365 books in 365 days Challenge ... book #236

The Power and the Glory - Kimberly Lang
Mills & Boon Modern
Harlequin UK, 2011
ISBN: 9780263884029






My rating




From the back cover:

"The Marshalls...A rich, powerful family that mixes business, politics...and pleasure. If the US had a royal family - this would be it!
Any red-blooded woman would kill to be handcuffed to political hot-shot Brady Marshall, but campaigner Aspyn Breedlove wants to raise awareness - not her own acute consciousness of those delicious, iron-hard muscles beneath Brady's expensive suit...Overnight she's an internet sensation, and in a shock move she's made part of the Marshall re-election campaign...
Aspyn hopes she can dance with the devil and create change from within. But what chance does she have when that devil is sex-on-legs Brady Marshall - and she wants to do considerably more than dance with him...?"


I have been looking forward to reading this book since reading the first in Kimberly Lang's 'The Marshalls' mini-series (The Privileged and the Damned).

The hero Brady and the heroine Aspyn meet when they are accidentally handcuffed together by an over zealous member of Aspyn's environmental activist groups. This event and some of Aspyn's comments are picked up by the media and begin to have a negative effect on the re-election campaign for Brady's Senator father. Brady is forced to bring Aspyn into the campaign as a publicity stunt, and she is led to believe that all the information she collects will be passed on. Brady doesn't agree with the stunt and lying to Aspyn, but is overruled, he also realises that he is attracted to Aspyn and he never mixes business and pleasure so he tries to stay away. Aspyn, surprisingly, enjoys being part of the campaign and learning about the more inner workings of politics. She also finds herself drawn to Brady, and the feeling is mutual. Their eventual affair is hot and heavy and completely no-strings. However, the closer they become the more Brady realises he is falling for her, and his guilt over deceiving her is only made worse by his new found feelings and his admiration for how much of herself she has invested in the campaign.

Oh, how I enjoyed this let me count the ways! I was absorbed in this book from the very first page, all the way through to the end. Aspyn has to be one of my favourite ever heroines, I simply adored everything about her from her eternal optimism, to her belief in change, and her rather refreshing views on sex and marriage. She is brilliant portrayed. And Brady, sigh, is a great hero - a little buttoned-up, a little stressed from his career, and gloriously intelligent! Kimberly Lang has crafted a wonderful love story that takes place in such an exciting world, and it is full of charm. The balance between the love story and the political setting, which can, let's face it, be confusing, is perfect. There is as much sexual tension between Kimberly's characters as there is between Josh Lyman and Donna Moss from The West Wing (one of my favourite shows!), it is simply delicious. And believe me, when everything blows up in Brady's face it is spectacular!

This book is original, honest, and so entertaining. A must read.

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