Guest Review: Courting Justice by Brenda Jackson

He’s a high-powered attorney and he’s every woman’s dream lover and he’s happy to keep that balance in his life. Unfortunately, as Angelo grows more settled in his professional life he is far less happy in his personal life. No matter how successful he may be as an attorney, he just can’t seem to get the attention of his sister’s best friend, a very fine, extremely competent lawyer living in Houston, Texas, and who is herself feeling the sense of being left behind now that her two law partners have found their one-and-only and are having babies right and left. Angelo has wanted Payton Mahoney for several years and has held back his libido in the hope that building a friendship can make the difference but somehow he can never get past Peyton’s prejudice against people with wealth or position. She seems to be stuck in the world of her upbringing, and no one is going to fail to understand how living in abject poverty can mark a person for years to come. It is only when Angelo manages to finnagle a “vacation” for Peyton with the reluctant help of his sister that he is able to convince her to have a fling while they are together on their tropical island. However, once again, their differing points of view, their background, and Peyton’s prejudice again put them at loggerheads both in the courtroom and in their personal relationship.

Brenda Jackson is known for her insightful writing about people of color and interracial relationships. She has lifted up those who many would put down because of racial prejudice and her novels continue to highlight the successes and achievements of people of color. She has also worked to give her readers characters who deal with an entire set of issues that may be different and rooted in some social situations that many have not encountered and yet even there human caring and authentic loving prosper and make redemptive inroads into hurting hearts and lonely spirits. Both of these characters have achieved a great deal and have made their mark in their chosen profession, but both are lonely and needing the completion that a loving relationship brings. It is a story that honestly lays out before readers the difficulties that many encounter because of the hardships of their early lives, their fears at being thought less of, their hurts and angers that go unresolved for many years. But it is also about the fact that both these people are individuals who want to be good people above all else, and even in the midst of their disagreements they are able to move forward and begin to open their hearts and minds to another way of approaching life and loving.

I have enjoyed all the Brenda Jackson novels and this was an introduction to a different family series. I particularly like lawyer stories anyway, and that is probably why this novel appealed to me. I found it quite captivating and felt the intensity of the love relationship as well as the distress that their different perspectives caused them both. It’s not a very long novel yet it felt complete and was a length that fit nicely in the time I had to be indulging my reading addiction. So I hope you will give this one consideration. It was really very good. I give it a rating of 4 out of 5.

You can read more from Judith at Dr J’s Book Place.

This book is available from Harlequin. You can buy it here or here in e-format.