So … this was a book club choice and not something I normally would have stumbled on myself but when we were plotting out our next few months of reads, we were very much thinking summer reads, romance etc and someone had heard about this one and mentioned that it involved political opponents.
Then, after we’d made the decision, I read the synopsis (secret shared past), I was like, “oh, this sounds a bit more women’s fiction than romance but could be interesting.”
And it starts off well enough but there are so many things that go off the rails by the end. I’m not sure there is really a non-spoiler way to get through this review but before I start all that – I probably should have realized from the synopsis that having a story centered around two political opponents meant that one would be a conservative/Republican and one a liberal/Democrat – but I mean, you could have had them had similar values by making them run against each other in a primary instead of giving us a male lead that is a pro-life/anti-choice asshole.
The novel follows a dual timeline approach, flashing between the novel’s present day and the election (2021) and the summer of 1996, when Tess’s mom got a job as the cook and house manager for a rich DC lobbyist’s summer/country home in Virginia. Tess takes a summer job with Grant’s mom, helping her in the gardens, and Grant (18) and Tess (17) quickly develop an intense but secret romance (in addition to dual time lines, it’s also split into 3 parts so parts 1 & 3 are narrated from Tess’s perspective and Part 2 from Grant’s). This first part was rather engaging and it was setting up some potentially cliche but interesting storylines about the haves vs have nots, class and privilege, and the dirty truth so often hidden under the facade of power and wealth. Additionally, watching two opponents battle it out on the campaign trail could have been so fun but that’s not the direction the book took it.
Because throughout the current day timeline, we keep getting these hints about some dark, defining thing that happened between them over that summer, and how much it has shaped them – Tess has even kept it all secret from her husband and college sweetheart for 20 years. We barely get to see any of the details of the campaign trail, only seeing a snippet or two of a debate, polling etc.
Before I get to the spoilers, I would say I would now like a legit romance with two Democratic candidates that are running against each other and end up together, with the one supporting the other after the primaries to beat the Republican.
And here are the SPOILERS – I’m generally pretty decent at guessing plot twists ahead of time, and maybe what I just shared was enough for everyone else to guess the secret – but I was waiting for some murder plot or some other ludicrous criminal activity that bound Tess and Grant together while also making them betray and hate each other. But nope, it was a teen pregnancy. I mean I guess I should have seen it because the novel starts with a flashback to Tess in a hospital but my brain went straight for suicide attempt, mental breakdown or something else. Two to three months of summer romance and a teen pregnancy, and Tess and Grant are portrayed as some doomed couple that are still drawn to each other despite spouses and can only trust each other. And Grant at 43 still thinks an abortion for a 17 year old was a bad idea … fuck him and fuck this book – like it’s one thing for an 18 year old to be a dick and anti-choice but for that guy to still be like that 25 years later – not acceptable. Also, extra fuck this book because the abortion didn’t even happen and instead Tess had a change of heart and lost the baby due to complications at 7 months.
There were a few other twists that were pretty obvious so no one exactly comes off in a good light in this book but Tess married Dean, he wanted kids and at no point did she think she should say, “I can’t have kids due to medical complications,” (whether or not she mentioned the teen pregnancy), instead letting it be a topic they argued about for years. Like, I’m not saying she needed to tell her spouse all the details of her summer romance but might be good to at least give Dean the whole truth (I mean, yes when a woman says she doesn’t want kids, believe her and don’t assume she’ll change her mind but if he keeps bringing it up, either divorce him or tell him the biological reality). It’s this whole annoying self punishment thing, and felt totally forced to justify some remaining connection to Grant even as he accused her of killing their baby. Fuck that. While they don’t quite end up back together at the end of the book, they are both divorced and “talking” when it’s over.