premise is simple; a college girl, Natalie, is struggling financially while trying to go to art school and support her self in the Big Apple. A friend suggests joining a dating service called the Sugar Bowl, where Nat could find a Sugar Daddy to help her make ends meet. In walks Gabe, a successful corporate attorney looking for a beautiful young girl to give him blind devotion, hang on his every word, and be at his beck and call on his terms- in other words, a Sugar Baby.
Ms. Harding writes the two main characters like they could be real people. She does a phenomenal job making you simultaneously feel bad for Nat and feel disgusted with her. Nat is a self-centered, self-absorbed child playing in a very adult world. Gabe, what can I say about his character other than I despised him for most of the book and I say this in the best way. There were times that he did show his human side, but they were rare. Gabe was narcissist, an egomaniac, the consummate manipulator, and a cruel human being. Which made him an excellently written character for this book.
The Arrangement is the crowning example of a domestic suspense thriller. There are twists and turns throughout the book, and the ending is pure perfection. Reader beware there are very adult themes throughout this book. The Arrangement is a wild ride giving the reader a small glimpse into the very sleazy world of the Sugar Bowl.
I am looking forward to reading more from this author.
***I kindly received this galley by way of NetGalley/publisher/author. I was not contacted, asked, or required to leave a review. I received no compensation, financial or otherwise. I have voluntarily read this book, and this review is my honest opinion .***
Linda’s Book Obsession Review “The Arrangement” by Robyn Harding, Gallery/Scout Press, July 30, 2019
If you love mystery, suspense, psychological thrillers, and fiction, and an intense, intriguing, captivating, riveting, novel, I have a book recommendation for you!!Kudos to Robyn Harding, Author of “The Arrangement” for writing such a page-turning and entertaining novel. I could not put this book down, and read it in one sitting!! The author describes her colorful cast of characters as complex, complicated, flawed, and dysfunctional.
Especially young college and career driven girls find that college, schools and living expenses get out of hand. Some have to work several jobs and struggle to study. Natalie is a young art student finding it difficult to balance her life. After meeting a friend that seems to have it all, Natalie decides that the solution for her is to find a “Sugar Daddy”, someone who will pay her expenses plus. Natalie is told that you have to go online, and often older men just want someone to listen to them, and sex is sometimes not necessary or negotiable. Of course, she would have to dress up and use makeup.
Natalie does meet Gabe, an older man, and feels that he is the one for her. Of course, Natalie is not told that Gabe is married, and has visions of forever in her mind. In this time setting, there are rules. Natalie really has no clue how dangerous Gabe can be, and Gabe has no clue what Natalie is capable of. In this game, there are twists and turns, betrayals, secrets, lies, and murder.
If you want to find out what happens, I recommend and suggest you read “The Arrangement” by Robyn Harding. Happy Reading!!!!
Natalie is a struggling NYU college student who has been living well out of her means for a while now, and it’s beginning to catch up to her. She has a job at a bar, but the money she makes isn’t enough to cover everything she needs and she is behind on her bills, and beginning to worry that her roommates are about to kick her out. So she turns to a fellow classmate, Ava, to vent about her troubles and Ava tells her that she was once in the same boat, but she started using a website that saved her, and helped her afford the lavish lifestyle she now leads. Nat of course is all ears, until she hears what the website is… a Sugar Daddy/Baby website. The site hooks you up with a sugar daddy, and you accompany him to events, provide him with certain services, and in turn makes sure you have everything you need. Which maybe all well and good for some, but Nat isn’t so sure she can handle what is required of her, the idea of being with an older man is unsettling, but what other choice does she have?
She decides to give the site a try and meets Gabe, a successful lawyer, and they meet and instantly strike up an arrangement. Their connection is instant, and they begin spending a lot of time with one another, but when their little arrangement starts to interfere with Gabe’s home life things start to take a dangerous turn!
The Arrangement is a thrilling little domestic suspense novel that had my eyes glued to the words from start to finish…. this book was downright spellbinding! Once I met this amazing cast of characters I didn’t want to let them or their intriguing story go. The pages were dripping with suspense, sex, obsession, lies, deceit… really everything you would want in an domestic suspense tale. This one impressed on all fronts; the story line was unique and riddled with twists and turns, and the words were perfectly penned and absorbing! One of the best suspense stories I have read this year!
I requested an advanced copy of this title from NetGalley, and I am leaving my honest and unbiased opinion.
The Arrangement by author Robyn Harding is about a young woman’s obsession with an older man. Natalie seems starved for love and has few friends. The Arrangement is well written and the subject is very interesting. The book opens with a call of distress from Natalie to her estranged father, she has been arrested for murder! Natalie is going to art school in New York and has lost her job. She is in dire financial need to pay her roommates the part of expenses she owes. Her friend Ava tells her about the possibility of making the money she needs by offering her time as an escort through an online site known as the Sugar Babies. Basically, she will hope to gain a safe financial ‘sponsor’ who will pay her for time spent as a companion for dates. If she allows the relationship to progress farther, that is her choice. Natalie has doubts about this type of dating with older men for compensation, but she is desperate for money and does not want to lose her scholarship. As I read the story, it was easy to understand Natalie is not very self-confident and she has made some poor choices in her personal life. Her arrangement should have been a professional one, but she just is not mature enough to discipline her feelings and soon things go very awry! There are twists in the story and once I started reading I could not stop until I had finished the entire book.
Publication Date: July 30, 2019
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.
Natalie “Nat” Murphy is chasing a dream at New York’s School of Visual Arts. Nat has a gift. What she doesn’t have is money. To pay for school, her rent on the apartment she shares with two problematic roommates. Calling home for help isn’t an option. Too much history, too much baggage. But a friend shows her an alternate way. Step into the world of Sugar Baby-Sugar Daddy. Reluctantly, Nat does just that, finding a wonderful and very wealthy benefactor. Her money problems evaporate and her relationship with her Sugar Daddy blossoms. Unfortunately, all is not rosy. Alcohol abuse and obsession turn to anger to rage and to murder. But who killed who, and why? A well-told story that will keep you engaged until the very end.
DP Lyle, award-winning author of the Jake Longly and Cain/Harper thriller series
The Arrangement by Robyn Harding was an excellent book! It features a young art student named Natalie. She lives in New York City where everything is super expensive and she is having a hard time making ends meet. Natalie’s friend suggests she go find herself a sugar daddy online who will financially support her. What was intended to be a mutually beneficial arrangement quickly turns into a nightmare. This book is filled with lots of drama, deception, and suspense. I highly recommended this fantastic page turner, you won’t want to put it down!
Really well done and original! Interesting exploration into the Sugar Baby/Sugar Daddy life and it’s fallout. Plenty of twisty interest and complicated characters. It’s a whodunit with many suspects and twists through to the end.
Nat Murphy is a 21 year old poor art student living in NYC. She has a failed relationship with an old boyfriend, she is late paying rent, and she leaves the apartment she shares with her roommates messy. She is at her wit’s end, when her friend and classmates tells her about being a “sugar baby”. Nat is initially horrified, and later intrigued when she realizes she could pay her bills, have nicer clothes, and be exposed to finer things. She agrees to do it, telling herself she will only do it until she has earned enough to get out of debt.
Her first date is with Gabe, a 50 year old successful attorney with an 18 year old daughter. Nat is a messy drunk that night, but Gabe likes her. After a few more dates, and lots more alcohol, they become involved. Nat thinks Gabe is divorced, but he is not. When Nat finds out the truth, she is furious, and Gabe is found murdered.
But, did Nat do it? She can’t remember.
The Arrangement is an interesting thriller, but it made my skin crawl to realize that there are these arangements out there. I found the conclusion of the trial somewhat unexpected, as well as the reveal. The story kept my interest, but honestly young women–pull yourself together, don’t drink to excess, and don’t sign up to be a sugar baby!
Natalie is an art student in NYC. She finds herself out of a job and low on funds. At the suggestion of a fellow student. Natalie signs up on a Sugar Daddy website. She meets Gabe and unbelievably finds herself falling in love with him. Gabe, meanwhile, has no intention of leaving his family. As you can imagine, things do not go well from there. A thrilling read.