Sustained by Emma Chase

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Title: Sustained
Author: Emma Chase
Series: The Legal Briefs #2
Published by: Gallery Books
Release Date: August 25, 2015
Format: Kindle Book
Pages: 304
Genres: Romance, Contemporary
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My rating:

Blurb:

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 & 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 Review:

4.5 stars — Consider me thoroughly entertained.  I’ve read one other Emma Chase book, and just like with that one, I was thoroughly taken in by the authentic male POV.  She writes characters that are a strange conflict of not so likeable, but emminently likeable at the same time.  Which of course doesn’t make sense…but basically Jake had so many surface traits that I personally don’t find so appealing — he’s short tempered, so kind of a jerk, and he’s a bit of a womanizer….wait, what’s the definition of a womanizer?  Basically he uses and discards women with no remorse.  Though at least he’s honest about it.  So that’s sort of who we meet at the beginning.  But it quickly becomes easy to see that there’s more to him than those surface traits.

I LOVED his relationship with the Judge.  It’s our first real taste of who Jake really is inside.  And while he tries to push it down, you could see his reluctance to take on the Senator’s abuse case…even if he tried to tell himself it was all just a game to win.

The story of course comes into its own when we meet the children and Chelsea.  I was worried I wouldn’t believe Jake’s transformation, but I really did — probably because it was rather slow and confusing for him…he really tried to hold on to his old self for as long as possible, but Chelsea managed to just burrow herself into his heart.  And he was HILARIOUS with those kids…you could really feel when he started to care for them, despite his best efforts not to.

Normally I’m not much of a fan of children in romance stories…it’s just a personal taste thing, but so often I find they are unrealistic or too cutesy for me.  Ms. Chase dodges those pitfalls like a champ, and does a fabulous job of making the children an important part of this story.  I also fell in love with the secondary characters of Brent, Stanton and Sofia in this one….makes me want to read their books as well.

Jake really is the winner in this story though.  It’s his voice that was so effortless to read.  Ms. Chase marries humour and heart perfectly, and I will definitely be reading more of her in the future.

Small sidenote: A tiny little detail ended up bothering me more than it should…probably b/c it’s one of my button issues.  I *hated* that he drove after getting drunk, and there were no consequences or even a mention of it from Chelsea.  Given the circumstances of the parents death, and his apparent love of the law, it felt out of character for him.  In the end it’s why I rounded down instead of up.  And yes, I do realize that’s a stupid thing to be so upset over, but it’s my review, I do what I want!  😉