Take it Back

 Take It Back by Kia Abdullah     294 pages

Summary (per Goodreads):  The Victim: Jodie Wolfe, a physically flawed 16-year-old girl accuses four boys in her class of something unthinkable.

The Defendants: Four handsome teenagers from hard-working immigrant families, all with corroborating stories.

The Savior: Zara Kaleel, a former lawyer, one of London's brightest legal minds, takes on this case. She believes her client, even though those closest to her do not.

Together, they enter the most explosive criminal trial of the year, where the only thing that matters is justice for Jodie. But this time justice comes at a devastating cost.

I enjoyed this book. The characters are interesting, the plot is tightly written and the pacing is pretty taut. I liked that Zara's own culture and struggles with her cultural identity are part of this story. It brings it past just a rape accusation and creates a much bigger picture of the people involved with this case.  I also liked that I couldn't quite predict what was going to happen -- and be forewarned that there are some twists here.  

The Price of Justice

The Price of Justice by Marti Green (audio, 1 star, 272 pages) 

In The Price of Justice, defense lawyer Dani Trumbull is enlisted to prove the innocence of a death row inmate when somebody else confesses to the crime. It’s not as easy as it sounds, nor is it nearly so straightforward.

This book was pretty bad. Apparently it’s part of a series, but in its favor, it stands alone well. It didn’t hinder my understanding of the novel, but I will not read more of them. There were a lot of elements that didn’t really contribute anything to the book - I suppose if I were to see these characters again in the context of the series, they could.

Though the premise was reasonably interesting, the characters were flat. The situations were over-explained, and the author had a serious case of “Show Don’t Tell” as the characters thoughts and feelings were merely repeated rather than demonstrated. The nonprofit described in the book is terribly mismanaged, as Dani really should not have taken this case. Her comments about the wrap-up of the case made me roll my eyes out of their sockets.

The Divorce Papers

The Divorce Papers: A Novel by Susan Rieger   496 pages

Sophie Deal is a criminal attorney at an old New England firm in Massachusetts.  At twenty-nine, she is content in her surroundings and her cliental. One day, the daughter of one of their richest and most powerful clients walks in and needs a divorce attorney. She had just been handed papers at one of the most chic restaurants in town and is out for blood.

All the divorce attorneys are out-of-town, but the head to of the firm pulls Sophie to do the in-take interview.  The client, Mia Meiklejohn Durkheim, like Sophie’s forthrightness and pulls strings to get her assigned to the case, which is sometimes funny.

Other than negotiating divorce law, there’s not much plot here. I did like the epistolary style Reiger used: memos and e-mails. It made what could have been a dry story much better and faster to read.  I didn’t like the pages that concentrated on the legal briefs. I think those could have been deleted. However, there are those readers who have wanted to see the info once it’s mentioned.  The format also led to a quick read, which kept me reading, and when the legalese was excluded, it was a fun story.

 I give The Divorce Papers 4 out of 5 stars.

 I received this book for free from Blogging for Books for this review.