Reviewed by Taylin
TITLE: Relevant Law
SERIES: The Fearless Heart #2
AUTHOR: Janice Jarrell
PUBLISHER: Self-Published
LENGTH: 276 Pages
RELEASE DATE: September 25, 2021
BLURB:
They’d been through it all and emerged victorious. Now they stood on the very brink of a whole new life bursting with possibilities and renewed hope for the future. Colin will take the bar exam and begin his promising career as an Assistant Commonwealth Attorney for the city of Charlottesville. Joshua receives his second Ph.D. and adds Forensic Psychologist to his list of achievements. What could possibly go wrong?
And then:
Three students are abducted from the University of Virginia campus. All three are recovered alive but have been sexually assaulted and brutally beaten. From his new position as Assistant Commonwealth Attorney, Colin partners with both campus and city police in a combined task force determined to solve these horrific crimes and put the perpetrator behind bars. But can they succeed before the ‘campus abductor’ strikes again?
The abusive and volatile husband of one of Joshua’s patients threatens his life. Suddenly Joshua is under siege as he is stalked both at work and at home by an unstable assailant.
Entangled in both these life-threatening situations, Colin struggles to protect both the university he loves and the man he adores. But…
“Oh god, Josh, my sweet love, if anything’s happened to you…” his voice trailed off, unable to voice the unthinkable.
“NO! Joshua’s mind shrieked. I can’t give up! I won’t give up! Colin will come! He’ll come!”
Warning: This novel discusses sensitive material which may be distressing to some readers. Relevant Law explores themes of abduction, physical violence, and non-graphic sexual assault.
REVIEW:
Once a qualified lawyer, Colin’s protective side comes into play when some seriously disturbed people threaten all he holds dear.
Relevant Law is the third book in the Fearless Heart series (There’s a 1, 1.5, and 2) and one that I was intensely conflicted over. In some ways, I experienced a portion of the emotional rollercoaster contained within the pages. There were many parts that I adored and others that I wanted to slap people silly over. Explanations will come later.
Since the first page of the series, it was evident that the author loved these characters so much that she gave Colin and Joshua a series of their own stemming from the Revolutionary Heart books. Her adoration for them is in every word of intense detail concerning all aspects of their lives and the sheer volume of “I love you’s.”
However, it is also this devotion to the boys that sometimes develops into a runaway train. The book is long, and I felt that some aspects were unnecessary to the story arc and could have been removed without detriment to the characters’ journey. E.g., I didn’t need to know how many questions, or types, were in the Virginia Bar exam to get that it was grueling. Also, some passages were much longer than required. I understand the realm of creative writing can be wordy, but when someone is told that they are ‘going to use some eye solution on their eyes’, I kinda thought – um yeah. So, technically speaking, I felt that the story could have benefitted from an extra edit to remove superfluous narration, making it a little shorter and punchier.
All that being said – after attending various conferences, I am aware that some readers yearn for stories whose intricate world-building is a feature. In which case, this book and anything by this author would be a five-star read.
As for the storylines themselves, some scenes were so touching I was in tears and others had my heart beating hard with anticipation. But I’m not going to give away plot details – suffice as to say – awesome. The love between Colin and Joshua is so deep that it could be classified as one of the greatest loves. There are plenty of mushy moments of appreciation. There is also an abundance of protectiveness, suspense, self-flagellation, borrowed angst, and blame, alongside a hefty dose of drama queen. Josh gets rebellious at Colin’s protectiveness while at the same time loves it.
Oh, a small shout out to Dr. Adam Casey – I loved his straight-talking, no-nonsense character.
Overall, I found Relevant Law to be a rollercoaster of emotional wrangling where no opportunity is missed to analyze or react to any situation. The nature of some of the drama had me glued to the page. In these instances, I want to mark it highly. But I was also conflicted over the technicalities, borrowed anguish, and expressive 180s, (the I’m going to argue with you even though I know you’re right) where I would have scored mediocre. I wish to applaud the author for her enthusiasm for her boys and storylines, but I feel the execution could have been better. My gut also tells me that there are many readers out there who will lap up every emotional variance of this work – it just didn’t tick all my personal reading preferences.
Unfortunately, review markings are not like Olympic skating events, with one for artistic impression and the other technical, so I’ll have to come to a combined score. In view of the possible wider audience appeal, I’ll plump for a mark of Four.
RATING: 
BUY LINK: