{"id":13938,"date":"2021-02-06T08:34:35","date_gmt":"2021-02-06T13:34:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=13938"},"modified":"2022-08-14T08:57:46","modified_gmt":"2022-08-14T12:57:46","slug":"the-husband-gambit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/13938","title":{"rendered":"The Husband Gambit"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Husband Gambit<\/a><\/em> (2018) L.A. Witt<\/a><\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

Marry me for 1 year. Payment: $ 1.2 million. I\u2019m a man looking for a temporary husband. $ 100K per month. Cohabitation, legal marriage, and NDA are required. Sex is not. Contact for more info.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The ad seems like either a joke, or something posted by a serial killer, but Hayden Somerset has absolutely nothing to lose. He and his roommates worry over every penny they spend while they try to find money for rent, food, and their student loans.<\/p>\n

I was a little uncertain about this book, because I generally dislike romances where one of the characters is ultra rich, but I also adore fake relationships, so I decided to try it.<\/p>\n

It was good. Really good. Much of the start of the story focused on Hayden’s struggles with poverty.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t until that moment that I understood just how much my financial insecurity had consumed me for the last several years… money had been a constant source of stress. One that had settled itself deep in my bones and permeated every thought. Even if I wasn\u2019t actively thinking about my financial situation, the stress was there in the tension in my neck, in the perpetual growling of my stomach, and in the compulsive mental calculations that happened any time I drove, ate, turned on a light, took a shower, threw food away instead of just scraping off the mold\u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I cannot emphasize enough how true this is. <\/p>\n

But what I really loved was this nod to Terry Pratchett and Discworld.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy coworkers always told me you\u2019re better off blowing a shitload of money on a solid pair of shoes because they\u2019ll last.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

At that point I was all in on this story.<\/p>\n

But then, it did everything right. Both characters talked through their problems, and realized that what one lacked in one area, they made up in another–Hayden might have been broke, but he had best friends and his parents loved him. That sounds trite, but since the second character, Jesse, is looking to take down his horrible and manipulative father, it really really wasn’t.<\/p>\n

To this day, I got sick to my stomach if my mother was being chillier than usual. Even if I knew there was nothing for her to be pissed at me about, that didn\u2019t mean she wouldn\u2019t flip her lid at me before she finally had it out with whoever had crossed her.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cIs disowning his kids like your dad\u2019s hobby or something?\u201d <\/p>\n

Jesse laughed humorlessly. \u201cYou have to admit\u2014 when it comes to keeping his kids in line, it\u2019s got an eighty percent success rate.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Because once we get down to it, that’s the heart of the story–how Jesse was going prove to the world just what his father was, even if it cost him almost everything.<\/p>\n

The romance was lovely. Like I said, both Hayden and Jesse talked about their problems, and if they didn’t talk about their feelings for each other, they had good reasons for doing so.<\/p>\n

Even better, there were no stupid misunderstandings between the two. I hate stupid misunderstandings, and was very afraid this book was going to use one to ratchet up the tension, but it turned out more than enough tension came from Jesse’s father.<\/p>\n

And I also appreciated that despite everything, Jesse wanted his father not to be the monster he had always shown himself to be. It’s extremely hard not to be hurt by the words and actions of a parent, no matter how much you have prepared yourself.<\/p>\n

It was an excellent story, and I definitely recommend it.<\/p>\n

Rating: 8.5\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Husband Gambit (2018) L.A. Witt Marry me for 1 year. Payment: $ 1.2 million. I\u2019m a man looking for a temporary husband. $ 100K per month. Cohabitation, legal marriage, and NDA are required. Sex is not. Contact for more info. The ad seems like either a joke, or something posted by a serial killer, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[191,292,148,26,56],"tags":[50,378,544],"class_list":["post-13938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-8-5-10","category-ebook","category-queer","category-romance","category-sexual-content","tag-boinking","tag-l-a-witt","tag-mm"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-3CO","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":13354,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/13354","url_meta":{"origin":13938,"position":0},"title":"Starstruck","author":"Michelle","date":"August 12, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Starstruck (2014) L.A. Witt (Bluewater Bay) Levi Pritchard retired from Hollywood, tired of being typecast. (H)e was pretty sure some of them were still furious about the piece of Eastwick fanfic he\u2019d anonymously penned a while back. It was still floating around out there somewhere, along with all the angry\u2014\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Queer"","block_context":{"text":"Queer","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/queer"},"img":{"alt_text":"Starstruck","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Starstruck.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5271,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/5271","url_meta":{"origin":13938,"position":1},"title":"Widow’s Gambit","author":"Michelle","date":"June 9, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Widow's Gambit (1998) Tracy Grant The Neville girls are of good family, but impoverished, and after their father's death are left to make their way as best they can. Claudia is the most beautiful (and Diana is not yet of age) so Livia decides to do whatever it takes to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "British"","block_context":{"text":"British","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/british"},"img":{"alt_text":"Widows-Gambit","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Widows-Gambit.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11200,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/11200","url_meta":{"origin":13938,"position":2},"title":"The Duke’s Gambit","author":"Michelle","date":"November 4, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The Duke's Gambit (2018) Tracy Grant Set in Scotland and London in 1818-1819 The end of the previous novella is start of this book. Malcolm's sister Gis\u00e8le has disappeared with a member of the Elsinore League and so Malcom and Gis\u00e8le's husband Andrew head to London to look for her.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/The-Dukes-Gambit.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5876,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/5876","url_meta":{"origin":13938,"position":3},"title":"London Gambit","author":"Michelle","date":"May 29, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"London Gambit (2016) Tracy Grant Set in London June 1818 In the Malcolm & Suzanne Rannoch timeline, this book does not go back into the past, but continues to follow events after the short story Incident in Berkeley Square. Teddy Craven, David's oldest nephew and ward, has fled Harrow, because\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"londongambit","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/londongambit-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8983,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/8983","url_meta":{"origin":13938,"position":4},"title":"Stalking the Angel","author":"Michelle","date":"March 28, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Stalking the Angel (1989) Robert Crais Elvis Cole is hired to find an ancient Japanese manuscript stolen from the home of a prominent businessman. Unfortunately for Cole, the husband is an asshole and the wife makes it clear she doesn't like her husband and what he does. And caught in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/Stalking-Angel.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1218,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/1218","url_meta":{"origin":13938,"position":5},"title":"Magician’s Gambit","author":"Michelle","date":"June 28, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Magician's Gambit (1983) David Eddings The third book in the Belgariad has never been my favorite. This book starts with Ce'Nedra's point of view, and I just never really got Ce'Nedra and always found her annoying. Doesn't mean the book isn't good, just that I'm not a fan of Ce'Nedra's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/Magicians-Gambit.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13938\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}