Courting Trouble by Kathy Lette

"Tilly has the day from hell when she's sacked from her barristers' chambers in the morning, then finds her husband in bed with her former best friend in the afternoon. She escapes to her mother, Roxy - a sassy solicitor whose outrageous take on men, work and family life is the despair of her more conventional daughter. Roxy comes up with a radical plan for their future - they'll set up an all-female law firm which will only champion women who have been cheated, put upon, attacked, ripped off or ruined by the men in their lives.

In court, Tilly finds herself up against Jack Cassidy, the smooth-talking, politically incorrect, legal love god who broke her heart at law school. Jack is fluent in three languages – English, sarcasm and flirtation… but if he's so loathsome, then why is she committing Acute Lust in the 3rd degree?

When a case lands on the doorstep that threatens to change all their lives, Tilly finds herself dangerously close to taking the law into her own hands… Will Jack's cunning ways and expertise in emotional break and enter derail her quest for justice? Or will the women take on the boys… and win?"

I am sorry to say that I couldn't finish this book.  When I first read the synopsis, I thought I would absolutely adore it; I am a lawyer and I love chick lit so this seemed like my perfect book, and even knowing what I know now I still think this every time I re-read the synopsis.  I am left wondering what went wrong?

I just could not engage with the main character, Tilly, or any of the other characters.  In fact, I found the personality of Tilly absolutely enfuriating and the way the book is written just didn't work for me.  It felt like every line was trying too hard to be funny or sarcastic, or both, and I found it really hard work to read.  I certainly don't know any barrister like her and I didn't find the mother-daughter relationship funny either.  I very very rarely give up reading a book, in fact I think the only other book I have ever had to stop reading was The Slap, but I just could not bear to continue reading which makes me sad.

I took to Amazon to read the reviews, twitter and the book blogger world to see if I was missing something, and to see whether perhaps it was worth continuing.  There was a mixture of reviews so I read a few more pages, but then gave up after 50 or so pages.  

I cannot comment on the rape aspect of the storyline, and whether it works with the humour side of the book, as quite honestly, I gave up just as it got to that point.  The few paragraphs I did read didn't fill me with hope that this would change my feelings on the book.

All in all, sorry to say this is only the second book I have ever had to stop reading, so this review comes with the caveat that I have not read the entire book!