Title: Sustained
Author: Emma Chase
Publisher/Year: Gallery Books 8/25/15
Length: 304 Pages
Series: Legal Briefs #2
Overview
A knight in tarnished armor is still a knight.
When you’re a defense attorney in Washington, DC, you see firsthand how hard life can be, and that sometimes the only way to survive is to be harder. I, Jake Becker, have a reputation for being cold, callous, and intimidating—and that suits me just fine. In fact, it’s necessary when I’m breaking down a witness on the stand.
Complications don’t work for me—I’m a “need-to-know” type of man. If you’re my client, tell me the basic facts. If you’re my date, stick to what will turn you on. I’m not a therapist or Prince Charming—and I don’t pretend to be.
Then Chelsea McQuaid and her six orphaned nieces and nephews came along and complicated the ever-loving hell out of my life. Now I’m going to Mommy and Me classes, One Direction concerts, the emergency room, and arguing cases in the principal’s office.
Chelsea’s too sweet, too innocent, and too gorgeous for her own good. She tries to be tough, but she’s not. She needs someone to help her, defend her…and the kids.
And that—that, I know how to do.
My Thoughts
This really is a sweet series – very much in line with all that we get from Ms Chase in everything that she writes. We met Stanton and Sofia in the first book and now it’s time to get to know Jake, Stanton’s old roommate and one of the other lawyers in the firm.
Jake is a no nonsense kind of guy – the kind who doesn’t attach himself to anyone or anything since that will just get in the way of his goal to make partner and have a stellar career. One which he’s got and unfortunately often means that he sells his soul because of the clients he defends.
While he’s defending those who don’t deserve it, he finds himself dealing with a personal issue of a one night stand gone awry (STD thanks), and then gets pickpocketed by a 9 year old, which turns out to be a blessing in disguise – since he sees himself in the kid.
And also learns that there’s so much more going on with that kid.
Then there’s chelsea – a 26 yr old girl from California who finds herself the legal guardian of 6 kids from under a year to 14. It’s a life that she never asked for and yet one that she’s learning that she can’t live without.
When Jake and Chelsea cross paths, what he hopes will be a drop off, turns into something so much more. There are things that chelsea brings out in him that he never knew that he had. The notion of protecting and taking care of someone other than himself. Emotion and compassion and all sorts of human things that someone like Jake shouldn’t feel. Chelsea also sees that someone out there cares for her and will be there for her when she needs it, without even asking and that’s something that she hasn’t had in months. or even longer.
It’s a sweet story – of two people that you know need each other but who aren’t in the mindset or position to really go after what they want. Jake is stubborn in the sense that things are always about the physical but finds himself falling hard for the family. Chelsea doesn’t have time to breathe and when time and time again she’s finding herself sick, or at the police station, having the kids threatened, taken away etc, well, it’s Sir Jake who’s coming to fix it.
The thing with this story is that it’s so sweet, that even though we know that there will ultimately be the point of tension that tears them apart, we don’t mind. To be honest, there was even a moment when i thought that Jake was going to lose chelsea for good – at the hands of another man that we’ve met in the story, and how Ms Chase writes that into the mix is really nice. There’s good chemistry here and good passion. Where sofia was really independent and mature in the first book, there’s a naive quality, a youth that chelsea has here that gives it another feeling in this story. She’s got energy that’s almost childish, but not in a bad way.
So on that note, we are left at a turning point for this group of friends that’s teased in the end of this story – positions in the firm are in question when a resignation is tendered – and we hear that someone owns a building which leads to something interesting i’d imagine. So on that note – i can’t wait to jump into book 3 later on and see what’s next. Enjoy!
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