The Candidate, Alice Ward

A man drowning under the weight of disappointment and expectations of living someone else's dreams, a woman determined to achieve her dreams no matter the cost.  Both of these people have something the other desperately needs, if only they'll open their eyes, and their hearts, to the freedom that comes with honesty, balance, and love.

Cameron is a senate hopeful trying to achieve what his father was shamed into leaving.  He's also being forced into a life he doesn't want but can't find the strength to turn his back on.  His only escape is to dark sex clubs where he can get his kink on in order to find a little freedom through control and release with anonymous partners.

Brooke is undercover working on Cameron's campaign team.  Her hope is to find enough dirt on him so her real employer, Cameron's opponent and her best friend's father, will deem her worthy to put in a good word at the FBI for her.  What she doesn't expect is the man behind the attitude and wealth.  A man who brings out a confident, sexy side of herself that she didn't know she had.

So I think I'll start with my grievances and then end with the great stuff...

I'm getting increasingly tired of the sex-club themes of Alice's latest books.  One reason is I keep expecting similar plots with each one.  I know, I know, that's my own problem, I get it.  It doesn't change the fact that I'd very much like to read something else from Alice.  Her work is so good that I find this theme becoming pretty banal.

Then there are the similarities in the men.  Rich, entitled men who feed the darker side of their desires with willing women they never seek to know beyond what it takes to find release.  Yes, there's a more vulnerable reason behind their need for control and anonymity, but that doesn't change the fact that a lot of these men start of extremely similar to each other.  Their proclivities are all starting to blur together so it takes almost half the book to find enough differences to draw me into their character.

And finally the women.  Many of them begin as naive and innocent to a fault.  Also stubborn and forgiving for slights that should be addressed directly.  Some of them have had difficult lives and are awakened by the men's desires, which is fine, but the way they capitulate is wearing on me.  This is oversimplifying the women's situation and sexual awakening by a whole heck of a lot so I know a lot of people might argue with those thoughts or just disagree, and that's totally okay.  It's just how I'm feeling.

And here's the praise...

Now Brooke, though, is an improvement.  I really like her by the end.  In the beginning she's self-serving and has a narrow view.  She's incredibly judgmental and foolish.  But by the end, she's unwilling to back down from her beliefs and actually discusses them instead of just becoming irate and judgy.  Her ability to apologize sincerely is commendable.  She also learns to love the man inside and encourages him to be more, better, closer to the man who's hiding behind the douchey facade.  She's the strongest female MC I've seen in these recent books since The Surprise.

At the point that Cameron finds his cojones and Brooke her remorse I was invested.  The story finally felt good to me.  Like all the slogging through the first 2/3 didn't feel so bad when all the awesome started happening.  And the ending, Alice is the master at perfect endings.  Big reveals, apologies, confessions, reconciliation, passion, combine all that with tenderness, forgiveness, healing, humor, and the brightest hope in their future and I'm sold.

So while I've rated the book 3.5 stars here for the ending and character grown alone, it'll show as 3 stars on the review sites because the first 2/3 was quite difficult for me.  Rounding up to 4 stars would be disingenuous to how I felt while reading most of the book.

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