Last spring I read Time Served by Keyes, and while I really enjoyed the romance I had issues with the way women interacted in the book.  I struggled  with how nearly all the other women were sexual rivals or total harpies or both. Caitlin Dufrense was the villainess of Time Served, blonde privileged bitch in heels. When I heard Keyes was making her the heroine of the next book, I knew I had to read it because redeeming her was going to be very very tough.

I loved,  In Her Defense.  Caitlin is working overtime yet again, reluctantly going over a case with a colleague when an emergency call comes in from a very important client. She makes a devastating mistake, which forces the senior partners to intervene and force her on holiday.  Caitlin is lost without work. Early on in life, she learned to throw herself with single-minded focus into whatever she wanted.  She has no hobbies, few friends and feels like she has almost lost her identity.  

One night she ends up at the Lonely Goat, a dive bar, where she knows no one.  Except someone there does,  Eli Grant, IT director and the man responsible for making sure Caitlin has no way to access the office or her files after-hours.  Eli Grant joins Caitlin in round after round of ill-advised shots because he has his own sorrows to drown and before long they are falling headlong into lust. What starts as something between hate-sex and drunk-indiscretion eventually turns into something deeper as the grow to enjoy each others company.  Sex with Eli is a great diversion while she is on reduced hours, but he doesn't stay in that neat compartment for long.

I really enjoyed Caitlin's struggles to find balance in her life, to branch out and slow down, to share credit and most importantly to trust.  Eli has his own trust issues to work out and I liked that he was much more of emotional mess than either of them thought at the beginning.

Some of my issues I had with Keyes previously remain, as once again almost all the female relationships are toxic or competitive but it bugged me less because Caitlin has competitive relationships with most everyone not just women. I believed in the emotional relationship conflict, and maybe I identified a bit too much with workaholic overachiever who hates being wrong. Caitlin is hard to love, but she is worth loving.

I received a review copy of In Her Defense from Carina Press via NetGalley.