Author: K.C.
Wells
Release Date: September
1 2016
Length: 220 pages
Blurb
When his
Republican opponent outs him with a photo in a Facebook post, Senator Samuel
Dalton doesn’t have many options open to him. It doesn’t matter that the photo
was totally innocent. He has no choice but to come clean – until his staff
suggest putting a spin on it that leaves Sam reeling.
Sure, he’d end
up with a lot of sympathy, not to mention the possibility of more voters from
the LGBT community, but it still seems a pretty drastic solution.
Now all they
have to do is persuade Gary, the other man in the photo, to play along. It
sounds so easy - convince the constituents of North Carolina that he and Sam
are engaged.
No big deal,
except for the fact that they’ve only just met…
Excerpt
“This really
burns me, you know?” Becky piped up as she came through the door, iPad in her
hand. “Does that Pastor Hartsell think he can just go around, making up shit
like this?” She glared at Curtis. “He can’t go around telling everyone Sam is
gay when we know he’s not!”
Curtis’s eyes
flickered in Sam’s direction before he spoke. “Only, Hartsell didn’t say that,
did he?” he chided Becky gently.
Josh snorted.
“Yeah, he was real careful about how that post was worded. ‘What is the nature
of the relationship…?’ And the part asking folks what that photo said to them? Inspired.
His supporters come up with all the shit he wouldn’t dare say. And of course,
he doesn’t comment on any of it.” He scowled. “He doesn’t need to; they went
ahead and said it all for him. He gets to sit back and read it, while we’re the
ones doing the weeping.” Josh stuck out his chin. “So let’s get this statement
out. He won’t be so cocky when we’re suing his ass for libel and defamation of
character.”
“You sure we
want to go that route?” Curtis said quietly.
Sam fired him a
look, but Curtis was avoiding his gaze.
“Of course he
does,” Becky interjected, her eyes flashing. “Sam can’t just sit here and let
that… man hint that he’s… well, it’s just….” She narrowed her eyes. “You know
what would cook his goose? If we announced that Sam was gay, and that he and
this Gary were secretly engaged. That’d make Hartsell look like a nasty piece
of work, outing Sam like that and making him look all sleazy, when they were
keeping it quiet so as not to detract from the campaign.” She gave Curtis an
evil grin. “Yeah, they’d look all wholesome—a sweet, cute gay couple heading
for marriage, and there’s him, trying to make the whole situation seem sordid.”
There was a
stunned silence.
Sam was the
first to react. “This is not the plot from a Will & Grace episode, all
right?” His head was still reeling from her suggestion.
“Wait a minute,
wait a minute!” Josh straightened in his chair, his eyes shining. “You might
have something there.”
Two heads
swiveled in his direction, and from three mouths came the same word
simultaneously: “What?”
Josh was
nodding, his cheeks flushed. “This might work to our advantage.”
“Excuse me?”
Sam was having a hard time dealing with this.
“Oh, come on,”
Josh said with a cheeky grin. “Coming out is fashionable these days. Everybody’s
doing it—actors, athletes, singers…. Since the SCOTUS decision last year,
coming out is the new black.” He waggled his eyebrows. “It’d bring you a whole
heap of new supporters, Sam.”
What the…?
Becky was on
the edge of her seat. “Yeah. Let everyone see them as a committed couple,
putting their relationship on hold until after the election. They’ve not been
hiding it, exactly—they just want the focus to be on politics.”
“But—” The turn
in the discussion left Sam gaping in amazement.
Josh waved a
hand to hush him. “Yeah,” he said, nodding excitedly. “I like that. We do a
press conference, break the story, get public opinion on our side, sympathy for
the way Hartsell has portrayed their relationship—”
“What
relationshi—”
Becky and Josh
ignored Sam, lost in their own little world. “Oh my God!” Becky put her hand to
her chest. “Can you imagine? The wedding? It would be so beautiful!”
“Wedding? What
wed—”
“We’d have lots
of photos taken of the happy couple, showing their life together. We could
start up a Twitter account where they send cute little tweets to each other.”
Josh grinned. “Move over, Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka, Elton John and
David Furnish, Ellen and Portia—they could become the gay couple of the decade.”
“Okay, that’s
enough!” Sam growled. When his staff jumped and turned to face him, he pointed
to the outer door of his office. “You two,” he said, indicating Josh and Becky,
“out, now.”
Becky gave him
a startled glance before lurching to her feet and scooting out of the room,
Josh following her with a perplexed expression.
Sam closed the
door behind them and faced his chief of staff. “What. The. Fuck, Curtis?” He
glared at his friend, his heart pounding, head aching.
Curtis regarded
him calmly. “What have I been telling you?”
Sam stared at
him, mouth open. “You… you’re not actually considering their harebrained
scheme, are you?”
He shrugged.
“Why not?”
My thoughts
The Senator’s
Secret was a pure delight to read. Cute is not a strong enough word for this
wonderful, angst-free, funny and touching tale—but cute it is.
This book is,
of course, part of Dreamspinner Press’ Dreamspun Desires Series and as such
almost an ‘old fashioned’ romance. The story, set-up, and characters are
somewhat over the top, but all the more adorable for it. Sam, our State
Senator, is a thirty-three year old closeted virgin, who’s never even been
kissed and while that may not be the most realistic of scenarios it does make
for an utterly charming and heart-melting storyline. Gary on the other hand is
out and proud, even if he doesn’t broadcast the fact, and does have some
experience under his belt, but he’s no partner hopper. Where Sam’s an almost
too good to be true honest and principled politician, Gary is a straightforward
but by no means boring good guy. Together they are—yes, I’m going to use the
word again—as cute as pie. And the way their relationship evolves from not
really knowing each other at all, to friends, to lovers was a pure delight to
read.
K.C. Wells
always delivers when it comes to her secondary characters too, and The
Senator’s Secret is no exception to this rule. From Brenda, Sam’s
self-confessed ‘fag-hag’ secretary with a Will & Grace obsession, to Sam’s
condom and cherry-flavoured lube buying mother, the supporting cast brought a
strong and often funny backbone to the story. The same can be said about Sam’s
political opponent Hartsell. In fact, he is a character we can all recognise
because unfortunately there are way too many people like him in the media day
after day. Of course the fact that we can recognise and despise him makes it
all the more satisfying when Sam and his team manage to out-think him time and
again. But, the star role when it comes to secondary characters has to be
reserved for Dinky; all 200 pound of him. And if there is an award for cutest
dog in book I hereby nominate this Newfoundlander for the honour.
Above I called
this an ‘almost old-fashioned romance’, but this wouldn’t be a K.C. Wells book
if we weren’t treated to one or two hot scenes. The fact that these scenes also
describe Sam’s introduction to the joys of sex makes them all the more enticing
and beautiful.
Long story
short. This is a wonderful, touching, funny, sweet, angst-free and above all
cute romance that will leave feeling good and with a huge smile on your face.
Author Bio
Born and raised
in the north-west of England, K.C. WELLS always loved writing. Words were
important. Full stop. However, when childhood gave way to adulthood, the
writing ceased, as life got in the way. K.C. discovered erotic fiction in 2009,
when the purchase of a ménage storyline led to the startling discovery that
reading about men in love was damn hot. In 2012, arriving at a really low point
in life led to the desperate need to do something creative. An even bigger
discovery waited in the wings—writing about men in love was even hotter….
K.C. now writes
full-time and is loving every minute of her new career. The laptop still has no
idea of what hit it… it only knows that it wants a rest, please. And it now has
to get used to the idea that where K.C goes, it goes.
And as for
those men in love that she writes about? The list of stories just waiting to be
written is getting longer… and longer….
K.C. loves to
hear from readers.
Twitter:
@K_C_Wells
Giveaway
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