I have to tell a sort of funny story but when I skimmed the summary, I really skimmed. I thought this was a true, nonfictional story about a rape sruvivor, Tessa, her lawyer, Will and his comfort dog, Hope as they fight to put her rapist in jail. While falling in love by the way. Which writing it out now, sounds fictional but that’s why I thought it was a memoir. It was so romantic and heartwarming, it’s just the thing that people release memoirs about.

Anyway, I didn’t realize it was fictional until the end of the book when I got to the book discussion questions. I mean I thought it was an odd choice to have the book be in third person, but hey, it was their memoir. I was wrong.

As it is, it’s a good realistic fiction novel. It actually reminded me of Law and Order: SVU beginning when Tessa meets the charming (sociopathic) Nick Payne online and goes on a date with him. Two glasses of wine later, she wakes up in bed, sore and naked with a bad case of amnesia. While he is smarmy smirking at her about their “great” time last night, she gets up and confusedly leaves. Did they do it? Why can’t she remember. . .

But her best friend quickly clears up her denial. Nick Payne may be charming and respectable but he drugged and raped her. So she files charges.
Will is the quintessential good guy lawyer, even training and adopting a comfort dog, Hope, that comforts victims as they face assailiants in courts. He’s immediately intrigued by Tessa’s case and they get to work.

The novel does a good job in portraying the confusion, denial, anger, trauma that comes from experiencing such a horrendous crime, and the pervasive shaming and trial that follows when the top pick for Town Council is accused of being a rapist. Tessa joins a support group whose chats, and diverse experiences help her and each other with processing what they’ve been through and healing. I also enjoy the realism in how the trial seems to stacked against her and even though justice is served, it is not to the full extent it could have been.

Will was nice, shining as a good decent man for the novel. In fact, he was so good, I was suspicious about the lack of flaws but its wish fufillment. Though I feel like the romance could have taken out entirely. It was one-sided on Will’s part though he rues the inappropriateness as she’s his client, though Tessa apparently returns them three years later. Tessa’s POV was far more interesting and concerned with recovering form what happened and recieving justice and normalcy.

I was a bit disappointed by the lack of Hope. She was there, and she was adorable, but she wasn’t as vital as the book summary and the cover implies.

A nice realistic fiction for the summer.