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Laws of Attraction: Damage Control – Kate McMurray
Senate candidate Parker Livingston chose his political dreams over a future with the man he loved. He lives with constant regret about not having Jackson Kane in his life. Or his bed. And when a strange woman is found murdered in Parker’s apartment, Jackson is the only person Parker trusts to help clear his name.
Jackson never forgave Parker for the way their relationship ended. He moved on, built a name for himself as a criminal defense attorney and swore he’d never let heartbreak back in. But when Parker shows up on his doorstep, wild-eyed and handsome and desperate for his help, Jackson can’t say no. Parker is a lot of things, but he’s no murderer.
Forced back together, searching for answers, their attraction returns with a vengeance. Any distraction—personal or professional—could be deadly. The murderer is still at large, and he’s made it clear one of them is his next victim.
If I get a dollar for every failed I’m-not-gonna-sleep-with-him self-promises these book people have, I would have enough money to replace this 8-year-old laptop with the latest Apple Macbook Pro. But then again, it’s not really a matter of if but of how many pages these people would last until they finally lose it.
Jackson Kane lasted until page 83 (213 page ebook version) and should have already been disbarred from law practice for getting involved with his ex, Parker Livingston’s case. Everybody, including Jack himself, was saying it was a terrible idea. Funny, Jack didn’t suffer any harmful consequences; nobody called him out plus he even got the love of his life back. But as somebody purported to be a damn good lawyer, his integrity is very questionable.
Park is the scion of the Livingston family, one of the oldest and wealthiest in New York. He has political ambitions, has funky dress sense and is good at handling media attention. He is also whiny and has “dabbled in pretty much every martial art that offers classes in New York City” but couldn’t even defend himself properly. Sure, the assailant has a gun but I’m pretty sure there’s some nifty krav maga move he can use to disarm him.
Murky ethics and wimpy-ass rich boys aside, this is a heartwarming story about first loves and second chances. Jack and Park were each other’s firsts and were in a committed relationship for eight years. One day, Park walked out of Jack’s life, his reasons for doing so remained unconvincing until the end. Park and Jack never entirely got over each other and the attraction remained mutually strong when they saw each other again after five years.The two were on the opposite side of the political spectrum. In addition, Jack was out while Park was back in the closet. Kate McMurray did a good job rekindling their romance as well as resolving these two conflicts so I’m sold on the romance part of the story.
The politics, I cannot comment on because I don’t know American politics but a look at the inner workings of a political campaign was interesting. This is something Strange Bedfellows, a similar book on gay politicians, failed to do, so I’m giving Damage Control extra props for showing me this side of political life.
The murder mystery was intriguing for the most part but the villain was as generic as they come. I wish the suspect has a more compelling motive for doing what he did. It would have added an extra layer of complexity had this part been made more sophisticated. .
I say this book is best enjoyed with liberal suspension of disbelief and tolerance of other people’s political stance. It is a romance novel at its core and at that point it, delivered a touching love story. Whether the rest of it works, depends entirely on your taste.
P.S.
I think Reed and Gavin deserves their own story. I liked these two so I’m hoping for a gay-for-you story for them.
Rating:
3.5 Stars – that place between like and loveSoundtrack: Second Chance
Artist: Sounds Like Sunset
Album: We Could Leave Tonight.(source; https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39777837-damage-control)
