Behind the Scenes by Karelia Stetz-Waters
Publication date: 31 January 2023 from Forever Publishing
Twenty twenty-one’s Satisfaction Guaranteed was my first exposure to Karelia Stetz-Waters’ work, and it was insta-love. It’s become a comfort read for me, and I’ve probably read it too many times. Now she’s releasing the pug-tastic Behind the Scenes, and it’s more of what we’ve come to love about her work.
Ash is a former filmmaker and current workaholic who relaxes by watching ASMR food videos by a woman who never shows her face. Rose is a business consultant who spends her off hours…making ASMR food videos in which she never shows her face. When the two of them meet in a bit of puggish serendipity, we have the start of a beautiful sapphic love story.
The chemistry between the two of them is off the charts, and it’s exactly the kind of warm, sweet, and funny story that I needed here in the depths of a Central New York winter. But it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. There are some more serious topics addressed, such as sexual dysfunction, which is not something I’ve seen very often in romance novels, sapphic or not. And as a Certified Mature Reader™ I really appreciated reading about women who were past the twenty-something and thirty-something age brackets. Us old ladies need some representation as well!
For all the fans of Satisfaction Guaranteed out there, I will mention that Cade and Selena make an appearance in this book, and you could probably hear me squealing with excitement all the way in Portland. And if anyone can point me toward ASMR videos like the ones in this book, I would be very happy, because I think it’s the type of ASMR that we all need.
Thank you to NetGalley and to Forever Publishing for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
