This book is equal parts a political drama, a social
statement and a romance.
The 46th President of the US, elected in 2020 is fifty-two
year old Emma McMasters, an out lesbian. She had an over three decades long
relationship with Heather. But Heather, Emma’s wife, was killed in an accident
three years ago and ever since then Emma has been wedded to her work. Emma is
charismatic, compassionate and intelligent. Fifty-six year old Palmer Estes has
spent her life in the military and is now the top advisor to the chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff. At sixteen, when she was just discovering her
sexuality, she was caught, berated, verbally abused and disowned by her father.
Since then she has hardly had any romantic relationships.
The story follows Emma’s political journey and her fishbowl
existence with the romance between the two very strong women excellently
interwoven into the narrative.
Emma and Palmer are incredibly beautiful humans with such a
great relationship. They talk. Couples who talk and who listen to each other
are quite our kryptonite. And these two talk about everything – about
themselves and their relationship. Given that they both are 50+ this jells
perfectly. As does the fact that they recognise their feelings for each other
fairly early and do not dally around after that. It is a fact that after a
point in life, you just don’t want to play either the waiting game or really
any game.
There are so many subtleties that are awesome. Like the fact
that Emma is willing to chuck being careful to be with Palmer and Palmer makes
sure that she takes care of the optics for Emma. This is such beautiful love. Like
when Palmer stands up for her girlfriend against her father. Like Emma’s sense
of humour. Like Palmer’s talk about Heather with Emma. Like Emma’s
steadfastness when Palmer is dealing with her mother. Like Emma going out on a
limb initially despite being the most powerful person on earth. Like both of
them being vulnerable with each other. Like the fact that it is entirely possible (from the way it is described) that at fifty-six, Palmer probably has slept with a woman just once -- and that (we mean decades or even a lifetime) without sex is a real thing in many lives and it is nice to have it kind or acknowledged here without judgement.
Balancing Emma’s presence was a difficult task, but Ames
makes Palmer an equal person and personality.
We’d definitely recommend this for great writing, a
wonderful relationship and a President so awesome that we’d most certainly vote
for her.
⭐⭐⭐⭐★
