Carsen Taite excels at writing legal thrillers with lesbian main characters using her experience as a criminal defense attorney. Lately, she has written the ‘Lone star law’ series which was inspired in the 1980s ‘Dallas’ soap opera which, in my opinion, didn’t showcase her knowledge of the American legal system. I’m happy to see that with ‘Love’s veredict’ she’s back at what she does best.

Attorneys Landon Holt and Carly Pachett work for a prestigious criminal defense firm with their eyes on a single opening promotion to partner. As one of the firm’s clients is accused of murder, they are both assigned to the case which means that they have to work as a team but only one will get to be appointed as partner. As hours shared together go by, their initial antagonistic feelings develop into something else which can jeopardise both their careers.

This is a legal thriller with a romance at the side. The focus of the book is the procedural intricacies of a murder case, including details of the grand jury process, jury picking and defence strategies. Ms. Taite puts in layman’s terms all these procedures and that are very informative and interesting. However, you might be disappointed if you are looking for romance as it is much in the background. Despite this, the main characters are multilayered and their chemistry is hot. There are also a couple of good secondary characters, such as Skye (from Taite’s book ‘The best defence’) and Carly’s nosey neighbour. The ‘baddies’ are a bit stereotypical and predictable but despite that, the book is entertaining and the plot twists and turns keep the reader turning the pages.

Overall, an enjoyable novel by Carsen Taite that will satisfy more legal thriller fans than romance ones. 4 stars.

ARC provided by Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.