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Unsticky by Sarra Manning

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Pretty Woman set in a London that, more than ever before, sets the haves against the have-nots.

Money makes the world go round. At least, that's what Grace Reeves thinks. Stuck in a grind where everyone's ahead apart from her, she's partied out, cynical and in debt to the tune of five figures. If she's dumped by one more rock-band wannabe, squashed by anyone else at the cut-throat magazine where she works, or chased by any more bailiffs, Grace knows she'll fall apart. Welcome to being a twenty-something in twenty-first century London.

So when Vaughn -- older, suave, and above all wealthy, Vaughn -- appears, she can't help but be intrigued. She could handle being a sugar daddy's arm candy, couldn't she?

But there's no such thing as a free lunch, and Grace is startled to find herself catapulted into the role of Vaughn's mistress. She's at his beck and call in return for thousands of pounds a month in gifts, clothes -- and cash. She's in out of her depth.

Where do you draw the line between acting the trophy girlfriend and selling yourself for money? And more importantly, does it matter?

Paperback

First published May 14, 2009

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About the author

Sarra Manning

43 books1,906 followers
Sarra Manning is a teen queen extraordinaire. She spent five years working on the now sadly defunct J17, first as a writer and then as Entertainment Editor. She then joined the launch team of teen fashion bible Ellegirl, which she later went on to edit and has consulted on a wide range of youth titles including Bliss, The Face and More.

Sarra is now editor of What To Wear magazine. She's also been a regular contributor to ELLE, The Guardian, ES Magazine, Seventeen, Details and Heat and wrote the Shop Bitch column for Time Out. Sarra lives in North London with her dog Miss Betsy

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 689 reviews
Profile Image for Angie.
647 reviews1,118 followers
February 21, 2011
I'm still just a little bit protective of my feelings over this book. Do you ever feel that way after finishing a book that completely threw you for a loop (in the very best way)? I feel distinctly protective of our relationship, the book and I. I'm still mulling over the way things ended on my lunch break and as I lie in bed waiting to fall asleep. Because it took me by such surprise, and because I fell in love with it so fast and hard, I'm just not at all sure I'm ready to talk about the experience. But enough of my book reviewing eccentricities. I've held onto my feelings long enough and it's time to let them see the light of day. Because UNSTICKY did a bit of a number on me. This is my first foray into Sarra Manning's body of work and I'm kicking myself for waiting so long to find out for myself what the rest of you have been going on about. For those of you not familiar with her work, Ms. Manning is known for her contemporary young adult titles, which have been published on both sides of the pond. This is her first contemporary adult title and it, unfortunately, it's only available in the UK. I ordered my copy from Awesome Books after reading Sabrina's excellent review over at About Happy Books. I seriously ordered it that very day and looked forward to its arrival in my mailbox each day after that.

A side note: I do love reading a novel that's never been edited for an American audience. I get lost in the wonderful wording and in the different sensibility that seems to pervade the whole. Definite bonus factor here.

Grace is having a bad 23rd birthday. Make that a very bad birthday. Her boyfriend decides it's a good idea to dump her in the handbag section of her favorite department store on her birthday and then storm out in a huff of seriously dubious righteous indignation when she doesn't handle it with the utmost grace and decorum. But things get even weirder when she is shortly spirited out of the shop by an unidentified male who seems both appalled at her tears and bent on absconding with her to have a drink. Monumentally confused and emotionally wrung out, Grace gets as far as sitting down at a table with the mysterious Vaughn before her common sense kicks in like a champ and she beats a path out of there. But it's not the last she's heard of Vaughn. He has a proposition for her that involves a six-month stint of playing the role of his girlfriend at a series of high-profile art soirees in exchange for, well, cold hard cash. Appalled and offended, Grace has no intention of accepting his outrageous offer. But then she gets to thinking. Her life hasn't exactly been coming up roses lately. She's massively, massively in debt due to a pesky habit of binge shopping whenever things get too grim. And things get grim pretty often, what with soaring credit card bills, her demeaning and thankless job in the fashion industry she loves, and her inability to extend a meaningful relationship beyond the three-month mark. And so it is with much trepidation and not a little bit of terror that she accepts Vaughn's offer, signs a contract, and enters a whole new world.

There's no denying it. I just . . . I just could not tear my eyes away from this story for the entire 448 pages of the book. Something about Grace and Vaughn immediately dug into my character pleasure center and made a home there. They were so real, so horribly, horribly isolated from the world around them. And it was incredibly gratifying to watch them come to grips with both the extremely unpleasant and the achingly beautiful aspects of their own realities, when forced to see them through the lens of the other's perspective. Especially as they hailed from diametrically opposite worlds and there is little to no incentive to be anything other than brutally honest when your "relationship" is built on the most unsentimental and mercenary of contractual terms. Honestly, there was just so much pain, possibility, and ruthlessly reined in emotion lying between these two that I was an absolute goner. All I could do was watch in exquisite agony as they hurt each other and misunderstood each other and loved each other over and over again until something had to give. I was so involved it almost didn't matter to me what that something was or how it ended. Almost. Of course it mattered to me. But the ride itself was such a pleasure, I would have loved UNSTICKY for that alone. Happens that I love it for its ending as well. Though I (as always seems to be the case) could have done with a teensy bit more in the way of declarations. But that's me. Part modern-day Pretty Woman, part up close and personal, present-day Pygmalion, it's a winner in my book. If you're a sucker for immeasurably flawed characters, blistering romance, and vintage clothing, then this is the book for you. UNSTICKY rocked my little bookish world and instantly transformed me into a card-carrying member of the Sarra Manning fan club.
Profile Image for Keertana.
1,141 reviews2,272 followers
November 29, 2013
It's not often that a book takes me completely by surprise. When I cracked open the spine of Unsticky, I knew what I was getting into - a modern-day "Pretty Woman" if you will. And yet, despite knowing what was to come, I was continuously blown away by this novel; by its charm, by its wit, by its complex characters, by its intriguing dialogue...everything, from the first word to the last period enthralled me. In fact, it's safe to say that Sarra Manning had me completely be-spelled. Manning's novels are always un-put-down-able, but this story had an ethereal quality all of its own. I dare you not to fall in love with this book; it's one challenge you won't even want to attempt.

I won't lie: the premises of Unsticky is, well, sticky. Grace, the protagonist of our tale, is massively in debt, working for the fashion-world (and being massively underpaid), and simply cannot keep a relationship going longer than three months. After being dumped - yet again - on her birthday, Grace is dragged off by Vaughn, a rich older man who tries to make her day a little brighter. It's not the last she'll see of Vaughn, though. In fact, the smooth-talking stranger (who is loaded with money), has a proposition for Grace: to become his girlfriend for six months, accompanying him on ventures to sell art. Grace, initially aghast at the lowly prospect of being paid to both spend her time with and have sex with this man, slowly begins to change her mind on the issue. After all, with her life stuck in a rut and her bills only piling higher, what does she have to lose? And, just as Grace hopes, Vaughn's proposition does change her life around. For better or for worse, she's still not entirely sure...

I'm going to get straight down to it: Sarra Manning takes a seemingly taboo topic and makes it work. And I don't even mean the characters. For me, what makes this situation so startlingly relate-able and downright thoughtful is the fact that Manning leaves no stone unturned on her journey to create this tale. Obviously, the most glaringly evident issue that this situation presents is the monetary aspect of it. Grace is being paid to spend time with, organize events for, and sleep with a man eighteen years older to her. "Ick!" is what we should all be saying, but truly, Vaughn makes you swoon. And even if he does, Manning brings up the ethical question of whether or not this situation is really okay, or even all that fair. Vaughn, as the One With The Money and the One With The Legal Contract clearly has the upper-hand in the relationship. It's a doomed union from the start, only because of this imbalance of power. And yet, how utterly fascinating is it? After all, these types of relationships are only all-too-common in the media today, but I love that Manning is able to take such a controversial topic, reveal how love can be found within it, and never brush aside the messy realities this situation brings.

Manning continues to bring up the importance of money - only because Vaughn has so much of it while Grace doesn't - throughout the novel. For me, seeing the subtle changes in Grace's life as money comes and goes played huge roles in defining her character. Grace, like most chick-lit heroines, is utterly endearing; refusing to pay her bills, brought up by her grandparents, besotted with the fashion industry, and struck by a terminal illness of binge shopping. Although she seems to be relatively shallow from the surface, her intelligence bleeds through the page, coming across in her sharp wit and her fierce determination to win ground when it comes to Vaughn. While Grace is - naturally - intimidated by the opulent lifestyle she now finds herself a part of, she meets each challenge with courage, slowly overcoming her own fears as her relationship with Vaughn progresses. Additionally, while she and Vaughn butt heads more than once - after all, Vaughn demands that his every command is fulfilled - theirs is an arc that continues to delight as the story progresses, journeying from stiff acquaintances to comfortable friends. It's a slow, but rewarding, adventure, filled with many memorable arguments, inexcusable words, and tender moments. Ultimately, Manning truly hits the nail on the head in capturing the complexity of their relationship, from its strange start to its unlikely meaning.

And what about Vaughn? Where do I possibly begin with this exasperating, enthralling man? Vaughn is, I suppose, an alpha-male in nearly every regard. And yet, I hesitate to slap that label upon him. Instead, I find him to be much more of a perfectionist, detail-oriented and a stickler for schedules. Vaughn merely has so many layers to him. As we get to know him better, we see sides to him that we've never seen before, but that never discounts the original angles we met him at either. Manning ensures that we are aware, constantly, of Vaughn's mixed nature: of his demands, but his charm; of his distance, but his insight. Easily one of the most intriguing aspects to Vaughn is his utter belief in Grace. Grace, whose parent-less upbringing has left her a mess; Grace, who lacks the backbone to stand up for herself; Grace, whose confidence level is at its lowest point. And, somehow, despite the difficulty of living with Vaughn, Grace begins to change, discover, and believe in the newer, better version of herself that Vaughn demands she put forward. Although their interactions are prickly at best, it works. Vaughn, too, is slowly changed by Grace, the man he hides underneath his layers slowly emerging. While Unsticky seems to contain that classic route of a significant other changing their partner, in reality, all the growth that these characters experience comes from within. It is never an easy or even a neat path. Often, the journey is plain difficult to watch unfold, but it's that brutal honesty that I can count on with Manning and that I come back for, every time.

Even if Unsticky weren't a love story, I would have loved it. Of course, the budding romance between Grace and Vaughn is tragically beautiful; sticky, sexy, and sweet. Yet, it is the individual growth - it is the people that these characters grow into after they walk away from each other - that makes this such a remarkable novel. I find that there is no dearth of "troubled" pasts in literature today, but Manning throws two seemingly normal people into an outlandish scenario and spins their tale magnificently. Moreover, I appreciated that the "secrets" hiding in Vaughn and Grace's closets were not so out-there as to be depressing. I cannot count the number of times I've seen messy pasts revealed to be drugs, rape, cancer, or some other form of emotional scarring. It's not that Manning's characters aren't emotionally broken - because they are - it's only that their pasts aren't as shady or different. If anything, Manning perfectly portrays that even the smallest of instances - a mother in another country, for instance - can grow and change a person's psyche incredibly.

If you're a fan of real character depth, messy relationships, or even unlikely affection, then Unsticky is not to be missed. While all her stories are compulsively readable, impossible to drag out as they consume your life so completely, this one was utterly flawless. In fact, I just want to take the day off tomorrow, snuggle under the blankets, and re-read this from cover to cover. It's that good. I just don't know how I'm going to possibly get over my book hangover from this one now...

You can read this review and more on my blog Ivy Book Bindings.
Profile Image for Stacia (the 2010 club).
1,045 reviews4,101 followers
March 21, 2014
"Time's up, Grace. Are you in or out?"



Doesn't quite have the same ring as "Pretty Woman," does it?

2.75 stars. Consider Unsticky to be 1 part Chick Lit and 2 parts dramatic Contemporary Romance. Confused yet? I would have sworn this was straight chick lit...up until it wasn't. And I wasn't a fan of that weird transition. Right down to the last 100 pages, I was sure I would end up going with a 2 star rating, but I truly loved some of the character interactions/conversations which took place near the end, even though I hated how I never attached to the characters before they got to the "growth" point.

Grace is no Julia Roberts, that's for sure. Even though Ms. Roberts has never been my personal standard for beauty, I will hand it to her that her performance of that infamous hooker is a role which has stayed with me.

You see, this book...it could have been a fun take on the Pretty Woman theme. At first, I sort of had a Don and Megan mental picture for Grace and Vaughn...she's younger and still learning who she is. He's older and little bit cranky-slash-mysterious-slash-amusing. Their first couple of times spent together were super awkward.

I saw it starting like this...


And ending up like this...



And it kind of did. But not really. Vaughn wants to buy Grace to be his mistress/companion, JUST LIKE IN PRETTY WOMAN. EPIC, right?

Not so much.

Instead, it was fashion, flubs, and the manifestation of inner demons.

Grace wasn't a quirky hooker who talked like a guy and knew how to work on cars.

Nope. She worked in the fashion industry and obsessed over clothes.

Grace didn't want to know how much she'd spent and actually she didn't really care. She just wanted to fill up the gaping chasm inside her with pretty things.

Buy a pretty vibrator for your gaping chasm. It's cheaper.

I like to put on cute clothes as much as the next girl, but I don't want to actually READ about name brands and fashion as the base of a story unless we're getting some down and dirty info about the fashion industry or something.

Vaughn is too obsessed with sweets.

She could taste vanilla ice cream and expectation.

Vaughn was already pulling the bowl closer. "Are you sure?" he asked. Grace didn't even have time to nod before he brought the spoon to his mouth. Every time he swallowed, Vaughn would close his eyes and purse his lips, like he was having these tiny moments of rapture.


Can I erase that image from my brain, the thought of a man having a mini-orgasm over ice cream? What's next, does he put on sweats and cry over chick flicks?

IT'S JUST NOT AS GOOD LIKE THIS. Office talk and fashion rambling? No. No. No. I ran into exact the same problem again that I usually do with chick lit. Instead of it being funny or kitschy to me, the vibe generally comes across as shallow and whiny.

OH, but wait...both of Grace and Vaughn's mentioned hang-ups tied back to the revelation of their inner demons later in the story. Wanna know something I absolutely hate to read in books? Hint : it has to do with people self-diagnosing themselves. Watching Grace wax poetic about why her compulsive shopping was a problem was painful. I'd rather stick to Vaughn being the jackass Captain Obvious and have him point out Grace's issues instead, like he was doing anyway.

Speaking of Vaughn's jackassery - by the time we get to the whole "I own you because I paid for you" part of the story, Vaughn quit being mysterious in a good way and started being creepy, secretive, deceptive, insulting and controlling instead.

HIGH FIVE, VAUGHN. You're sure to win that douche of the year award after that adrenaline shot scene.

But the point is that screwed-up characters generally change into better people, right? Isn't that the buildup of the story, to show character growth?

...yes? But I don't like when I don't care if the characters even change or not, which is where I was at before any changing happened.

However, even though I had complaints, I mostly blame the problem on me, again. I should have known better, no matter how much the Pretty Woman theme was calling out. Most romance bordering on chick lit is usually more of a miss than a hit with me, so I might be the random dissenter in a crowd of people who would genuinely like the book.

So if you like dramatic contemporary romance or chick lit (or a combo of both, which this seems to be), you will probably enjoy Unsticky much more than I did.
Profile Image for Ivie dan Glokta.
311 reviews232 followers
January 21, 2013
It's NOT what I've imagined to be from this author.

Grace is vapid. Nothing interesting or remotely inviting in her character. Shallow and more then a little stupid. She gets dumped by a guy who doesn't love her, and she doesn't love him back. She cries..... Not because the relationship is over, but from the whole indignation of HOW DARE HE!

Welcome to the world of one whiny bit*h! Her shopping sprees and the way she takes care of her finances scream immaturity with an ostrich complex. Just stick your head in the sand and life will go away.

Oh and like, totally, her conversation is like, so deep, and like so inspired, it leaves you hanging...... OF THE END OF A FUCKING ROPE!

The lust between her and Vaughn is explained in a simple touch. NO chemistry, NO depth, NO nothing.

Example:

He touches her, she feels tingling and sparks, she has to do him on the floor....NOW!!!!!
It's called static electricity you Dumb Ho! No, really this is the only thing in their relationship up to so far that speaks of attraction, oh that and his money, so not just a dumb ho, but a golddiggin' dumb ho!

And then, roll out the red carpet for the impressive Vaughn!!! By the author's explanation the image of Vaughn that formed in my mind was that of an dirty old git, baiting kiddies with candy.

Nothing to recommend him either. In fact, the obvious gaffe about the Greek alphabet, the fact that he had a conversation regarding art with Grace that was a whole of two sentences long and lead him to conclude that she has - "very good knowledge for a layman on the subject". (huh??)

The biggest and smelliest pile of bullshit that exited his mouth came in a form of an explanation of why she should take his contract, and not give her ex a second chance.

Listen to this gem!

Your ex doesn't deserve you. He doesn't know your worth. You should be with a man that appreciates the whole you.....

AND THEN HE TURNS AROUND AND OFFERS HER A 6 MONTH CONTRACT IN WITCH HE WOULD PAY A FEE FOR THE EXCLUSIVITY OF HER COMPANY!

Well then, aren't we glad that he knows her worth??? And the previously mentioned Dumb Ho gets all: Omigosh!!!! He's like, so totally right!! I shouldn't stand on this corner and get no traffic!!.... I deserve to be on the corner with all the pretty expensive hookers and he will make that happen.

***money symbols flash in her eyes in the sunset, and she swoons***

Gee Vaughn, you hopeless romantic, you!!!

Please bare with me while i grieve not finishing this book....

DONE!!!!




Profile Image for Louise.
285 reviews143 followers
August 6, 2016
Wow this book is Amazing! I love every bits of it from beginning till' end just like a sticky toffee pudding:)

Don't click, you'll be hungry;)

Despite their difference, because of their differences, they were a perfect mismatched set. Two sides of the same tarnished penny.


I love Vaughn and Grace…they're not perfect,their flaws is so real,those little things that puts you who you are, are like them(they don't have the exaggerated life)this are people you see outside your home..
they are relatable, deny it to yourself because of their issues and flaws but you can see yourself in them one way or another.

we’re broken. It's like we have all these jagged edges that scare other people off, but when we're with each other, our jagged edges fit together and we're almost whole.


sometimes I want to strangle Vaughn with his money or choke him with his credit cards..'cause he keeps on saying 'they're on an arrangement not a relationship' even if it's exceeding the 'other duties: as required' for Grace to be his so called mistress...the man is so afraid of commitments you see.. he's an authoritative man too and its really difficult to argue with him,and sometimes he's insensitive to Grace and mean when a little of himself shows up of his vulnerability. These are the moments I cried for Grace then change when he approves on what he likes and shows love to Grace, sometimes he cares too much and give Grace what she didn't expect but he denies they were something in them that he love her but you see its complicated.....this book is full of emotions if you let it in you.

I love the Author's voice, is that what they call? its so comical(its "funny haha not funny weird"..it will make you laugh and giggle from chapter 1 up to the end...This Is Not A RomCom but how it was put into writing seems so alive and vivid...I love the British words..it was like what did he/she say??? and I got lost in London...

and oh I love this part of the book:

Every time he swallowed, Vaughn would close his eyes and purse his lips, like he was having these tiny moments of rapture. It was the cutest thing Grace thought she'd ever seen, though Vaughn wasn't all cute. He was like the Anti-Cute.

He do this all the time and I can't stop myself grinning stupidly:)

This relaxed debrief and watching Vaughn have multiple foodgasms wasn't helping to make Grace any more lucid.

Now I want some "sticky toffee pudding":)
can you feel it??I hope it made you smile:)

people say that they love each other, but what does it mean? That you can't live without someone? Because you can - you won't die if they're not there, even if you feel like you might for a while and--

...yes yes I know that feeling too *sigh:)

I was quite satisfied on how it ends thank goodness they make up for that but seriously even if it consist of 500+ pages its not enough and I want more...I'm gonna read this again soon:)

side-note: this book might have got lost on the chick-lit and NA shelves because actually it bordered more in Adult and erotic romance:)
Profile Image for Sofia Lazaridou.
2,853 reviews136 followers
November 5, 2017
P.S. to Sarra Manning: Α, Β, Γ, Δ, Ε, Ζ, Η, Θ, Ι, Κ, Λ, Μ, Ν, Ξ, Ο, Π, Ρ, Σ, Τ, Υ, Φ, Χ, Ψ and Ω are 24. You can count them and see that I am right. Yeah the P.S comes first

Actually, I didn't finish the book. I wonder why I marked it as to-read at first place. Grace is the woman I don't want to be even if they give me a million UK pounds (158.430.000 U.S.dollars). She has 8 credit cards and 7 of them have reached their limit, she cries because her not-so-boyfriend dumps her on her birthday even though she doesn't love him and is rude to a stranger who treats her nice and later buys her an expensive designer bag.
But that's not what made me quit the book after reading 10% of it. I could not read the book because Vaughn says that the Greek alphabet has 23 letters. I was pissed off for 2 reasons and I couldn't continue without seeing everything in a negative way in the story.

Reason 1: I am Greek and I don't like it when people from other countries fuck things up with our language or culture.
Reason 2: If you research it on google you can find out how many letters an alphabet has and obviously Sarra Manning didn't do her research which means she doesn't give a damn about what she writes besides the plot of her story and that's something the authors should do.
Profile Image for Sláinte Wanderlust.
892 reviews386 followers
September 6, 2015
Cover & Name - 4/5
Favorite Line - “We're broken. It's like we have all these jagged edges that scare other people off, but when we're with each other, our jagged edges fit together and we're almost whole."
Favorite Character - Grace

I really did not think i would enjoy this book even half as much as i did. When i started reading i was worried that i would hate Grace, thus hating the rest of the book. Grace is NOT my type of character at all - vain & weak (at the beginning at least). Her relationship with V & maybe even her entire life is dysfunction. As the story went on I liked G & V more and more. The flaws that they each had only made me like them more. The story had depth & emotion. The storyline was pretty bizarre, I know people have linked it to 50SoG but it is not the same (IMO) at all. The ending was great, i was trying to figure out where it was going for like 6 chapters & i was surprised but happy with it. In the end I totally loved Grace as well, i guess this is because she developed so much as the book went on.

I would recommend this book & I am planning on reading more by this Author.
Profile Image for Tori.
127 reviews71 followers
June 19, 2012
3.5 stars
This is going to be a tough review to make spoiler free, but I'm going to try so I apologize in advance if it seems a little fragmented.
This book was weird. I have never both loved and hated a book so strongly as I did with this one. So, I was heartened to see when I read other's reviews that I wasn't alone in this assessment. It might also be the first time I read a romance more for the heroine than the hero. Because usually it's the other way around. I kept seeing a lot of people compare it to Pretty Woman, but to me, it was more like Sophie Kinsella's Shopaholic meets Breakfast at Tiffany's with a touch of My Fair Lady.

Grace was the kind of character who I always tend to adore, and most readers tend to despise. She was jaded, immature, shallow, flaky, impulsive, her morals were sometimes a bit sketchy and she didn't really like herself all that much. But, apparently so am I because I can always relate to characters like her. But, she was real. She was always late for work, loved vintage fashion and bad boys, drank too much, gossiped at work, she wore ugly tights that did not flatter her, much to the chagrin of the people who cared about things like that. But yet she genuinely cared about the people in her life. And she was kind of funny! Like when she's talking to Lily about her arrangement and she thinks to herself:
Grace was sure that there was a scarlet letter branded on her, Hester Prynne style. A big H for Ho.
Honestly, she was exactly the kind of girl I most enjoy spending time with.

Vaughn... Vaughn had to grow on me. I kept picturing him looking a lot like Jude Law...
description
which helped. ;)
When Grace first met him, I adored him. He was sweet, charming, solicitous and obviously smitten and I thought awww what a sweetheart... then Mr. Hyde showed up and pretty much possessed Dr. Jekyll for most of the rest of the book. Poor Grace, she never knew which Vaughn she was dealing with. Honestly, I just didn't know what to make of him. I would have liked for some of the book to have been from his perspective so that we could get some insight into some of the things he said and the choices he made in regards to Grace.

One of the things I loved about this book was that it accomplished what most books fail to with me, and that was to evoke a real, visceral emotional response... that compelled me to tear through and lose sleep, because I really, really wanted to see them achieve their happily ever after. And, I guess they did.
For that, I just loved it! But, the ending just fell so short of my expectations. After all that he put her through, I really, REALLY wanted him to fight harder for her.
Another thing that made this a less than 5 star read for me was that I didn't feel like their story was complete. I've already mentioned that the ending was unfulfilling. Not just the abuptness, but there were lots of other questions that I wanted answered.
And even though they decided to give it a go in the end and it was somewhat fitting to their personalities and relationship, I'm just not 100% convinced of their HEA. I foresee a long, hard road ahead for their relationship. But, I'm hopeful. Both for them and for maybe a follow up book where we can see some progress.
All in all, it's a good book worth reading. Just be prepared for a lot of angst and frustration along the way.
Profile Image for Natasha.
32 reviews
March 16, 2012
The characters annoyed me in this book. The storyline was basically the same as Manning’s other novel: You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me. And it was far, far too long again. It dragged and I couldn’t wait for it to be over.

So, yes, sorry, this review is pretty negative, but I just hate it when authors try to romanticise abusive relationships, because this is what happens in this book and it’s just not cool. There were bits and pieces that had me frowning throughout the book, but it was page 514 in my edition which made me particularly uncomfortable and here are a few lines to show you what I mean:

‘Vaughn was at her side so fast that Grace wasn’t sure how he’d managed it, his hands wrapping round her wrists in a bruising grip, so he could haul her closer in a parody of every time he’d done just that she he could kiss her.’

Further down the page:

‘Grace tried to wrench her hands free so she could clamp them over her ears, but Vaughn refused to let her go, pressing down harder so she cried out as he dragged her towards the sofa and forced her into a sitting position.’

Even further down the page:

‘Vaughn finally released her wrists, but it was just a momentary respite, so he could sit down next to her and cup her face in his hands. Grace could feel the tremor in his fingers, as if Vaughn was just itching to snap her neck.’

Not only that, Vaughn told her what to wear and how to have her hair, and was always chastising her like a silly girl, and, the best part was, Grace just let him do it. By the end of the book, in fact, she was actually begging Vaughn to take her back no matter what he demanded of her – as Grace says to Vaughn on page 561, ‘If you want to start investing in Young Berlin Artists then I’ll learn to speak German. You decide that college is where it’s at, I’ll swot up on that.’ All the while I was thinking – where is your self-respect woman? Plus: when does this end?

So, I usually try not to be so mean in my reviews, but this book just made me mad, so, sorry, but I just didn’t like it.
1,578 reviews699 followers
September 26, 2011
I’m torn between hating everything in this book to loving all of it (mostly because I cannot stop thinking about the people in it.) It’s an absolute puzzle really. There was nothing good in them! The girl went from being superficial, to being whiny then to being a doormat then later worse, and the boy (if I can even call Vaughn that) is controlling, manipulative, emotionally stunted and was absolute ass.

So, why was I reading it again? Should I say it was their very imperfection that drew me? I suppose so because I just could not pull myself away from them. Several times I had to relax my jaws from clenching too hard, too long, too frequently. Several times, I had to put UNSTICKY down because my stomach simply ached at how badly he could treat her… and that she would let him! And it was a feeling that kept up a good portion of the book. Because ten percent in, twenty percent in… ninety percent, I was still wondering at what a sad pair they were together, at how broken they were, and at how incredibly fucked up they came across.

I really can’t say that I loved their story; I might say that I hated them at times (dislike is seems too tame a word.) I made the mistake of thinking UNSTICKY to a light, easy read… quick, and fun, and maybe with a few moments of me tearing up a little. I was wrong. Both of them made me angry as both of them screwed up time and again, but as their ending suggests, maybe they were made for each other.

It started as a two for me, then steadily increased to an almost four, but I’m swayed by the fact that if really don’t like them as individuals, but in sad romantic way still hold hope for them as a couple. I’m going with a 3/5
Profile Image for Sarah.
820 reviews160 followers
January 17, 2015
This review was originally published on Clear Eyes, Full Shelves.
“We're broken. It's like we have all these jagged edges that scare other people off, but when we're with each other, our jagged edges fit together and we're almost whole.”

On paper, Sarra Manning's Unsticky has all the trappings of a novel I should hate: a wealthy man; a desperate, naive young women and an outlandish scenario throwing the two together.

And yet, it came highly recommended by Angie, whose taste is excellent and is very similar to my own. (also excellent) taste. And where other books with similar plots enrage me, Unsticky enthralled me. I lost sleep and fought through weary eyes to get through this captivating 550-page novel.

Grace is a recent almost-grad (there was an incident at her senior show that prevented her from actually graduating from college) who partied too hard, hooked up with too many losers, is drowning in debt and working in a dead end job at a fashion assistant at a magazine where she seems destined to never get her shot. Grace is not particularly likable, and she's certainly not an easy character. She makes bad decisions and doesn't own up to her self-created problems.
Being drunk really brought out her inner vicious bitch.
At one of her lowest moments, Grace meets Vaughn, an older--extremely wealthy art dealer--who has an intriguing, and disturbing proposition for her: in exchange for thousands per month, she'll be at his beck and call, host his parties, and be his arm candy whenever she's needed. Desperate for cash and in need of something--anything--different in her life, Grace signs a six-month agreement and she's quickly drawn into Vaughn's world of privilege and society.

Sound familiar?

Actually, Unsticky isn't what you think.

Quickly, a line blurs, and Vaughn and Grace's agreement gets complicated. They're both difficult, not-particularly-likable people, and yet there's something between them that works. They have a prickly sort of friendship that works. They also have chemistry, despite that even their sexual relationship is "just business." Sort of.

And that's where Grace's interesting internal conflict emerges. What is she? Employee? Friend? Prostitute? Because there's no doubt about it, she sold herself for money and clothes, but there's something real between she and Vaughn, though neither of them really understands that because they're both such emotional disasters. In a lot of ways, the dynamic between these two characters reminded me of Victoria and Eli from Molly O'Keefe's Can't Hurry Love. Like Victoria and Eli, Grace and Vaughn are using each other, and intellectually speaking, that's a disturbing, dysfunctional dynamic.

And yet...
This thing with Vaughn wasn't built to last, but while it did, Grace felt as if it was giving her the potential to change; to be the Grace she wanted to be or at least, more like the Grace she wanted to be. It wasn't just the outside stuff, the spa-ing and the pretty clothes and the posh weekend breaks. It was being with a man like Vaughn who'd obviously seen something in her that she still couldn't see in herself. If she took her cues from Vaughn, let him guide her, got used to being in his world, then it would all rub off on her. She'd have that glossy patina that the posh girls, the successful girls, the sophisticated girls had that was nothing to do with how shiny their hair was but came from walking in a world which was always good to them.


Grace finds herself believing in this new version of herself, seeing that she's more than a mess of a career and a pile of debt. And Vaughn, despite his surly and difficult personality, seems to believe in Grace too.

Despite this, life gets very, very complicated for Grace.

The arrangement with Vaughn has extreme requirements. She has miss friends' (if you can call them that--Grace isn't so great at forging relationships) events and Christmas with the grandparents who raised her, all to be at Vaughn's beck and call. At one point, she becomes so ill with flu she can't get out of bed and yet she still has to "perform" at yet another one of Vaughn's meetings.
Grace stared at him for as long as it took until he turned away from the snowy vista and met her eyes. "I fucking hate you," she enunciated slowly and clearly.
Vaughn shrugged and his lips quirked maybe a half of a millimetre upwards. "I know," he said, sounding not the least bit surprised.

The bulk of Unsticky involves the question of what direction Grace will go in her life. Will she figure out how to stand up for herself--at work, with Vaughn? Will she figure out how to support herself or is she destined to be some guy's arm candy?

These questions are what differentiated Unsticky for me, compared to the million other iterations of this storyline.

Unsticky is really about broken, messed up people figuring out a way to make life work for them, as individuals first. I honestly didn't care what the outcome of Grace and Vaughn's arrangement would ultimately be. Rather, as the story developed, I rooted for them as individuals. I hoped that Grace would figure out that she could be more; I hoped that Vaughn would realize that he is more than his money. If they could help one another do that, all the better.
"We're a good team, though neither of us is particularly house-trained, are we?"
She knew exactly what he meant. Despite their differences, because of their differences, they were a perfect mismatched set. Two sides of the same tarnished penny. An out-of-step Fred and Ginger. Vaugn was just as fucked up as she was--he was just so much better at hiding it.

It's hard to share much else about Unsticky without ruining Unsticky, which I highly recommend--particularly for readers looking for a meaty read with characters that challenge the notion of "likability" in favor of complex character development and emotional authenticity. With Unsticky, Manning has crafted a story that, well... sticks.*

FNL Character Rating: Tyra Collette

Note: While Sarra Manning's adult novels are only published in the U.K. (her YA fiction is published here), she recently self-published both Unsticky and You Don't Have to Say You Love Me for Kindle--complete with all the British-isms preserved.

*I know, I know... puns.

Initial reaction:
This was really really good. I'll definitely be glomming other Sarra Manning books asap.
Profile Image for Wobilba.
851 reviews125 followers
June 13, 2023
I LOVED IT!
I’m sad I finished this. I need my toxic babies back. This book is like watching a train wreck....you just can't look away lol. There is not one sane person in this book, from the main characters to the side characters. This is like next level toxicity....crack on steroids. In fact if, cocaine and herione had a baby together, it would be this book.
I wish I could go back and read it for the first time.
Profile Image for Jane Stewart.
2,462 reviews959 followers
February 17, 2013
4 ½ stars. He treats her bad. They both are flawed. But good story. I was absorbed. Happy ending but abrupt.

STORY BRIEF:
Wealthy art dealer Vaughn hires Grace to be his girlfriend/mistress for six months. Vaughn is single. He doesn’t do normal relationships. Grace earns low income at a fashion magazine. She lives in a wretched place with huge credit card debt. Vaughn is 41. Grace is 23.

OPINION:
This is third person told from Grace’s point of view. We know her thoughts, feelings, and fears. We don’t know Vaughn’s. Sometimes in romances I complain when I don’t know what the guy is thinking. But here it works. It adds mystery in an odd way. This relationship is not typical romance. It’s different, and that makes it better.

Vaughn is often in a black mood, no smiling or talking to her. I don’t remember him ever complimenting her, but he might have complimented a dress. She believes he cares for her, but he does not demonstrate it. She often fears that he wants to break up with her. He is inflexible and selfish. For example, their agreement requires Grace to give Vaughn all her free time. Grace is to be maid of honor at her best friend’s wedding. Shortly before the wedding Vaughn demands that Grace not attend the wedding because he wants Grace to travel with him. On the other hand it’s the best sex of her life. Vaughn goes out of his way to make sure she fully enjoys it.

Vaughn sounds bad, but to my surprise it worked. I enjoyed reading about this odd relationship. The two characters are “broken” but they fit. Grace had flaws and weaknesses. One of the best parts was seeing Grace change.

I loved the comment by reviewer Angela Thompson Angiegirl “so much pain, possibility, and ruthlessly reined in emotion lying between these two ... All I could do was watch in exquisite agony as they hurt each other and misunderstood each other and loved each other over and over again until something had to give.”

There were some good lines. This book is longer than normal, over 500 pages, but I never felt like I wanted it to end.

The only reason it doesn’t get 5 stars is the abrupt ending. I wanted declarations of love. I wanted more pages. When I close a romance book I want to feel “wow” and warm. Here the abruptness interfered with that. Instead I felt the surprise of “oh it’s over.”

As of February 2013, this book is free for borrowing by Amazon Prime members.

DATA:
Narrative mode: 3rd person. Kindle count length: 7,078 (578 KB). Swearing language: strong including religious swear words. Sexual language: strong. Number of sex scenes: about 12. Setting: mostly current day London, England. Copyright: 2009. Genre: contemporary romance.

OTHER BOOKS:
I’ve reviewed the following Sarra Manning books. Dates are copyright dates.
5 stars. You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me 2011
2 ½ stars. Let’s Get Lost 2006
Profile Image for Karen.
814 reviews1,203 followers
December 4, 2013
OK...Honestly, I'd heard mixed reviews on this one. I didn't quite know what to expect. But I have to say I was loving this story from the very beginning. I still don't quite get the title, but that is neither here nor there. I suppose I'll have to ask the author. Anyway the characters were very thick and rich, just like the sticky toffee pudding they shared at dinner.

Every part of the story reeked of dysfunction, to the point where, it all starting sounding like real life. Grace was so flawed, yet so incredibly strong. Whereas Vaughn was so strong yet so incredibly weak. I kept hearing Henry Higgins saying in my ear, "how deliciously low". They did fit together so perfectly. I did start to panic a bit at the end, not knowing how it would all turn out between them.

All in all, I was quite impressed with the story. Sara Manning did a wonderful job laying it all out. It was a refreshing twist to the Pygmalian story. Bringing in so much meat to the characters. I love her witty style of writing. I was cursing half the time, that I didn't have it in ebook format to highlight great lines to review later. Bravo Ms. Manning. 5 stars from me.
Profile Image for Gitte TotallyBookedBlog.
2,094 reviews940 followers
March 10, 2012
5 stars is not enough when rating this book. It deserves more, in my opinion, for how it made me feel and the height of the different emotions I went through. I immediately fell in love with this book. This is without any doubt one of the best books I have ever read and I know from here on end I am going to feel very protective of this book because it completely got me! I actually resented every minute I had to put it down for the usual daily life interruptions! It's long, it's dark, the characters are completely flawed and the relationship between Vaughn and Grace is morally questionable BUT and that is a huge BUT....it just worked which yes is a bit of a shocker considering.

Grace is 23 years old and works for a fashion magazine striving to get to the top. She is completely disillusioned by life and love hence why she is in so much debt as she shops to fill the black hole in her heart. She gets dumped by Liam, her rocker boyfriend, on her birthday which is where Vaughn finds her crying and takes her for a drink. Grace is frustrating, she is naive, she doesn't recognize love yet she is vulnerable, sweet and clever. I did find her extremely annoying at times!!

Vaughn is older (41), sexy in an unconventional way, loaded and impressive. After meeting, he propositions Grace with a contract that will change her life but is morally questionable. I fell in love with Vaughn immediately despite his rudeness, his grittiness, his arrogance and his inability to let go (except when he got drunk and you got glimpses of who he was and still is in some respects underneath the person he has become)!!!

Their story is one pretty.. messed up..(to put it politely)journey that had me devouring this book whilst wanting to give both Vaughn and Grace a good kick up the.. behind... (again to put it politely).

I wanted these 2 completely flawed people to recognize LOVE!!!

(Oh and a little warning...yes this book does indeed bring "Fifty" to mind but if you read this book purely for this reason you may be disappointed...just saying..)
Profile Image for Lisa.
1,040 reviews5 followers
January 7, 2012
I just feel like, like ... I'm just not good enough, not ever. I'm not worth anything. And sometimes I feel it so much, like there's this big hole inside me and I don't know how to fix it so I go and buy all this stuff because if I have these pretty, expensive things then it must mean that I'm worth something. But when I get them home, I realise it's not going to work and I can't bring myself to look at them and then I feel even worse and it's just this never-ending loop that I can't break.


This was a book that I found hard to rate. I enjoyed it but I was also offended by a lot of it. Not super offended but enough to put me off slightly.

It wasn't even the plot that offended me. It was the abusive aspect of the relationship.

Okay, so here's the plot. Grace is a 23 year old girl working in fashion. She gets dumped by her boyfriend of three months in a public place and an older man who see's her crying tries to comfort her(and I don't mean comfort in an actual comforting way; more like "stop crying, you're making a fool of yourself!" kind of way).

After their encounter, the man(whose name is Vaughn) gets in touch with Grace and they go out for a "date" which ends in Grace wanting to sleep with Vaughn and him just saying goodnight to her. He then contacts her again and he asks her to be his "mistress". He says he will pay her £5000 a month and also give her a £2000 clothing allowance every month.

She agrees because she's in debt and her life is kind of shit. He gets her to sign a contract. He basically wants her to be available to him whenever he wants/needs her. Mostly he wants her to accompany him to different social gatherings(as well as sleep with him).

The thing that turned me off from this book was the way Vaughn treats Grace. It's not always bad. Sometimes he treats her great. But then there were the times when he would be a complete prick.

I guess towards the end, Vaughn becomes nicer to Grace but he still has moments where you want to slap him, and slap Grace for putting up with it.

However, I did enjoy reading the book. It was the kind of book that you don't want to put down(once you get into it). I didn't enjoy it as much as "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me" by Sarra Manning. The plots were slightly similar(both were about couples who didn't want to be in an "actual" relationship) but I thought YDHTSYLM had better characters and the relationship in it was sweeter and more interesting.

By the end of Unsticky, I thought maybe Grace and Vaughn had grown in their relationship and maybe they'd be more stable and less volatile but honestly, I don't know.

A lot of people compare this to Pretty Woman but I found Pretty Woman more romantic. Pretty Woman was about a prostitute and the man who hires her falling in love. In Unsticky, Grace is not a prostitute but she decides to go along with this man's offer because she can't turn down the large sum of money.

I had a love/hate relationship with Vaughn. There were moments in the book where he was so likeable. But like I said, he did a lot of massively uncool things that were unacceptable. I guess the "relationship" between Grace and Vaughn didn't seem romantic because Vaughn was always treating Grace like she was just his property.

I always enjoy Sarra Manning's books. There have been a few books I've read by her that feature dysfunctional relationships. I may not always agree with the character's actions but I always seem to enjoy her books.

I would definitively recommend You Don't Have To Say You Love Me before this. I did enjoy this in a way but I couldn't enjoy it completely because of the characters. I know the point of this book was to show two imperfect people who fall in love with each other but sometimes the relationship screamed "disaster" to me. Towards the end I think they had finally begun to compliment each other but it was that first half of the book that troubled me.

The second half of the book was my favourite part. I liked reading about them cohabitating and warming to each other. It began to seem less like a business proposition and more like an actual relationship.

I would recommend it to anyone who wouldn't be offended by a woman prostituting herself to a man who sometimes treats her like dirt. Or anyone who liked YDHTSYLM. I DID enjoy it. It's one of those books where I have a hard time explaining how I both liked and disliked it. I wanted to love it like I loved YDHTSYLM but something was keeping me from loving it.





Profile Image for missEvi [can't commit to a book].
216 reviews151 followers
October 31, 2014

I am only 5% in the book and I stumbled on something that I really want to talk about. The author refers to the greek alphabet : ”Did you know the number twenty-three is meant to have mystical qualities? There are twenty-three letters in the Greek alphabet”. Well the greek alphabet has 24 letters (as a Greek I should know). My problem is not that this is something people must know and I don’t feel insulted or anything like that. My problem lies with the fact that the author put a detail in her book that is completely wrong and she would have needed like 10 second to google it. So it got me thinking about other details that are probably not researched. If she didn't spend those 10 seconds on something this simple and silly, what else did she write that is total bullshit.

I know that the book is fiction but it is based on a woman working in a fashion magazine, that resembles existing magazines, shops in primark and studied at St. Martin’s. Let’s stay on this. She gives some information on St. Martin’s, a real college, that although it is fiction, I expect these information to be correct. It’s not like I’m going to quote her in case I have a discussion in the future about this college, but I’d like to believe that what I form in my mind is somewhat the truth.

And I ask myself again, what if this is another case like the Greek alphabet?

I like the author and I find her books pretty enjoyable but somehow this little, stupid detail, has made me question her process.

Update

After reading You Don't Have to Say You Love Me and Adorkable, I was expecting a lot from the book. After only 5%, I was a little disappointed and maybe a little reluctant to continue. It turned out to be pretty enjoyable. The characters are so flawed that you want to slap them and hug them at the same time. But, sadly, I couldn't forget the "incident" and many times I googled places and details.. It took some of the magic of reading..
Profile Image for Chandra.
228 reviews38 followers
March 31, 2014
Story Rating 5 Stars
Character Rating 4.5 Stars
Romance Rating 4 Stars
Heat Level 3 Stars
Overall Rating 4.5 Stars

I LOVED this book! It was very Pretty Woman meets Breakfast at Tiffany's, with a twist of British flair.

description

So many things I want to say about it...
First, it did start a bit slow, but it was nice in that it let the story build and wasn't rushed at all, which I hate. Second, there was no 'insta love' going on between the characters.

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Sarra Manning wrote the story in a way that the reader could recognize the little changes Grace and Vaughn began making in regards to each other, before even Vaughn and Grace probably realized it.

description

Not only did the relationship between Grace and Vaughn change, but we were able to see how the characters changed as well. Grace was finally forced to grow up and quit the self-loathing, and Vaughn learned to loosen up more with Grace and in the end .

description

The story did have nice bits of drama But, even with all of the drama, Vaughn and Grace were extremely sweet with each other, and learned to respect and admire one another.

My casting for Vaughn...

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Profile Image for Wendy Darling.
2,200 reviews34.2k followers
September 1, 2022
2014 rating and review: 4 stars. Sarra Manning writes insanely compulsively readable books. Loved this one, even when I wanted to scream at the characters.

2022 update: I reread this fully expecting to enjoy it as much as I did the first time. But nine years later, Vaughn comes off like such an asshole to me (the final straw was making her perform while she was sick and STICKING HER WITH ADRENALINE without her consent) and there were a lot of times Grace was hard to love as well. Best part honestly is the way Grace’s non-romantic life was portrayed: the exciting but woefully underpaid job, the debt she was drowning in, the crushing panic of inadequacy and loneliness. The two of them together did grow on me eventually, but not quite enough to make up for the levels of single-minded selfishness Vaughn displays throughout most of the book—nor for the stunningly contemptuous throwaway remarks he frequently directs at Grace.

Manning’s writing still makes me zoom through in a single sitting. But bucketloads of money or no, her heroine deserves more than this.
Profile Image for Rachel Hollis.
Author 26 books32.3k followers
May 12, 2013
You guys... really, if you don't ever listen to another thing I tell you, listen to this. READ. THIS. BOOK.

I really really don't understand how this doesn't have 9 million reviews or how this isn't some supremely popular author with droves of adoring fans. I'm not even totally sure how I found it, only that I did and it's WONDERFUL!!!

It starts out as this totally funny, self deprecating, sort of Bridget Jones-ish romp through the life of a 20 something British girl. It becomes this slow burning romance that made me laugh, cry, and absolutely broke my heart for about 22 pages before fixing it up again.

I costs nothing at all on Amazon and still manages to be 600 pages of fun.

Seriously.

No for reals.

READ. THIS. BOOK.
Profile Image for Jasprit.
527 reviews860 followers
March 24, 2014
“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.

This review can be found on: The Readers Den
Profile Image for Carla.
293 reviews67 followers
August 6, 2011
You guys, you know when you have one reviewer who's reviews and recommendations for books you trust 100% because you just KNOW they could never falter? Well, thats what Angie from Angieville is to me. After reading her review of this book I just knew without a shadow of a doubt that I had to read this book. I even know a few YA bloggers who rave the hell out of Sarra's YA books, which I have to say I will be tracking down like YESTERDAY!!

So here's the deal......Grace is in a bit of a pickle. Not only is she in heaps and heaps of debt, what with her shopping addiction which can't be aided by the meagre wage she earns as a fashion assistant at Skirt Magazine, but her loser boyfriend has just dumped her in the middle of her favourite department store. But it gets worse, he dared, DARED, to dump her next to the new season Marc Jacobs bags ON HER BIRTHDAY and then he just leaves because she is making a "scene". GASP!! But then she happens to meet Vaughn, who quite rightly so is a little disturbed by her obvious lack of social etiquette and whisks her out of the store hell bent on buying the lady a drink (around this point I was hooked. I like rude gentlemen who buy me drinks). So they have drinks in some swnaky fancy pants bar and Grace starts to realise she is way out of her depth, I mean this isn't a bottle of wine in All Bar One, this is champagne with a older chap in a private club, so she leaves. (damn you gracie).

But well, thats not the last she see's of Vaughn (thank the lord) because he has this rather appealing proposition for Grace, and when I say appealing, I mean that it involves more free drinks and most importantly, cold hard cash. Because well, like any self respecting art dealer with buckets full of cash, Vaughn just does NOT have time to court young ladies because thats just boring and does not suit his lifestyle of attending gallery openings and super swank soirees, so OF COURSE he wants Grace to be his mistress, His PAID mistress!! So at first Grace is all I AINT NO JULIA ROBERTS CIRCA PRETTY WOMAN. But then, we all know how that story ends so I can't help but wonder if thats why Grace says yes to his propostion, signs a contracts and falls head first into a world she can't quite manoeuvre.

You guys. I just LURVED it. Like so so much, and it's strange because Vaughn is such a dick and Grace is just so naive sometimes I wanted to punch her. But thats what made them real to me, because they were so full of misgivings and overflowing with flaws that it fleshed them out as characters. Also, the fact that they knew nothing about each other before they joined in this mutual (kind of but not really) relationship that is was HILARIOUS to watch them trip and stumble over rocky ground as they tried so hard to understand each other. I loved the brutal honestly of it all because really, whats the point in playing games when ones being paid and the other is providing the cash. Theres not is there? So they don't. And what happens is a sympony of misunderstandings, heated arguments, hot sexytimes and cute sincere moments that seem to get lost in the crazy whirlwind that is Grace and Vaughn. I'm not going to say please read this book, because thats gauche and i'm a ladt afyer all so i'm going to say this.....you WILL read this book, and you will love every page of it. So what are you waiting for?
Profile Image for Sabi.
1,235 reviews355 followers
September 30, 2024
Did I love it more than the author's "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me", no but I loved it just enough to add to my sacred pile of re-readables! And it's a 550-page rom-com, guys, It means something.


Story: Grace is our main lead here, and she gets dumped at the start of the novel on her birthday! Then comes our male lead, Vaughn, who kind of makes the day for Grace better, and thus our romance story starts.

Pros: I love author's writing. The conversations between Grace and Vaughn are so interesting. The flow is amazing. Plus, there aren't many side characters or plots that are usually there in big romances just to increase the page limit.

Cons: Yes, I love the story, characters, and the novel, but the ending feels quite flat compared to building up the world. I want to know what happens after that; even a month's prologue would've been perfect, if not years.

Secondly, as much as I loved the couple, there are some situations done by the ML that just don't make you idolize him as your book boyfriend.
Profile Image for Chachic.
595 reviews202 followers
June 2, 2011
Originally posted here.

I dare you to read Angie's review of Unsticky and not be convinced to read the book as soon as you can. I believe several other bloggers were persuaded to do just that. Ari of Emily and Her Little Pink Notes (who is on a blogging hiatus) has also been recommending Sarra Manning's YA books but I haven't had a chance to read them yet and I thought Unsticky would be a good introduction to the author's work. Thank you so much to the lovely Celina of Celina's Books and Magazines for tracking down a copy of this for me. :D I was so excited when I received the package that I started reading it immediately.

Whenever my girlfriends and I talk about our jobs, there's always a point where we share our frustrations about how hard it is to get a decent salary in a third world country. This is why so many of our friends go abroad to work. There's always one person who concludes the discussion with, "we should just look for a rich boyfriend/husband so we wouldn't have to worry about money anymore." And this is what happened when Grace met Vaughn in Unsticky. He's a rich, older man who needs a female companion to handle the social aspects of his job as an art dealer. She's a fashion assistant with huge amounts of debt and no idea how she's going to pay them off. But both of them are so much more than that. They're two flawed people who don't even know the real meaning of love so they'd rather have an arrangement than risk involving their hearts in the process. Here's a quote from Grace that perfectly describes their relationship:

"We're broken. It's like we have all these jagged edges that scare other people off, but when we're with each other, our jagged edges fit together and we're almost whole."


Grace is a much more believable shopaholic than Becky Bloomwood ever was. You don't ever get to a point where you want to shake her and say, "stop buying stuff!" because her urge to buy something to make herself feel better is understandable. There's not much in her life that makes her feel good. I know I indulge in retail therapy from time to time although I'm not and never will be into designer items. Why would I buy a handbag worth thousands of dollars when I could buy books instead? Grace's problems don't magically go away the moment she strikes a deal with Vaughn. She still had to go through so much and this is probably why the book is so long. I didn't mind though because it kept me absorbed. It was so much fun watching Grace and Vaughn get to know each other. I'm not a big fan of May-December pairings but it just worked with these two. Vaughn's own issues worked well with Grace's and they understood each other. Can I just say that it's so funny that Vaughn has a thing for desserts? Both main characters are far from perfect and I think that's what makes Unsticky so good. Unsticky has made it to my best of 2011 and now has a permanent place in my list of favorites. I'm so glad that I already ordered You Don't Have to Say You Love Me. I'm going to read it as soon as it arrives.
Profile Image for Sašenka.
380 reviews76 followers
January 17, 2014
Okej, skutočný koniec je možno kus lepší ako ten čo som si priala, ale zase by mi to ušetrilo kopu nervov.
Ale pekne po poriadku. Je to úžasná a príšerná kniha v jednom. Rada by som povedala všetkým, prečítajte si to. Ale pravda je taká, že väčšina ľudí, ktorých vkus poznám to buď čítala, alebo by ju neznášali. Pretože Grace dokáže liezť na nervy a nie je to hrdinka, s ktorou sa dá stotožniť. Úprimne nechápem jak sa mohla dostať do takých sračiek. Ale to preto, lebo ona mala byť iná ako ja. A o to ide.
Druhý dôvod je Vaughn. Väčšinu času som ho naozaj neznášala. Pretože bol strašný. Ale brutálne dobre napísaný. Nie je to chlap, z ktorého sa baby roztápajú. Nie je to sexoš, nie je príjemný. Je to hajzel. Možno dobre vyzerá, ale v zásade som ho neznášala. Ale nevadil mi v tej knihe. Čo je zásadný rozdiel medzi Sarrinými a inými knihami, kde hlavní hrdinovia dokážu liezť strašne na nervy. Sarra to má všetko naplánované. A každá postava má svoje miesto a dôvody, prečo sa správa tak ako sa správa. Aj keď sa správa debilne, je to reálne debilne. A celé to do seba pasuje ako puzzle.
Ťažko sa mi to vysvetľuje. Ale jedno viem iste. Ja s tou knihou mám love-hate relationtip. Ale je mi jasné, že väčšina ľudí sa bude koncentrovať viac na hate. Pritom je to úžasné svojím spôsobom. Je to plné emócií. Na konci som mala chuť plakať, vrieskať a hádzať veci o stenu just to make a point. A nie z frustrácie z knihy ako takej. Skôr to písanie a postavy vo mne vyvolali toľko emócií. A keď to nie je znak dobrej knihy tak čo je?
Neviem či to dáva zmysel. No ešte by som chcela podotknúť, že aj samotná téma je trochu kontroverzná a nie každý to prekusne. Takže si trikrát rozmyslite či to pôjdete čítať. Lebo neviem či by som zniesla hlúpe sťažovanie sa na túto knihu. Fakt nie.
Inak zhrnúť to v kocke - moderná Popoluška, s problémom s nakupovaním a miesto svadby s princom len niekoľko mesačný pochybný kontrakt. A vysnený princ je vlastne egoistický hajzel.
Profile Image for *The Angry Reader*.
1,499 reviews338 followers
May 10, 2017
2.5 stars.

I like Sarra Manning's prose. But I've hated every character of hers I've ever read. This is some kind of Emily Giffin chick lit gone dark and angsty.

Grace, a 23-year-old with no self-esteem, is stumbling through life making bad decisions. Enter wealthy Vaughn - who begins making her decisions for her. He introduces her to a new world, but belittles and controls her so that she always kinda doubt herself and bumbles along. Grace's toxic BFF, her boss, her family and her ex make appearances making bizarre demands and generally stomping Grace into the ground. Grace and Vaughn each have some impulse-control issues that are uncomfortable - perhaps intended to make them more likable it just sort of makes them seem weak (and him mean about it.)

There are explanations for all of this. And we (eventually) get to them. Vaughn even does something sort of nice. For me the explanations and kind-of nice didn't get the bad taste out of my mouth (the incident when she had the flu was when I reached unforgivable status). I'm not sure what Manning was going for here. A sort of anti-hero Pretty Woman? This book is certainly a step out of the ordinary.

If you enjoy lengthy books and a journey with flawed characters on their way to sort-of, slightly, okay-not-really less-flawed this is the book for you.
Profile Image for Crazy About Love 💕.
266 reviews112 followers
December 10, 2022
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ four stars -

* re-read on 12/10/22 - I finally decided to re-read this one again (this latest was about my third re-read) If you follow my reviews, you know that I took this author off my personal favorite author shelf after reading her, “London, With Love” (you can read my review of that unfortunately misguided book here 👉 https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...).

It’s safe to say that I am now over my anger with Manning, and am embracing her work again. It feels good to move on, and I’m glad I picked this up one up again for a quick re-read of a recent favorite. It was fun to revisit Grace and Vaughn and to follow them along on the path of love.

The Hero here, Vaughn, is deliciously prickly. What makes this a great story is the fact that even though the Hero is grumpy, this is not a story that falls into the grumpy/sunshine romance trope. Manning gives readers a wonderful out-of-the-box read with an unusual grumpy/grumpy trope lol.

It’s a well-written, diamond in the rough book find, and one that I highly recommend. I’m almost tempted to rate this at five stars after this re-read (no, it’s not guilt from my “London, With Love” review - ha); but the story still stays at the original four stars due to my issues with the Hero, as described below in my original review here ⤵️

* original review follows…

* side note: this original review of mine is quite short 😂 this is reflective of a lot of my early reviews here on Goodreads. When I first started writing reviews again, I think that part of my brain was rusty from disuse. Glad to report that those grey matter bits seem to be well-oiled now ✍️ carry on for my original, short concise review…

* I’m adding a second side note 😂👉 if you’re new to Manning, I highly recommend her “You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me”. That book is fantastic. It’s also very well-written. The characters are relatable, lovable, and that romance is heartfelt and wholly satisfying. My review of that one is also a short, early GR review of mine, which you can find here 👉 https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... 👈 I may decide to beef-up the review for that much-loved and re-read book at some point, because it deserves it.

……….

I liked this story due to Sarra Manning’s excellent writing skills, but the heroine is so weak for the majority of the story that I took off one star for that reason.

I really enjoyed the depth of the story, and the way the author framed out the setting. I didn’t enjoy the H or the crass way he treated our h for the entire first half of the plot. There is also a doozy of an age gap going on here that is tough to get past until the end when the character’s finally have a better connection going on.

As in other SM novels, the ending is abrupt, and I feel that this detracts from what is otherwise fantastic storytelling.
Profile Image for Kayla.
458 reviews164 followers
January 2, 2014
I just want you to know that I’m very glad that we found each other.’ Grace liked how he’d phrased it. Because they had both been alone and a little bit broken. Then they’d bumped into each other and something had finally stuck. ‘Me too,’ she said, and her eyelids were drooping now and she was fighting not to fall asleep because she had one last thing she wanted to say. ‘Don’t know about you, but I was so sick of feeling lost.


So, this book surprised me. I had previously tried reading it three times and couldn't get into it, but I forced myself to give it till 10% in to make a decision and I am so glad I stuck through it.

Grace Reeves is a hot mess. She has TONS of debt, a shopping addiction, and horrible self esteem. While in the process of getting dumped by her loser boyfriend in the middle of a department store, she draws the attention of Vaughn, an older successful art dealer.

Vaughn is a jerk. He is demanding, rude and selfish. He is the kind of guy that refuses to apologize because he feels that he has nothing to apologize for.

Vaughn propositions Grace into an arrangement that is beneficial to both of them. Grace will be available to Vaughn's every whim (professionally AND sexually) and in return Grace will be paid handsomely and make connections with many influential people that can help further her career in the fashion world.

But Grace and Vaughn, despite their faults, they start bringing out the best in one another.

She knew exactly what he meant. Despite their differences, because of their differences, they were a perfect mismatched set. Two sides of the same tarnished penny. An out-of-step Fred and Ginger. Vaughn was just as fucked up as she was - he was just so much better at hiding it.


I really did adore this book. I had problems with some of the British-isms and had to research certain sayings to understand what exactly the characters were describing. Also, Vaughn is not a character for everyone. He is more insufferable than charming, but I eventually was able to warm up to him.

But what made this book special was the dynamic between Grace and Vaughn. The banter, and growing feelings between these two had me laughing, smiling and of course, wanting to throw my kindle to the ground. I really enjoyed this book and am very happy that I decided to stick it out.

4 stars*
Profile Image for Belen (f.k.a. La Mala ✌).
847 reviews566 followers
February 12, 2015

ESCENA INEDITA DE UNSTICKY !!


La historia de siempre : Un millonario y una chica en quiebra ... Y lo que le sigue a la fórmula de siempre .

PEEERO ....

A diferencia de las otras boludeces que andan dando vueltas , Unsticky es más divertido , más sensual , muuuuucho más realista y mejor -mejor mejor mejor - escrito .

Ah , y además , pasa en Inglaterra .
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