Overruled

Book: Overruled
Series: The Legal Briefs #1
Author: Emma Chase

As a DC defense attorney, Stanton Shaw keeps his head cool, his questions sharp, and his arguments irrefutable. They don’t call him the Jury Charmer for nothing – with his southern drawl, disarming smile and captivating green eyes – he’s a hard man to say no to. Men want to be him and women want to be thoroughly cross examined by him.

Stanton’s a man with a plan. And for a while, life was going according to that plan.

Until the day he receives an invitation to the wedding of his high school sweetheart and mother of his beloved ten-year old daughter. Jenny is getting married — to someone who isn’t him.

That's definitely not part of the plan.
***

Sofia Santos is a city raised, no-nonsense litigator who plans to become the most revered criminal defense attorney in the country. She doesn’t have time for relationships or distractions.

But when Stanton, her "friend with mind-blowing benefits" begs for help, she finds herself out of her element, out of her depth, and obviously out of her mind. Because she agrees to go with him – to The-Middle-Of-Nowhere, Mississippi – to do all she can to help Stanton win back the woman he loves.

Her head tells her she's crazy...and her heart says something else entirely.
***

What happens when you mix a one stop-light town, two professional arguers, a homecoming queen, four big brothers, some Jimmy Dean sausage and a gun-toting Nana?

The Bourbon flows, passions rise and even the best laid plans get overruled by the desires of the heart.-Goodreads
Review: I think the genius of Emma Chase's 'Tangled' was her ability to write Drew as a lovable asshole (well, in my opinion anyways, everyone in my book club hated the book lol). In this new series, Stanton is without question an asshole, but other than financially providing for his daughter, I couldn't find any redeeming qualities about him. He has literally slept his way across DC although he's having an exclusive friends with benefits relationship with Ms. Doormat..I mean..Sofia, his co-worker. Meanwhile, Jenny (his baby momma) and child are back his hometown. Stanton and Jenny supposedly have an open relationship, but when he's back home, they are together. I like the idea of the high school sweetheart storyline but it just seemed unbelievable to me that Jenny would sit around waiting for him (10 years when the book takes place) when it was clear he was never coming home. I did enjoy Jenny when the story shifts to Mississippi and liked her nana. Sophia was a doormat throughout most of the book and I wish she grew a backbone earlier. 

Overall, this was okay. There was a sample for the next book in the series focused on a different attorney in Stanton and Sofia's lawfirm, and I will definitely be reading it. 

Grade: 2/5