Benched by Blythe RipponMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
*I received this book from the publisher in return for a fair review.*
The book I read last year, and was published three years ago, Barring Complications, has a squeal - that sequel being this book here. It was one of those books that I felt might be suited for a sequel, but that one could never happen. And yet, here we are - sequel.
Why did I think a sequel could never happen? Because the author had written themselves into something of a trap - published roughly 7 to 8 months before the real life USA Supreme Court came to its own conclusions about a specific legal matter. The same legal matter, marriage equality (to be simplistic) one 'determined' by the fictional USA Supreme Court in 'Barring Complications' - but the court in the book and in real life came to different conclusions. The one in the book (view spoiler). Why would this result put the author into an awkward position? Because any sequel would have to 'get around' the fact that the decisions reached were different - and that the book was now in some kind of alternative universe.
So, what did the author do? Well, simple and unspoilery - the author had a separate Supreme Court case occur in between the prior book and this book that brought the book world and the real world back into alignment legally. And so, out of that 'trap'. And so a sequel can and did occur.
So, what is this specific book about? There were several cases of importance, two of which play prominent roles in this book (the others are there but background). Both, oddly enough, cases in which Genevieve Fornier played a leading role. One case is an older one that has now reached the USA Supreme Court, and the other one still at the district court level. But, and to pull back to what this paragraph is supposed to be about, the book is also about two strong women attempting to be a couple in a relatively public setting and in which their careers can and do ‘rub against’ each other in potentially ethically problematic ways. Plus, Victoria is still kind of stiff, and Genevieve feels kind of stifled.
The district court case involves a young prisoner in a Michigan prison who is transgender. And Genevieve and her organization, HER, is fighting the good fight as plaintiffs against the state – fighting for the state to pay for the transition surgery. Meanwhile the USA Supreme Court case involves family; specifically . . .. I do not have a simple way to word it. Though a simple phrase was used in the book. Mmphs. Can’t recall what that phrase was now. Right, so – the supreme court case involved the rights of parents to be parents of their own children, specifically when the parents are of the same gender; the issue in the case involved a couple from California who moved to Louisiana – and lost one court cases and won the other (lost the court case in California to have the non-biological mother be added as the ‘second parent’ of the children because, forgot exact wording now, but ‘redundant’ since they are already married; while the other case was won in Louisiana (Louisiana was not recognizing California’s birth certificates (which list both mothers), and was not recognizing the non-biological mother as a parent of the children). Even though they won in Louisiana it is still an issue - because the case kept getting appealed and now finds itself appealed up to the USA Supreme Court.
Right, so that’s mostly what’s going on legally in this book. Transgender issues and parental rights for LGBT couples. On the personal front, and yes a huge amount of time is spent in that realm – as mentioned two women struggle in this book to accept being a couple together in the public eye. One a Supreme Court justice, the other a lawyer who has and potentially will again in the future argue court cases in front of said justice (and the complications that might ensue because of that).
Well, as said, one of the two court cases has reached the Supreme Court, and both involved Genevieve as the lead attorney, so the professional and legal worlds collided into each other in this book. Bad things resulted.
This was a rather interesting book that was quite entertaining and mostly a pleasure to read. Though I had certain ‘issues’ with both of the lead women (and yes, I should have mentioned that – two point of views, one for Genevieve, one for Supreme Court Justice Victoria Willoughby). As in, at times I didn’t like either of their actions or reactions.
Crap. I just looked at the book description. I haven’t really written anything that wasn’t already there. Um, oops. Oh, right, that was the simple phrase I could have used earlier – ‘same-sex parental rights’.
Into this mix comes a gorgeous, of course, woman who is the new head of one of the three organizations in which HER both competes with and cooperates with in LGBTQIA matters. Penelope. Former professor, US Diplomat to France, lawyer, LGBT rights lawyer. And I mention her because one of the two lead women in this book end up lusting after her, and so something of a limited love triangle develops. Developed right around the same time I was thinking, while reading the book, that I didn’t really like Victoria and Genevieve as a couple.
Truth be told, there’s a solid argument that could be made that corresponds to what one of the two lead woman think or said at some point in the book – they both loved the idea of them as a couple more than loved the other (to which the other came back with a solid argument refuting that idea). I mention, though, because there really did seem to be a lot more chemistry between Penelope and Genevieve than anything Genevieve and Victoria ever shared (which seemed to be more of a strained love-hate relationship built on betrayal (which isn’t exactly a spoiler, since I’m referring to something that happened way before even the first book in this series occurred, when one dumped the other in law school because they didn’t want to admit, to the public, that they were a lesbian because of the idea that’d have negative ramifications possible future work)).
Long and short, despite anything I do or do not say here, this was an enjoyable read. Sometimes relying more heavily on legal issues, sometimes political, sometimes relationship to push the book along. Rarely do both the professional and the personal dynamics work in concert to advance the course of the book, though.
Oh, something I should maybe have started off my review with (I can move it there now, but, meh) - can I read this book as a stand-alone? - hmm, possibly? I would not recommend it though. Same lead couple in both books. With this book’s action starting roughly a year or 2 after the end of the last book. Things of importance were strongly touched on in this book that are explained/mentioned in the prior book, but not deeply elaborated upon in this book.
I would recommend this series, starting with ‘Barring Complications’.
Rating: 4.25
April 11 2017
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