Sweeten the Deal

From Shepard (Bear with Me) comes a clever gender-swapped twist on Pretty Woman. At 22, Caroline Sedlacek is severely lacking in life experience. She grew up neurodivergent and sheltered in small-town Texas and devoted every waking moment to tennis at the urging of her overzealous father. An unexpected inheritance of $2 million from her grandmother finally frees her from her overbearing family. Now she’s an MBA student at Boston College, but she’s unsure how to make friends, let alone date. One thing she’s realized, however, is that there’s nothing money can’t buy. Adrian Landry was once a rising star of the Boston art scene. Now, at 33, he’s broke, recovering from a bad breakup, and living on his friend Tom’s couch. When Tom suggests Adrian turn to a “sugar baby” website, Adrian reluctantly accepts that desperate times calls for desperate measures. He’s not expecting his first and only client to be Caroline, who demands nothing from him sexually but wants to practice socializing and become more sophisticated through visits to the symphony and Boston’s museums. Though Adrian initially fights his feelings for young, naive Caroline, they inevitably become closer. Shepard makes a strong case for their compatibility, showing how they grow and change together. Readers will have no trouble rooting for this unexpected pair. Agent: Jessica Watterson, Sandra Dijkstra Literary. (Oct.)