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Salacious Legacy #1

The Good Girl Effect

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Jack St. Claire is desperate. A grieving single father, he buries himself in his work—running a brand-new kink club in Paris. Instead of handling his grief, he’s built a fortress around his heart, and it’s time he hired someone to help him take care for his daughter before things get worse.

Camille Aubert wasn’t looking for a new job. She just wanted to return a lost love letter she’d found within the pages of a book. But when she’s mistaken for a job candidate and hired as Jack’s live-in nanny, something tells her this is exactly where she needs to be.

Shortly after arriving, Camille discovers a strange room in the apartment that sparks her curiosity—and hints at a dark, mysterious side to Jack that she’s desperate to uncover. The lines between professional and personal blur dangerously as the heat between them becomes impossible to ignore. She’s drawn to the broken man who hides his grief in ropes and bondage, and she challenges him in ways he never thought possible.

Caught between her growing feelings for Jack and the ghosts of his past, Camille must can love heal a heart still grieving, or will their passion destroy them both?

371 pages, Paperback

Published September 2, 2025

5505 people are currently reading
27868 people want to read

About the author

Sara Cate

48 books19.6k followers
Sara Cate is a USA Today best-selling author of steamy romance and sexy book boyfriends. Although she writes a wide range of tropes, Sara is best known for her age gap and taboo romances. One thing you can expect from her entire collection is heaps of steam and plenty of angst.

Living in Arizona with her husband and kids, Sara spends most of her time reading, writing, or baking.

Find out more at: www.saracatebooks.com

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,379 reviews
Profile Image for Soft Nectarine ~.
420 reviews863 followers
September 9, 2025
Get this man AWAY FROM ME & bury him in the garden out back! This man tested my patience and tolerance for foolishness ❌🚨 girl run!

Camille is a small village girl working in a cute bookstore until she finds a forgotten letter tucked away in a book. She gets COMPLETELY OBSESSED with Jack aka the man who wrote it and his dead wife 🚩she goes to return the letter 🚩and ends up interviewing for the nanny position of his daughter 🚩she is determined to change him….girl no.

Look, I’m all for overlooking red flags if the man is worth it. But this one was straight self-centred trash AND hands down the WORST DAD in the romance literary history. I never hated a mmc more (and I’ve read some dark dark romance)!

Things I hated BUT it gets progressively worse:

🚩 he speaks to the nanny more than his own kid & ohh he abandoned the kid for months after his wife died

📿 praise kink is more than saying “good girl” 34x times

🚩 it’s supposed to be yearning but she’s giving DESPERATELY naive but also obsessed with dead wife

📿 she gets aroused by his wedding band (that’s his dead wife’s wedding ring!!!)

🚩 says he can’t love fmc because he’s still grieving but also proclaims he loves fmc more than dead wife ~ make it make sense!!

📿 not him having a breeding kink but can’t even take care of his CURRENT 5-year old

🚩 not the nanny hiring a babysitter so they can go to the sex club!

📿 he uses THE SAME NICKNAME for her as her dad *I’m sick*

🚩 THE GROVEL MOVE IS THE SAME HE USED ON HIS EX WIFE

The smut wasn’t bad and I enjoyed the bondage scenes but the praise kink was so superficial. The title of the book is literally a praise kink flare gun but besides mmc saying “good girl” it didn’t justify the hype for me.

I really wanted to like the book because it was well written and I enjoyed the Paris setting. I just couldn’t get past the terrible awful characters!
Profile Image for Annika.
280 reviews47 followers
September 5, 2025
1 ⭐️ So what, if he abandoned his daughter ⭐️

The mmc abandons his 3 year old daughter when HER MOTHER DIES. He gives her to his friend. Not a relative for 6 months.😂 in her hour of need.
If you can move on from this little tidbit, you might enjoy this more than me. Buckle up, this is going to be long.

I could spend hours shredding this book apart because there is so much wrong with it, and so much to talk about. Luckily for this author I don’t have time to go over all of it. And I dnf’ed at 50%.

First the premise: Camille finds a love letter, Jack wrote to his now dead wife.
The love he had for her, is dialed all the way up to a 1000, and it bothered me. It was a love of the ages, enough to abandon their daughter out of grief. THAT IS WHAT A WIMP WOULD DO. She lost her mother too! 🤦‍♀️
I am not fragile with the dead wife trope, but his yearning and the love letters to her were too much. Any future romance seemed dulled and unrealistic at the 50% mark.

Back to Camille, she is mistaken for a job applicant for a nanny position, and she takes the job without hesitation 🤦‍♀️ How that all went down, was all in all, very unbelievably.

As of page 20 ish, she is openly lusting for him, and her lust is more of a priority, than the daughter is. She writes hims letters begging him to teach her the ropes! (pun intended) My friend CB would have sentenced her to a life sentence in horny jail. And she would have deserved to be there.

They have a bondage session with the daughter down the hall with an open door. Wtf! Parent fail. Which brings me to one of the biggest problems with this story, why bring a child into a BDSM story? As a key plot device!

It will have to be done very carefully, right? It was not. Everything in this book screamed neglect, and it was hard to enjoy the steam because the daughter was literally down the hall😂

His bondage room is open, because Camille walked right in by accident, so the daughter could as well.
Also he doesn’t speak to his now 5 year old child. Like at all. What purpose does that serve to the story, besides showing me he is a man child who can’t prioritize.
I am so over the tormented man, who has cart Blanche to do anything because he hurts. Get it together like the rest of the world has to.

Another major problem is the readers are being told that Camille is so curious and wild, really? because all I see is a girl who works as a nanny and is tied up at night and then writing love letters to him. I did not see her at all as wild and untamed 😂 Jack doesn’t like Camille’s voice, so she isn’t allowed to talk him. Yeah well that’s nice.
She sounds like his deceased wife, okay now he is just a freaking crazy person. She puts up with it😂 yeah she is a wild one!

She is dumb. He is a wimp. They are terrible at parenting, but good at spice.

The steam is steaming! If only they were other people. This book would have greatly benefited, from not using a child as a key character.

Her dead father used to call her little bird, and now he uses that nickname when they 🍆🍆. That’s weird and kind of a turn off. 🤮

All ln all, the writing was actually good and the steam was good. But the story sucked. It could’ve been good, but the characters were written as terrible people. How can I look at Jack and think, wow he is hot? Is that what the writer thought would happen. Abandoning your toddler is the most anticlimactic, wet towel of a man. And I can’t unsee that. I judge!

Should you read it? No, it’s shallow and catered to a certain demographic that doesn’t get distracted by a father who abandons his child in her hour of need because he hurts.

Ps. Insta lust and children DO NOT MIX. Love and children do ❤️ just my opinion.
Profile Image for Ericka.
133 reviews6,556 followers
August 21, 2025
Okay I really enjoyed the link/spice of this book!!! In fact, bondage? Hello sign me up 😂 HOWEVER, it did lose a star for me for two reasons. One, the nickname. Not only the name itself but specifically the meaning behind the name. Couldn’t do it. And also the grieving and lack of healing. I struggled with that a bit. However, Sara wrote some god damn spice dude. Idk what it is but this woman knows how to spice it up and I eat it up EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. I think overall I’d give it a 3.75 (so I rounded to 4)
Profile Image for Nerlie౨ৎ🎧📚.
438 reviews61 followers
October 13, 2025
⋆˚࿔ Review 𝜗𝜚˚⋆
3⭐️

I was already in a bad mood when I picked this up, but honestly… even if I wasn’t, this still wouldn’t have blown me away

First of all, I cannot stand the classic “small-town girl moves to the big city” storyline. It’s been done to death, resurrected, and then done to death again. And setting it in Paris? Sorry, but slapping a croissant on it doesn’t make it original 😑

The characters? Yeah… I didn’t care. Him? The way he treated his child had me side-eyeing so hard I almost gave myself a headache. Her? She had the personality of a blank page. I tried to root for them, but there was just nothing there.

And don’t even get me started on the club subplot, it was giving awkward school play energy. It added absolutely nothing. Meanwhile, the side characters were out here stealing the spotlight effortlessly. Phoenix and Elizabeth carried this book on their backs without even trying, which is probably why I’m actually excited for their stories.

All in all, this wasn’t terrible, but it definitely wasn’t good either. Just kind of… there. Like room-temperature tea ☕

⋆. 𐙚 ˚ pre read ⋆. 𐙚 ˚
I heard single dad 🫦
Profile Image for Paige.
352 reviews2,183 followers
August 17, 2025
4.5 stars ⭐️

SOO GOOD & the only thing I could finish in a week and a half with my slump 🤭 RTC

——

I need something to brain off to and Hambright PR must have read my mind because they sent me this e-arc and alc! single dad x nanny too 😌
Profile Image for Jenn (The Book Refuge).
2,666 reviews4,488 followers
September 1, 2025
I'm always split on if I want to read a Second Generation series. It always sounds like a good idea, but in practice, it can be risky to retread ground we have already played on before. I was particularly worried that a series set in a sex club could feel a bit... well, odd, to have a second generation take place.

However, I think Sara Cate came up with a scenario that may be golden. It will all depend, of course, on what type of conflict each book rests upon, but for Jack and his sweet daughter, well, their trauma makes sense to me. And it doesn't undo or shade the HEA of his parents in any way. Becoming a widower and a single father so young is traumatic for anyone. Add in that the children of the Salacious Players haven't taken the club seriously (a different club than our OG one), and there is a lot of room for growth and change.

Enter Camille, with her bright energy and curious nature. Her love for Jack's daughter and her desire to learn what he has to teach her give us a lot to hold onto. She may have learned about him in a unique way, an old love letter to his late wife, kind of unique. But when she lucks into a nanny job for Jack's daughter... things are going to heat up rather quickly.

As always, I enjoyed how Sara Cate looks at kink. Not only bringing a new sexiness to it but also making us think about it in a new way. I loved how rope bondage was used as a form of control for Jack but also a solace. A way to put someone exactly where he wants them. To keep something or someone, in a specific place for even a limited amount of time. I couldn't help but feel for him. Camille finds it very comforting and sexy too.

There is a lot of healing that needs to take place, and I love how they both shared their grief and helped one another move forward. I thought this was sexy and moving, though I felt like the time jump was handled a little oddly. I think there needed to be one, no doubt, but... Camille just kept working for him while he... ignored her? Interesting.

Anyway, this was lovely and I look forward to the next. The narration was top notch. Led by Jason Clarke & Med Sylvan, but with a full cast compliment

4.5 Stars
4 on the spice scale

CW: death, cancer, and grief

*Thank you to the author for an ARC & ALC of this title.*
Profile Image for Brittany Ferraro.
237 reviews1,314 followers
August 20, 2025
Audio 🎧- 5⭐️
📖- 4⭐️
OK, this book completely took me by surprise. This was my first read from Sara (I know, criminal), and I absolutely fell in love with her writing style and storytelling. I’d heard she’s known for her hot and heavy spice, and let me just say… she absolutely lived up to the hype.

I don’t usually reach for books where a spouse has died, it’s a trope I’ve never really loved, or at least I thought I didn’t. But here, it worked so beautifully. It added so much emotion and depth, not just to Jack’s character but to the story as a whole. The way Camille was fascinated by the love Jack and his wife shared really built on that storyline for me. It hit harder than I expected, and yes, I ended up crying more than once. Normally, I don’t love the idea of someone feeling like they’re living in the shadow of a former lover, but this was written with such care and taste that it felt okay.

And speaking of emotions, Bea completely stole my heart. She was spunky, sweet, and so full of life. I adored the bond she built with Camille, and I have to say, I’m really into the nanny trope. This was only my second book with it, but I can confidently say I’m hooked.

Now, the icing on the cake? Jack’s mouth. Add Jason Clarke narrating in my ear and it was perfection. The audiobook was phenomenal, the narrators nailed the emotion, and the accents were flawless.

I absolutely ADORED the fact that they wrote letters to each other. It was romantic and kinda hot??

The club was just another fun bonus. All in all, this was such a good read and an even better listen. I can’t wait to dive into more of Sara’s books.

TYSM to Sara for sending me over the audiobook 💓
Profile Image for Liz Falbo.
361 reviews12 followers
August 28, 2025
Okay but he started calling her “little bird” after finding out that was her dead dad’s nickname for her? That doesn’t sit right 😅

I had high hopes for this one because I loved Salacious Player’s club series and this is the next gen, but something was off with Jack. He just wasn’t a good guy. Besides being an absentee father, he just kinda a terrible person overall.

I did devour this in almost one sitting and the spice was great so giving it a generous 3 star rating. I will continue with the series and seeing Elizabeth’s story next I hope.
Profile Image for Kursed Reads.
801 reviews9,272 followers
August 25, 2025
Simply going through the motions, Camille Aubert happens upon a photo and love letter which lead her to do something wild, unintentionally setting off a series of events that change the trajectory of her life.

Much like Camille, Jack St. Claire is surviving, but never thriving. He’s grieving, pissed off at the world, and detached from his own life and daughter. Enter Camille. She’s outspoken and defiant, stubborn and rebellious. She also has a heart of gold and the softest of spots for Bea.

So much to unpack with this one. There is tension and angst, an exquisite torture. But moreover, so much heartbreak and heartache. Just when you think it’s all for naught and the grief will consume them both, Sara throws us a lifeline and we get a well deserved HEA.

It will be interesting to see where Legacy takes us and how it both mirrors and differs from our beloved Salacious.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Burn: 🔥🔥🔥1/2
Darkness: 🤍
Heat: 🌶️🌶️
Range of Emotions: 😊🤫😭🫠😍
Ending: 💗 {HEA}
POV: 👫🏻 {Dual | Present}

🗄️ Genre: Contemporary Romance
🗂️ Subgenre(s): New Adult

✨ Tropes: Forbidden, Forced Proximity, Grumpy/Sunshine, Nanny, Single Parent, Workplace
 
💫 Microtropes: Alphahole, “Good Girl”, Pet Name, Sėx Lessons, Tragic Past

💋 Kinks: Public Play, Shibari

⚠️ Warning: The angst in this slow-burn will edge you to the point of combustion!

🚩 Safety Squad: There are potentially triggering elements. If you have any hesitation, check the warnings before diving in. Otherwise, blind is best!!

📣 Type: The Good Girl Effect is the first book in the Salacious Legacy series, but can be read as a standalone.

🛑 Be Advised: My Goodreads shelves are … explicit in both senses. As such, they could be considered spoiler-y.
Profile Image for Kaitlyn.
56 reviews
September 5, 2025
Sara Cate herself couldn’t convince me she wrote this book.
231 reviews2 followers
September 3, 2025
Yikes

Only reason I finished this book was because I usually love this author. Unfortunately this just wasnt it.
I disliked both fmc and mmc so it was a rough read.
I hated that the mmc treated his daughter like she wasnt even there and didnt get help until the fmc said she would leave. He should have put his daughter first but ultimately he didnt and that ruined the storyline for me.
I hated that the fmc would think about how she wanted to be that wife in the old pictures. It was creepy and unhinged.
The book was also difficult to get into by the way it started even having read the other series.
Profile Image for Melissa.
512 reviews60 followers
August 19, 2025
3.75/5 ⭐️
2.5/5 🌶️

Book 1 in the continuation of the Salacious Players series. This is the second generation of kink club owners. We get our MMC, Jack St. Clair, a grieving single father, who needs a nanny for his little girl. Then we get Camille, who accidentally shows up to his house when the interviews are being conducted.

We get them navigating their relationship with each other and his little girl, all while their feelings grow stronger. It is difficult due to Jack’s late wife and his job as a kink club owner. Can new love heal a broken heart? Can their passion for each other overcome all the obstacles? If you enjoyed the original series, I highly suggest you pick this one up.

I enjoyed it as an audio with a full cast!! We’re seeing more of this where the full cast signs on for the series and you get each individual character voiced by a different narrator. Jason Clarke is our MMC, Jack, and he is absolute perfection, as always. Meg Sylvan is our FMC, Camille. While I adore Meg, I didn’t enjoy her French accent. I would’ve liked to see a French speaking narrator for this role, for a more authentic feel to the book. The accent comes and goes throughout the book, which takes you out of it a little bit.

Thanks to Sara and the Hambright PR team for an audio copy of this book.
Profile Image for Kayla.
234 reviews20 followers
August 19, 2025
4.5 ⭐️

The broodiest of men meets the woman who gets him to start living again. I went into this not very impressed with the MMC, but by the end he grew on me, okay? I did not expect I’d be crying reading this but here we are.

This is a fun, sexy and flirty ride, but still touches on grief and trauma in a memorable way.

Thank you so much to Hambright PR for both the ARC and ALC. The full cast duet narration was absolute perfection!
Profile Image for Tabatha (tab.talks.books).
510 reviews
August 20, 2025
* 4⭐️5🌶️
* Read on kindle unlimited 9/2 when the book is released!
* “A grieving single father who runs a kink club finds his structured world disrupted when a woman mistakenly hired as his live-in nanny unveils his hidden desires and challenges him to confront his past grief.”
* I received this book as an eARC that was gifted from Hambright PR and Sara Cate!
* Set 25 years after the Salacious Players Club series (which I haven’t read) this book is the first in a new series and does reference other characters but it did not effect the story at all and this series can be read as a complete standalone series.
* I honestly did get on with the FMC Camille. Was she obsessed with Jack? Idk her character kinda gave me the ick. She is someone who seems like she constantly doesn’t think before her actions and makes so many bad mistakes due to her carelessness. HOWEVER, I warmed up towards the middle and the story pivoted away from the spicy k!nky stuff to emotional damage and grief. The book was surprisingly very deep.
* Read if you like: dual POV, single dad x nanny, age gap, forced proximity, kinks, s£x club, SPICY 🥵, naive FMC, midnight lessons, he teaches her, he calls her “good girl”
Profile Image for Juliana.
240 reviews116 followers
September 5, 2025
1⭐️| spice doesn’t matter bc wtf was this


DNF : chapter 30

As someone else in these comments said something to the effect of “you can’t pay me me enough to believe Sara Cate wrote this” and I couldn’t agree more.

I hate to say it but this is very embarrassing to attach your name to after you wrote Salacious Players Club.

In my opinion, I really do believe her writing has gone so far downhill since that series, including the Goode brother series.

I stopped reading this at chapter 30, I just couldn’t do it. The impending third act break up when you don’t give af just seemed pointless to cont.

Camille, i had hopes for. Tbh i had hopes for all of them. But damn. She was freaking ANNOYING. Dare I say she at one point was trying to replace the dead wife? Like the vibes of her doing so were all there. She is a petulant child who had nothing going for her. W SPC all of the women were strong, bad ass, and independent. Camille is a fall from grace and should not be put next to those women.

She’s lusting after this man immediately which made me think she was crazy. As well as what I said before, trying to make this man love her so she can take the place of the wife. We need a case study on this woman STAT.

Jack. Yikes. An absentee father who loves to hate his child’s nanny bc she reminds him of his dead wife. His love for his dead wife was sooo strong and you couldn’t make me believe he loves Camille. What a joke.

Both of these characters are as interesting as a piece of plywood.


OH. OMG. Don’t let me forget the similarities between Praise and TGE. Both FMC’s get mistaken in the beginning of the book, which leads both of them into the world of BDSM, and that story line was very prominent in the beginning. Not a fan. Get more creative.

One more thing. Calling your girlfriend, hookup, rope bunny, whatever…the nickname HER DEAD FATHER called her during your sessions…vile. Who would ever think that’s cute? Should have absolutely gone back to the drawing board with this one.

I don’t think I’ll continue this series because unlike the SPC where all of the characters seemed fascinating and you wanted to hear their stories, these characters seem flat and forgettable.

What a waste of an audible credit.
Profile Image for Beatrice .
396 reviews19 followers
September 4, 2025
ok i’m a bit conflicted, I really enjoyed this but there are a few things that I didn’t like. Firstly I didn’t like how absent Jack was with his daughter, he should have started therapy since his wife’s death, instead of realizing it two years later: I would have enjoyed if he put more effort since the beginning.
Also I felt like Camille was a bit obsessed with Jack’s late wife and the family in general in the first half of the book; she said she felt drawn to help them ??.
Anyway, about Jack still grieving, I appreciated that it was not because he still loved his late wife, but because he didn’t heal properly and felt like he was betraying her (still not an excuse for his absenteeism).
Overall I liked the pace of the relationship, even tho I knew that the third act conflict was going to happen and I knew the reason since the first chapters. Camille was really great, she was nice and patient; Jack was good, he was insufferable in the first half, when he started opening up I could finally see Eden’s son.
I liked this new club, it made me nostalgic of the SPC series and the cameos didn’t help it ahah
-
i knew that the second gen was going to happen, so i'm excited but grieving single father...
i don't like when single fathers haven't moved on from their late partner, it seems like they just settle with the first person that comes around, so i'm a bit scared
Profile Image for Amelia Blackmon.
887 reviews34 followers
May 10, 2025
The Good Girl Effect is the first book in the Salacious Legacy series written by Sara Cate.

What to expect:
*Second generation kink club owners
*Single dad / nanny
*Shibari rope play

This book kicks off the next generation of the original Salacious Players Club characters. Jack is the son of Eden, Clay, and Jade from the sixth book in the series, Madame.

Jack is a widower who has shut himself off from his family, his coworkers, and even his daughter. When Camille finds a letter that Jack wrote to his wife, she sets off to return it to him and ends up getting hired as his nanny.

There are a lot of hot and cold emotions in this book, the MMC is still grieving but can’t help having intense feelings for the FMC. The FMC was nosey and coerced the MMC into giving her Shibari lessons.

No OW drama, some OM drama in the form of jealousy, no cheating or sharing. Does have a third act breakup, main characters are separated a little over a month before they reunite.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for the opportunity to read and review this title.

Format: NetGalley ebook
Genre: Contemporary fiction, romance
Overall score:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice level:🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Characters: Jack (MMC) & Camille (FMC)
Profile Image for Sammy 💗.
175 reviews10 followers
August 20, 2025
This was a fun & spicy good time! I also liked the way it demonstrated grief for Jack and showed his growth throughout the book. He definitely deserved a HEA
Profile Image for Lauren (lololovesthings).
777 reviews78 followers
September 7, 2025
4 stars.

Sara Cate's "The Good Girl Effect" is sooooooooooo freaking good! I didn't think that the single dad x nanny trope was my thing, but Sara Cate made me a believer. Add in the forced proximity and rope tropes, and you've got a recipe for success. I really enjoyed the characters in this story. Jason Clarke, Meg Sylvan, Brandon Francis, Samantha Brentmoor, and CJ Bloom do a spectacular job on the full-cast audiobook narration. Clarke and Sylvan play the main characters, Jack and Camille, and they play them with pitch-perfect precision. They play off of one another so well. I loved Sylvan's French accent and Clarke's brooding, grieving, gravelly tone. I liked the exploration of grief in this story. I appreciate how Jack must attempt to move on with his life after the death of his wife, and the way he copes is with rope! Wouldn't be my thing, but good for him. He has no idea he is going to possibly move on with his daughter's nanny, the enchanting woman who has bewitched him body and soul! AGHHHHHHH, so much happens in this book between Jack and Camille that is sexy as heck! I liked traveling out of my typical comfort zone for this. I also adored the budding relationship between Camille and Jack's daughter. Camille feeds her artistic spirit and never talks down to her. I thought she was a good nanny. My one complaint is it feels like everything between Jack and Camille in terms of their intimate relationship feels like it happens a little quickly? It wasn't enough to be a detriment to my enjoyment of the book, but it is something I noticed. The ending is a little predictable, too. I did not read the Salacious Players Club series, but you better believe I am going to now!

Thank you to Sara Cate and Hambright PR for the complimentary ARC and ALC of this book. All opinions are my own. I was not compensated for this review.
Profile Image for Ally Bateman.
322 reviews
July 23, 2025
I really loved the Sara Cate’s Salacious series and was so excited to see this next Gen series with all of their kids. That said, I did not enjoy this book. Jack is problematic af and is a bad father and boyfriend.
In the previous series, even when one person was in a sub role, they were still empowered and strong. Camille is a doormat who is discouraged from speaking and is kept as a dirty secret for a lot of the story. She has no real goals or ambition and other than being sexually curious, has to real say in what happens.
Jack gave me the ick so many times. After Camille told him her dead father called her his little bird, Jack started using it as an honorific in bed. He discouraged her from speaking because her accent reminded him of his dead wife, but then he goes on to say how well she knows him and that she’s “perfect for him” 🤢. Considering who Jack’s mother is, I’d expect better. And on top to all his red flag behaviour towards Camille, he’s also an absentee father. I hope book two redeems this series because at this point 3 stars feels generous.
Profile Image for Koisty.
444 reviews1,117 followers
October 2, 2025
3.5 Show Me Stars⭐️
Spicy Rating: 🌶️🌶️.5/5
I want to be around her all the time. I want to own her while also being owned by her. I want her to exist in every future iteration of my life.
𝙎𝙮𝙣𝙤𝙥𝙨𝙞𝙨:
Camille Aubert is kind of lost in her life. She works at a tiny little bookstore in a small village in France. She’s alone, hasn’t really got direction in her life, and has been lost since she lost her father. One day in the bookstore, she finds a love letter tucked in the pages of a donated book. The letter contains a photo of a couple, an address, and a name. Sparked by a goal and a new adventure, she sets out to return the letter to its owners. However, in her research, she discovers the woman in the photo has passed away and wonders what or who she’ll find on the other side of the address. When she gets to the house, she’s mistakenly identified as a candidate for a nanny. It turns out the man in the photograph still lives there, and he has a beautiful five-year-old girl desperate for someone to care for her. Drawn by the idea of another adventure and the chance to live in Paris, Camille applies for the nanny job. Meanwhile, Jack St. Claire has been given a year to turn around the new Club "Legacy" with the rest of the next generation of Salacious players and the deadline is approaching fast. If they fail, the club will revert to the original owners; if they succeed, Jack has a choice to make... Stay in Paris or Leave... Also he REALLY REALLY LIKES tying people up!

𝙏𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙁𝙚𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨:
I loved Camille because she’s such a dichotomy of a character. She reminds me of the saying “curiosity killed the cat" or has the “fuck around and find out” energy, but not in a malicious or problematic way. She’s just naturally curious, so she ends up in awkward and strange situations because she doesn’t always know when to draw the line and then finds interesting consequences. She also has this innate naivety that makes her endearing and you just want to like her because of her big heart!

Jack, on the other hand, is very closed off and cold. He hasn’t dealt well with his wife’s death and has pushed everyone away, especially his daughter, because she reminds him of his wife and what he lost. Like, he basically makes his friends raise her for a while cause he "can't deal". He’s incredibly forceful and dominating, extending that control into his sexual preferences. As mentioned, he REALLY LIKES tying people up and the control it gives him as a way to process his grief. It’s a semi-unhealthy coping mechanism, but it gives him what he needs.

Jack is intrigued by Camille because she challenges him. She doesn’t back down, and she forces him to face his demons. Through her, he begins to find himself again, learns to love again, starts opening up, and begins to work on being a better father to his daughter, and the poor girl is starved for attention and just wants someone to hold her and read her a bedtime story.

Beatrice, Jack's little girl, was sweet and cute. She sometimes had those “too smart for her age” moments I don’t always like in book kids... but that might just be me not knowing how a five-year-old is meant to act. She came across as very independent and witty, almost like the perfect child. We’re told she throws tantrums and has bad days, but we don’t really see it on the page, just told that they happened.

Now that ties into one of my biggest issues with the book, in that a lot of the relationship development between Camille and Jack, and Camille’s bond with Bea, is told rather than shown. We’re given time skips and explanations of "it’s been a week, they’ve been spending time together" but we don’t get to see these moments unfold. I think that in a movie, a montage works because the medium allows us to infer what’s happening. But in a book, especially one where the relationship development is a key focus, it feels like something is missing. The same happens with their intimacy. We’re told things about how sexually active they are, but we only see a few interactions. It just feels like we never see the evolution of their connection on the page. And to me it left the emotional side of their relationship feeling a bit surface-level.

Another thing that made me struggle with the emotional chemistry between them is it felt like Jack fell in love with Camille only because she let him tie her up and because she was able to give his daughter the love he didn't know how to show. Essentially, he loved her because she loved Bea. It often seemed like his feelings stemmed from Camille being a good mother figure and I wasn’t fully convinced by their deeper emotional or mental connection, especially since he spent so much time shutting her down and pushing her away.

That said, I won’t lie, some of their spicy scenes, especially when he’s teasing her. THEY WERE very sexy and sensual. The writing had a great balance of allure and enticement without being too over the top. It pulled me in and kept me hooked. And sometimes made me blush...

𝙏𝙧𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙨:
▶ Billionaire Romance
▶ Grumpy X Sunshine
▶ Single Dad X Nanny Romance
▶ Forced Proximity
▶ Forbidden Romance

and 𝙈𝙞𝙘𝙧𝙤 𝙏𝙧𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙨:
▷ Nicknames
▷ Potato Sack over his Shoulder
▷ Crawl to Me
▷ Watches Her Sleep - Ok Edward
▷ "Mine"
▷ "Show Me", and "Teach Me"
▷ Tending to Injuries
▷ He Braids her Hair
▷ Share a Bath
▷ Spicy Lessons

𝙎𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙆𝙞𝙣𝙠𝙨:
➢ BDSM
➢ Bondage and Rope Play
➢ Voyeurism
➢ Fun with Toys
➢ Finger Licking Good

Overall, this was enjoyable, but I just wanted more on the emotional side to make their love story feel fully rounded.

Thank you to Hambright PR and Sara Cate for the gifted copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own
Profile Image for TiffanyPReads.
172 reviews
August 15, 2025
Another Sara Cate banger!! I think my favorite one yet!!

Do yourself a favor and get the audiobook. Duet style muticast with Meg Sylvan (amazing French accent work) and Jason Clarke (so many growly Good Girls) with a supporting cast of Brandon Francis, Samantha Brentmoor and CJ Bloom.

What I Wanted- a spicy book about a single dad and nanny hanging out at a sex club in Paris.

What I Got- a powerful story not really about sex at all. It’s about the grief of a man who lost his wife and he has no idea how to move on and a woman who never thought she was enough finding her power and strength. It’s about grieving a life you thought you’d have. It’s about family. It reflects on how we can experience physical intimacy without emotional intimacy. It’s therapy positive. It’s about admitting that we are not ok.

But there is a lot of sex, bondage and shibari rope play which I am NOT disappointed about.

Amazing amazing amazing. Could not put it down.

ALC.
Profile Image for Ashley Andersen.
198 reviews1,968 followers
September 5, 2025
4.75⭐️
4🌶️

This book was not only spicy as hell and made me blush, but the ending had tears pooling in my eyes. It was so beautiful and made my heart squeeze.

This might be my favourite “he falls for the nanny” romance I’ve ever read. The audiobook was absolutely incredible!
Profile Image for mary ✿.
459 reviews36 followers
September 22, 2025
4.75 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

for a long time, salacious players club was a top tier top five book series for me. i discovered some more good ones but it’s still is a legendary book series i will never forget. i even attempted to reread the whole thing a few months ago but "give me more" still scares me so i’ve put the reread on hold for now.

sara cate did magic with this series and the fact that we are getting the kids books is incredible. like i’m sorry what? AMAZING.

and this?!?! is freaking me out. because it’s jack st. claire. aka the infamous eden st. claire’s son!!! we meet jack in "madame" when he was just a toddler so it’s quite insane he’s having his own book.

and omg was this book incredible. i was not expecting much from the beginning. i don’t think i even read the plot but a lot of things surprised me. that’s not how i visualized jack’s life and somehow, it made sense. i love everything about him, camille and their relationship. and omg little beatrice?!? so adorable

as always from sara cate, the spice was delicious!!!! and omg the slow burn? BURNING

what really got me here is the subject of grief. i thought i would have a problem with this book with how jack’s ex wife is mentioned so many times and how he stops himself because of her. but not really. it was beautiful and i loved it so much. i cried a lot towards the end its stupid

i think i was going to give this five stars but the beginning was slow and kind of confusing. but i adored this

and i haven’t read a book this quick in so long so there’s that

this is making me more excited for what’s to come in this series!!!!! i wish we got to see more of the OG characters in this tho

"i was never supposed to be here, and somehow, i’ve made it my home."
Profile Image for Christi (christireadsalot).
2,790 reviews1,430 followers
August 21, 2025
The Good Girl Effect is the first book in the Salacious Legacy series, a spinoff/2nd gen of the Salacious Players Club series! This is set in Paris and it’s a single dad x nanny romance.

Jack St. Claire is struggling, he’s a single father, a widower, and he has his hands full with running a new kink club in Paris (alongside his childhood/family friends and siblings group). Camille has dreams of life outside her small hometown and one day finds a letter and photograph tucked away in a book in the bookstore she works at. Determined to find out more about the people in the photo and their love story she searches on social media and finds out about Jack and his late wife. Recently having grieved her own father, Camille is determined to track down Jack in Paris and return the letter, she arrives at his house and is mistaken for an applicant for the nanny position for his daughter and hired! This is definitely a forced proximity (she moves in), single dad x nanny romance, where he’s definitely very closed off at first. One day she finds out about the club and is very curious about how world and what he can show her.

I loved the original SPC series so I was very excited for this 2nd gen series, but this one kinda fell flat for me sadly. It was fine but I was never fully invested in the couple or rooting for them. I get that Jack’s character is struggling but him as a father wasn’t great and I felt like Camille had nothing going for her other than being sensual and curious about the club and rope play with Jack. Them together just didn’t sell me either, most of the story he doesn’t want her to even speak cause it sounds too much like his late wife so instead he instructs her to write him letters after their sessions of things she likes there instead. I did the audiobook and the female narrator for the heroine just did not work for me either. All in all, maybe it was just this couple/their characters that didn’t work for me in this book.

I had an audio ALC, all thoughts in this review are my own.
Profile Image for Michelle.
316 reviews75 followers
September 16, 2025
The plot was thick and the spice was dirty.
Profile Image for Shanna Ferris.
609 reviews54 followers
August 31, 2025
• Single dad/nanny
• Grief rep
• Hurt/comfort
• Submission
• S*x Club scenes
• Rope/bondage Play
• Dom/Sub dynamic
• Letter exchange
• Breeding k*nk
• Voyeurism

Ahhh! Where do I even start!? I had the absolute best time listening to this audiobook! Sara kicked off this second generation with a BAANNGG!! Getting to be a part of this world that she has created again felt so good. And to open it with Jack and Camille couldn’t have been a better decision. I’m just such a huge fan of Sara’s writing style, and when you pair that with the amazing cast of narrators she picked for this book, I was absolutely hooked!

Jack and Camille’s story was so perfectly unconventional, which is very on brand for Sara. I always love the uniqueness of her characters and the way she pushes boundaries while still keeping the heart of the story. She did such a good job weaving in that mix of angst, spice, and vulnerability. And man, did she give us some very tortured MCs!

Jack! Holy smokes, this man had me melted like a puddle. And voiced by Jason Clarke... need I say more? Jack’s grief was so perfectly conveyed, and through Jason’s narration you could really feel the pain this man was going through. Jack’s character came off strong right away. He lived as a recluse while coping with the devastating loss of his wife, trying to keep the inherited club afloat while also adjusting to life as a single father. But in his grief, he had closed himself off, even to his own daughter, leaving them both struggling to find their way through the pain together.

Camille was the perfect FMC, and just like Jack, she was also so perfectly cast. Meg did such a beautiful job with Camille’s character! She came off innocent and meek, but as the story went on you saw the beautiful fire this woman carried. It couldn’t have been a better match for Jack. Especially once she let her curiosity out and wanted to understand him more. And once she did, I loved the feisty side that came out of her as she learned what it meant to be someone’s rope bunny. She allowed Jack to see a totally different side of her than he was used to seeing in the women who let him tie them up. The vulnerability was captured so spot on. And the chemistry... hot d*mn!

She brought such a sweet balance to not only Jack’s life, but especially to Bea’s. I absolutely loved the way she connected with Bea. Their little adventures together and the way Bea so quickly grew attached to her melted my heart. I also loved the way Camille helped Jack find his way back to being the parent Bea needed.

I don’t even think my review does this book justice! I’m so excited to see where Sara takes the rest of this series. And there are quite a few characters I’m hoping we get to see HEAs for. I can’t wait!

🎧 Audiobook Review 🎧
Multi-cast narration
Performed by Meg Sylvan, Jason Clarke, Samantha Brentmoor, Brandon Francis, and CJ Bloom

What a cast, right? If that’s not enough to convince you to listen, let me tell you more, because Sara couldn’t have picked a better team of narrators.

Meg Sylvan’s performance for Camille was so tender, beautifully done in such a light French accent that suited Camille perfectly. Her feisty side came out so well through Meg’s performance, as well as her curiosity.

Jason Clarke. My gosh. Jaw-dropping performance! Absolutely insane. The intensity he added to Jack’s character was perfect. The growly edge he gave his voice when Jack was annoyed was so raw, so perfectly captured. And when Jack’s vulnerable side came out, it was impossible not to feel it through his performance.

Sam voiced Bea, which was such a solid choice on Sara’s behalf because this woman nails little kid voices! I actually bring it up continuously in my reviews whenever she has the opportunity to voice a child. It’s always one of my favorites. The sweet way she brought Bea to life was so tender.

Brandon played a supporting role and absolutely nailed that character. He definitely portrayed someone I’m crossing my fingers gets a redemption arc, because my gosh, I wanted to nut-punch that character a few times 🤣. For Brandon’s sake, we need a redemption book! He did a flawless job capturing Julian.

CJ also played a supporting role and brought that character to life perfectly. I look forward to seeing her and Brandon return in future books, because I just know they’re going to do such an incredible job continuing with these characters.
Profile Image for Romancing the Reader.
1,252 reviews519 followers
September 1, 2025
Sara Cate said it in her authors note and I will just echo the sentiment: it’s good to be back home in this universe.

📕 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗜𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: The Good Girl Effect by Sara Cate

📙 𝗦𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀: The Salacious Legacy character series. Book 1.

📗 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗗𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘀: E-book ARC on Kindle. 🆓 on KU.

📘 𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗿𝗲: Contemporary romance

📔 𝗧𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝘀: Single dad, nanny, age gap, grief journey, lessons.

📖 𝗦𝘆𝗻𝗼𝗽𝘀𝗶𝘀: Camille follows a mysterious letter in a book right to Jack’s door. And before she can give it back to its owner, she’s being interviewed to be a nanny for the most frustratingly handsome man she’s ever seen. But as Camille and Jack begin to explore at night, there’s secrets between them that continue to grow.

🌟 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄: If you’ve been around here awhile, it’s no secret I love Sara Cate’s writing. I wasn’t sure I needed more books in the SPC universe - but I can tell you now that The Good Girl Effect has me ready and rearing to go for this next group of characters.

TGGE was a little tough to get into for the first 30%, but then I was genuinely addicted. Most of that time was setting the stage, and I’ll be 100% honest I wasn’t loving Camille as a character. But as the book went on and Jack’s
POV hit more frequently, I melted into reading and couldn’t put the book down.

I feel like I say the same thing about Sara Cate’s writing every time - it’s steeped in spice but with incredibly layered characters and the spice actually MEANS SOMETHING. It just goes to show that as readers, we can have it all.

𝗥𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴: 4.5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

𝗦𝗽𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗟𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹: 4/5 🌶🌶🌶🌶️

𝑰 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏 𝑨𝑹𝑪 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒃𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒊𝒏 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒏 𝒉𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒘.
Profile Image for Zizi.
306 reviews205 followers
September 26, 2025
I kept anticipating when anyone was going to find out why she was really there. This book kept me entertained, I love book series that have 2nd generation! Um so hype to read about the future books in this series, especially if Elizabeth has one!! Omg the ending is just adorable.
Profile Image for BernLuvsBooks .
1,101 reviews5,148 followers
August 23, 2025
The audio was 5⭐️ & 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️!

Holy 🔥🔥🔥 - this book more than lived
up to my Salacious Players Club expectations!

The audiobook y'all is a MUST!!! We are talking multiple narrators - Jason Clarke, C.J. Bloom, Samantha Brentmoor, Meg Sylvan and Brandon Francis. This cast absolutely KILLED it!!!

This grieving single father/nanny romance will have you swooning and fanning yourself. Why? Well, we have an age gap romance, forced proximity with a live-in nanny, a naive FMC who receives midnight lessons, involving rope play, from her employer who co-owns a kink club. There was also soooo much pulse quickening dirty talk and some seriously steamy scenes.

Plus, I genuinely loved the relationship between Camille and Jack's daughter Bea. They were so genuine and sweet. The family these three created will steal your heart. It definitely stole mine.

I cannot wait for more of the other club owners!! Salacious Legacy is off to a great start and I'm excited to see what else Sara gives us. I know one thing is guaranteed - it will bring the 🔥.

Mark your calendars - The Good Girl Effect releases on Sept. 2nd.
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