I have to admit.. anytime a summary states that the book involves a sex toy store, I know it's definitely something I'm going to love. It's a guarantee that there will be plenty of laughter and plenty of steam. Steamy romance is definitely something I enjoy.

Satisfaction Guaranteed was no exception. I love Cade and Selena! I love how their relationship evolves and the way they work together. Everything about this one is fabulous and it's not a book to be missed. I went between swooning and laughing out loud. ( )

I knew I was going to love this book from the very beginning. I'm very attracted to hippies, slackers, people too nice for their own good, Bill and Ted, you get the idea and pairing them up with uptight people who secretly wish that they weren't so uptight just makes comedy gold. So a couple pages in at the funeral

“There are no mistakes when you speak from the heart,” someone called out.

“I remember,” Selena began, her voice trembling, “when Ruth told me she’d named her clitoris Belinda.”

There were eulogy mistakes. This was one of them.

“To Belinda!” someone said.

“I remember when Ruth decided to turn her backyard into a bird habitat,” Selena went on. “All those finches.” Her hands were shaking. “Ruth was so many things.” She looked at her
notes. “She was a gardener, a mentor, a businesswoman. She taught people that nudism isn’t about sex. It’s about accepting the sunlight. And she was like a mother to me.” Selena wiped
her eyes, making smeared mascara look stylish.

That's page 3 I knew it was going to be a fun ride and it was. ( )

this is def a 4.5 for me. i really loved this! it was a sweet romance and i loved both characters individually (selena really won me over, though) and listening to it by one of my favorite narrators was a treat. i'll def read more from this author ( )

Cade meets Selena when Selena does the eulogy at Cade's aunt's funeral. They learn the next day that both have inherited half of the aunt's home and shop. Cade is ready to sell it all and return to New York; but Selena knows if that happens, she will be out of a job and a home. She convinces Cade to wait for the month they have to turn things around. Both Cade and Selena being having feelings for each other but neither wants to be the first to say the words. When it is finally time for Cade to go home, will she?

I loved this book. Selena is one of the most endearing characters I have read. She is not conventional but she is fun. She does not see herself as others see her. Cade is uptight and she does not see herself as others do. Both see the best in each other but not themselves. I had fun watching them realize what they offered the world and each other. I was glad they finally had the courage to admit their love.

I loved that Selena had the courage to be who she was especially with the eulogy and their shop. I enjoyed Cade coming to the realization that her parents loved her and that she had the courage to go after what she wanted. It was beautiful!

The secondary characters were a hoot! Beckets and Roger and Pepper and Amy, as well as Ruth (Cade's aunt.) They added depth to the story and gave us insight into Selena and Cade.

This is a wonderful read! ( )

Satisfaction Guaranteed is an opposites-attract contemporary WLW romance between a free-spirited artist/sex toy salesperson and a buttoned-up accountant/gallery manager. When Cade Elgin's aunt passes away and leaves her half of her sex toy store and house, Cade plans to sell it and move on with her life. But there are two major problems. First, there's the fact that the house has two mortgages and the shop is in so much debt that the "inheritance" is really just a few hundred thousand dollars of negative money. Second, there's Selena. Selena is a non-practicing painter who has been renting from Cade's late aunt and also working in the shop. She's the other inheritor and she really doesn't want to sell. Cade being a numbers person wants to just clean her hands of the whole mess, but Selena talks her into giving it one big try.

The shop is in Portland and Cade's family's gallery is in NYC, so after they get over their initial disagreements and decide to make a go of it, the conflict hinges on two things:

1) Selena and Cade both think the other person couldn't possibly want someone so different

2) long-distance sucks

Selena was in a relationship with her emotionally abusive former professor and dropped out of school and stopped painting because of it. The professor is present in the book in a few ways and it's Not Fun. Cade has been told by several past partners that she's terrible in bed. This is one of those "I've never had an orgasm until you" books and while that's not a trope I enjoy, I did appreciate that if the author was going to go there, she handled it okay. (I just have a really hard time believing that someone who has "free-love" parents and runs a whole business doesn't think to read a book about vibrator use. (At one point she just shoves a toy into her body with no lube or warmup and the pain is described on page. Did not want.) And if she's that smart and determined to make it happen, I'd assume it to be a physical or mental block that isn't overcome simply by someone helping you masturbate. Anyway, it was handled better than in the vast number of "magic penis" books.

Selena is bi and on a sex-break because she was sort of hiding from love by just having casual sex and... relatable. It didn't feel to me like the "bisexual people are slutty cheaters" stereotype, just an unhealthy (for her) rut she wanted to not be in. This worked for their relationship because Cade is so scared of sex that she's almost confused/worried to find herself the pursuer.

There's a lot talk about anatomy: vulvas, vaginas, clitorises (clitori?). There are mentions of trans folks in the book, but it's very much a "love your vulva" vibe and I assume AFAB folks with dysphoria won't enjoy this book. As a cis woman I appreciated the consistent use of correct words. (You don't wax your vagina, FFS.) Selena holds a Paint Your Vulva evening at the shop and the name she has given to her vulva is mentioned many times. It's vulva-riffic.

The romance felt truly romantic. The relationship barriers felt natural and I appreciated that both women were real characters with histories and family stuff of their own. They don't exist only in the context of this one relationship. It's also a relationship I believe has what it takes to make it long term. Sometimes I get to the end of an opposites-attract romance and think that the couple will hate each other after the infatuation stage wears off, but I trust that when Selena starts getting paint on the doorknob, Cade will roll her eyes and get out the 409.

Audio Notes: Lori Prince, who apparently narrates every WLW book on this planet, does her usual slow and steady thing here. I listen to too much lesfic because it doesn't matter how fresh or funny a book is, I'm convinced it's Jae's Paper Love when her voice is coming through my headphones. Lori Prince's narration is good, this is a Suzanne Problem.

In all, I recommend Satisfaction Guaranteed. It's fun and sexy and not gimmicky as it so easily could have been with the sex toy shop premise.

***

Content Warnings/Notes: death of a relative (cancer, not on page), emotionally abusive ex, past unpleasant sex, probably other things but it's been a month since I read the book and I didn't take notes ( )