Sugar, Baby

By: Celine Saintclare

Narrated by: Sara Novak

Length: 9 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

Bloomsbury presents Sugar, Baby by Celine Saintclare, read by Sara Novak.

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF 2024 BY VOGUE, ELLE, NYLON, NPR, PURE WOW, SHONDALAND, BOOK RIOT and more!

In the vein of Luster and Queenie, an unflinching portrayal of high-paid sex work in the age of the internet—an intoxicating, bold debut from a dazzling new voice.

Sugar, Baby follows Agnes, a mixed-race 21-year-old whose life seems to be heading nowhere. Still living at home, she works as a cleaner and spends all her money in clubs on the weekends searching for distractions from her mundane life. That is until she meets Emily, daughter of one of her cleaning clients, who lives in London and works as a model . . . and a sugar baby, dating rich older men for money.

Emily’s life is the escape Agnes has been longing for—extravagant tasting menus, champagne on tap, glamorous hotels with unlimited room service, designer gifts from dates who call her beautiful. But this new lifestyle is the last straw for her religious mother Constance.

Kicked out of her family home, Agnes moves in with Emily and the other sugar babies in their fancy London flat and is drawn deeper and deeper into their world. But these women come from money: they possess a safety net Agnes does not. And as she is thrown from one precarious relationship to the next—a married man who wants to show off the glamourous, exotic girl on his arm; a Russian billionaire’s wife who makes Agnes central to a sex party in Miami—she finds herself searching for fulfillment just as desperately as she was before.

A compelling journey of self-discovery that offers sharp commentary on race, beauty, and class, Sugar, Baby is an electric, original, spellbinding novel that will keep listeners turning the pages until the very end.

©2023 Celine Saintclare (P)2024 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

DIDN’T HIT THE MARK FOR ME

I like books that involve a character who gets introduced to a darker side of life, that shows them an entirely new reality. Sugar, Baby sort of had this premise but was all of over the place for me.

Agnes was so inconsistent that I never fully understood her. I feel like Emily would have been a WAY more interesting character to follow. She introduces Agnes to this lifestyle and I hoped she would be more involved with the plot.

If not fully following Emily’s POV. I feel like it would have been a more interesting story if we followed through with Agnes being Emily’s protégé and playing out Emily’s theories on how to seduce and drain these men. That plot was brought up but was completely dropped, never to be mentioned again.

In spite of all that I was with the book at the beginning and middle half. It was gonna be a 4 star read for me. But when Agnes comes back from her Paris trip, the story was just messy and I didn’t really care anymore.

unnervingly realistic & incredible narration

im obsessed w this book, and how Celine manages to artfully convey our absurd reality without straying into cliche…. she is the hot girl author of our generation

Glosses over things quite a bit

The summary describes this as an ‘unflinching’ look at Agnes’s path as a Sugar Baby, but I would say this tends to gloss over the details and lacks the self-reflection I needed to truly invest in Agnes.
For example, when her mother kicks her out, Agnes displays barely a whiff of distress. Her separation from family, friends, and religion is likewise given shallow, almost offhand treatment. So too, the description of her new life felt like 90% sunshine and roses with rich, attractive men and only 10% offhand comments about the shame or damaging lifestyle. In the final analysis, Agnes was too casually in, and then too casually out, of the slick (yet ultimately seedy) Sugar Baby lifestyle,

While the emotional impact stayed in the shallow end, and I didn’t relate to Agnes at all,
I nonetheless found the story morbidly interesting.

Loved it

The story is engrossing, and the main character is sensitively drawn, and easy to identify with.
A very enjoyable listen!

I spent $3 on this title and it was too much (daily deal)

So this is basically a coming of age story about a young woman from a strict household. Agnes delves into the life of “sugaring”, ie being kept by a wealthy man or several. She has a variety of arrangements where she trades social companionship and often sexual favors for money, gifts and travel, which is the nature of sugaring. Sometimes this is glamorous and fun, but other times it’s darker and morally conflicting.

This could have been a soul searching look at transactional relationships, Agnes figuring out what she was REALLY searching for and how to get her needs met. But it wasn’t. It’s a very shallow downward spiral that pops back to the surface as soon as its high bottom is hit. Agnes doesn’t learn much, she doesn’t have any lasting real life consequences, doesn’t experience anything that makes her stronger, more resilient or better in any way.

Colorful

Interesting read, took some unexpected turns. The ending didn’t do the story justice. Good overall.

I kept waiting for something to happen

The concept was interested, but it was actually very boring. Her arch was more of a small bump fizzled out. Nothing really captivating to change her. I agree with the other reviewer who said Agnus’ reaction to the events in her life lacked depth and character development.