Heat Factor: I had really high hopes but gave up before anything happened
Character Chemistry: I’m not sure if the chemistry wasn’t great or if it was just everything wasn’t great
Plot: The president has a crush on the new head of pediatric cardiology at her son’s hospital, plus her re-election campaign is starting
Overall: I’m sorry I didn’t try harder, but I was still bored ⅓ of the way through, and I just didn’t want to continue.
I couldn’t resist another president romance, especially a sapphic president romance, but jeepers did it not work for me. I only read about the first third of the book, so here are my takeaways:
- This is an extremely left-leaning book. If explicit real politics and a burgeoning MAGA Republican party as the political foe are not to your liking, this is not the book for you. I don’t typically go seeking overt politics in my leisure reading because *gestures at everything* but that’s not what made me want to quit reading; however, I do understand it’s not everyone’s jam.
- There is tension in the background: Connie is looking at her re-election, dealing with the joke that is the aforementioned Republican party candidate and the press who thinks her being a single woman is a problem but also thinks it’s a problem when an openly bisexual woman is seen repeatedly with the same woman (Emily, the doctor). Clearly something bad is going to happen…I just did not care what even the slightest bit, possibly because it’s basically real life, and what’s described is pretty much every political campaign, possibly because I’ve read quite a few books where the MC’s queerness is what puts their job on the line. That said…
- There is no actual on-page tension. Connie’s staff is like, “Mmm, maybe this is not what we want…” and there are no social or emotional repercussions. The political news engine is making noise, and it doesn’t matter at all or only matters insofar as would advance the plot, when I very much doubt presidential staffers would flame a nothingburger fire about the president appearing in a nothingburger photo with Emily. I don’t even know what Emily’s deal is;she’s the youngest department head and that’s a problem because…? Why do I care about Connie sending Emily photos from Athens landmarks? I don’t. Because there’s no reason for me to care in the text. (Please refer to Ingrid’s post on tension for more on this issue.)
Long story short, I was disappointed that this book didn’t work for me because I was really looking forward to it, but I’m not going to force myself to finish a book that does absolutely nothing to hold my attention.
I voluntarily read and reviewed a complimentary copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. We disclose this in accordance with 16 CFR §255.
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