FLIRTING WITH SCANDAL by Chanel Cleeton: Review

Posted July 31, 2015 in Favorites, Reviews / 0 Comments

FLIRTING WITH SCANDAL by Chanel Cleeton: ReviewFlirting with Scandal by Chanel Cleeton
Series: Capital Confessions #1
Published by InterMix
Publication Date: May 19th 2015
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 267
Format: eBook
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The author of I See London sets her sights on Washington, D. C., with a sexy new series about three sisters, the secrets they keep, and a powerful blog with a knack for exposing scandals…

Jackie Gardner knows all about dirty little secrets. The illegitimate daughter of one of the most influential senators in Washington, D.C., she grew up surrounded by the scandals and shadows of politics. Now that she’s landed an internship with a powerful political consulting firm, she’s determined to launch her career and take this city by storm.

William Andrew Clayton was born for politics. He knows the drill: work hard, play discreetly, and at all costs, avoid scandal. At twenty-six, his campaign for the Virginia State Senate is the first step to cementing his future. It’s time for him to settle down, to find the perfect political spouse. He needs a Jackie Kennedy, not a Marilyn…

When Jackie meets Will in the bar of the Hay-Adams Hotel, sparks fly. But the last thing Will needs is to be caught in a compromising position, and an affair with a political candidate could cost Jackie her career. When what began as one steamy night, becomes a passion neither one of them can walk way from, they must decide if what they have is really love, or just another dirty little secret.

Review

Lesson #1: In Washington, D.C., information is power, secrets are destructive and scandal is the fuel that the city runs on.

Growing up in the District of Columbia, Jackie Gardner learned all of the above early in life. Jackie is the result of an affair between a powerful and married senator and his mistress and was never acknowledged by her father. She has vowed to never get romantically involved with a politician, especially with her mother’s history. Her mother is a political groupie, attracted to and always involved with powerful politicians without a care for their marital status. Until William Andrew Clayton.

Now a senior in college, Jackie is interning at a prestigious political consulting firm as a stepping stone to a career in political consulting. At the same time, she is working as an anonymous blogger for a tabloid blog. She meets Will at a bar one night and things get quite steamy between them until she discovers that he’s on the fast track to a state senate seat.

To her surprise, Will has hired her firm to work with his campaign and she is assigned to his office. The both know that the smart thing to do would be to stay away from each other but the attraction between them is too compelling and they cannot resist each other. Stolen moments in the break room, smoldering gazes across the conference room table, all so risky that I was just waiting for them to get caught! Her worlds are colliding and she can’t even find it in her to resist Will as he skillfully breaches all her defenses.

FLIRTING WITH SCANDAL is absolutely amazing. The trope is familiar but there’s just something about the passion, the intensity, the heat that I could not get enough of. I am a politics and news junkie so I’m always interested in romances with politics in them. I loved that Jackie was independent (maybe even a little too much), smart and spite of her youth, a savvy political strategist. But she’s also feisty and prickly because of her past and Will has to use all his charm on her.

And Will.

Sigh.

I loved Will. He isn’t the playboy politician, but rather kind of politician that wants to serve his constituents and make a difference. He is sweet, romantic, thoughtful and protective guy. Filling his house with flowers for Jackie because he knew she won’t accept them otherwise, or driving across town to get her coffee and pastries from her favorite pastry shop were some of the sweet things he did. He is also confident and sexy. He wants Jackie and he brings down every obstacle in his way to getting her. While he may not be as savvy as Jackie when it comes to politics, he knows human nature and is very strategic in his bid for Jackie’s heart. I loved that he wasn’t afraid of commitment but wanted to settle down with a family, not because of his political aspirations, but because he wanted what his parents had. Staid had never been so attractive before Will!

When Will’s political career is threatened by scandal, Jackie is willing to use all her political chips to ensure that he survives the scandal.  FLIRTING WITH SCANDAL is very interesting and sex, scandals and politics make this an exciting and sizzling read.

 

 

About Chanel Cleeton

Originally a Florida girl, CHANEL CLEETON moved to London where she received a bachelor’s degree from Richmond, The American International University in London and a master’s degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Chanel fell in love with London and planned to stay there forever, until fate intervened on a Caribbean cruise and a fighter pilot with smooth dance moves swept her off her feet. Now, a happily ever after later, Chanel is living her next adventure.

Law school made Chanel realize she’d rather spend her days writing sexy stories than in a courtroom, and she hasn’t looked back since. An avid reader and hopeless romantic, she’s happiest curled up with a book. She has a weakness for handbags, her three pups, and her husband.

Chanel writes contemporary romances. She is published by Harlequin HQN, Penguin/InterMix, and Penguin/Berkley and is the author of the International School, Capital Confessions, and Wild Aces series.


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