Reviewed by Chris

TITLE:  The Husband Gambit

AUTHOR:  L.A. Witt 

PUBLISHER:  Self-Published

LENGTH:  302 pages

RELEASE DATE:  November 15, 2018

BLURB:  

Marry me for 1 year. Payment: $1.2 million.

Hayden Somerset is convinced the ad is a joke, but he responds anyway because, hello, $1.2 million. He’s broke, living in a tiny apartment with two roommates, and exhausted from praying his ancient car survives just one more week. His skyrocketing rent and crushing student loans aren’t helping either. At this point, there isn’t much Hayden wouldn’t do for that kind of cash.

The ad isn’t a joke. Jesse Ambrose is absolutely serious. His father, the charismatic patriarch of a powerful Hollywood dynasty, has his eye on politics, and he’s counting on California’s liberals and progressives to elect him. But Jesse knows what his father believes when cameras and voters aren’t around. As the election looms, he’ll do anything to force the man’s hand and show the public who Isaac Ambrose really is.

Anything, including marrying a stranger so his father will make good on his promise to disown Jesse if he ever takes a husband.

Now he just has to wait for his father to take the bait… and try not to accidentally fall in love with his fake husband.

REVIEW:  

When Hayden Somerset sees an ad seeking marriage in exchange for over a million dollars, he thinks–as any rational person would–that it is a joke. Or some kind of porno/serial killer set-up. He is broke though–and I do mean broke–so he, in a fit of madness probably brought on by an excess of ramen, writes an email asking for more information. He is shocked when a day later he walks into a restaurant to find a stunningly hot man waiting for him, and not some kind of kinky killer clown. A man who is actually going to pay him 1.2 million dollars to be his husband. For reals. All he has to do is stay married to Jesse Ambrose for a year. Which sounds way too good to be true. And probably is. Except…Hayden thinks this Jesse guy might be legit, and have a very good reason for shelling out the cash. Seems when Jesse says that he’d do just about anything to stop his (secretly) bigoted father from gaining political office on a “liberal ticket” he is willing to put his money where his mouth is. Which sounds like something Hayden can get behind. He just might have to spend a little bit of time reminding himself that having Jesse put his mouth on other places would probably be all kinds of a bad idea.

It might seem like such a small thing to other people, but I honestly think that my favorite part of this story might be how is portrays being broke, and the kind of near constant worry that comes with it. A lot of the time being poor is portrayed as some kind of badge of honor, and asking or taking help (especially in the form of money) makes you a bad person. If someone offers you something you have to reject it, or else you are greedy and mercenary. Gifts are bad. Help is unnecessary. Pride is above all and is all.

Which…yeah, fuck that.

I have been poor for my whole life and I have to say that if someone was to offer me a way to stop needing to worry that if I have even one spectacularly bad day my life could be wrecked, I’d take it. And that doesn’t make me any less proud. It makes me rational as fuck. I say screw the mindset that says that the only people who deserve help are the rich. I also say screw the mindset that being poor is somehow some kind of choice for a majority of the people stuck in it. That if all people did was stop being so prideful than they could easily have that 200,000 McMansion in the suburbs.  I’ve got no time for the mindset of The Noble Poor, and I find the careless use of it in fiction to be detrimental to helping anything.

That doesn’t mean I’m not also skeptical of people who come with money in one hand and another behind their back–likely holding the hammer they intend to beat you down with.  It just means that I get tired of being told by the stories that I read that my willingness to take a hand-out when needed somehow makes me less. Less good. Less honorable. Less worthy of the good things that those who have never needed that kind of help get almost every day.

So…I liked how this book portrayed Hayden. It wasn’t all of one and none of the other, but it fit a lot better the mindset I have lived in for almost my whole life. He is constantly having to remind himself that he has money now. That buying lunch at a restaurant isn’t a huge financial risk. That he could have his car break down…and he could handle it. It wouldn’t screw his entire life over. He doesn’t let the money become everything to him, but watching him slowly unwind and relax because his life was easier with the money…it felt real. He knows exactly what it feels like to have the financial rug pulled out from under him, so he doesn’t go on spending spree–and even small purchases still give him anxiety sometimes–but his reactions to the stratospheric change of circumstances is probably the most realistic I’ve ever read. It was refreshing, if nothing else.

As to the other parts of the story, well I really enjoyed them too. I felt at times that Jesse’s dad was a bit too mustache twirling, but the way politics are these day I can’t exactly say it was unrealistic. Which is just lovely. But my loathing of politicians (even just the aspiring ones) aside, I found Jesse’s reactions to his father to be very heartfelt and honest. Heaven knows I’ve had the same feeling about certain members of my own family. That kind of knowing that the bad is inevitably coming, but you can’t fight the vague and probably painful hope that for once all that shit said about “family” this time might actually hold some weight, and it keeps you from ever just walking away completely. It sucks. And it is painful. And man being a grown-up should come with some kind of return policy.

Anyways…this has all been kind of rambly, I know. It was just the kind of story that pulled out all sorts of things in me. Some a bit more pointy than others. I had a lot of fun reading it, and Jesse and Hayden really do work very well together, so I can’t say I ever regretted a second of it. And despite what this review might come off as feeling, it is not actually that much of a downer. It was just a very well written, and well-rounded, story that could have been just another “pretend marriage” trope–which still would have been 100% up my alley–but actually took the time to develop both the characters and plot into something a bit more…honest. Even the bits that are pulpy by nature.

RATING:  

BUY LINK:

Amazon