** BLOG TOUR ** Courting Trouble by Kathy Lette

Welcome to my spot on the Blog Tour for Courting Trouble by Kathy Lette. Courting Trouble was published in hardcover by Bantam Press (Transworld) on 14 August 2014.

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?

Courting Trouble is full of Kathy Lette's trademark wit, often cutting and always clever. Oh how I wish I had such a quick-thinking brain and could fire out those one-liners just like the lead character Tilly, and her amazing mother Roxy.

With a little help from the author, let me introduce you to the main characters of Courting Trouble:

Matilda Devine   

35, accident-prone mother of one and barrister-at-law, 5'7", red hair, green eyes, size ten - well, eleven after a chocolate binge.
Convictions:  that my arch-rival and frequent opponent in court, Jack Cassidy, is an A-grade ratbag.
Previous convictions:  that Jack Cassidy was an A-grade ratbag way back when I first met him at law school and he always will be.

Jack Cassidy

38, barrister-at-law, tall, dark embodiment of handsomeness, fluent in three languages - English, Sarcasm and Flirtation.

Convictions: tried and found guilty of relationship hit-and-run.

Stephen Myer

40, psychologist

Looks: a charmer of the old-school variety, with a leather-elbow-patched poetic streak. Natural habitat - his study, sipping Brunello and listening to a late Beethoven quartet.

Traits: on our first date he told me that he found long-term relationships to be as annoying and repetitive as bad wallpaper .... Needless to say, we married shortly afterwards.

Petronella Willets

35, barrister-at-law, piranha in Prada.

Looks - Blonde; Viking goddess. More groomed than a pedigree poodle at Crufts ... Only much more bitchy.

Roxanne Devine

55, but depends who's asking. If it's a toy boy, then she's approaching 40, only she doesn't say from which direction. 

Looks: At five feet one and ten stone, she's a butterball, with skinny, miniskirt-clad legs, tapering off into leopardskin wedges. Her wild, dyed-blonde hair is piled high on her head in a skewiff beehive.

History: if what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, then my mother is made of titanium.

Career: heartbroken by my father's abandonment and determined that nobody would ever take advantage of her again, Roxy put herself through law school to become a solicitor. 

So there we have the cast of characters that make up the chaotic, fun-filled story that is Courting Trouble. When Tilly's ordered world collapses around her and she loses her job and her man in the same day, it is her mother Roxy who comes to the rescue. Roxy and Tilly couldn't really be more different ... on the outside, but underneath they both have the same belief in social justice and power to women. Together they take on their first case, and although this is an extremely funny read, this legal case is a serious one. Kathy Lette cleverly balances humour and realism very well. 

At times exhausting, as Tilly and Roxy seem intent on crashing their way through this battle, but always warm, with laugh out loud parts a plenty.

From www.kathylette.com 

Kathy Lette first achieved succes de scandale as a teenager with the novel Puberty Blues, which was made into a major film. She has written eleven more international bestsellers, including Mad Cows, How to Kill Your Husband and Other Handy Household Hints (recently staged by the Victorian Opera, Austalia), and To Love, Honour and Betray. Her novels have been published in fourteen languages around the world. Kathy appears regularly as a guests on the BBC and Sky News. She is also an ambassador for Women and Children First, Plan International and the White Ribbon Alliance. Kathy lives in London with her husband and two children.

Find out much more about Kathy Lette and her work, visit her website www.kathylette.com

She has an author page on Facebook, you can follow her on Twitter @KathyLette