Appealed by Emma Chase (The Legal Briefs #3)
Released: January 19, 2016
Contemporary Romance
Gallery Books
Reviewed by Mandi
Brent and Kennedy were neighbors, friends and eventually lovers as they grew up. But this young love story ends before a HEA can be found. In high school, Kennedy gets humiliated and she thinks Brent set her up for a very hurtful ordeal. They lose touch and both move on with their lives. Brent goes on to become a successful criminal defense attorney, and Kennedy is a federal prosecutor who has just moved back into town. She has never lost a case and guess who she is going up against in her latest trial? Brent is defending a seventeen year old accused of hacking into security accounts and stealing a lot of money – and Kennedy is ready to take this kid down.
Brent can’t believe Kennedy is a drop-dead gorgeous, tough attorney.
“Kennedy…?” I whisper, still not entirely convinced it’s her.
She regards me with a tilted head, a cocked hip, and a disdainful smile. “Hello, Dickhead.”
Okay. Now I’m convinced.
Inside the courtroom, it’s hard for them to put aside their past relationship, as they immediately start bickering – for which the judge tires of real quick. He asks them to make peace with their personal issues, so Kennedy and Brent start to hang out outside the courtroom to clear the air. There is flirting and good banter and eventually these two fall into bed together.
“What’d you do to your face?” she asks, folding her arms.
I touch my chin. “I grew a beard.”
“Well ungrow it. It looks like a vagina from a 1970s porn film.”
They make a pact to not talk about the trial when they are outside of the courtroom – of course it’s very hard to not do that.
Written all in Brent’s point of view, he is a somewhat silly yet super sexy guy. I really enjoy Emma Chase’s voice – I read Sustained last year and loved it. I enjoyed this one, but not as much as Sustained for a few reasons. The main reason is Brent. He is cute and made me laugh, but I’m not sure he came off as genuine as the hero from Sustained. I wanted to roll my eyes a bit with Brent in this one. Brent has a butler that he shares funny quips with, but it was a little too silly for me. It was hard for me to place Brent in the real world – if that makes sense. He was just a little bit too over the top.
I enjoyed Kennedy – she is tough and smart and didn’t give Brent an inch in court. I think I enjoyed the overall story line in Sustained more than here. The court case is fun because they face off against each other but otherwise I wasn’t too invested in it. And the bullying incident from high school – didn’t necessarily strike a chord with me.
But the book is cute and sexy – and I smiled a lot. For example, when Brent meets Kennedy’s cats:
“You must be Edward.” I assume because of his pale coat, as opposed to the feline farther down – who’s probably Jacob, because his fur is more wolf colored.
And yes, I’m fucking horrified that I know that.
Grade: B
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