The New York Times bestselling author of the Tangled books returns with the third standalone romance in the Legal Briefs series, a collection of sexy novels about first crushes, second chances, and the final verdict of the heart. When Brent Mason looks at Kennedy Randolph, he doesn’t see the awkward, sweet girl who grew up next door. He sees a self-assured, stunning woman…who wants to crush the … woman…who wants to crush the most intimate–and prized–parts of his anatomy beneath the heels of her Louboutins.
When Kennedy looks at Brent, all she sees is the selfish, Abercrombie & Fitch catalogue-worthy teenager who humiliated her in high school in order to join the popular crowd. A crowd that made those years a living hell for her.
But she’s not a lovesick social outcast anymore–she’s a Washington, DC, prosecutor with a long winning streak. Brent is the opposing attorney in her next case, and Kennedy thinks it’s time to put him through a little hell of his own.
But things aren’t exactly working out the way she planned. Brent has his sights set on Kennedy, and every fiery exchange only makes him want her more–and makes her wonder if he’s as passionate in the bedroom as he is in the courtroom. In the end, they may just find themselves in love…or in contempt of court.more
This is the third book in the Legal Briefs series by Ms Chase. It is all sorts of steamy fun. Fun of the hilarious variety. Once again, I spent a good portion of my reading time chuckling. This series is pure entertainment.
Brent and Kennedy grew up together, right next door if you can call having about 20 acres between your estates “right next door.” Their mothers are best friends and they’ve planned on Brent and Kennedy marrying one day. The best-laid plans……
Plans sometimes work and sometimes they don’t. This is a second chance that may have never stopped being the first chance. Lots of steamy scenes, lots of hilarity, lots of fun.
Love anything from Emma
Emma is really an amazing author and this series is so good.
Absolutely amazing book, this author’s ability to create such beautiful characters and deep, but witty, stories blows me away. Brent and Kennedy’s backstory was laid out perfectly and seeing the former best friends reconnect was fantastic. The chemistry and the suspense in this story had me on the edge of my seat.
Phenomenal addition to the Legal Briefs series!
All that and a bag of chips! Much fun and great watching all they have to go through to get beyond their individual and shared pasts.
I liked Brent in Overruled, so I was sure I would have liked his story. Unlike Stanton, who is a bit of a caveman and a jerk and Jake, who is more controlled and stoic, Brent is sarcastic and easygoing. He is wealthy but he is not the kind of rich guy who is obsessed with money. On the other hand, he decided to be a lawyer despite his family had a different career path planned for him.
His family is high class, so he attended boarding school and used to be around wealthy boys and girls like him. Among them, there was Kennedy, a petite blonde that he’s known his entire life and that he could consider his best friend while growing up. But at some point after high school ended, Brent lost sight of Kennedy until he sees her again at a family gathering. Kennedy is now a federal prosecutor and none other than the opposing part in a trial where he is the defense attorney. Kennedy is not happy about meeting Brent again, so she wants to use this trial to crush him completely and get revenge.
Brent is puzzled when Kennedy treats him like a stranger. They’ve known each other since they were kids and even shared their first kiss, until the fail of epic proportions that was boarding school, where Brent was with the annoying queen bitch who made it impossibile for Kennedy to be around him as even just a friend. Kennedy hates Brent because she believes all the shitty things that this ex of his did to her during high school days were supported by him, who never excused to her. This causes her to be even more irritated at him, despite now she’s 32 and time has passed and she’s moved on.
Brent tries hard to understand Kennedy’s reasons and to make it up to her when he finds out. After all, he liked her and thought of her like his best friend and the girl he wanted to marry in the future, so he goes out of his comfort zone to show her that he cares and cared for her and that he’s deeply sorry about the past.
Both Brent and Kennedy have trust issues. He is the type of guy who doesn’t want to have a serious woman because he’s scared of affection and she is scared that any man may hurt her and play with her feelings like she thinks Brent did in the past. But Brent really likes Kennedy and he will show her that she is beautiful and smart and all of that, because her self-esteem seems wavering at times. I hated that many times Kennedy doubted she deserved Brent and his affection and thought of herself as ugly or unfit. I get where she’s coming from. But gladly she realizes that while jealous people like his high school ex exist, there are also people like Brent and his co-workers who don’t judge and, most of all, are sincere.
This is an enemies to lovers story but it could also be a friends to lovers story. If you like the trope, you’ll surely like this. I liked the angst between Kennedy and Brent and their dialogues. But this story doesn’t top Sustained – although they’re close.
Emma Chase has a fun, pithy voice when it comes to writing, but it’s hard to like a character while they are telling you how awesome they are in every way. Okay, okay, I get it. You are a player and are great at sex. Give it a rest.
This scrapes to a three star. I’m cutting the H and the book a break because I may be having delayed crankiness due to a bad day (recovering from food poisoning and a hacked email).
The last in the Legal Brief’s trilogy, it is miles better than Overruled but falls short of Sustained.
Flashback to when Brent and Kennedy were best friends on their way to being more when Brent’s rotten taste in skanky girls rears her hussy head and put a 14 year old kibosh on it. Kennedy is back in his life as ruthless prosecutor to his defense attorney.
The dialogue, with inner and with other, is done very well, but the constant references to his penis and sexual excellence got a little old. I felt like a teacher in sex ed class waiting for the class to settle down. (Like I said, CRANKY!)
Anyhoo, other issues that I felt were left a little less explored than I would have liked:
The h’s overly critical mother also known as a MOTHER.
The H’s cousin with the cheating husband he wants to kill. She sounded interesting. What happened to her?
The climax of the story comes way too early and the HEA is almost anti-climactic.
Not enough Jake and his crazy crew of R-named adopted kids.
Bottom line, I felt that Chase was rushed on this. It’s still a three stars and Emma Chase is highly readable. She’s like ordering pizza from a really good pizza place that has an occasional off night.
I enjoyed this series, I know it’s a few years since the book was published, I just got to it. Brent is super sweet, funny, protective and sexy. Kennedy is smart, independent, sassy and sexy. Emma Chase’s books are always hilarious, I laughed a lot especially from the dialogues between Brent and his friends Stanton, Sofia and Jake. This book is definitely a page turner.
**I received an ebook copy of this book in exchange for an honest review**
I love second chance romance novels, and this was by far one of the best ones I’ve read yet.
Brent and Kennedy were childhood friends who went their separate ways and were out of touch for years. Now they’ve been thrust together again in the courtroom, as defense attorney and prosecutor, and holy wow do the sparks ever start to fly.
Emma is brilliant when it comes to storytelling. I’ve loved all the characters in her books so far. She crafts these characters who are completely relatable, who I could picture leaving the pages and coming right into my life as a part of my social circle. She’s got a wicked way with humor, creates these fun storylines, and tosses in plenty of well-written, sexy-as-hell scenes.
Another thing Emma is great at is giving us strong female leads, and that’s one of my favorite things about her writing. Kennedy is a kick ass chick. She’s intelligent, driven, successful, and not about to back down and roll over for Brent, or any other man. She holds her own, she’s sassy, and I freaking love her.
Brent is equally amazing. He’s got a pretty tough exterior but there’s vulnerability there under the surface. Once he sets his sights on something he doesn’t stop until he’s got it. And when he loves, he loves hard. He went through such a change in the book in terms of how he viewed relationships and love, and that was amazing to read.
I loved the first two books in this series, and I loved Appealed just as much. The original characters are still there, just lingering in the background, but we get to see them and that was great.
Even though I was laughing out loud for much of this story, I was also socked right in the feels a few times. It was the perfect combination of humor and hotness that I’ve come to expect from Emma Chase.
This one gets the Got Nikki? Must Read seal of approval and Brent—well, he’s the first one to make my Top Book Boyfriends of 2016 list.
Five stars to this book!
Words cannot describe how happy I am with how this series ended <3 It was the perfect kind of ‘happily ever after’.
Brent and Kennedy’s story was a mix of redemption (on Brent’s part), getting “the one that got away”, learning to “take a leap”, and in a sense, it’s a “friends to lovers” type of book…you’ll have to read it to understand what I mean by “in a sense”. The combination of all these aspects made for a fascinating love story and made it impossible to NOT love these characters.
I loved the whole “prince charming” aspect! All the way down to Brent swooping in and carrying Kennedy off. *swoon worthy* That was totally “Batman” of him…hehe. (Again, you’ll understand that comment when you read the book). Brent was the complete package. He had his inner struggles that he didn’t even know he had, but we get to watch him “live and learn” and work through those and in the end become an even better man than he already is. Emma did a great job of showing Brent’s growth throughout APPEALED.
I loved ALL the characters! We get to revisit previous characters (Stanton and Sophia, Jake, Chelsea & all the McQuaid children) *happy dance*. I love being able to see beyond the HEA’s of previous characters <3
I am REALLY loving how authors are venturing into the male POV! Emma did a phenomenal job of portraying Brent’s voice and inner dialogue throughout the whole book. I think she may have unlocked the male mind *wink*. Share your secrets with us fellow females, Emma! *lol*
This book was like watching fireworks go off on the 4th of July…tons of oohs and awes. Much like the 4th of July, I waiting patiently for it to arrive on my kindle and it was over way too soon! I need more Brent and Kennedy, Emma! Their story was just spectacular to read and I’m so thankful I got the privilege to get an advanced copy (THANK YOU EMMA!) *hugs*.
And then that “once upon a time…” epilogue. PERFECTION!!! “My stories will be amazing. Everyone who reads them will laugh and cry and know how it feels to fall in love. And they’ll end the way all the very best stories end.” “How will they end?” “’And they lived happily ever after.’” THAT right there about sums up Emma’s books for me…I laughed, I cried, and I truly could feel what it was like to fall in love <3 I give her epilogue alone 5 stars! 🙂 LOVED IT!
As you can tell, I said “I love…” A LOT in my review…that’s because plain and simple, I LOVED THIS BOOK! APPEALED is the “cherry on top” of a delicious ice cream Sunday…utterly perfect ending to a beautiful series!
5 stars!
Appealed is the third installment in Emma Chase’s adult contemporary romance series titled The Legal Briefs. I liked it overall: second chance romance, fun banter between the hero and heroine, fairly complicated characters due to past experiences, engaging conflict, and cameos/follow-up with characters from past installments. I found that the legal portion of the storyline takes a far backseat to the romance, but it’s Emma Chase so I guess that’s alright. Overall, a quick and enjoyable read for fans.
My favorite quote:
“I thought for sure you were about to ravish her. I’ve read a lot of books, and that was just like a scene that ends with the hero ravishing the maiden.” “I was closer to strangling her.” The little old lady chuckles in a knowing kind of way. “That’s a different kind of book, sonny.”
The Legal Briefs series includes the following installments as of October 2017:
#1-Overruled
#2-Sustained
#3-Appealed
#3.5-Sidebarred