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.

Thrown 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 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 readers turning the pages until the very end.

I got this book through Aardvark all the way back in January, and for whatever reason, I completely forgot about it. In a push to make sure that I have read all of this year’s Aardvark and Book of the Month books that I purchased, I decided to get on it, and could not put this one down. I was seriously expecting something completely different from what I got, which made it all the more enjoyable.

The book focuses on Agnes, a young woman searching for meaning and purpose in her life. Currently, Agnes cleans houses by day and hangs out with friends at night. Her existence isn’t exactly exciting, but she gets by, albeit under the watchful eye of her very religious mother. Agnes hasn’t always been prim and proper and doesn’t always meet her mother’s high standards, but she does her best. All that changes when she befriends Emily – the daughter of one of the women whose house Agnes cleans. Emily is a glamorous model, and as Agnes soon finds out, she is also a sugar baby – a woman who dates wealthy men and gets paid for it. Think escort, but with less sex – well, sometimes. Through Emily, Agnes is introduced to a world of luxury and extravagance that she never dreamed possible.

It’s not long before Agnes is swept up in a whirlwind of opulence that leaves her breathless. Who knew she could make so much money by being some rich man’s plaything? At first, it seems like a dream come true, but the deeper Agnes gets, the more she begins to wonder if it’s really worth it. Just how far will she go before she completely loses her friends, her family, and eventually, herself?

I was surprised by how witty this was. Agnes was a character that I immediately connected with. She’s smart and extremely funny. She was almost like a straight-shooting version of Maddie – the main character in Jessica George’s book, “Maame”. (Another book that I absolutely loved.) Through Agnes’s eyes, we are not only given a glimpse into the world of sugar babies and how they connect with wealthy older men but also a deeper understanding of how easy it is to lose ourselves when we get too focused on one thing. Agnes is surprised by how easy all of this is, but the deeper she goes, the more she loses herself. I guess sometimes we really have to lose ourselves to find out who we really are.

The writing is sharp and engaging, the pacing is perfect, and the sex scenes are pretty spicy. I also really loved the characters. The side characters are all great, but Agnes is the one the book focuses on, and she is so engaging that I immediately wanted to be her best friend. I loved her character arc and the growth she experienced.

This was a very surprising read for me. I wasn’t prepared to love it as much as I did. The characters (especially Agnes) are wonderful, and the story is engaging and thought-provoking. Saintclare’s writing is electric and original, and I can’t wait to read more by her. If you’re in the mood for a compelling read that challenges societal norms, this book is a must-read.

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