The first chapter started well and I thought I was in for a gripping story. Unfortunately I soon lost interest with the 2 main characters, who for women in their 40's did not act their age. Personally for me I did not find reading about the breakup of a relationship interesting, and this overshadowed the other storylines.

Perhaps if I had read book 1 first this would have made a difference. The writing was good and other sub plots were good. It just was not to my personal taste.

I had to re-read the first one and found it more enjoyable than I remember it being. I was excited to come back to these characters and see what was going to happen next in the lives of these two. I wasn't disappointed, which can happen a lot with a sequel. I'm with everyone else in that I really enjoy the balance of romance to political commentary. It enables the pace of this book to remain steady and interesting throughout.

My only one gripe is there did seem to be quite a bit of bickering, just a little too much for my tastes. But again, that was pretty minor.

It’s not easy being green, or in Victoria Willoughby’s case, out. After watching Victoria and Genevieve win at life and love in Barring Complications I was curious to see how these madly in love legal giants would deal with the day to day of a lesbian relationship. As it turns out, not so great.

Benched is the reality check to the HEA in Barring Complications. Genevieve is flat out working as president of Her Equal Rights. She must now combine admin responsibilities with court appearances, fighting for the rights of same-sex couples and others across the LGBTQI spectrum. Victoria, a Supreme Court justice is preparing for the next session and coming to terms with the publicity surrounding her relationship with Genevieve. She is uncomfortable with public displays of affection and tries to control their relationship on her terms, behind closed doors, out of the spotlight. Out and proud Genevieve chafes at Tori’s need for privacy and control.

There is a lot going on in Benched and I loved every minute. The battle for same-sex rights and privileges continues and a case involving the parental rights of same-sex parents threatens to break the fragile relationship Tori and Genevieve have built. The author shows us how minor cracks can turn into major rifts when partners struggle to communicate. 30% into this novel and I could not imagine Genevieve and Victoria ever finding a solution to their differences. The romance shares the spotlight with some interesting cases and a fascinating peek into the day to day workload of a justice on the Supreme Court.

What will stay with me and will bring me back to reread this series is the library scene between Victoria and Alistair. In that one scene Rippon turns this lesbian romance into a literary gem. Throughout the novel Victoria is trying to deal with her inability to let go of the control she needs in every situation.

The soft clink of plates and forks being loaded into the dishwasher down the hall faded when she noticed a first edition copy of Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart. The pages were brittle, framed by darker shades of tan on the edges. Turning them gently, she fell into Poe’s darkness, where hidden fears that should be deeply buried were instead starkly exposed.

Discussing how Alistair chose to organize his collection;

“You have a lot of Poe. Are you particularly interested in the gothic?”
“More the tragic. You’ll notice Poe is situated in the same section as the ancient Greek tragedies and Shakespeare.”
“And Wuthering Heights? How are you defining tragedy?”
“The same way everyone else does. Hamartia.”
Victoria rolled her eyes. “In English, if it wouldn’t be too much trouble.”
“A fatal flaw. A trait that should be someone’s strength but turns out to be his-or hers-biggest weakness. A world where one’s undoing comes from within. Hamartia.”

This one scene sums up Victoria’s dilemma throughout the novel. She is her own worse enemy. I love when a book entertains, enlightens, and educates. Benched hit all the right notes for this reader.

An advanced copy was provided by the publisher for review.

This book is very entertaining. Although there are a lot of legal lingo it is pretty easy to follow. The theme is also very engaging and the author has constructed it with originality. I have enjoyed the two main characters very much. Victoria with her seriousness required by her position but with some kind of insecurity. And Genevieve, all integrity and fight for the right. I must say that I had not read the previous book of which this is the sequel. Maybe some things could have been more understandable if I had read Barring complications first. But I think that is not completly necessary to have read the previous book to be caught in this one. After finishing this book I could not wait for reading the prequel. And so I did.

Having just finished My Own Words, which is a collection of memories, lectures, and opinions issued by Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, it was quite a shift for me to pick up Blythe Rippon’s lesbian fiction novel, Benched. The principals here are Victoria Willoughby, a Supreme Court Justice, and her girlfriend, LGBTQ rights attorney Genevieve Fornier. It’s been a long time since I read a work of lesbian fiction, so I was curious to see how this would play out.

Benched seems to target the LGBTQ audience, as there is heavy focus on Tori and Genevieve’s romantic relationship. The two women met twenty years earlier while at Harvard Law, had a relationship that abruptly ended and resumed when both women were well established in their careers. This story picks up where a first book, Barring Complications, left off.

Not having read the series debut novel, I felt as though I was coming into a conversation in the middle, as the author does little to familiarize new readers with the characters. What she tells us is this: Willoughby is the youngest-ever appointee to the Supreme Court and a recently out lesbian. Now the whole world knows it because of a picture of Genevieve and her that went viral as the pair were caught in a near-kiss moment. Their relationship two decades earlier was ended by Tori, and it seems there were regrets on both sides. I wish that Ms. Rippon had briefed us further to catch up newcomers (and perhaps refresh the memories of those who’d read the first one) to flesh out the characters more. For more than 70% of the story, I found both women to be quite unlikable as they bickered and struggled with their relationship issues. Genevieve perceived Tori to be controlling and insensitive to her needs, which made Genevieve seem self-centered and childish at times. Tori did seem oblivious and inflexible. At times, they both seemed immature, but upon reflecting upon my own experiences in relationships, it seemed perfectly understandable that a woman of Victoria’s experience, or lack thereof, and stature, would have difficulties transitioning to being out. (I remember a counselor once saying that it might take someone up to seven years to really feel rooted and secure in one’s identity as a LGBT- or Q person. The couple’s struggles were very predictable, but they also seemed true-to-life. There was a whole lot of angst there, and it wasn’t until they decided to split up that I began to enjoy the book more. That’s when I felt the characters start to emerge as real people.

The legal segments are current and compelling. Willoughby’s colleagues agree to hear an appeal from a lower court regarding a same-sex adoption, causing serious tension between the two protagonists. Genevieve’s organization, HER, battles the state of Michigan to obtain rights for a transgender prisoner to have gender reassignment surgery at state expense. I enjoyed the behind-the-scenes conferences among the LGBTQ group leaders, but the rapport between the justices was especially well done, I felt. I was quite fond of Victoria’s colleague, Alistair Douglas, a fellow liberal who seems like an extremely kind, wise, and understanding man.

My other favorite character was Genevieve’s friend Bethany. She is supportive but doesn’t hold back when it comes to speaking her mind. A straight woman, she doesn’t care a whit that her friend’s partner is a woman. She just wants her friend to be treated right. To be fair, she isn’t afraid to tell Genevieve if she thinks she’s wrong, and she appears to be open-minded when Tori finally speaks with her.

One other thing that I would have liked would be a closer inside look into Tori’s head as she transforms herself from a rigid, cautious person into a more spontaneous, compromising partner. The change seems too abrupt and out-of-character in the short amount of time that it occurs. I liked the woman we see in the epilogue; it just didn’t seem like a believable transformation in such a brief time. But, who knows? Love is a crazy thing!

Thanks to NetGalley, Ylva Publishing, and the author for an ARC of Benched.

- I do not know enough about american law to understand what is really going on here.

- The cheating vibe that's going on in this book makes me very uncomfortable.

- I don't understand why the main couple even is a couple? There doesn't seem to be any love between them or happy feelings or anything.

I've read over 50%

Before reading this book, I read Barring Complications and suffice to say I enjoyed it a lot. Then I picked up this one, and this was better.

The book picks up a month after the first one ends, thus even though there is continuity, one doesn't need to read the first book to enjoy this one. Moving on, there is more emotional drama in this one than the first. Yes there is also angst however its done extremely well because lets face it, they are mature women and not teenagers. They argue, fight, and make up with grace.

As mentioned in the book description, there is an important case with the supreme court which is being litigated by Genevieve and given their personal relationship, one of them has to back down. Thankfully, that's not all there is. There is another case too which is done in greater detail and is far more interesting for the reader as we go through it step by step.

This book deals more with how old habits are hard to break especially when you near 50 or have lived 40+ years on your own. This is the true essence of the book and we as readers may learn a few things from them.

I missed the interaction between Victoria and her family though. This book is very focused on the cases and the relationship between Victoria and Genevieve.

I really like the first book that introduced the two main characters and some of the side characters from this book but I just couldn't get into this story. It was too dry for me and the dialogue just didn't flow well enough for my taste.
The characters changed too much form last book to this sequel that it kind of seemed like they were different characters. Another fact that made it hard for me to read was that there were too many different legal cases going on and much of the story was spend on that and not on the actual story.