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emmalita's review
4.0
I had to put this one in an alternate reality because it’s a romance between a Democrat and a Republican. The book isn’t dealing with the current 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.
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.
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.
cakt1991's review
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
4.0
I received an ARC from the author and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.
The One You Hate (formerly Party Lines) is the third in Emma Barry’s Political Persuasions series. It can be read as a stand-alone, although I would also recommend reading the other two.
This one is the most “party-politics” heavy of the three books, and it’s particularly notable for the central romance between a Democrat and a Republican. But as I noted in other reviews for the series, where other “across the aisle” romances lack real introspection about the issues at play beyond the surface-level, Barry’s take is much more nuanced, and even more so in revision, as she’s noted where she altered Lydia’s character arc for this new edition.
I really appreciated Lydia’s thought process, especially as she grows over the course of the book. I appreciated how she expressed the ways people in both parties pigeonholed and stereotyped people like her, making her no longer feel right as a Republican, but also not feeling fully welcome among the Democrats.
I really like how Michael is equally cynical about the state of things. I enjoyed seeing him match wits with Lydia over policy, and feel like this was handled in a pretty respectful way. And ultimately, while their differences do form a crucial part of their conflict, I appreciate how he does in a way help her work out her position within her party.
This is the strongest book in the series, and I’d recommend it to anyone interested in political contemporary romances.
The One You Hate (formerly Party Lines) is the third in Emma Barry’s Political Persuasions series. It can be read as a stand-alone, although I would also recommend reading the other two.
This one is the most “party-politics” heavy of the three books, and it’s particularly notable for the central romance between a Democrat and a Republican. But as I noted in other reviews for the series, where other “across the aisle” romances lack real introspection about the issues at play beyond the surface-level, Barry’s take is much more nuanced, and even more so in revision, as she’s noted where she altered Lydia’s character arc for this new edition.
I really appreciated Lydia’s thought process, especially as she grows over the course of the book. I appreciated how she expressed the ways people in both parties pigeonholed and stereotyped people like her, making her no longer feel right as a Republican, but also not feeling fully welcome among the Democrats.
I really like how Michael is equally cynical about the state of things. I enjoyed seeing him match wits with Lydia over policy, and feel like this was handled in a pretty respectful way. And ultimately, while their differences do form a crucial part of their conflict, I appreciate how he does in a way help her work out her position within her party.
This is the strongest book in the series, and I’d recommend it to anyone interested in political contemporary romances.
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