Are women still being discriminated against in the workplace for having children? It’s a central question in this debut legal and domestic thriller, in which the protagonist struggles to find a workable balance between the demands of family and a career in the competitive world of the law.

Maeve Shaw, associate at a large Chicago law firm, steers clear of criminal cases because of her own traumatic childhood. But when a female counsellor is needed on the pro bono team representing a woman accused of murder, she has no choice but to agree. She’s already in trouble for lower billable hours after she took her second maternity leave.

Tammy Sanford stands accused of strangling Kyleigh, a child beauty pageant winner, now an addict after being subscribed opioids for a back injury. The crime takes place in the run-down apartment of her drug-dealer boyfriend Simon where she’s been living with her young son.

While Maeve puts in long hours on the case, she’s also on a personal mission. She suspects her husband Patrick may be having an affair, and is set on discovering the truth and sparing her boys the insecurity she suffered as a child, whether she can save her marriage or not.

Maeve is central to this character-driven story in which personal relationships are as pivotal as justice for her clients. While I felt she came across as rather weak and self-pitying in the first half of the book, this is explained through her back story, and ultimately she digs deep and finds the courage to fight for her family and for her right as a mother to a successful career.

The case is very interesting. Did Tammy kill her own daughter? Why didn’t the police look more closely into the Simon’s alibi? Was Kyleigh in fact murdered at all? These are the questions that I suspect will keep you reading late into the night.

Thank you to Bowker and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Maeve has it all: a high-paying job at one of Chicago’s top law firms, a handsome husband, and two adorable kids. Except she doesn’t: her boss is not happy, her husband may be cheating on her, and the kids are clearly picking up on her stress levels. It’s a story about the problems of a contemporary woman. Like many contemporary US women, she is faced with impossible choices that result from outdated and unreasonable workplace expectations.

Why I recommend this book: Maeve’s story is very relatable. Her character remains sweet and likable, and manages to stay true to herself, even when her life completely falls apart.
The book has two main plotlines: a murder mystery case that Maeve is assigned to, Maeve and her husband marital problems. Both kept my interest and had clever and unexpected twists and resolutions. What I really loved was that all plot twists felt natural and made sense. In many books in the suspense/mystery genre, the twists are often too unrealistic and leave gaping holes.

The writing is clear and engaging. The backdrop of Chicago and local details add a fun touch, although the scene at the Aviary is completely inauthentic for anyone familiar with the place.

Critiques [possible spoilers]: If I were to pick one thing to critique it would be that there just did not seem to be enough room for this many plotlines in a single book. In addition to the main two plotlines that happen in the present, there is also a shorter one of Maeve’s childhood in a troubled household. I felt like each storyline needed at least 100 more pages to fully develop. I understand how they the work and the personal life stories were both necessary to highlight the work—life balance tensions, but the childhood story did not seem necessary at all. As a result, all three plotlines felt somewhat inauthentic. The character was somehow able to switch on and off so easily between her personal and professional life. The only way the two affected each other was in terms of competing for time—for example, the character frequently had to leave work early to pick up her kids. Beyond that though, she did not let her personal drama spill into her work performance in any way. She was able to stay completely detached and professional, and excel at her job, even when her marriage was clearly handing by a thread. Also, no real human can function on as little sleep as Maeve got. And no one’s friends are as understanding. Maeve repeatedly shows up at her friend’s place in the middle of the night.

The same with the ending. Nobody is as reasonable and as forgiving. It just felt like the author ran out of space.

Maeve Shaw has the perfect life ...or so people think. She's an attorney,married to a senior manager at a consulting firm, and they have two young boys. Things are slowly falling apart. She's trying to make partner, and working a lot of hours. She's not spending much time at home with the boys.

She's tapped to participate in the defense of a woman accused of murdering her adult daughter .. pro bono. With her background, she really doesn't want to do this as it stirs up long buried memories of her dysfunctional family .. a past that she has not shared with her husband.

And speaking of husbands ... Maeve is finding that her marriage may not be what it seems.

It's a balancing act trying to please everyone ... and it's not working. Eventually something has to give.

This is a page-turning legal thriller featuring a female attorney determined to keep her life on track and failing miserably. The personal and professional lives are at odds with each other. It's steady paced from the very beginning to the surprising conclusion.

Many thanks to the author / Bowker / Netgalley for the digital copy of this legal thriller. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

This was my first time reading this author but I will be looking for more. This book was so good, it was hard to put it down. It centers around a female attorney who is married with 2 children. Her employment has been threatened and to add to her woes, she has been pulled into a pro bono murder case , which will have her working with a male friend she shares with her best friend. Little does she know, the male friend brings more upheaval to her life. How? Read it and find out. I really recommend this book. Thanks to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for the arc of this book in return for my honest review. Receiving the book in this manner had no bearing on this review.