The Arrangement by Robyn Harding

The Arrangement

by Robyn Harding

Hardcover, 352 pages

Expected publication: July 30th 2019 by Gallery/Scout Press

Goodreads synopsis:

Natalie, a young art student in New York City, is struggling to pay her bills when a friend makes a suggestion: Why not go online and find a sugar daddy—a wealthy, older man who will pay her for dates, and even give her a monthly allowance? Lots of girls do it, Nat learns. All that’s required is to look pretty and hang on his every word. Sexual favours are optional.

Though more than thirty years her senior, Gabe, a handsome corporate finance attorney, seems like the perfect candidate, and within a month, they are madly in love. At least, Nat is…Gabe already has a family, whom he has no intention of leaving.

So when he abruptly ends things, Nat can’t let go. She begins drinking heavily and stalking him: watching him at work, spying on his wife, even befriending his daughter, who is not much younger than she is. But Gabe’s not about to let his sugar baby destroy his perfect life. What was supposed to be a mutually beneficial arrangement devolves into a nightmare of deception, obsession, and, when a body is found near Gabe’s posh Upper East Side apartment, murder.

***

4.5 Stars

This book disturbed me. I am not sure if it was the situations Natalie put herself in or the whole world of what she was drawing herself into. This girl was definitely screwed up and making decisions that would lead her down the wrong road.

Natalie needs money. She needs it for school, for supplies, for rent… for everything. And she doesn’t have any or any prospects. When she loses her job after rejecting the advances of one of her co-workers, she gets desperate. When she runs into a girl who is put together and seems like so privileged she learns how Ava makes her money. She is a sugar baby to a sugar daddy. It all seems so simple. Land an old guy with money to spend and have a lavish life. But it ends up being so much more difficult than that.

She finds Gabe on the first try. He is in his 50’s and good looking for his age but he doesn’t attract her at first. But it is his way with her, how patient he is and how he looks after her that draws her in. Then she falls for him. That is a big no-no in this work.

We start off the book with a prologue that shows Natalie in the police station and calling her absent father asking for help. She had killed someone and needed him to take care of her.

There is a lot of twists and turns for a plot that seems so straight forward to start with. I applaud the author for scaring me to death enough to make me put the book down for a few hours to regain my composure. This book crushes you if you invest in it. It is quite a thrilling read with a big twist at the end I didn’t see coming.

I received this as an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) in return for an honest review. I thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for allowing me to read this title.