Review: Unsticky by Sarra Manning

Unsticky by Sarra Manning
Publisher: Corgi
Publication Date: August 2nd 2012
My rating: 4 stars 

STATE OF GRACE Money makes the world go round - that's what twenty-something Grace Reeves is learning. Stuck in a grind where everyone's ahead apart from her, she's partied out, disillusioned, and massively in debt. If she's dumped by another rock-band wannabe, squashed by anyone else at her cut-throat fashion job, or chased by any more bailiffs, Grace suspects she'll fall apart... GRACE UNDER PRESSURE So when older, sexy and above all, wealthy art-dealer Vaughn appears, she's intrigued against her will. Could she handle being a sugar daddy's arm-candy? SAVING GRACE Soon Grace is thrown into a world of money and privilege, at Vaughn's beck and call in return for thousands of pounds in luxurious gifts, priceless clothes - and cash. She's out of her depth. Where's the line between acting the trophy girlfriend, and selling yourself for money? And, more importantly, whatever happened to love?

“I feel like life happens to other people, and I drift in and out of their lives without ever making any kind of impact. I want to matter to someone.”

I became a huge fan of Manning’s adult novels, after devouring You Don’t Have to say You Love Me. Despite me knowing which way things will go, there’s something about books which hit the right spot when you’re not having a great week. Manning sure knows how to cheer me up with her charming hot headed characters and leave you with a crazy dopey smile on your face throughout. Also when some of your blogger friends whose opinions you greatly trust (Keertana, Wendy and Heather) also loved Unsticky I knew I had a great reading experience ahead of me.

Grace is up to her eye balls in debt, she just about has enough to pay for her rent and has been ignoring the severe letters of warning she has been receiving from her overdue card payments. On top of this she really is being treated like a lackey at work, okay so what if she didn’t complete her fashion degree, she still works as twice as hard as some of the other editors at work, but still doesn’t receive any acknowledgement for her hard work, her idea’s are normally disregarded or given to some editor to work with, as if she didn’t contribute anything in the first place. So when older rich Vaughn comes along and has an offer she can’t refuse (she will be his mistress for £7000 a month and will do whatever is required of her when Vaughn needs her), she knows this is the best way to make the most of her life, to be honest which she has been floating through.

I like Grace was a bit wary of what Vaughn’s real intentions were, the obvious attraction between Vaughn and Grace was apparent in the interactions they had previously before this arrangement had been put on the table. But Grace did know if she did accept, it was best to keep this arrangement to herself, she needed the money, so it would benefit her immensely, but she knew just how others would react to what Grace had accepted.

I knew that it would have been extremely tough for both Grace and Vaughn to just keep their relationship as outlined in their contract. Spending so much time with each and sharing your deepest darkest secrets with one another would of course cause some blurriness of boundaries. And to be honest despite being the most annoying person ever in the beginning, Vaughn really began to turn his charm on as the book progressed. We were slowly given glimpses of his considerate side which he had kept hidden away for so long and which I really thought never existed. And despite only because of this contract between Vaughn and Grace, Grace was given some fantastic opportunities to become her own person; she was given confidence and belief in herself, something which had been knocked back by previous crappy boyfriends. And to excel and make the most of opportunities at work.

Manning sure knows how to make a romance which will leave you wanting more, I enjoyed the slow build up of Grace and Vaughn actually figuring out how to make the most of their relationship; the slow sweet kisses, the sweet gifts which were given no questions asked and the sexy scenes which were written wonderfully  *fans self*. Despite this book being over 500 pages long, it didn’t seem like a long book at all, I found myself literally flying through the pages, enjoying the fun escapades that Grace and Vaughn experienced, watching them grow and become comfortable with each other, like they never had with anyone before. Besides having a well written romance nailed, Manning also weaved some laugh out loud moments wonderfully into Unsticky. They were great at lifting you when there were dire prospects on the horizon, but also bought out sides of characters I hugely appreciated.

Manning has quickly become one of my favourite adult authors to date, she seems to know each time exactly what I need. I know for sure there will be plenty more Manning books I will be picking up this year.