Exposing Justice is a part of a series but each part of the series is a standalone that focuses on members of the Justice Team. When the book begins, Brice/Hawk, the Hero in the story is not quite a member of the Justice Team but as the book progresses he gets sucked in. Just in case you're like me and you started the series here, from what I can glean, the Justice Team is a group of men who investigate high level conspiracies and crimes. The issues in which the Justice Team involves itself are those that our elected officials pass on because they tend to be a direct or indirect part of the wrongdoing. And now you're up to speed.
Hope is the female lead in this story. She works in the office of public information for the US Supreme Court and receives a call from Brice about what could be a conspiracy to murder the Chief Justice of the High Court. As the story progresses, Hope goes from trying to prevent Brice from running a story about the alleged conspiracy on his investigative blog to being wild attracted to Brice and his partner in hunting for the truth of what happened to the Justice.
I was intrigued by the set up for this story. The opening scene is gripping and pulls you right in. At the beginning it feels like this is going to be a high level conspiracy theory type of read. But as the book goes on, the story loses steam instead of gaining steam. The suspense drags a bit because there aren't enough revelations close enough in time. At some points it feels like the suspense side of things is just a throw in to provide context for the relationship between Hope and Brice....Which brings me to my next point.
I didn't feel the chemistry between Hope and Brice. I got that Brice wanted Hope because she was hot but I didn't get a sense of what drew him to her beyond that. In fact, Brice seemed totally cynical about Hope's entire optimistic outlook on life. Now maybe he was cynical and yet drawn to it because he needed some "hope" in his life (see what I did there?). I dunno if that's true or not, it wasn't clearly depicted in the story line.
And then there was Hope, I jusssst didn't like her. She is supposed to be smart but she does some stupid stuff. For example, the whole bridge investigation in the middle of the night. I was just staring at my Kindle going 'but why though?' And then I know this is petty but Hope's semi narcolepsy and consequent snoring was just not doing anything positive for me. Finally, Hope kept saying stuff that annoyed the sh!t out of me like "wowser." And she also referred to her attraction to Brice as her inner Hormona. Get it, like hormones...I HATED that. And that's all I have to say about that.
Also sex, there wasn't enough and it took too long to get there.
One side note: I didn't get why Toni Gerard was thrown into the investigation plot. I thought he stole some scenes that should have been just Hope and Brice.
So at the end of the day, this was a well written book that had a good premise and a strong beginning but didn't carry the day in terms of romance or suspense. I've read reviews that suggest the other books in this series are good and that this may not be the strongest representation of the series. I believe that. These authors are good enough that I would give them another chance.
**ARC provided by Authors**
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