Note: I won a free eBook copy of this book in PDF format from LibraryThing's Member Giveaway.

I began this book expecting a romance (boss-and-intern trope) with some civil law subplot. If one considers a bird's-eye view of the novel's plot, then one could argue that I received what I anticipated. However, the balance between these themes tipped towards both sides of the scale from chapter to chapter, sometimes stalling for several chapters before returning to the romance or the legal drama, whatever the case may be. The romance takes until the book is about two-thirds done to really kick in. That said, our protagonist, Ali Barrett, is "ardent" in multiple respects: She is dedicated to her internship at the law firm and has aspirations for a successful legal career, and she is a passionate inamorata. Her boss and lover, Hugh Sutherland, is not a bona fide scoundrel but is just nonchalant enough when the pair are outside the bedroom to keep Ali in constant doubt about his feelings for her. The assault case at the beginning of the novel, combined with a few other plot strands involving secondary characters, turn out to be MacGuffins; the result is a lot of background noise against the main plot (Ali's progression through her internship and affair) that weakens the novel's cohesion. ( )

I liked how the characters were well-rounded out and had depth and emotion to them. We get to really meet the characters in the book and that's really nice. This went a little too deep into the world of law and spent a lot more time in the details then it really needed to. The love story was very slow and a little confusing at first. I found that the timeline was not very linear, and it was difficult to follow the story at times.
I found that the book lacked some necessary punctuation, as well as some quotations. ( )