Private Politics by Emma Barry (The Easy Part #2)
Released: September 8, 2014
Contemporary Romance
Carina Press

Reviewed by Mandi

Last year I read and enjoyed Special Interests by Emma Barry and was excited to see she had another book coming out revolving around DC politics. Now, before you scrunch your nose and tell me you don’t want to read about our lovely government, let me tell you – Emma Barry makes it very interesting. Where we could get bogged down in dry terminology and boring details, Barry makes lobbyists, bloggers, and non-profit groups intriguing! In this one we have a scandal that our heroine must uncover all the while falling in love.

Alyce works for a women’s literacy non-profit and is the head of fundraising. Coming from a wealthy New York family, Alyce is well-educated and passionate about her job, even if her boss thinks she is a bit ditzy. Alyce is good at using her looks and body language to her advantage, but she is anything but ditzy. When it’s time for the annual audit, as Alyce gathers documents for the auditor, she starts to wonder why she has never heard of some of the donor names before. With a quick google search, she realizes some of these corporations are dummies. Confused and a little scared, she makes some copies and heads home. After talking with her roommates, they call their mutual friend and DC blogger Liam over to see if he can give them any insight.

Liam has been lusting, and I mean really lusting over Alyce for the past six months. He can barely form a complete sentence when in her prescene. After hearing what evidence Alyce has, he isn’t sure what he can really do to help, besides be there as a friend. As Alyce digs deeper, she discovers more and more things that could not only bring down her beloved non-profit, but makes her look guilty as well.

After receiving a threatening note, Alyce moves in with Liam temporarily. And we all now what that means…longing glances across the kitchen table and dirty sex, obviously.

There are a couple of things that this author does that I appreciate. First, the DC setting intrigues me and I find it very fascinating. She has done her homework with research – the details are really great and she keeps it interesting the entire time. I felt the same way when I read book one. Alyce isn’t perfect – besides having the stress of this cover-up going on, she has a colder side to her. She isn’t necessarily emotionally demonstrative. Her chemistry with Liam is there, and she definitely falls for him, but she is reserved and not the warmest heroine I’ve read. However, she redeems herself well at the very end. I was so glad she said what she said, otherwise, I may have graded this differently.

Liam is just a nice fella. I wouldn’t call him beta but he slides that way. He is a political blogger and when things finally turn from friends to romance with Alyce he wants to take it from 0-100 in one day. The ‘let’s move in’ and ‘I love yous’ are intense with him because he has been in love with her for so long. I liked that about him. His excitement over Alyce is sincere and romantic. I also love that the author describes him this way:

Liam wasn’t a chiseled guy – he probably hadn’t seen the inside of a gym in a while – and it couldn’t possibly matter less. Broad shoulders, solid arms and pale skin splashed with a pattern of freckles she wanted to memorize.

That’s not to say he isn’t’ totally sexy and adorable. It’s just that he is more like a real live man!

A satisfying romance and resolution to the light suspense. I’ll definitely be picking up the next one.

Rating B

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