Relationships that begin due to convenience, to hide a truth, or for political advantage are not exactly rare. They appear a lot in fiction too, for the obvious reason that they are a treasure trove of possible twists and turns. ‘The Senator’s Secret’ is a modern-day version of the “politically convenient” relationship: North Carolina State Senator Sam Dalton is caught on film hugging Gary, a male aide, in the “secrecy” of his campaign headquarter’s backyard, a bigot outs him by posting the picture on FB with a few snide remarks, and Sam faces a potential political sh*tstorm weeks before hoping to be re-elected. Quite the conundrum and a PR nightmare – until his secretary and PR manager come up with a way to spin this in a positive direction, and Sam faces being engaged to a total stranger. What a setup!

Sam is one of a very rare breed – an honest politician. He cares for his constituents, focuses on fixing issues, and has no skeletons in his closet. Yes, he is gay, but only his best friend, chief of staff Curtis, knows about it. Sam doesn’t want any distractions from his political objectives, but when he is outed due to what was a congratulatory hug for Gary being accepted into vet school, keeping his personal life out of the limelight is no longer an option.

Gary is a great guy who is focused on his studies and keeping his head above water financially since he has no family to help pay for his degree. He helps man the phones for the senator’s campaign because he respects what the man stands for, but has never spoken to him personally until their shared cigarette break at the back of the house. He is mortified to find the picture of their innocent hug all over the Internet by the next morning, and when Sam’s chief of staff approaches him with a request to see the senator, Sam thinks he is in huge trouble. The proposal shocks him, but since he is gay, not currently in a relationship, and could do with the financial support that is part of the deal, he decides to go for it.

What follows is the hugely entertaining and very cute story of a totally unplanned and unexpected real romance between Gary and Sam. Initially they put on an act, but the more they get to know each other in all these staged PR situations, the more they like each other. Real affection soon sneaks in, and together with the sneaky sense of humor they share is a sound basis for true feelings to develop. Absolutely fantastic!

If you like a strangers-to-lovers story that moves faster than you can blink, if two men who start out pretending to be engaged only to find out they are falling in love sounds like a fun idea for a novel, and if you’re looking for a light read that is as enjoyable as it is compelling, then you will probably like this novel as much as I do. It’s angst-free, funny, and very sweet.


NOTE: This book was provided by Dreamspinner Press for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews. ( )

Story: 6
First MC: 6
Second MC: 6
Secondary characters: 7
Mystery: 4
Sexual tension: 5
Humor: 4
Hotness: 4
Product placement: 4
Ridiculousness: 6
Annoying: 5
To re-read: 2
Suspence: 5
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This book was tropey as hell, and normally that would drive me crazy, but that is kind of the whole point of the Dreamspun Desires line, so I knew what I was getting into and the book never seemed to take itself too seriously. Some of the tropes featured in this book include the Fake Fiancé, Falling In Love In Less Than a Month (actually, less than two weeks), and The Hero is Still a Virgin (which I actually didn't mind, because it made sense and it was a romance between two guys - usually in category romances it's always the heroine who is a virgin, which just feels misogynistic to me [Madonna/Whore Dichotomy], but with two guys and one being a virgin, it felt much more equitable).

So basically an in-the-closet-so-deep-he's-never-even-had-a-relationship state Senator, Sam, is caught by his opponent hugging another guy. Now, normally I would be like WTF, it was a hug, not a kiss, but predictably in category romances, this will ~*~ruin~*~ his career if he doesn't do something about it. So what does his team decide to do? Have Sam come out of the closet and declare that the guy he was hugging, Gary, is actually his secret fiancé. Seems like quite a bit of an overreaction, but whatever, it's a category romance and, like I said, I expect this kind of ridiculousness. And, of course, Sam and Gary end up falling in love with one another for real (in less than two weeks, no less!).

So I'm just not into category romance that much, although I found the premise intriguing initially. Things just felt way too over the top to me, which yes, I know, comes with the territory, but it just wasn't what I wanted to read. I gave it three stars because I imagine fans of m/m category romance will really enjoy this book. ( )