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jenafyre's review
5.0
Let me start by saying that even though Special Interest by Emma Barry is a romance based in the political arena, it did not feel like a political book at all. It was a wonderful, heartfelt love story about two people who, yes are both involved in politics, yes are on the opposite side of the political spectrum, but they are also very real and perfect for each other really. Let me tell you why.
Millie Franks is an idealist. She truly believes that she can help make the world a better place, make a difference for the working class, one battle at a time. The problem is that after she was held hostage at gun point by a man in a chicken suit, (yes I did say chicken suit) she begins to see changes in herself. Prior to all of this, she would have described herself as timid, taking a back seat, playing it safe. That is why when Parker Beckett takes an interest in her, she can hardly believe that the man that turned her down in the bar, the man that told her that he is a bad bet, bad to get involved with, might actually want to risk a relationship with her.
Parker Beckett wants Millie from the minute that he sees her in the bar. Problem is that he works an 80 hour a week schedule and he fears not being enough for any type of relationship, not enough for Millie. Problem is that Millie make him see things in a different light. He finds Millie to be a breath of fresh air in a town like Washington, D.C. where everyone is a cynic. Her wit, intelligence, and beauty have him hooked. He feels things that he never expected to feel. He is protective, loving, supportive and he can see a future with Millie, he is just so scared that she might not feel the same way.
What I love about these two is that they are both scared of the same thing, losing each other, screwing up the relationship. But as Parker start to let Millie in, allows him to see his different sides, Millie begins to rethink everything that she once thought true about him. And as Millie begins to open up about her fears after the hostage ordeal, Parker begins to realize that her faith in him, her trust in him makes him a better man. I love their fights, their conversations, their witty banter.
This is a story about finding that unexpected gift of love and realizing that you will do anything to hold on to it. I loved this book and I think you will to. I give it 5 sparkly stars.
Millie Franks is an idealist. She truly believes that she can help make the world a better place, make a difference for the working class, one battle at a time. The problem is that after she was held hostage at gun point by a man in a chicken suit, (yes I did say chicken suit) she begins to see changes in herself. Prior to all of this, she would have described herself as timid, taking a back seat, playing it safe. That is why when Parker Beckett takes an interest in her, she can hardly believe that the man that turned her down in the bar, the man that told her that he is a bad bet, bad to get involved with, might actually want to risk a relationship with her.
Parker Beckett wants Millie from the minute that he sees her in the bar. Problem is that he works an 80 hour a week schedule and he fears not being enough for any type of relationship, not enough for Millie. Problem is that Millie make him see things in a different light. He finds Millie to be a breath of fresh air in a town like Washington, D.C. where everyone is a cynic. Her wit, intelligence, and beauty have him hooked. He feels things that he never expected to feel. He is protective, loving, supportive and he can see a future with Millie, he is just so scared that she might not feel the same way.
What I love about these two is that they are both scared of the same thing, losing each other, screwing up the relationship. But as Parker start to let Millie in, allows him to see his different sides, Millie begins to rethink everything that she once thought true about him. And as Millie begins to open up about her fears after the hostage ordeal, Parker begins to realize that her faith in him, her trust in him makes him a better man. I love their fights, their conversations, their witty banter.
This is a story about finding that unexpected gift of love and realizing that you will do anything to hold on to it. I loved this book and I think you will to. I give it 5 sparkly stars.
brandypainter's review
4.0
Oh my goodness!!!! I'm in love with this book. If you like romance and you like politics, this is the perfect book for you. And by like politics I mean really like politics. If The West Wing was a show that sort of bored you and was hard to follow, this is probably not the book for you. But it was so the book for me. I really liked how both Millie and Parker had so much going on in there work lives and were far from perfect and happily successful. The disillusionment that comes from several years in the real world that can erase some of you idealism is presented so well. How that affects a person's perception of themselves and spills into their personal relationships is so well done. Millie and Parker both have things to work out and this was really a story about them figuring out whether or not they could work out their individual issues together and make a together work. I admired both of them and liked that all the bumps their relationship hit were realistic and made sense for their characters.
The best thing about this book for me is how smart they both are and the dialogue that results from that (and how much of it was political debate). That this was used as serious flirting by them was just perfect. Despite their instant attraction to each other this is a slow burning romance too, another favorite of mine. I am so happy that there is going to be another book that follows this about two characters introduced here. I already pre-ordered it. Hoping there will be at least one more.
The best thing about this book for me is how smart they both are and the dialogue that results from that (and how much of it was political debate). That this was used as serious flirting by them was just perfect. Despite their instant attraction to each other this is a slow burning romance too, another favorite of mine. I am so happy that there is going to be another book that follows this about two characters introduced here. I already pre-ordered it. Hoping there will be at least one more.
sm_almon's review
4.0
A quick, enjoyable read. I really liked the political setting, which isn't often used in the romances I've read. I will definitely check out the rest of this series.
bmski49's review
3.0
This is definitely more than a 3. More like a 3.5. I really liked the first half of this book a lot and overall I liked it quite a bit. I thought some parts were too "out of nowhere" though & the pacing of things was a bit off for me. Let's face it; I like political stories.
emmalita's review
4.0
This review is going to be a lot about me, but in case this becomes a tl/dr situation – I enjoyed these books very much and you might too.
I miss living in Washington DC so much. I miss the person I was trying to be in my late 20s-early 30s. I love a lot about who I am now, but I don’t feel like I personally can make the world a better place anymore. Reading Emma Barry’s The Easy Part series, Special Interests, Private Politics and Party Lines, sent me on a major nostalgia bender, each in it’s own way. The neighborhoods were familiar, down to some of the specific places I used to hang out (Tryst, it’s comfy couches, and indifferent coffee). Barry captured the way it feels to be in that late 20s/early 30s working in and around politics, not naïve, but not totally cynical yet, period of life. Washington DC is many cities coexisting in the same place, one of them is young, plugged into the machinery of government, and ready to take the world by storm.
Emma Barry has quietly moved onto my list of favorite authors. She makes work integral to her characters in a way that resonates with me. For all of the main characters in this series, their work is fundamental to who they are as a person, which makes how they balance romance and work life central to the story. I particularly appreciated the double burden that the women in Barry’s books carry – falling in love and making room for a new relationship in a career focused life.
Special Interests and Private Politics focus on roommates Millie and Alyce, both of whom work for non-profits. Before the series starts, Millie has had a couple of experiences that have shifted her sense of self – she turned down a marriage proposal, and she was taken hostage by a man in a chicken suit with a gun she didn’t realize was fake. When she meets Parker, who works for a ranking Senator, she’s still trying to understand this new version of herself. Once Parker settles into the idea of dating Millie, he goes from “let’s see if I’m still interested in a couple of weeks” to “she’s the one I’m going to marry” very quickly, while Millie is still figuring out how Parker fits with the new Millie and of course it’s temporarily a disaster.
I won’t spoil the scenario that brings Liam and Alyce together in Private Politics. Liam has been infatuated with Alyce for months, but Alyce hasn’t shown much interest. Liam is certain that Alyce is way out of his league and Alyce is too insecure to believe Liam could be interested in her beyond her shiny surface. She is also facing a possibly career ending situation. When they do hook up, they are so guarded and defensive that they almost torpedo the relationship before it has begun. Continuing the theme from Special Interests, Liam is much more certain of what he wants than Alyce, but like Millie, Alyce is worried she has more to lose – specifically her self and her ambitions.
Party Lines, written in 2015, was a tough read because it’s a romance between a Democrat and a Republican. The book isn’t dealing with the Trump version of the Republican Party, or the version that’s dominated by evangelical Christians and White Supremacists. Though I am very much to the left politically, I used to have Republican friends and I feel a nostalgia for a time when I could tell myself “reasonable people can disagree” about political positions. My bad feeling about Republicans really started in 1994 with Newt Gingrich’s Contract With America, or as my boyfriend at the time, a former Democratic Hill Staffer, called it, “The Contract on America.” I fully acknowledge that the nostalgia for a time when reasonable people could disagree is probably very white of me. I had to put this in an alternate reality where the Republican party wasn’t already showing signs of going full fascist.
Michael has been working on Democratic campaigns for years, but he was born jaded. Lydia is staffing her first Republican Presidential campaign and wants to prove she is more than a token for the campaign to trot out. They keep running into each other on the campaign trail, but Lydia can’t see how a relationship would work despite the sparks between them. Once I ensconced them firmly on a similar but separate Earth, Michael and Lydia were my favorites. Lydia has such a sharp sparkling light that it made complete sense to me that Michael would begin pining for her.
It felt very relatable to me that the men in these books were much more certain of what they wanted from their relationships than the women. It conforms to my experience of dating in DC and what I observed from others. A lot of my friends got married in that time when we were in DC. All of the women eventually gave up big pieces of their professional ambitions to marry and have families. Very few people end up having exactly the career they imagined at 25, and I suspect most of my friends are happy with the choices they made. That said, it always struck me as unfair that the women carried more of the burden than the men they married. Barry taps into that very real fear of compromising a woman’s professional ambitions for a man, and then she gives her women men who will do more of the compromising.
I miss living in Washington DC so much. I miss the person I was trying to be in my late 20s-early 30s. I love a lot about who I am now, but I don’t feel like I personally can make the world a better place anymore. Reading Emma Barry’s The Easy Part series, Special Interests, Private Politics and Party Lines, sent me on a major nostalgia bender, each in it’s own way. The neighborhoods were familiar, down to some of the specific places I used to hang out (Tryst, it’s comfy couches, and indifferent coffee). Barry captured the way it feels to be in that late 20s/early 30s working in and around politics, not naïve, but not totally cynical yet, period of life. Washington DC is many cities coexisting in the same place, one of them is young, plugged into the machinery of government, and ready to take the world by storm.
Emma Barry has quietly moved onto my list of favorite authors. She makes work integral to her characters in a way that resonates with me. For all of the main characters in this series, their work is fundamental to who they are as a person, which makes how they balance romance and work life central to the story. I particularly appreciated the double burden that the women in Barry’s books carry – falling in love and making room for a new relationship in a career focused life.
Special Interests and Private Politics focus on roommates Millie and Alyce, both of whom work for non-profits. Before the series starts, Millie has had a couple of experiences that have shifted her sense of self – she turned down a marriage proposal, and she was taken hostage by a man in a chicken suit with a gun she didn’t realize was fake. When she meets Parker, who works for a ranking Senator, she’s still trying to understand this new version of herself. Once Parker settles into the idea of dating Millie, he goes from “let’s see if I’m still interested in a couple of weeks” to “she’s the one I’m going to marry” very quickly, while Millie is still figuring out how Parker fits with the new Millie and of course it’s temporarily a disaster.
I won’t spoil the scenario that brings Liam and Alyce together in Private Politics. Liam has been infatuated with Alyce for months, but Alyce hasn’t shown much interest. Liam is certain that Alyce is way out of his league and Alyce is too insecure to believe Liam could be interested in her beyond her shiny surface. She is also facing a possibly career ending situation. When they do hook up, they are so guarded and defensive that they almost torpedo the relationship before it has begun. Continuing the theme from Special Interests, Liam is much more certain of what he wants than Alyce, but like Millie, Alyce is worried she has more to lose – specifically her self and her ambitions.
Party Lines, written in 2015, was a tough read because it’s a romance between a Democrat and a Republican. The book isn’t dealing with the Trump version of the Republican Party, or the version that’s dominated by evangelical Christians and White Supremacists. Though I am very much to the left politically, I used to have Republican friends and I feel a nostalgia for a time when I could tell myself “reasonable people can disagree” about political positions. My bad feeling about Republicans really started in 1994 with Newt Gingrich’s Contract With America, or as my boyfriend at the time, a former Democratic Hill Staffer, called it, “The Contract on America.” I fully acknowledge that the nostalgia for a time when reasonable people could disagree is probably very white of me. I had to put this in an alternate reality where the Republican party wasn’t already showing signs of going full fascist.
Michael has been working on Democratic campaigns for years, but he was born jaded. Lydia is staffing her first Republican Presidential campaign and wants to prove she is more than a token for the campaign to trot out. They keep running into each other on the campaign trail, but Lydia can’t see how a relationship would work despite the sparks between them. Once I ensconced them firmly on a similar but separate Earth, Michael and Lydia were my favorites. Lydia has such a sharp sparkling light that it made complete sense to me that Michael would begin pining for her.
It felt very relatable to me that the men in these books were much more certain of what they wanted from their relationships than the women. It conforms to my experience of dating in DC and what I observed from others. A lot of my friends got married in that time when we were in DC. All of the women eventually gave up big pieces of their professional ambitions to marry and have families. Very few people end up having exactly the career they imagined at 25, and I suspect most of my friends are happy with the choices they made. That said, it always struck me as unfair that the women carried more of the burden than the men they married. Barry taps into that very real fear of compromising a woman’s professional ambitions for a man, and then she gives her women men who will do more of the compromising.
kac1221's review
3.0
This had the potential to be my favorite book of all time, but the characters fell flat. I enjoyed the policy discussions more than the actual romance.
booksuperpower's review
3.0
Special Interest by Emma Barry is a 2014 Carina Press publication. I was provided a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Millie Frank is Union organizer in Washington D.C. but has found herself in the spotlight due to a hostage situation she was involved in. Trying to get back into her normal routine and wishing the media would lose interest in her, Millie goes out with a friend and meets Parker Beckett. Parker is a workaholic trying to make budget for the senate. An instant attraction occurs between the opposites, but Parker turns Millie down humiliating her deeply. Now the two of them trade barbs and zing back and forth between love and hate. Can the cynical Parker and the idealist Millie manage to make a relation work?
Politics is always difficult when someone wants to help save programs and work for the best interest of other people and someone else is concerned about money. The author does a great job of explaining some of the issues Washington deals with and how the bottom line is what it's all about. Parker has made his entire his entire life about work. He skips meals or eats on the run, has no personal relationships and when Millie crashes into his life he realizes he has been missing out on the things in life that really matter. Millie on the other hand is confused by Parker's on/off mixed signals.
The strongest part of the book was the political angles and push/pull of politics and all the negotiations. The romance was a like an after thought sometimes and as a result the relationship became rushed as the author started to wrap things up. Of the two, Parker had more to overcome and finally began to slow down and enjoy living.
This one gets 3 stars.
Millie Frank is Union organizer in Washington D.C. but has found herself in the spotlight due to a hostage situation she was involved in. Trying to get back into her normal routine and wishing the media would lose interest in her, Millie goes out with a friend and meets Parker Beckett. Parker is a workaholic trying to make budget for the senate. An instant attraction occurs between the opposites, but Parker turns Millie down humiliating her deeply. Now the two of them trade barbs and zing back and forth between love and hate. Can the cynical Parker and the idealist Millie manage to make a relation work?
Politics is always difficult when someone wants to help save programs and work for the best interest of other people and someone else is concerned about money. The author does a great job of explaining some of the issues Washington deals with and how the bottom line is what it's all about. Parker has made his entire his entire life about work. He skips meals or eats on the run, has no personal relationships and when Millie crashes into his life he realizes he has been missing out on the things in life that really matter. Millie on the other hand is confused by Parker's on/off mixed signals.
The strongest part of the book was the political angles and push/pull of politics and all the negotiations. The romance was a like an after thought sometimes and as a result the relationship became rushed as the author started to wrap things up. Of the two, Parker had more to overcome and finally began to slow down and enjoy living.
This one gets 3 stars.
didyousaybooks's review
2.0
I went into this book with hope for something I don't read much. A story about late 20s something and politics.
You don't know me but politics and me are far far away. Here's it's US politics, I know even less (and that's not much, let me tell you) than the French one...
It really is something I don't engage with and jt was even more obvious when I read Special Interest.
Now, I'm not saying it's a book heavy on politics or anything difficult to understand, not at all so if you're interested on the subject, go ahead.
I felt like the relationship felt true, but once again, I didn't connected at all.
At the end, I'm a little disappointed, I didn't feel any real interest for the story, a basic romance story, that wasn't anything special.
You don't know me but politics and me are far far away. Here's it's US politics, I know even less (and that's not much, let me tell you) than the French one...
It really is something I don't engage with and jt was even more obvious when I read Special Interest.
Now, I'm not saying it's a book heavy on politics or anything difficult to understand, not at all so if you're interested on the subject, go ahead.
I felt like the relationship felt true, but once again, I didn't connected at all.
At the end, I'm a little disappointed, I didn't feel any real interest for the story, a basic romance story, that wasn't anything special.
susanscribs's review
3.0
3.5 stars. I loved the first half of the this contemporary romance for its sparkling dialogue and potent chemistry between Millie and Parker. I was thrilled to see a Carina romance that featured intelligent discussion about the tough choices of modern politics. The second half is weaker; although Parker acts like a douche bag, Millie ends up having to apologize for pulling back from the relationship. And it seemed to me that she acted adorable and vulnerable more often than she was shown to be competent at her job. But still an impressive category romance, and an author to watch.
(Am I reading too much into the novel to wonder if the characters' names, Millie and Parker, are intentionally similar to Milton Bradley and Parker Brothers, the major producers of board games? As in, all politics is a game?)
(Am I reading too much into the novel to wonder if the characters' names, Millie and Parker, are intentionally similar to Milton Bradley and Parker Brothers, the major producers of board games? As in, all politics is a game?)
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