Reviewed by Carissa

TITLE:  Strange Bedfellows

AUTHOR:  Cardeno C.

PUBLISHER:  The Romance Authors

LENGTH:  226 pages

BLURB:  

Can the billionaire son of a Democratic president build a family with the congressman son of a Republican senator? Forget politics, love makes strange bedfellows.

As the sole offspring of the Democratic United States president and his political operative wife, Trevor Moga was raised in an environment driven by the election cycle. During childhood, he fantasized about living in a made-for-television family, and as an adult, he rejected all things politics and built a highly successful career as far from his parents as possible.

Newly elected congressman Ford Hollingsworth is Republican royalty. The grandson of a revered governor and son of a respected senator, he was bred to value faith, family, and the goal of seeing a Hollingsworth in the White House.

When Trevor and Ford meet, sparks fly and a strong friendship is formed. But can the billionaire son of a Democratic president build a family with the congressman son of a Republican senator? Forget politics, love makes strange bedfellows.

REVIEW:  

“I dreamt of growing up to be a good husband just as much as I dreamt of growing up to be a good president, and when I realized I was gay, the worst part wasn’t being scared of losing an election and it wasn’t even being worried about disappointing my family. The worst part was thinking I’d have to live my life alone because I’ll tell you, back then, being an openly gay husband seemed a fair bit less plausible than being a secretly gay president.”

Ford Hollingsworth knows damn well that he is gay, that doesn’t make his life any easier. In fact, as son of a highly-respected Republican Senator, as well as a Congressman in his own right, Ford’s life would be damn sight easier if he wasn’t gay.  But gay he is and gay he shall always be–he just can’t ever let anyone know about it. Which makes his decision to go home with Trevor, the hot dude he met in a bar, after a long and stressful day, a pretty bad decision. Especially when said hot dude ends up being the son of the President of the United States. The Democratic President of the United States. Oh boy.

And even though Ford knows he should walk away–far far away–he can’t. So how exactly does a Republican Congressman and a billionaire son of the First Family have a relationship? Very quietly. Well, in secret, at least. That is until they start to realize there is a lot more than sex between them. Then life can get a bit tricky.

I picked this book to read mainly because I hadn’t read anything with political characters in like a dog’s age (not exactly sure how long that is, but surely it must be a long time?). I generally don’t do politics. Politics, be the real or fictional, kind of make me want to punch people. So, since I am totally against having my ass thrown in jail for misdemeanor assault, I avoid them.

But I really like Cardeno C.’s stories, and this one just looked so interesting that I couldn’t pass it up (plus, look at the cover. That is one pretty cover). And luckily for me, this was less about politics and more about people. Even if some of those people are politicians. Yeah, there is politics in it, but for the most part it is about how Ford and Trevor must find a way to be true to themselves even as they can’t be entirely truthful to the rest of the world. And maybe even more importantly, realizing that being true to themselves sometimes requires being truthful with the rest of the world.

There is so much I love about this book. The sex is hot and plentiful, but I honestly didn’t feel like it took over the story. The families of both the MCs are great–and despite my aversion to all things Republican/Conservative I found I genuinely liked Ford’s family. Sometimes it is nice to remember that not every one of ‘those people’ is the boogeyman hiding underneath my bed–despite what some members of my own family have led me to believe. Neither Ford or Trevor’s families are perfect, but they do love each other and want to help each other. Life is not perfect here, but it is damn well as close as you are going to get and still come close to reality.

By far my most favorite part is how deftly Cardeno C. weaved her way around clichés and trope-traps like they were nothing more than a few dust-bunnies on the road. Every time I would see something coming off in the distance and get worried, the author brilliantly drove the story around it. Close enough to reach out and touch it, but still the bunny hopped away with nary a scratch on him (unlike the poor rabbit that took a one-way trip to eternity after my mother hit it with her car, when I was a kid).

If there is going to any problems with this book, at least for me, it is that the last 25% or so felt a bit rushed. There was this great big build-up to Ford’s coming-out problem, and then once we got to the top of that mountain we went flying downhill so fast we barely got to see the trees. Not that it was a bad finish–I in fact liked it very much–it just happened really really quickly. I would have loved to have spent more time on the consequences of everyone’s actions in more detail, than to have a few scenes separated by big jumps in time.

That being said, I fully and heartily recommend this book. The story was great, as well as the characters. And let’s not forget how hot these two are together. Also, it goes especially well with this time in history, what with SCOTUS granting marriage equality to all 50 states in America. [Insert wild and unrestrained applause here.]

RATING:

BUY LINKS:

Amazon

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Cardeno C is giving away a copy of Strange Bedfellows to one Lucky reader of Love Bytes

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