Memphis Reads Archive

Fiction/Romance

Beth reviews SUGAR DADDY by Lisa Kleypas (St. Martin’s Press, 2007)

An intriguing hardcover debut by Lisa Kleypas, Sugar Daddy begins with Liberty Jones and her mother moving into a trailer park in Welcome, Texas. Liberty was born to a Hispanic father (who passed away early in Liberty’s childhood) and Diana, blond-haired and blue-eyed. As a family of two, money is always tight, but they manage to get by. . .especially with good friends like Miss Marva, Lucy Reyes and Hardy Cates. Hardy, a hunky "bad boy", is bound and determined to escape Welcome and won’t let anything or anyone keep him there—even if that means denying his feelings for Liberty.

Tragedy strikes when Diana is killed in a traffic accident, leaving Liberty to graduate high school and raise her new little sister, Carrington. Amazingly, Liberty qualifies for a scholarship at a beauty school and lands a position right out of school with an exclusive salon. There she meets Churchill Travis, an investment tycoon. Over many manicures—and eventually lunches—they become very close friends. After a horse-riding accident leaves him wheelchair bound, Liberty is hired to be his personal assistant. Carrington and Liberty move into the mansion—much to annoyance of Churchill’s eldest son, Gage. Liberty and Gage bicker viciously—which as all romance readers know means one thing. . .a possible love connection!

Life for Liberty is never smooth, especially as Hardy re-emerges on the scene—now rich and wanting Liberty. But is Hardy the same guy who loved her before? Or is he the same guy that would not let anything stand between him and escaping life as he knew it in Welcome?

I was rooting for Liberty from the first time I cracked open this book until I closed it. Maybe I see a little bit of myself in that girl from "the wrong side of the tracks" trying to make it in the "big city." Maybe I’m just a sucker for a good love story. Or maybe Lisa Kleypas knows how to spin her web around readers and draw us in...either way it was a great book!


Beth, Highland Branch Library

Labels: Contemporary Romance, Reviews by Beth, Romance