Nick O'Reilly works for a high-powered Wall Street law firm and is very good at his job. He might have to defend crooks and liars but that's given him a Central Park apartment and the financial security that his parents never had. The only thing missing is a personal life. When his law firm gets some bad press, they elect him to do some pro bono work to rehabilitate their image. In representing Dawn Nelson, a victim of domestic violence fighting for sole custody of her young son, Nick gets a different view of life from the one he's been living and he starts to reevaluate what he wants in his own life and future. But the course of life does not always go smoothly.
The novel is told in the first person by Nick, making it rather odd when he describes his own expressions and actions: "I offered not a word, but a close-mouthed smile" and "I sighed heavily with agitation..." The writing is distractingly and overly descriptive and the language choices are often off, such as when describing a beautiful bride as having a "florid complexion." The story line is fine, a little predictable, but fine. All of the conflicts in the story are pretty easily dispensed with and the nuance of real life is missing. Cohen saves his elaboration for the set dressing (rooms, character descriptions, etc.) instead of for the pieces that move the plot forward, a technique better suited to movie or tv writing than in a novel. This, and the odd language, coupled with insta-love and what felt like an unearned, emotionally manipulative ending meant this book did not really work for me.
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