Title: Elected
Author: Pepper Espinoza
Publisher: http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure
Genre: Contemporary GLBT (M/M)
Length: Amber Kiss (9K words)
Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5
THE BLURB
Can a Republican strategist and a Democratic news producer look beyond their differences on election night?
Owen Horn, former Democratic strategist, is more than a little invested in the current presidential election. But on the night of the election, he has other things on his mind. On the surface, Sam Delgado, key Republican strategist, is everything that Owen detests. He’s on the wrong side of the conservative spectrum. He takes his marching orders from a man Owen disagrees with on every single policy. But Sam is friendly, smart, and gorgeous. Owen has a tendency to forget their enemies.
While the country holds its collective breath waiting for the presidential election results, Owen holds his own election.
THE REVIEW
Sam and Owen had a thing going in the past but when Sam left a few months ago they never discussed what they meant to each other. Sam has been on the road with his candidate and they hadn’t communicated or met in over 4 months. Now it’s election night, Sam is back in town and Owen can’t wait to rub his face in the fact that his party is losing the election. But it’s funny …. there’s not much fun in that anymore and all he wants is to hold Sam and kiss him again and again. Will Sam stick around this time?
What I like about Pepper Espinoza’s stories is that they’re all about the characters and she has two delightful protagonists in Sam and Owen. They are not just on the opposite side of the political fence but everything else as well so there’s a lot of internal conflict. However, there is one area where they definitely see eye to eye and that is in bed. The sex is emotional and hot and these two men don’t need words to express what they want. The dialogue is fresh and smart and there is an exchange of power and vulnerability between Owen and Sam that makes the story even better.
Elected is a terrific short story and I recommend it to any reader of the genre who likes a hot romance between two intelligent characters who are articulate and really likeable.
Hm. I had put this on my wish list but my enthusiam went down when you said they “had a thing going in the past”. I thought the characters met during the story (I know, I’m in a capricious mood today). But then, I had also somehow missed that this was a short story and not a full novel, so I understand the need for the characters to already know each other before the start. The political setting in itself was intriguing enough. It makes for nice potential conflict and hot feelings :). I think it will keep its spot on the list :).
The story was really well done. In these short stories it’s important for the characters to have a backstory so it doesn’t seem as if they’re jumping into bed at the drop of a hat (one of the things you hate). The election and their politics played a role in their story and I particularly liked how the author was able to navigate without indicating which side she was on politically.
I hope you get this one once you’re off your “no book buying” phase. *g*
I particularly liked how the author was able to navigate without indicating which side she was on politically.
That’s quite a feat in itself 🙂
And I’m pretty proud I managed to uphold the non-buying thing. I only slipped once – and it was used books. No, wait, two. OK, actually, three, but the third one doesn’t count because it was for the J.R. Ward story – I HAD to have it. NOW. But still, that makes it barely more than 20$ in a month and a half versus 200$. That,s good, isn’t it? Of course, during that time I only read 9 books from my TBR pile, but that,s because I had to re-read all the Sherrilyn Kenyon Dark-Hunters (about 13 of them) so I could get to the latest (and new to me) installments in the series. I decided to keep the no-buying policy until I’ve read 30 books or e-books I already have.
At least I’m going to try 😀 Wish me strenght!