Audiobook Review: Satisfaction Guaranteed

Author: Karelia Stetz-Waters

Narrator: Lori Prince

Audiobook Length: 7 hours 52 minutes

Cade Elgin has a life and career in New York City, and she’s determined to get back to both as soon as possible after her aunt’s funeral in Portland. However, when she unexpectedly inherits her aunt’s sex toy store — and has to save it from foreclosure — Cade realizes she’s not going anywhere. But making Share the Love profitable won’t be as easy as Cade had hoped. Her new partner has an infuriating lack of business sense, and an infuriating ability to turn Cade on.

Selena Mathis knows that nothing is more important than saving Share the Love. Not her pride, not her inconvenient attraction toward her new business partner. Cade may be more buttoned-up than Selena usually goes for, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t know how to turn the store around. But the more they work together, the harder it becomes for Selena to ignore her growing feelings for Cade. And she starts to wonder if there is something more important than saving Share the Love. 

Cade Elgin is an accountant and art gallery owner from New York who is brought to Portland after the death of her Aunt Ruth. Here she meets Selena Mathis, a former painter and friend/coworker of Aunt Ruth. The two of them soon find out that they have inherited Ruth’s adult toyshop, Satisfaction Guaranteed. Not only must the two characters navigate being together in forced proximity, but they must also figure out the finances of the shop as it is very far in depth. The story navigates this opposites attract romance in a very fun and unique setting. (I honestly cannot think of another story that I have read, or even heard of, that is set in a sex shop.)

The two of them bring different pieces of themselves to the table in their mission get the shop out of debt. Selena is knowledgeable of the products and customer service (front of house duties) whereas Cade brings her business sense (back of house duties). While Cade is more reserved, Selena openly discusses sex and every other topic that comes to her mind. Both characters are complex as neither is what they initially seem and bring a lot more to the story than their initial descriptions. Not only do they have their mission to save the shop, each character goes through their own character growth as they explore their individual insecurities.

As each character is related to the art world in some way, there is a subplot regarding each character’s involvement. Selena left painting behind after an unfortunate situation at her university. This was an excellent subplot as it added a lot of depth to Selena’s character. It also was a nice tie-in to her growing relationship with Cade as her opens up about her story. The two of them have a few mistakes in communication, which made it very relatable, as it will never be perfect in reality. The two of them worked to get to know each other and maintain open communication and honesty. Each character valued the boundaries of others as Cade respected Selena’s current vow of celibacy and Selena respected Cade’s reserved and inexperienced nature.

Overall, there was great and unexpected depth added to this sweet romance story.  While the two main characters were complex, I wish there was a little more exploration included for the other characters. I just wanted more as even after finishing the novel, I cannot recall a lot about them.  There were some over-the-top elements in the story, but it added to the fun feel.  The two characters have excellent banter and it was lovely to read about their emotional journeys as well as their slow burn romance.