Book Review: Binding Arbitration by Elizabeth Marx

October 6, 2012 · by · in 4 Exclamations!!, Book Reviews, Contemporary, Featured, Romance · 5 Comments
  • Title: Binding Arbitration
  • Author: Elizabeth Marx
  • Genre: Romance, Family Saga, Contemporary/Chick Lit
  • Publisher: Self Published
  • Paperback/Ebook
  • Pages: 477

Purchase:

Amazon (Kindle) | Amazon (Print) | Barnes and Noble | iTunes | Sony eReader | Diesel |

Synopsis:

Through the corridors of the Windy City’s criminal courts, single mother Libby Tucker knows exactly how far she’ll go to save her cancer-stricken son’s life. The undefeated defense attorney is prepared to take her fight all the way to the majors.

Circumstances force Libby to plead her case at the cleats of celebrity baseball player Banford Aidan Palowski, the man who discarded her at their college graduation. Libby has worked her backside bare for everything she’s attained, while Aidan has been indulged since he slid through the birth canal and landed in a pile of Gold Coast money. But helping Libby and living up to his biological duty could jeopardize the only thing the jock worships: his baseball career.

If baseball imitates life, Aidan admits his appears to be silver-plated peanuts, until an unexpected confrontation with the most spectacular prize that’s ever poured from a caramel corn box blindsides him. When he learns about his son’s desperate need, it pricks open the wound he’s carried since he abandoned Libby and the child.

All Libby wants is a little anonymous DNA, but Aidan has a magical umpire in his head who knows Libby’s a fateball right to the heart. When a six-year-old sage and a hippy priestess step onto the field, there’s more to settle between Libby and Aidan than heartache, redemption, and forgiveness.

My thoughts:

Binding Arbitration started slow for me, the umpire’s voice in Aidan’s head and the chapters jump from character to character kept throwing me off. The character you’re with is the perception that you’ll view the story from. Once I got used to those two things I really got into this. It is a really great story, a bit slow for me, but totally worth every minute. It didn’t feel like the actual plot dragged though, which I thought was interesting. There was always something happening to one of the characters that kept that plot moving along. Not like way in your face plot moving catastrophes, but stuff that made sense to the relationships that build throughout this story.

The two main characters, Aidan and Libby,  just made me want to throttle them both!! This is the kind of romance that isn’t all flowers and hearts and angels poking people with sticks, this is the real stuff. This is what happens to every day people. They are both stubborn and smart and because of that they both think WAY too much about the situation instead of about their feelings. This drove me crazy, quite literally until the end.

Their son Cass is what is the real catalyst. That boy is smart! Most kids are but he had a presence and an intensity that went way beyond his age. He was definitely my favorite character. And he names Aidan’s new Hummer, Tank, which I just love. I name everything from my cars down to my Kindle. I just fell in love with Cass from the first word he spoke!

As I was reading, I was at the 80% mark or so and I was curious when the character arc was going to happen. Oh my… Be careful what you ask for. From that point on tears were streaming down my face (I’m not ashamed to admit it!) and I was crying so hard at one point that my hubby asked if I was going to be ok and if I needed to put the book down. Of course my response was to SHUSH him immediately and dive right back in to find out what else was going to happen. And boy was there more. These two people created so many dreadful scenarios for themselves, and so many scenarios were thrust upon them that they were literally damning God close to the end of the book.

Actually there’s a moral to this story that you don’t even see until the end. It all comes together beautifully, it just took Aidan and Libby a heck of a long time to figure it all out! Drove me insane!

On a side note, there is a bit about God in this book. It’s kind of an underlying theme. Not in your face, preaching down your throat, but enough that you understand that God has a presence in quite a few of the lives. It wasn’t a bad thing, just a thing. I wouldn’t recommend if that would throw you off too much, but really I was able to read it without feeling like Elizabeth Marx was preaching. It was very well done. Very good plot, great characters, good ending. But boy oh boy does she take you on an emotional roller coaster. Get ready!

Giveaway!!

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/share-code/ODczYzA2ZDJjZWFjNWNmYmNhOWE4YmRkYjcxMDZiOjE2OA==/

About the author:

Windy city writer, Elizabeth Marx, brings cosmopolitan life alive in her fiction—a blend of romance, fast-paced Chicago living, and a sprinkle of magical realism. In her past incarnation she was an interior designer, not a decorator, a designer, which basically means she has a piece of paper to prove that she knows how to match things, measure things and miraculously make mundane pieces of furniture appear to be masterpieces. Elizabeth says being an interior designer is one part shrink, one part marriage counselor and one part artist, skills eerily similar to those employed in writing.

Elizabeth grew up in Illinois, but has also lived in Texas and Florida. If she’s not pounding her head against the wall trying to get the words just right, you can find her at a softball field out in the boonies somewhere or sitting in the bleachers by a basketball court. Elizabeth resides with her husband, girls, and two cats who’ve spelled everyone into believing they’re really dogs.

Elizabeth has traveled extensively, but still says there’s no town like Chi Town.

Find the Author:

Website | Email: elizabethmarxbooks@gmail.com | Blog | Facebook | Amazon Author Page | Twitter |

Tour Schedule:

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5 comments

  1. Elizabeth Marx · · Reply→

    Nova,
    Thanks so much for reading and reviewing BINDING ARBITRATION. This book was a labor of love for me and thanks for recognizing the moral of the story. I’d love to hear what it was for you.
    I have BA bookmarks if you or any of your followers would like some just stop by my author page on FB, leave me a like and PM me you address.
    Happy reading and reviewing,
    Elizabeth Marx

    1. novareylin · · Reply→

      Thank you so much Elizabeth! I’ll pm you what I thought. I don’t want it to be a spoiler!!

  2. Rhonda D · · Reply→

    Thanks for the great review! I finally got to buy this book. I loved Cutters vs. Jocks and will be reading Binding Arbitration soon. Thanks for sharing

    1. novareylin · · Reply→

      I didn’t realize but I read them out of order so Cutters vs Jocks is not on my TBR! But I’m sure if you enjoyed that, you’ll love this!

  3. Sunday Post: 12 Edition « My Seryniti · · Reply→

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