Praise

Praise

by Sara Cate

He calls me perfect.

His flawless pet.

His good girl.

Broken down and wounded by my emotionally neglectful ex, I wanted someone to tell me I was good enough.

Then, I stumbled into a new job with a boss who brings me to my knees—literally. He has me do things a real secretary would never do.

Emerson Grant tells me I’m more than just good enough.

I’m worthy of his praise.

There are a million reasons why I should stay away. The owner of the Salacious Players’ Club is not just my new boss, he’s twice my age.

And my ex-boyfriend’s father.

With him, I am treasured. I am adored. I am his.

I’m a good girl, but I’m falling for the wrong man.

Emerson Grant knows what he wants—

And he wants me.

So how far will I go to hear his approval?

​Spice Level: 4.5/6

Story Score: 6/10

Rating: 3/5

This book is alllll over my Facebook groups. People are loving this thing, so a friend and I decided to read it, semi-together, lol. I’ve decided that people are just really into the ex’s dad trope. Like really into it.

The blurb of this book highlights a lot of plot points. But, to be more detailed: Charlie goes to get her half of the rental deposit from her ex-boyfriend. He says that she’ll have to go to his dad’s to get it because it was returned to him and the ex doesn’t talk to his dad. Charlie needs the money, so she goes. Emerson, the dad, mistakes her for a submissive/employee and he demands her to her knees before they even talk about why she’s really there. They figure it out. They’re both flustered. She gets the money, they say some suggestive things to each other, and she goes.

He finds her, hires her as an ACTUAL secretary for himself at his KINK CLUB. Sexual tension, suggestive comments, kink club visits ensue. She decides she’d like to be the submissive-type of employee because she craves his approval.

Insert kinky-type things. Insert him trying to set her back up with his shithead son. Follow it with them fucking and then him ditching her because his son doesn’t like it.

AND INSERT AN ENTIRE WORLD OF DADDY ISSUES.

My heavens, this is a book of daddy issues…to be in the spoilers.

Character-wise: I honestly liked Charlie. I thought that she was funny, smart, and brilliantly curious. She had absolutely no self-worth, but that was the whole point, and honestly, I thought it was well explained and understandable and even relatable. Emerson…was a shitty excuse for a Dom. Sorry all you Praise-lovers.

To be up front and fair: I no longer like BDSM books. Somewhere along my dirty-book journey, I’ve outgrown them.

-SPOILERS-

This book is about a girl with severe daddy issues looking for praise in her daily life. She enters a Dom/sub relationship in search of that praise. This is NOT a book about having a praise kink during sex.

I feel tricked and I am sad.

I think the thing I loved/hated about this book was the scene after the auction.

I fucking hate that doms think they can punish someone into changing a person psychologically. I hate it. They do it all the time. I'm sorry. I have low self esteem. You can make me equate those thoughts with physical pain, but I'm not going to just stop thinking them. I'm not. Only patience, stability, and support are going to change that with a person. This was the first book I read where she never caved. She never told him that she thought she was worth it. And I loved that. I loved that he realized that he could hurt her all he wanted and she just thought she deserved it, not that it was helping.

I hate that they don't TALK about how any of it makes her feel. She has so many thoughts and none of them are ever addressed!! She just decides his praise is worth it. His attention is worth it. I understand her being hesitant to talk about it even, but he's supposed to be used to this.

I also don’t understand Beau suddenly becoming a better person. I FURIOUS that Emerson never got to see or hear how his son treated her. We’ve established that I hold a grudge, and I’m sorry, Beau doesn’t just get to be okay one day.

Her dad is a whole other trip that I can’t even talk about because fuck that guy.

I didn’t hate this book, but I don’t want an Emerson for myself and I won’t recommend it to anyone unless they’re asking me for a book with daddy issues.

Book #1 in the Salacious Players Club series

364 Pages

Trope Challenge: BDSM

And suddenly, there is no hesitation. The words just travel effortlessly across the table straight from his lips to my ears. “Ms. Underwood, you looked exquisite on your knees.”

- Emerson, Praise by Sara Cate

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