Coin of the Realm by Michael Murphy

Timothy Mitchell worked his way from humble beginnings to graduate school in Washington, DC. The end is in sight—but so are his funds. Determined not to let his dream slip through his fingers, Timothy goes from part-time jobs to modeling for art classes, to stripping, and finally to working as an escort to pay his tuition.

The nation’s capital is full of powerful men and secrets, which Timothy learns firsthand when he takes on a client who demands absolute anonymity. Even though Timothy realizes he’s sleeping with one of the most influential men in the world, he must keep up the facade. Despite that, their association moves from sex to love.

But power and secrets also mean danger. When Timothy is violently abducted off the street, all because of what—and who—he knows, his lover must make a decision: risk his power and position or lose the man he loves.

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Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Ruthie – ☆☆☆
This is an entertaining read – which I could imagine as a TV miniseries (possibly due to a mild addiction to Scandal!). The pace is quite variable, which does an effective job of adding to the behaviour changes and uncertainty that Timothy demonstrates before his rather unexpected liaison. I liked the premise behind the story as it opens up a discussion about politics that is no doubt long overdue – did I buy into how it all transpired, maybe not so much – but that is the fun of a story – the suspension of reality! I did feel that Jared was very soft-natured for a man who had served as a Marine, which sometimes made the dialogue unexpectedly sweet. I liked Robinson a lot, and he deserved his moments in the spotlight.

Overall an interesting read, with some thought provoking ideas and an unexpectedly sweet romance.


Erica – ☆☆☆
Michael Murphy is a new-to-me author. While the premise of Coin of the Realm was inventive, and did elicit emotions with me in the beginning of the novel, I felt the execution was slightly off.

Timothy is a grad student in Washington, DC, trying to live off of two part-time positions in order to afford the cost of living in one of the most expensive cities in the US. Timothy tries his hand at posing for art students, and this portion gives us a look into the escalation on how someone will devolve into selling their body to survive. The part where the head of the art department arranged Timothy's body elicited a visceral response in me, but the portions after were devoid of emotion.

Timothy goes from grad student, to nude model, to a stripper for all of a handful of hours, each time hating his body being exploited, to an escort who never felt awkward or ashamed of selling the very body he didn't wish to be arranged, all within a few short pages. If this portion would have been expanded, it would have set an impressive foundation, but the pages that followed were filled with redundancy.

Timothy receives a high-profile client, and I won't ruin it by who. While this was beyond the ability to suspend belief, it was highly intriguing. The pages are filled with meeting after meeting, with wooden dialogue due to the fact that it was the most polite, walking on eggshells conversations. Both characters had the same 'tone' of voice. With the exception of Robinson, the secret service agent, who was humorous with his bluntness. The lusty action was fast, without much description, and slightly awkward, usually quickly fading to black.

While this plot sounded intriguing, it didn't transfer well on the page because of the lack of character development. No backgrounds were shown for Timothy or Jared to anchor the reader to the story. When what should have been heart-stopping events occurred, I was left feeling numb as I never fully connected with any of the characters.

Coin of the Realm just barely scratched the surface of the story. If the author had delved deeper, the reader could have connected to the characters and rooted for their happiness.

Personally, I cannot recommend this title to those who read as I do, but I'm sure Coin of the Realm has a target audience – sadly I am not it. Romance fans who easily suspend belief, I truly believe they will enjoy the novel.

MICHAEL MURPHY somewhere between eighteen and eighty-eight years old—the number varies from day to day depending on his mood and his energy level. He first thought about writing when he was very young, but put the idea aside in order to celebrate his fifth birthday and then forgot about it for a year or two. Periodically, he toyed with the idea but each time rejected it as pure folly. It wasn’t until he was an old man of twelve that he wrote his first book. A long dry spell followed before he wrote his next book. Whenever he needs a laugh, he looks at those early writings. He has written science fiction and romance and has collaborated on one nonfiction history book. He and his partner have traveled extensively, trying to cover as much of the world as possible. When not traveling, they live in Washington, DC with their best friend, a throw-away dog they adopted many years ago. To pay the bills, Michael is Director of Information Technology for a national organization based in Washington, DC. All in all he’d rather be writing full-time but hasn’t yet figured out how to make that a viable option.

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Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of Coin of the Realm by Michael Murphy to read and review.