Reviewed by Becca
TITLE: Governing Passions
SERIES: Love in a Changing Climate #2
AUTHOR: Chris Cheek
PUBLISHER: 2FM Limited
LENGTH: 512 pages
RELEASE DATE: June 1, 2020
BLURB:
“How could I trust him not to do the same thing again? Politics were his life; how would he react if all he’d worked for was threatened? The danger was that, confronted with choices over his career and his personal life, he would choose his career.”
Dan Forrester is a rising star of the government, but he has a secret that he keeps well hidden from family, friends and colleagues – he’s gay. He also deeply regrets his callousness towards the one man with whom he could have formed a meaningful relationship.
Luke Carter is now a successful environmental consultant working on a government contract. When the two meet again, it is an encounter that will change both their lives for ever.
Set against the backdrop of Brexit, Governing Passions explores what happens when political and personal lives collide. Can Dan’s career survive? More importantly, when faced with a choice between love and duty, does he want it to?
Often shocking in its exposé of life in the corridors of powers, Governing Passions casts light on a period in recent history that has affected us all. It is also a tender love story that explores the cost that people still pay for being true to their sexuality.
REVIEW:
This was a hard one. There are some moments in this one that will utterly break your heart. And that starts when they’re still kids. It’s an HEA book, don’t worry, but these guys are going to have to go through the wringer to get there.
When Dan and Luke were in university, Luke was so in love with Dan. But no one could act on it because Luke was fighting what he was feeling and for all he knew, Dan was straight. But one drunken night, they crashed in the same bed and in a small move, Luke tried to let Dan know they could be more than friends. But Dan ran like he was on fire and Luke was crushed. Now 15 or so years later, life has a way of bringing them back together again in a way they never expected. Luke had been following Dan’s career of a sort, but never expected to see him again. So when Dan’s new government position has him meeting with Luke’s environmental company, the chemistry is still there but Luke doesn’t know if his heart can take it. But Dan seems a little different towards Luke this time and finally asks to see him. They clear the air of what happened those years ago, Dan feeling utterly mortified. But it’s opened the doors for them to be clear about who they are and how they really feel and have felt all along. The problem is, no one else really knows. But being in the government and under the watch of so many, many are making assumptions and both feel it’s time to finally come out. For themselves, of course. But it’s time. Neither went the way they were expecting, and it changed the course of how things were going to further go. But the problem is, can Luke handle being in the limelight with Dan and his career, or will it all blow to pieces before they can even really get going?
I could never be in the limelight. I don’t know how politicians and actors and such do it everyday. Their lives in the limelight and under scrutiny. Of course, some thrive on that mess, but I could never do it. And this book is a good reason why. You can’t be who you are. For Luke, it wasn’t quite as bad if he had just come out on his own. Where he worked, his boss was newly married and it wasn’t a big deal. But because of his relationship with Dan, he was now under the microscope for everything. And that’s not the worst of it. When you are in the spotlight, they not only scrutinize what you do, but everything you ever did. They dig up everything from your past, any decision they feel was wrong. They question your motives. And with Dan and Luke’s company working together to a point, it brought to question if there was favoritism and all sorts of other crap that was starting to give the company a bad rep. Which brings another point. People who are greedy or jealous and will do anything or step on anyone to get where they want to go. No matter how bad it may hurt someone else.
It saddens me how people work and think. It doesn’t shock me anymore. I think I’ve seen too much backstabbing in this world and watching how out governments work, yeah, really not surprised. But, on another note, I loved the history of the book. I’ve always wanted to go to England. I love history and to be able to see some of those places. The politics I can do without but I love the history overall. My only issue with the book at all, is that I felt it was a little bit long in some spots, but it’s a good book. And I was happy with the way it ended. It shows what’s truly important in life and that we need to look and see what we want to do in our lives instead of trying to please others. Because at the end of the day, it’s our happiness that matters. Not others.
RATING: 
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