Review: Courtroom Drama: A Novel

Courtroom Drama: A Novel by Neely Tubati Alexander
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review 

After all the times I’ve fantasized about running into him again— an actual run-in on the street or a glance over in a restaurant to see him seated at a table beside me where I could lay into him about how shitty he was— I never pictured it being with a group of strangers under the jury equivalent of a gag order, where I can’t immediately say any of the things I’ve wanted to over the years. 

Sydney's got the dreaded call for jury duty but she's excited, because one of the Housewives from her favorite reality tv show is on trial. Convinced she knows the housewife enough from the show, Sydney can't wait to help make sure other jurors see the truth. When Sydney sees who else is on the jury, her childhood bestfriend she hasn't seen in ten years, she's suddenly not only contending with making sure an innocent woman goes free but trying to not fall back in love. 

We were six years in as best friends, yet also on the delicate cusp of something more. 

Courtroom Drama spent most of the time focusing on the murder trial, with Sydney thinking about scenes from tv episodes that influenced how she saw the housewife on trial for the murder of her husband. The times portraying Sydney sitting in the jury with the courtroom scenes were numerous with shorter interruptions of Sydney and Damon having interactions outside the courtroom in the hotel they were sequestered at. To enjoy this, you'll have to go along with Sydney feeling it's highly important that she's on the jury but doing a whole bunch of stuff that could get her kicked off or getting a mistrial called. I didn't fully buy into her actions after we got her thoughts and the lack of, what I felt, was romance development between the two, overall hurt my enjoyment of this. There were a few thought about and talked about with Damon, flashbacks to when the two were kids to show us some of their friendship and how as eventual teenagers they started to feel romantic towards each other, but because they don't get to and aren't supposed to be spending some time together, I had a hard time buying into their rekindled/started adult romance. We get answers to why their friendship broke up (parent drama) but since they were still fairly young, not a strong romantic background. They pass notes back and forth in their hotel rooms but we don't get to “read” all of them, so I never really bought into their romance. There was an open-door scene but with the setup, it was hard to believe and enjoy Sydney risking it all for it to occur. 

Finally, he speaks. “Did you have feelings for me? Back then?” 

I thought I caught a big clue to the murder trial mystery in the beginning but it was never brought up again, still, I think the verdict was pretty obvious from how the story was getting laid out. There was an ending reveal to shock readers and things get left ambiguous in that story thread regard. The romance got a three months Happily For Now but without feeling much of their connection throughout the story, I can't say I felt big emotions from it.

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