“Prosecutor Sophie Dawson's first job in the White Collar division of the Fulton County D.A.'s office is to build a case against a local bank employee who may be cheating clients. But when circumstances beyond her control leave her as the only witness to a double homicide involving a vengeful gang, her world is turned upside down.
Former Atlanta police officer turned private security guard Cooper Knight is hired to ensure that Sophie is kept safe. But as threats escalate, they don't know who they can trust.
Sophie is determined not to back down, but her bank case gets more complicated by the day, and the gang will stop at nothing to keep her from testifying. Sophie wants to take a stand for what's right--but can Cooper, who is determined not to be distracted by their growing attraction, keep her safe so that she can finish her pursuit for justice?”
Series: Book #2 in the “Atlanta Justice” trilogy. Review of Book #1, Here!
Spiritual Content- Prayers & Thanking God; Church going; Talks about God, His plan, & faiths; 'H's are capital when referring to God; Mentions of God & His grace; Mentions of prayers & praying; Mentions of faiths; Mentions of churches, church going, services, worship, & a pastor; A couple mentions of Sophie’s friend being skeptic about God; A couple mentions of being at peace with a hard decision; A mention of church being the one place criminals shouldn’t mess with;
*Note: A couple mentions of bad luck.
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘bull’, a ‘dumb’, a ‘heck’, two forms of ‘ticked off’, four ‘crap’s, four forms of ‘idiot’, four forms of ‘screw up’, and eight ‘stupid’s; Mentions of curses and someone dropping the f-bomb (written like so and others are said, but not written out); Eye rolling & Sarcasm; Witnessing a shooting, seeing others shot, two murders, & checking the victims for a pulse (up to semi-detailed); Fighting, Being hit/beaten/attacked, Being tased, Being held at gunpoint, Being shot at, Being strangled, a Bomb/explosion, a Drive-by shooting, a Hit-and-run/car crash, Passing out, Injuries, Pain, & Blood/Bleeding (up to semi-detailed); Sophie is in the White Collar division and has cases about embezzlement, fraud, and money laundry; *Major Spoilers* Tad is a dirty cop and kills someone on page (another off-page) before being killed himself (up to semi-detailed); Cooper shoots and kills a man who was attacking Sophie and while it’s never easy to take a life, he doesn’t regret it because of the alternative of her dying instead *End of Spoilers*; All about many mentions of shootings, gunfire, deaths/murders, a shooter/murderer, being shot, being shot at, witnessing the crime, the victims’ bodies, & blood/bleeding (up to semi-detailed); All about many mentions of gangs, violence, embezzlement, fraud, money laundry, crimes, criminals, & victims; Mentions of deaths, deaths of loved ones, & grief (including Sophie for her mom and what it could have been); Mentions of an assumed suicide (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of the possibility of being killed or seriously injured; Mentions of a hit-and-run & a drive-by shooting; Mentions of bombs/explosives; Mentions of attacks/assaults, injuries, pain, & blood/bleeding; Mentions of drugs, drug lords, drug traffickers, & drug cartels; Mentions of an alcoholic father that was emotionally and physically abusive (Cooper’s father, who would beat up his mother, and Cooper being concerned about becoming like his father, up to semi-detailed); Mentions of prison & arrests; Mentions of threats & being threatened; Mentions of dirty police officers, blackmail, & bribes; Mentions of lies & lying; Mentions of alcohol, drinking, & a drunk; A few mentions of people being shot in the head/brain; A few mentions of stalkers; A few mentions of someone being drugged; A few mentions of nightmares; A few mentions of cigarettes & smoking; A couple mentions of beatings; A couple mentions of a man grabbing at a woman (barely-above-not-detailed); A couple mentions of hatred; A mention of divorce;
*Note: Sophie struggles with panic attacks and has a few mentioned (but not actually on page; they stem from her grief of her mother’s death and while she’s seen a psychologist for the grief, Sophie has never taken medication for it, believing that it’s a “battle in [her] head and heart [that] isn’t cured by a prescription”); Cooper thinks that no amount of therapy will cure him from what happened in his childhood & has the possibility of being an abusive alcoholic like his father due to it being “in [his] blood”; Mentions of panic attacks; Mentions of car brands; A few mentions of Sophie having to prove herself because of her gender and looks (being a blond baby face female; She also tells a mentee to not voice her self-doubts because their male counterparts would never do that); A few mentions of counseling; A mention of the families of shooting victims seeming to have “moved on” after some months; A mention of a male lawyer being a scumbag to female lawyers; A mention of Boy Scouts.
Sexual Content- A cheek kiss, an almost kiss (barely-above-not-detailed), two barely-above-not-detailed kisses, three semi-detailed kisses, and a border-line semi-detailed // detailed kiss; Wanting to kiss (barely-above-not-detailed); Staring at lips (barely-above-not-detailed); Touches, Embraces, Hand holding, Warmth, & Nearness (up to semi-detailed); Blushes; Noticing (x4, barely-above-not-detailed); a ‘hot’; A couple guys act too friendly with Sophie & make her uncomfortable by being too close and trying to touch her (a few times, barely-above-not-detailed); Ashley receives unwanted touches from a gang-member client (her waist and chin, the man comments that “even most men” would be losing it if he had his hands on them (implied because of being dangerous), up to semi-detailed); A man implies that even someone who hates Ashely would be interested in doing something sexual with her (cut-off, but implied; Ashely thinks that she’s “always been objectified by men”); Mentions of kisses & kissing; Mentions of dating, dates, & boyfriends; Mentions of jealousy; A couple mentions of creepy guys; A mention of rapists; A few mentions of crushes; A mention of cheating spouses; A mention of a peeping tom; Love, falling in love, & the emotions;
*Note: A use of the phrase “getting in bed” with someone in regard to business dealings; Mentions of Sophie’s mother dying in childbirth when delivering her.
-Sophie Dawson, age 32
-Cooper Knight
P.O.V. switches between them, Patrick, Ashley, & Tad
320 pages
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Early High School Teens-
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My personal Rating-
{ Add up to a full star for older girls interested in legal proceedings. }
After enjoying the first book in the series’ plot (but not so much the characters), I was curious to see what I would think of this second book. I did like a lot of different things about it, which I’ll mention in a moment, but I do think the romance is definitely a subplot. Which is fine since I liked all the legal and courtroom scenes the best, but I do think this book/series wouldn’t be for everyone; those who like the legal side of things will probably like it the most.
I had to like the aspect that Sophie is an eyewitness to a crime, but knows how the legal world works because of her career as a prosecutor. It was really interesting including the cross-examination.
I have to say that it was very refreshing that our male main character was very upfront with the main girl about his childhood, his past, and told her everything when he realized she was potentially attracted to him. I wasn’t dramatic, but it was emotional and yet it was calm and maybe…adult-ish is the only word I can think of for it. They came from very different backgrounds and want very different things in the future, so it was nice to see him lead the conversation and tell her about his concerns. Now, mind you, this is technically a romance book, so I knew he would get over those concerns by the end of the book, but it was still really nice to see that. He did have his moments of being hot and cold, which was a bit frustrating, but the suspense was taking priority and thus more important.
I did find that I had to push myself to continue reading at times despite wanting to know what would happen with the cases. I think this was because while I felt a little more connected to the main characters compared to the first book in this series, I didn’t really care much for their romance as the book continued. We also see three other people’s point of view and two of them I started to not care about in the last half of the book. I was enjoying this book decently until the end. I didn’t like a twist (or three) that happened then, it felt a little too out of left field and continued into an unbelievable angle.
Overall I would say that I liked elements of this book and will still read the next book in the series to finish it out, but the ending wasn’t my favorite and I found some twists to be disappointing.
See y’all on Friday with a new review!
*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.
