Today (9 April 2024) is International Be Kind to Lawyers Day (Days of the Year). I haven’t put together a Book List for a while so I thought I’d take the opportunity to post about Legal Affairs (aka My Favourite Fictional Lawyers).
As always, if you’ve got any recommendations, you can let me know either in the comments or by e-mail at louisehallbooks@gmail.com.
P.S. If you’re looking for more Book Lists, you can find links to them all in the Archives.
Happy reading x
The rest of My Favourite Fictional Lawyers will be listed alphabetically A-Z by author but I’m going to start with my own ‘Happy When It Rains.’
(1) Daniel Ford from Happy When It Rains (Ohana Girls #4) by Louise Hall (2021)
If I could turn back time…
There are three things that Hawaiian body artist Emmy Montgomery doesn’t do:
- She doesn’t cry… OK, except for that one time in a field of sunflowers;
- She doesn’t pierce the tongues of steroid junkies because they’re a lawsuit waiting to happen and;
- She definitely doesn’t think about Daniel Ford, the British exchange student who broke her teenage heart all those years ago. Definitely not.
When Emmy finds out that Disappearing Daniel is her bestie’s new law professor, she’s persuaded to swap the sunshine of Oahu for the dull, rainy skies of Manchester.
It turns out that the extra-long flight from Hawaii to England might be the least stressful part of her trip because although her initial plan is to confront Daniel, get the closure she so desperately needs and then let all the hurt and resentment she’s been carrying go Disney-style, things aren’t always that straightforward especially when she and Daniel are keeping some big secrets from each other.
Tags: My Books / Pink Hair, Don’t Care / Second Chance / Tattoo Artists
(2) Gretchen Winthrop from A Very Merry Bromance (Bromance Book Club #5) by Lyssa Kay Adams (2022)
Country music’s golden boy Colton Wheeler felt the most perfect harmony when he was with Gretchen Winthrop. But for her, it was a love him and leave him situation. A year later, Colton is struggling to push his music forward in a new direction. If it weren’t about to be the most magical time of year and the support of the Bromance Book Club, he’d be wallowing in self-pity.
It’s hard for immigration attorney Gretchen not to feel a little Scrooge-ish about the excess of Christmas when her clients are scrambling to afford their rent. So when her estranged, wealthy family reaches out with an offer that will allow her to better serve the community, she’s unable to say no. She just needs to convince Colton to be the new face of her family’s whiskey brand. No big deal…
Colton agrees to consider Gretchen’s offer in exchange for three dates before Christmas. With the help of the Bromance Book Club, Colton throws himself into the task of proving to her there’s a spark between them. But Gretchen and Colton will both need to overcome the ghosts of Christmas past to build a future together.
Tags: Christmas / Country Music / Favourite Author / Favourite Series / Fictional Musicians
(3) Louis McNally II from Chase Me (Broke & Beautiful #1) by Tessa Bailey (2015)
College drop-out, Roxy Cumberland, moved to New York with dreams of becoming an actress, but her dwindling bank account is quickly putting the kibosh on that fantasy. To make some quick cash, she signs up to perform singing telegrams. Her first customer is a gorgeous, cocky Manhattan trust-funder if she ever laid eyes on one. And what could be more humiliating than singing an ode to his junk, courtesy of his last one night stand? Maybe the fact that she’s dressed in a giant, pink bunny costume…
After a night out to celebrate winning his last case, lawyer Louis McNally II isn’t prepared for the pounding in his head or the rabbit serenading him from the front door. But the sassy wit and sexy voice of the girl behind the mask intrigues him and one look at her stunning face— followed by a mind-blowing kiss against his doorjamb—leaves Louis wanting more.
Roxy doesn’t need a spoiled rich boy who’s had everything in life handed to him on a Tiffany platter. But there’s more to Louis than his sexy surface and he’s determined to make Roxy see it…even if it means chasing her all over NYC.
Tags: Favourite Author / Favourite Series
(4) Alexander Knightley from The British Knight (The Royals #4) by Louise Bay (2017)
When I’m offered the chance to leave New York to live in London for three months, I can’t pack my suitcase fast enough.
As soon as I touch down I’m obsessing over red telephone boxes, palaces and all the black cabs.
But my favourite place is the tube. It’s wall-to-wall hot British men in suits.
When I’m offered a temporary job working for a barrister, I say, sign me up.
On my first commute into work, it’s a total accident when I lose my balance and fall against the most handsome Brit alive. He’s as charming as James Bond and as suave as Mr. Darcy. I want to lick tea from his hard abs and listen to his accent all night long.
Turns out Mr. Handsome is my new boss. And his attitude isn’t as hot as his gorgeous face, broad shoulders and tight ass. He’s brooding, short-tempered and the most arrogant man I’ve ever met.
As we’re fighting, out of nowhere he kisses me. And I’m pretty sure I see fireworks over Big Ben and hear God Save the Queen.
I wasn’t looking for the fairytale but I might have found my knight in shining armour. The problem is he lives an ocean away.
Tags: Favourite Author / Five Star Reads (Pre-Blog) / Office Romance
(5) Gabriel Chase from Mr Smithfield (Mister #3) by Louise Bay (2021)
Wanted: American nanny for an adorable four-year-old. Must be able to handle a moody, brooding, sexy British boss.
I’m a single father, a lawyer and some say the most serious man in London. I’m completely focused on raising my four-year-old daughter.
Since my wife walked out three years ago, the only woman who has ever caught my eye is the strictly off-limits sister-in-law of my best friend, Autumn Lumen.
But temptation is easy to resist because Autumn is only visiting London from Oregon.
Until she moves to London. The nanny quits. And she’s the only woman for the job.
Tags: Favourite Author / Favourite Series / Nannies
(6) Stanton Shaw & Sofia Santos from Overruled (Legal Briefs #1) by Emma Chase (2015)
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.
Tags: Favourite Author / Favourite Series / Five Star Reads (Pre-Blog)
(7) Jake Becker from Sustained (Legal Briefs #2) by Emma Chase (2015)
A knight in tarnished armour is still a knight.
When you’re a defence attorney in Washington, DC, you see first-hand 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.
Tags: Favourite Author / Favourite Book by This Author / Favourite Series / Five Star Reads (Pre-Blog) / Guardians
(8) Brent Mason & Kennedy Randolph from Appealed (Legal Briefs #3) by Emma Chase (2016)
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 most intimate – and prized – parts of his anatomy beneath the heels of her Christian Louboutins.
Brent has never let the loss of his leg in a childhood accident affect his ability to lead a fulfilling life. He sets high goals–and then he reaches them.
And now he has his sights set on Kennedy.
**
When Kennedy looks at Brent Mason, all she sees is the selfish, Abercrombie & Fitch catalogue-worthy teenager who humiliated her in high school to join the popular crowd. A crowd that made those years a living hell.
She’s not a lovesick social outcast anymore – she’s a DC prosecutor with a long winning streak behind her. Brent is the opposing attorney in her next case and she thinks it’s time to put him through a little hell of his own.
But things aren’t exactly working out that way.
Because every fiery exchange has her wondering if he’s as passionate in the bedroom as he is in the courtroom. Each argument and objection only makes him want her more. In the end, Brent and Kennedy may just find themselves in love…or in contempt of court.
Tags: Favourite Author / Favourite Series / Five Star Reads (Pre-Blog)
(9) Emily Aulenbach from Escape by Barbara Delinsky (2011)
Emily Aulenbach is thirty-two, a lawyer married to a lawyer, working in Manhattan. An idealist, she had once dreamed of representing victims of corporate abuse, but she spends her days in a cubicle talking on the phone with victims of tainted bottled water—and she is on the bottler’s side.
And it isn’t only work. It’s her sister, her friends, even her husband, James, with whom she doesn’t connect the way she used to. She doesn’t connect to much in her life, period, with the exception of three things—her computer, her BlackBerry, and her watch.
Acting on impulse, Emily leaves work early one day, goes home, packs her bag, and takes off. Groping toward the future, uncharacteristically following her gut rather than her mind, she heads north toward a New Hampshire town tucked between mountains. She knows this town. During her college years, she spent a watershed summer here. Painful as it is to return, she knows that if she is to right her life, she has to start here.
Tags: Five Star Reads (Pre-Blog) / Marriages on the Rocks
(10) Nate Pearson from Only You (One & Only #1) by Melanie Harlow (2018)
Nate Pearson is ridiculously handsome and wears the hell out of a suit and tie, but I’ve seen the parade of beautiful women leaving his apartment across the hall—a different one every time—and I want no part of it. When it comes to romance, I’m looking for something real, something that will last: the happily ever after.
As a divorce attorney, he loves to tell me there’s no such thing.
As a wedding planner, I choose to disagree.
We disagree on almost everything, in fact. Everything except James Bond. The only time we really get along is when we’re watching 007 flicks together, and I’ll admit—he has rescued me from a disaster or five. So when one of the baton twirlers from his parade leaves a baby girl at his door with a note that says “I’ll come back for her” and he begs me for help, I can’t turn him down.
But it’s a mistake.
Because watching him with his daughter, I start to see another side of Nate, a side that has my breath coming faster, my body craving his, my heart longing for him to change his mind about love and tell me there’s a chance for us.
I don’t want to be just another girl leaving his apartment in the morning.
I want to be the one he asks to stay.
Tags: Favourite Author / Five Star Reads (Pre-Blog) / Secret Babies
(11) Kailyn Flowers from Meet Cute by Helena Hunting (2019)
Talk about an embarrassing introduction. On her first day of law school, Kailyn ran quite literally into the actor she crushed on as a teenager, ending with him sprawled on top of her. Mortified to discover the Daxton Hughes was also a student in her class, her embarrassment over their meet-cute quickly turned into a friendship she never expected. Of course, she never saw his betrayal coming either…
Now, eight years later, Dax is in her office asking for legal advice. Despite her anger, Kailyn can’t help feeling sorry for the devastated man who just became sole guardian to his thirteen-year-old sister. But when her boss gets wind of Kailyn’s new celebrity client, there’s even more at stake than Dax’s custody issues: if she gets Dax to work at their firm, she’ll be promoted to partner.
The more time Kailyn spends with Dax and his sister, the more she starts to feel like a family, and the more she realizes the chemistry they had all those years ago is as fresh as ever. But will they be able to forgive the mistakes of the past, or will one betrayal lead to another?
Tags: Favourite Author / Five Star Reads (Pre-Blog) / Guardians / Hollywood / Second Chance
(12) Lucas Donovan from Taco Bout Love (The Donovans #1) by Lily Kate (2023)
My name is Lucas Donovan, and I’m a sucker for a great taco.
No, that’s not an innuendo, though I do like my women like I like my tacos: extra spicy. So when a brand new food truck rolls into our sleepy little town of Fantasie, Maine, I know I’m in trouble. I just don’t know how much trouble.
Things go downhill fast when I meet Chloe Brown, the sizzling hot and super sassy owner of Taco Bout Love who is as extra as guac. Then out of the blue, Chloe plops her huge purple eyesore of a truck in my designated parking spot. I’m sorely tempted to have her truck towed, and her right along with it.
Unfortunately, Chloe’s as fierce as a ghost pepper, and she’s not going down without a fight. Before I know it, the only thing I’m certain of is that this woman drives me crazy… in the best way possible. What’s more is that I’m beginning to think I just might miss her when she’s gone.
Suddenly, I can’t seem to keep my hands off Chloe Brown… or her tacos.
Tags: Chefs / Favourite Series
(13) Jensen Bergstrom from Beautiful (Beautiful Bastard #5) by Christina Lauren (2016)
After walking in on her boyfriend shagging another girl in their place, Pippa Cox ditches London for the States to go on a drunken road trip with friends.
Scaling the career ladder is the default way to deal with heartbreak—and to just deal—for Jensen Bergstrom. Absolutely buried by his drive and workload, he rarely takes time for himself. But when his sister Hanna convinces him to join the gang on a two-week wine tour, he has a rare moment of cutting loose. Of course, it’s only once he’s committed that he realizes the strange girl he met briefly on the plane is coming along, too. She might be too much for him…or he might realize his life has become too small and needs her to make it bigger, crazier.
Tags: Favourite Author / Favourite Series / Road Trip
(14) Katherine Tate from Emergency Contact by Lauren Layne (2023)
Katherine, an ambitious NYC attorney, gets diagnosed with a concussion and must be monitored for 48 hours to make sure it doesn’t get worse. Unfortunately, she forgot to update her emergency contact so the person they call is her ex-husband, Tom. Unable to be left alone, Katherine reluctantly agrees to travel to Chicago with Tom for the holidays. But thanks to a blizzard, what should have been a quick plane ride turns into an antagonistic overnight misadventure that stirs up old feelings even as Tom prepares to propose to his girlfriend on Christmas Eve.
Tags: Christmas / Favourite Author / Five Star Reads / Road Trips / Second Chance / Vegas Weddings
(15) Colin Walsh from The Prenup by Lauren Layne (2019)
My name is Charlotte Spencer and, ten years ago, I married my brother’s best friend. I haven’t seen him since.
Charlotte Spencer grew up on the blue-blooded Upper East Side of Manhattan but she never wanted the sit-still-look-pretty future her parents dictated for her. Enter Colin Walsh, her brother’s quiet, brooding, man-bun-sporting best friend, and with him a chance to escape.
He’s far from Charlotte’s dream guy but they need each other for one thing: marriage. One courthouse wedding later, Charlotte’s inheritance is hers to start a business in San Francisco and Irish-born Colin has a Green Card.
Ten years later, Colin drops a bombshell: the terms of their prenup state that before either can file for divorce, they have to live under the same roof for three months.
Suddenly this match made in practicality is about to take on whole new meaning…
Tags: Brother’s Best Friend / Favourite Author / Five Star Reads / Marriages of Convenience
(16) Andrew Mulroney from Walk of Shame (Love Unexpectedly #4) by Lauren Layne (2017)
Pampered heiress Georgianna Watkins has a party-girl image to maintain, but all the shopping and clubbing is starting to feel a little bit hollow – and a whole lot lonely. Though Georgie would never admit it, the highlights of her week are the mornings when she comes home at the same time as her uptight, workaholic neighbour is leaving to hit the gym and put in a long day at the office. Teasing him is the most fun Georgie’s had in years – and the fuel for all her naughtiest daydreams.
Celebrity divorce attorney Andrew Mulroney doesn’t have much time for women, especially spoiled tabloid princesses who spend more time on Page Six than at an actual job. Although Georgie’s drop-dead gorgeous, she’s also everything Andrew resents: the type of girl who inherited her penthouse instead of earning it. But after Andrew caps one of their predawn sparring sessions with a surprise kiss-a kiss that’s caught on camera-all of Manhattan is gossiping about whether they’re a real couple. And nobody’s more surprised than Andrew to find that the answer just might be yes.
Tags: Favourite Author / Five Star Reads
(17) Daniel from New York, Actually (From Manhattan with Love #4) by Sarah Morgan (2017)
Meet Molly: New York’s most famous agony aunt, she considers herself an expert at relationships…as long as they’re other people’s. The only love of her life is her Dalmatian, Valentine.
Meet Daniel: A cynical divorce lawyer, he’s hardwired to think relationships are a bad idea. If you don’t get involved, no-one can get hurt. But then he finds himself borrowing a dog to meet the gorgeous woman he sees running in Central Park every morning…
Molly and Daniel think they know everything there is to know about relationships…until they meet each other that is…
Tags: Favourite Author / Favourite Series / Five Star Reads (Pre-Blog) / Pupsters
(18) Owen Salt from Begin Again (Stay #3.6) by Jennifer Probst (2020)
Chloe Lake is finally living her dream. As the daughter of the Governor, she’s consistently in the spotlight, and after being dubbed the Most Eligible Bachelorette of NYC, both her career and personal life has exploded. Fortunately, her work as an advocate for animal welfare requires constant publicity and funding, so she embraces her role and plays for the camera—anything for the sake of her beloved rescues.
But when a big case is on the line, she’s faced with the one obstacle she never counted on: the boy who broke her heart is back, and in order to gain justice, they need to work together.
Chloe swears she can handle it until old feelings resurface, and she’s faced with a heartbreaking choice.
Will this time end differently—or are they destined to be only each other’s first love—instead of forever?
Owen Salt fell hard for Chloe when he was a screwed-up kid in college, and spent the next years changing himself into the man his grandfather believed he was capable of. But when his career led him across the country, he knew he needed to leave the woman he loved behind. He’s never forgotten her, but as the new darling of the press, now, she’s way out of his league. When work brings him back to fight for justice by her side, he swears he can handle it.
But he’s never really gotten over his first love—and he wants one more opportunity to prove he’s a man who’s worthy.
Can Owen convince the woman who holds his heart to take a second chance on forever—or is it too late for them both?
Tags: Favourite Authors / Favourite Series / Office Romance / Pupsters / Second Chance
If I could turn back time…
2
London, Can You Wait?
Louise Hall 