Contemporary Romance
SEDUCING THE DEFENDANT
Chantal Fernando
Hot
3 Stars

Book two in Chantal Fernando’s sexy Conflict of Interest legal series ups the ante with murder, lies and vigilante justice when the firm's co-founder finds himself falling for his client. Engaging narrative, interesting characters, and a steamy chemistry driven romance holds your attention and keeps the story moving at a steady pace. Fans of Fernando’s best selling Wind Dragon series will love the crossover and the inclusion of a popular couple though some may find the main conflict resolves far too soon, leaving readers with a hodgepodge of random plotlines to wade through on their way to the end.

SUMMARY: Jaxon Bentley, a skilled criminal defense attorney, and workaholic, is shocked by his attraction to his latest client, Scarlett Reyes. Scarlett is accused of murdering her husband, a police officer, in cold blood. While she admits her marriage was unhappy, this beautiful socialite firmly maintains she did not kill her husband. Jaxon’s investigation surrounding her husband’s death turns up some interesting facts. The most important being his connection to the Wind Dragons, a well known and dangerous motorcycle club. As Jaxon prepares to fight for Scarlett in and out of the courtroom, he can’t help but wonder what being a part of her life will cost him. (GALLEY BOOKS, NOV., 320 PGS., $16.00)

Tori Benson
November 14, 2017
978-1501172366

Great story. I'm not usually one for a mystery, crime type book, but this one pulled me in and I couldn't put it down!

I enjoyed this story so much!!!

OMG I balled in this one. There was so much to feel, so much to love. I could not put this down from the minute I started to the end.

Jaxon is strong and sexy and intelligent and Scarlett is slightly damaged yet grows so much over the course of the story I loved watching her strength grow.

The attraction is both believable and super fueled. I absolutely loved their connection.

The sexy scenes are off the chart with the spicy deliciousness chemistry between Jaxon and Scarlett.

Did anyone else squeal when they read Faye's name yeah well I did!!!
I love love loved that the Wind Dragons cameoed, they didn't take over the story though they blended well with all characters having an important purpose.

The action packed scenes just blow me away I'm there I'm the moment and BAM!!!! Heart ripped out and the tears just falling.

All up an incredible addition to the Conflict of Interest series and I cannot wait to continue on with the rest of the oh so lovable characters. Its Chaos and Love and Heartache and Brilliant writing all rolled into one.

So when I read the synopsis of the book I really hoped for one good story- But I was yet again disappointed. The style of writing was good but I hoped more will something more of this story. It wasn't the trial of Scarlet ends very quickly and we read the half of the book how great is a relationship with Jaxon and Scarlett and we see their lovemaking of every possible surface. The author can just relay on the sex scenes and expected that all of the sudden I will love the book. The plot is the one that matters and story. It isn't happening a lot in the book and from time to time is really boring. Both Jaxon and Scarlet are just ok, I didn't fell in love with them there is missing something. Scarlet is at first cold, calculated but you see she later she has a big heart but I can see her as a former victim of abuse because she has almost none existing triggers or she overcome them very fast. Jaxon seems workaholic, good layer but I can say that he has that something special that made me like him. I hope that the author will improve her writing because I enjoyed her previous series WDMC and that the next book that I read from her will blow me away.
I volunteered to review an ARC of this book for Netgelly

A sexy, fun, suspenseful book with twists and turns to keep you guessing! Told in dual POV, there was intense chemistry between Jaxon and Scarlett that kept me glued to this book.

Overall a well written story, I can't wait for more of this series, especially Hunter's story in book 4!

Seducing the Defendant (Conflict of Interest #2)
by Chantal Fernando


I loved the first one in this new series by Chantal. I just couldn’t love this one as much. Maybe because it is linked to the Wind Dragon MC Series, for me I haven’t finished them yet. The two relate to each other, however I as always love her way of writing stories and making you apart of their world, and love that she can connect everything together. But I think for me because I haven’t finished the MC ones I didn’t connect as well with this one. It’s still a fine read, not my favourite but I can’t wait for the next one in the series.

Jackson Bentley is one fine specimen!!! It is a hot romance, that gives us mystery and suspense and so much heat!

Overall it’s a solid 3.5-4 stars.

Jackson Bentley is willing to bend his "never date the client" rules for Scarlett Reyes because what they have is real and undeniable, but that doesn't mean it'll be easy. Scarlett has been accused of murdering her husband in a twisting story that satisfyingly ties in with Chantal Fernando's Wind Dragon MC series. Jackson is the criminal attorney who takes her case and unwittingly falls in love.

This is an intense romance that includes a touch of mystery and danger that you've become accustomed to from Fernando's books. I liked seeing some of our favorite characters from past books come back in emotionally satisfying ways. Plus, it was a sexy read.

However, some of it just didn't work for me. Maybe I was in a bad mood, but they way the described food and the type of food they were eating added nothing to the story but happened repeatedly. That's a small complaint in the grand scheme of things, but it stuck out to me.

A fine read, not my favorite of Chantal Fernando's books, but I'll certainly be back for the rest of the series.

The second book in the Conflict of Interest series.
We met Jaxson in Breaching the Contract but now he is back with a cracker of a case. Scarlett Reyes is charged with her husbands murder and she claims she is innocent.
There is just 1 issue. Jaxson is very attracted to her. Work ethic may fly out the window!
This was a great addition to the series, well written, strong and loveable characters and of course, The Wind Dragons feature in this book and I shrieked with joy.
I so did not expect that twist at the end. I wanted to cry! I admit I called the author some names but I will forgive all if she writes Hunter next!

I really enjoyed the storyline in this book. It was intense but fun, sexy but reserved, and really well written. The characters were relatable and interesting making me read as quickly as possible so I could find out what would happen next. I loved how we got a little more of the characters we've already grown to love, Kat and Tristan. It left me hungry for more Hunter and Yvonne. This book was written in this great way that has you fully invested in the main characters but, also eager to learn more about the supporting characters too.

This was an all around good read that left me wanting more from everyone in this story.

I've loved all the books I've read by this author so it was no surprise that I thoroughly enjoyed this book! First I wasn't expecting so much of a cross over with her Wind Dragons series, but boy was it nice to have those hot guys thrown into this mix! OMG Demon...my heart broke for him.

HOLY HOTNESS!! This book is seriously steaming HOT!!!

"She's defending herself to me, instead of giving me what I need so I can defend her. There's a difference."
 
OH EM GEE! 
This book you guys was amazing. It's been a while since I had read some smut and this was no disappointment. haha. I totally gave this book an easy 5 stars on GoodReads. At first I was only going to give it 4, but when my favorite Wind Dragon MC made his appearance I was set and gave it the full 5! I love how this series connected with another one of hers. 
So this book is centered around Jaxon (who we briefly met in Breaching The Contract) who is a criminal lawyer, a sexy one at that. He takes on Scarlett Ryes as a client who is being charged for murder of her husband, a very well known and protected police officer. Things are not looking for Scarlett and Jaxon makes it his mission to do everything in his power to prove her innocence.  
"I'm putting my faith-my life- in the hands of a man I just met, in a lawyer."
Jaxon knows there is more to Scarlett than she lets on. He knows she is hiding from something, hiding from her past, and it may just be the proof he needs to prove her innocent. When the past is finally discovered there is still not enough had evidence to drop Scarlett's charges, but when he discovers that the Wind Dragons have been involved he realizes this case is a lot deeper and more difficult than he expected. 
Being the chivalrous man he is, Jaxon does what he can to make sure that Scarlett feels safe and protected. He has feelings for her. She is his client...she should be nothing more.
"Sure there's no rule against us being friends, but anything more is a conflict of interest. We shouldn't even be friends." 
 
 
 Jaxon has won Scarlett's case, but that doesn't mean her past or troubles are behind her just yet....
 
Seducing The Defendant was funny, charming, tense, and sexy. Everything you could have asked for in a contemporary romance! Chantal Fernando really outdid herself with this book. It was great to see the Wind Dragons live on too. I can't wait for the next installment! You truly grow a bond with these characters and keep wanting more!
 
Seducing The Defendant releases November 14, 2017! 
 
"We need more beauty in the world like hers, but unfortunately most people damage it instead. Ruin  it."
Until Next time friends!
DauntlessReading

Angels and Demons...

I'm a big fan of Chantal Fernando and her MC Romance books. When I read in the synopsis that the Wind Dragons MC were involved in this story I was very excited to read it. After reading the first book in the Conflict of Interest series, I had had already met and liked Jaxon. I was expecting a little office romance with a sexy-in-a-suit lawyer. I was totally not expecting what I got, which was so much more.

Yes, there was a bit of conflict of interest involved when Jaxon found himself attracted to his client, Scarlett. She wanted to hire him to represent her in a murder case where she's been accused of killing her husband who was a police officer. On paper the evidence against her is pretty incriminating, but when he meets her face-to-face she convinces him of her innocence. She's a beautiful broken woman who touches his heartstrings, making it hard for him to refuse her. And he doesn't want to refuse her anything...

Scarlett is fighting for her life. She needs the best attorney her money can get her. After doing her research, she ends up in Jaxon Bentley's office. When he asks her if she would be willing to accept a plea bargain, she refuses. She swears she's innocent and wants him to save her. The last thing she expects is to be attracted to her attorney. But damn, he looks like a GQ model. She needs to be worried about her future, she doesn't look good in stripes.

As Jaxon digs deeper into her husbands past he finds more trouble than he anticipated. When he discovers ties to the Wind Dragons MC he's warned off, told to leave it alone. But he can't. Not when Scarlett is depending on him. Not when failing means she might end up behind bars. Not when she finally lets him in, sharing her secrets and her desire for him. He's got his hands full, and seducing the defendant is forbidden. Will he play by the rules, or will he play dirty?

Damn! This book was amazing and shocking. Full of passion and suspense. I was totally invested and on the edge of my seat as surprising events occurred and new players got involved. As more characters were introduced I got even more attached to the circle of friends and I'm really looking forward to what comes next. The line forms here...

Overall I found "Seducing the Defendant" to be a well-rounded romance.

I was immediately drawn to “Seducing the Defendant” by Chantal Fernando because of the storyline. I love the idea of a stuff and top-of-his-game attorney taking on a defendant charged with killing her husband. The evidence was pretty strong against the heroine, Scarlett Reyes. I personally love courtroom romances so I immediately jumped into the story when it became available and I was interested to read Chantal Fernando, whom I have never read before.
When the story begins, our hero, Jaxon Bentley is a grieving man. He lost his sister and he is very much into his grief. Even though he is on leave he is pulled back into his job when he hears of Scarlett Reyes, a very wealthy woman who is accused of killing her husband. Jaxon has earned a reputation as a hardworking defense attorney and one of the best. He runs a small firm with one of his good friends. Scarlett was a battered woman. She was charmed by her now dead husband and really thought he was a good guy. By all accounts he was not only a crooked cop but also involved with a motorcycle gang and heavily involved in selling and using drugs. He was also emotionally abusive to Scarlett and ended up controlling all aspects of her life until Scarlett was free of him. Scarlett trying to free herself from her husband’s abusive control fled to France to take care of her sick aunt.
When Jaxon meets Scarlett she is defensive, scared and closed off. Because he recently lost his sister Scarlett’s hurt and pain is endearing to him. Because Jaxon quickly realizes that Scarlett has suffered at the hands of her husband and is caught up in the media storm, he is kind, compassionate, caring and sweet. Everything that Scarlett needs and has craved for so long. Because of their client and attorney relationship they fight their attraction for each other and try to maintain everything strictly professional, even though, both really need a friend.
So as I mentioned before I really wanted to like this story because of the plot. A few things fell flat for me. First, I did not think that there was much chemistry between Jaxon and Scarlett. Most of their conversation felt forced and even their slowly forming friendship felt very stiff. Yes, they were attracted to each other but I knew this because the author told me not because of the chemistry between them. Also, some parts of the story were so over the top I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes a few time. This is one of those stories where if it were a novella I would have enjoyed more. Finishing the story was sheer determination and effort because most of the story felt long and drawn out. I’ve seen some great reviews online, so some readers really enjoyed the story. For me, I expected more.

I like the cross with the Wind Dragons world. This felt different, but I enjoyed it on the whole!

Jaxon is an excellent defense attorney with a great track record for winning. Scarlett needs the best and luckily has the money to pay him. She's been accused of killing her husband but Jaxon can tell that there's more to her story. The chemistry between them is undeniable but Jaxon is determined not to act on it since Scarlett is his client. But when the case is over all bets are off. Red hot romantic suspense

Fantastic storyline but....the writing was choppy. It pains me to say that, as I've always been a fan of Aussie authors. I still enjoyed the story just not the style of writing. Never read a book by Chantal before but I've heard mixed reviews. Perhaps she needs a new editor. I'm not quite sure what the problem was but the grammar and functionality of it jus didn't work for me.
However I loved he characters and brilliant plot.
I'd give Chantal another go.

I received an ARC copy of this book in exchange of an honest review.
Let me start with that I didn’t read the first book in the series, not just because it didn’t really interest me but because when I received this one the first book wasn’t even published yet. However I don’t think that you need to read the first book to understand this one, since the main characters are not the same. Yes the characters from ……. appear here to but they don’t have such an important role that not knowing their story would be bothersome.
You can see from my rating that I didn’t enjoy the story as much as I hoped. Why I requested this book then? First a foremost because of the author. I absolutely love Chantal Fernando books especially the earlier ones. They are just so clean, endearing and quick reads this one not so much but I’m going to get back to this later. The other reason why I wanted to read Seducing the defendant was the synopsis, it sounded really interesting and I felt the need to get my hands on it.
Unfortunately, even my level of enthusiasm couldn’t make me love this book. It was quite a dragging and tiresome read for me but not because of the writing style; it’s really great still, more because of how the plot is build up.
I hate writing negative reviews because I always feel like it’s disrespectful towards the authors and their hard work. Still when I feel like the story isn’t the best I won’t lie about it. In this case, however, most of my problems with the story stemmed from preferential reasons.
The biggest problem for me was the way the storyline is structured. It starts out in a quite clinical and cold way, not really introducing the characters but rather concentrating on the murder case. It wouldn’t be a problem generally because I love a great mystery but I didn’t feel like the detailed investigation part is the lawyer job especial on the level Jaxon got himself into it. Also in all honesty the first 20%, when the case was still active, for me felt like part of a pad soap opera. Sorry but that’s my opinion.
After this quick phase of mystery came the fuck fest, pardon my language but I call it as I see it. I know that this is a romance book so I expected a level of sexual content and maybe there are people who like their romance just like this but me personally like if there is story to it as well. But there was nothing else to the rest of the plot but from one position to the next, there is barely any conversation between the characters which would help build a functional relationship, at least not on the pages, I didn’t really see much of a character development either and other than their bedroom antics there isn’t too much different scenes. So yes I was a bit disappointed and even pretty bored by this book. There were only a couple of events that I could say were exciting and even surprising but not nearly enough to right the balance of the rest of the story.
As for the characters, as I mentioned earlier they are not introduce to deeply. Scarlett at first comes off as an unapproachable, cold and a bit spoiled rich girl, especially until we see some with her eyes too. After that she is still secretive because she doesn’t want to be seen as the victim. However later as we see a little bit more into her life she turns into a shy, insecure, slightly virginal and introvert personality.
Then there is Jaxon, who is in a funk in the beginning of the story. But this feeling of loss is the first thing that attracts him to Scarlett. He gets really invested in this girl and as time goes on he falls in love. He is gruff, persistent and willing to anything to save his clients if he believes in them. He is also kind, patient and understanding. Really my only problem was that I didn’t see their relationship develop so I couldn’t connect with them.
There is a great group of supportive characters that surrounds them and what I loved more than anything is that we get to meet and see the characters from the author other series too. I love the so much.
I had a hard time getting into and connecting to the story so I couldn’t enjoy it fully, that said it doesn’t mean that my preferences regarding how the romance/action balance should be in a book is true for others too. I see the potential in the book but I can’t give it a higher rating.

A few days after the download, and I can't remember if I finished this book. Eeek. That doesn't bode well. I found the pace to be 'off'... there was big drama at the start of the story, and then there was a huge lull in the middle where they courted that lacked oomph because it wasn't coupled with action/adventure/mystery or any sort of forward motion. That was weird for me, and hard to get into. Maybe it picked up after that and I gave up too soon? Maybe it didn't, and that's why its forgettable? Sorry. I'm a big fan of Ms Fernando's WDMC, so it can't be her;' it's probably me.

A copy of this book was provided via Net Galley for an honest review.
Seducing the Defendant (Conflict of Interest #2)
Author Chantal Fernando
4.5 Stars
Let me start by saving that I enjoyed the author’s Wing Dragon MC series and book in Breaching the Contract in this series. So when the author was able to bring both of these series together in this book it was a pleasant surprise; adding a glimpse into her Wing Dragon MC Series.
Jaxon Bentley is the must have criminal attorney. He has pour his life into making his firm one of the best in town. But Jaxon personal life has not been easy. He had guilt over a loss that he had no control over however he seems to blame himself. The unknowns have been eating slowly at him. When a high profile murder case contracts him to represent her, he will do what he does best; win the case.
Scarlett Reyes has been accuse of murdering her cop husband. But she claims to be innocent. She will have to tell Jaxon all her secrets so that he can do his job to clear her name and keep her out a prison. But Scarlett has issues. Trusting any man is one of them. It will take time and Jaxon slowly breaking down her walls to get to the truth.
Jaxon knows he has to keep things professional. He knows to never cross that line. But something about Scarlett calls to him. She seems to make him a better person just from a simple smile here and a soft laugh here. Scarlett is no better. She starts to crave Jaxon. But that is now what she needs right now. She needs to clear her name. Not lust after her attorney.
Can Jaxon and Scarlett keep things professional while she’s his client. Or will the lines of attorney client blur?