Praise by Sara Cate: The "Good Girl" Guide to Discovering Your Inner Bad Girl (And Your Ex's Dad)

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5 Stars - The "I Can't Believe I'm Into This But Here We Are" Award)

Listen, I need to be honest with you right from the start: when I picked up "Praise" by Sara Cate, I thought I knew exactly what I was getting into. A spicy contemporary romance with some kink? Sure. An age-gap romance? Okay, I can work with that. But then I read the synopsis more carefully and realized—wait, she's dating her ex-boyfriend's FATHER? And suddenly, I was that meme of the woman doing math equations in her head, trying to figure out if this was going to be a literary train wreck or a masterpiece.

Spoiler alert: It's a masterpiece. A deliciously taboo, surprisingly thoughtful, ridiculously hot masterpiece that will have you questioning everything you thought you knew about romance novels, age gaps, and the phrase "good girl."

Buy on Amazon

What Fresh Hell (Or Heaven) Is This About?

Meet Charlotte (Charlie) Davenport, a twenty-one-year-old woman who's just escaped from a relationship with Beau Grant—a man who spent their entire relationship making her feel like she was never quite good enough. You know the type: the guy who criticizes your clothes, your friends, your ambitions, and basically everything about you until you start believing maybe you really are the problem. (Narrator voice: She wasn't the problem.)

Fresh out of this emotional dumpster fire, Charlie needs to pick up her half of the security deposit from Beau's place. Simple enough, right? Except when she arrives, Beau isn't there. Instead, she meets Emerson Grant—Beau's father, owner of the exclusive and mysterious Salacious Players' Club, and a man who is about to turn Charlie's entire world upside down in the best and most complicated way possible.

Here's where things get delightfully messy: Emerson mistakes Charlie for his new submissive. And Charlie? Well, Charlie doesn't correct him. Instead, she finds herself on her knees in front of this gorgeous, commanding older man, and for the first time in forever, she feels seen. Valued. Worthy. When Emerson tells her "You are such a good girl," something inside Charlie just... clicks.

What follows is a story about a young woman discovering her sexuality, her confidence, and her worth—all while navigating the most forbidden relationship imaginable. Because yes, Emerson is twice her age. Yes, he's her ex's father. And yes, he owns a private sex club where the elite explore their deepest desires. But somehow, Sara Cate makes it all work in a way that's not just hot (though trust me, it's SCORCHING), but also surprisingly tender, thoughtful, and empowering.

The Characters Who Will Ruin You For Other Books

Charlotte (Charlie) Davenport: Our protagonist is the definition of a "good girl" who's been told she's not good enough for so long that she's started to believe it. But here's what makes Charlie so compelling—she's not weak. She's not broken. She's just been with someone who systematically tore down her confidence, and now she's ready to rebuild herself on her own terms. Watching her discover her sexuality, her desires, and her own power is genuinely empowering. She's curious, brave, and refreshingly honest about what she wants, even when what she wants is completely taboo.

As one reviewer perfectly captured: "You are a smart, beautiful, confident woman. You don't need me to tell you what you want. I want to hear it from you. You deserve pleasure just as much as I do, and trust me, I want nothing more than to hear you utter the dirtiest words, and then I want to do whatever it is you say. So say it." This is Charlie's journey in a nutshell—learning to voice her desires without shame.

Emerson Grant: Oh, Emerson. Where do I even begin? This man is forty-plus years old, devastatingly handsome, obscenely wealthy, and the owner of an exclusive sex club. He's also estranged from his son (for good reasons, we learn), carries his own trauma, and has a praise kink that could power a small city. But what makes Emerson work as a character is that he's not just some domineering alpha male stereotype. He's thoughtful, communicative, and genuinely cares about Charlie's pleasure, comfort, and growth.

When he says things like "Because you are mine, Charlotte. And I don't appreciate when anyone talks badly about something that is mine. Do you think I have bad taste?" it's not possessive in a toxic way—it's protective. He sees Charlie's worth when she can't see it herself, and he makes it his mission to help her see it too.

Beau Grant: The ex-boyfriend and Emerson's son. Look, Beau is... well, he's the worst. But he's also a necessary character because he represents everything Charlie is moving away from. He's emotionally manipulative, self-centered, and the kind of guy who makes you want to reach through the pages and shake some sense into him. His presence in the story creates the central conflict and raises the stakes for Charlie and Emerson's relationship.

The Plot: A Masterclass in Forbidden Romance

The beauty of "Praise" is that it's not just about the forbidden nature of Charlie and Emerson's relationship (though that's definitely a huge part of it). It's about Charlie's journey of self-discovery. After their initial encounter, Emerson offers Charlie a job as his secretary at the Salacious Players' Club. What starts as a legitimate office job slowly evolves into something more as Charlie becomes curious about the club, about BDSM, and about exploring her own desires.

Sara Cate handles the power dynamics with surprising nuance. Yes, Emerson is Charlie's boss. Yes, there's an age gap. Yes, there's a Dom/sub dynamic. But Cate makes it clear that Charlie is always in control of her choices. She's not being coerced or manipulated—she's actively choosing to explore this side of herself, and Emerson is there to guide her safely through it.

The book is structured around "rules" that Charlie creates for herself as she navigates this new world, and they're both hilarious and relatable. My personal favorite? "RULE #6: AVOID MALLS FOR THE RISK OF RUNNING INTO YOUR EX WHILE HOLDING BAGS OF LINGERIE YOU FANTASIZE WEARING FOR HIS DAD." I mean, come on. That's comedy gold.

The tension builds beautifully as Charlie and Emerson try to keep their relationship secret while dealing with the very real possibility that Beau will find out. There's also the matter of Charlie's own insecurities and Emerson's complicated relationship with his son. The book doesn't shy away from the messy reality of their situation—it leans into it.

Quotes That Will Live Rent-Free In Your Head

Sara Cate has a gift for writing dialogue that's both scorching and surprisingly sweet. Here are some actual quotes from the book that showcase her talent:

"You made me very proud today. And you are more than enough. You are perfect."

"I'm addicted to you," he groans while fucking me. "You were made for me, Charlotte. You're mine, and I never want to let you go. Do you understand me? I'd fuck you forever if I could."

"Dear God, please let this be the only man I fuck for the rest of my life because there's not a chance in Hell anyone else could ever top that." (Charlie's internal monologue after their first time together—relatable content)

"I'll fill out that form for you if you want, but I don't need to. You want me to tell you that I want to taste you, Charlotte? Because I do. I want to touch you, tease you, fuck you, bend you over my knee and turn that pretty little backside red. There's not a thing on that list I don't want to do with you, so you can put the paper and pen away, little girl. Every single thing would get a five from me."

"I'm yours and you're mine."

"She's too perfect to ignore and too forbidden to be mine."

And my personal favorite, which captures the entire theme of the book: "I think we're all tired of being shamed and shoved into these quiet, perfect little innocent versions of ourselves while men can be as deviant as they want." PREACH, Sara Cate. PREACH.

Trigger Warnings: The Necessary Conversation

Before we go any further, let's talk about content warnings because this book is definitely not for everyone:

⚠️ Explicit sexual content (and I mean EXPLICIT—this is not fade-to-black romance) ⚠️ BDSM elements including Dom/sub dynamics, praise kink, toy play, and light degradation ⚠️ Age gap romance (21-year-old FMC and 40-plus-year-old MMC) ⚠️ Relationship with ex's father (the ultimate taboo) ⚠️ Emotional manipulation (from the ex-boyfriend, not the MMC) ⚠️ Power dynamics (boss/employee relationship) ⚠️ Public sexual situations (within the club setting) ⚠️ Discussions of past emotional abuse

If any of these are hard limits for you, this might not be your book. But if you're open to exploring these themes in a thoughtful, consensual context, Sara Cate handles them with care and intention.

Tropes: The Delicious Forbidden Fruit Salad

"Praise" is basically a greatest hits collection of taboo romance tropes, and somehow they all work together beautifully:

✅ Age Gap Romance: 22 years between them, and Cate makes every year count

✅ Forbidden Romance: Dating your ex's father? That's not just forbidden, that's "burn the rulebook" territory

✅ Boss/Employee: Emerson hires Charlie as his secretary, adding another layer of complication

✅ Praise Kink: The title isn't just clever—it's the entire foundation of their dynamic

✅ BDSM/Dom-Sub: Thoughtfully explored with emphasis on consent and communication

✅ Grumpy/Sunshine: Emerson is all brooding intensity; Charlie brings light and curiosity

✅ Secret Relationship: They have to hide their relationship from everyone, especially Beau

✅ Emotional Healing: Both characters are healing from past trauma

✅ Sex Club Setting: The Salacious Players' Club is a character in itself

✅ Forced Proximity: Working together means they can't avoid each other (not that they want to)

✅ He Falls First: Emerson is gone for Charlie from their first encounter

Why This Gets 4.5 Stars Instead of 5

Look, I loved this book. LOVED it. But I'm giving it 4.5 stars instead of 5 for a few reasons, and I think it's important to be honest about them:

The Pacing: The first half of the book is absolutely perfect—the tension, the discovery, the slow burn (well, slow-ish burn). But the second half feels slightly rushed. Some conflicts that could have been explored more deeply get resolved a bit too quickly. I wanted more angst, more struggle, more of that delicious tension.

The Beau Situation: While I understand that Beau needed to be somewhat one-dimensional to justify the relationship, I would have loved to see a bit more complexity in how his discovery of the relationship played out. The resolution felt a touch too neat for such a messy situation.

The Club Exploration: We get glimpses of the Salacious Players' Club and its other members, but I wanted MORE. The setting is so rich and interesting that I felt like we only scratched the surface. (Though this might be intentional since it's the first book in a series.)

Some Repetitive Elements: The "good girl" praise, while hot, gets used so frequently that it occasionally loses its impact. A little more variety in the praise language would have been welcome.

That said, these are relatively minor quibbles in what is otherwise an exceptional book. The 4.5 rating reflects a book that's nearly perfect but has just a tiny bit of room for improvement.

The Sex-Positive Message That Makes This Book Special

Here's what elevates "Praise" above your average spicy romance: Sara Cate is unapologetically sex-positive. This isn't a book where the characters feel shame about their desires. Instead, it's a celebration of consensual exploration, communication, and the idea that there's no "right" way to experience pleasure.

As one character says: "What is there to be ashamed of? Everyone does it. Everyone enjoys it. What a waste of a good life to pretend you don't."

The book also tackles the double standard around sexuality, particularly for women. Charlie's journey isn't just about discovering BDSM—it's about reclaiming her sexuality after being made to feel like her desires were wrong or shameful. The book argues that women deserve pleasure, that they deserve to explore their fantasies, and that there's nothing wrong with wanting what you want.

This message is woven throughout the entire narrative, making "Praise" not just a hot romance, but also a surprisingly empowering read.

The Writing: Spicy With A Side of Substance

Sara Cate's writing is accessible, engaging, and laugh-out-loud funny when it needs to be. She has a gift for writing sex scenes that are both scorching hot and emotionally resonant. You're not just reading about physical acts—you're experiencing the emotional connection between the characters.

The internal monologue is particularly strong. Charlie's thoughts are relatable, funny, and honest. When she thinks things like "Oh well, I don't need to breathe. I just need him," you feel that desperation, that all-consuming desire that makes you do slightly irrational things.

The dialogue is snappy and natural, and Cate has a talent for making even the dirtiest talk feel romantic. It's a delicate balance, but she nails it.

The Verdict: A Taboo Romance Done Right

"Praise" by Sara Cate is the kind of book that will make you question your own boundaries and maybe discover you're into things you didn't know you were into. It's hot, it's thoughtful, it's surprisingly funny, and it's one of the best examples of how to write a taboo romance that doesn't feel exploitative or problematic.

Is it perfect? No. But it's damn close. The 4-star rating reflects a book that's exceptional in almost every way, with just a few minor areas where it could have been even better. The pacing issues and slightly rushed resolution keep it from being a perfect 5, but honestly? I'm being picky because the book is so good that I wanted even more.

If you're looking for a romance that will make you swoon, laugh, and fan yourself while reading, "Praise" delivers. If you want a book that explores power dynamics, consent, and sexual exploration in a thoughtful way, this is it. And if you want characters you'll fall in love with and a relationship that feels earned despite its forbidden nature, Sara Cate has you covered.

Just maybe don't read this one on your lunch break at work. Or do—I'm not your boss. (But Emerson Grant might want to be.)

Final Thoughts: This book is for readers who are open to exploring taboo themes in a consensual, thoughtfully written context. It's for anyone who's ever felt like they weren't "enough" and needs a reminder that they absolutely are. It's for people who believe that pleasure is a right, not a privilege, and that there's no shame in exploring what makes you feel good.

Sara Cate has created something special with "Praise"—a romance that's both escapist fantasy and surprisingly grounded in real emotional truth. It's the first book in the Salacious Players' Club series, and after reading it, I immediately ordered the rest of the series because I need more of this world, these characters, and Sara Cate's particular brand of magic.

Four and a half stars. A near-masterpiece. Add it to your TBR, clear your schedule, and prepare to discover your inner good girl (who might be a little bit bad).

You're welcome. Now go read it so we can discuss whether we're Team Emerson or Team... actually, there is no other team. It's all Emerson, all the time.

Dedication from the book: "For all the good girls."

And to that, I say: Hell yes.