the verdict is in: unputdownable

Sydney Parks has been trying hard to get on a jury. But it’s not just any jury. It’s the jury for the Margot Kitsch trial. Margot is one of the original Authentic Moms of Malibu, and Sydney is a huge fan. This is her reality show go-to, and she needs to get on this jury to make sure Margot isn’t convicted of killing her husband. She made it through several rounds of voir dire and has made it through. And then she gets the call to pack a suitcase because she is being called to serve on a jury that will be sequestered.

Sydney is so excited to show up at the courtroom, ready to turn over her phone and laptop and make the trial her whole life for the foreseeable future. And that’s when she runs into Damon.

Damon has been a childhood friend and then her first love, until a family secret ruined everything between them. She hadn’t seen him in ten years. And now here he is, and those years melt away.

But Sydney isn’t here for the romance. She’s here for the trial. It’s up to her to make sure Margot doesn’t get railroaded by the so-called justice system. She has to stay focused. Even when Damon writes notes and slides them under her hotel room door. Even when his closeness gives her goosebumps. Even when the witnesses explain how a divorce meant that Margot would lose most of her money and the business she worked so hard to build. Or when they offered up a possible murder weapon.

Even when the stress of the trial mixed with the loneliness of being sequestered means that she sneaks up to the roof with Damon and they make out.

But as more of the secrets come out, Sydney is torn. In the courtroom, the prosecution makes a strong case, one that makes Sydney question her belief in Margot’s innocence. Outside the courtroom, the secrets that she and Damon are sharing about what happened to them in the years they were apart is affecting her too. And at the end of the day, Sydney will have to judge who she wants to be and what she wants to stand for.

Courtroom Drama is a fun mix of reality television, a courtroom drama, and romance. It blends a satire of popular reality shows with a second-chance romance, with lots of secrets and humor mixed in along the way. Each chapter starts with a definition of a legal term, and then goes to twist the meaning a little, adding foreshadowing for each chapter as the story unfolds.

I enjoyed Courtroom Drama. I loved the reality television angle and thought that brought a lot of funny moments to a serious trial. The romance is very sweet and healing, their relationship hiding childhood trauma that both Sydney and Damon carried. As they talked, falling some into old inside jokes, their bond felt genuine and strong, like it was inevitable that they would find each other again, which I loved. I thought Courtroom Drama was something special, and I’m so glad I got called to serve on this jury.

Egalleys for Courtroom Drama were provided by Harper Perennial through NetGalley, with many thanks, but the opinions are mine.