Legally and Lawfully Yours

by Anita Stansfield

Following the revelation of her fiancé’s philandering ways, high-powered New York attorney Shannon Turney’s wedding is off. At a time like this, the last thing she can handle is family drama. But when she learns how far her brother and sister-in-law’s lives have spiraled out of control, the only thought in her mind is the safety of her young niece and nephew. After Shannon is granted custody, she and the children are eager to run long and far from their problems. The end of the road is Sugar City, a place as delightful as its name implies. In the tiny town, Shannon gets much more of a change than she bargained for. Welcomed with open arms by the townspeople, including the handsome local veterinarian, Shannon and the children slowly begin to heal. But when their idyllic existence is threatened by the return of the children’s mother, Shannon has no choice but to return to the courtroom she left behind. She has one last legal battle to fight, and the outcome may mean losing everything she loves . . .

Genres: Romance, Adult, Lds Fiction, Contemporary, Lds, Fiction

256 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 1, 2015

About the author

Anita Stansfield, the LDS market's #1 best-selling romance novelist, is an imaginative and prolific writer whose romantic stories have captivated her readers.

"With sales approaching a half million, Anita Stansfield has clearly found a niche in this market," said Nicole Martin, Publicist for Covenant Communications. "Her popularity stems from her ability to empathize with and write about the issues that LDS women deal with on a daily basis."

"I always write for women like me. It's through my interaction with other women that I've found there are some personal and emotional struggles that are typical," said Anita Stansfield. "I hope my writing makes women feel better about themselves and shows them these real problems can be solved through gospel principles."

Reviews

[Tressa (Wishful Endings) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Legally and Lawfully Yours was a very sweet, heartfelt story as the main character, Shannon, takes her niece and nephew into her life after their mother shows that she is unable to care for them. There were quite a few roadblocks and struggles for Shannon and these children due to all of their past histories. They all had trust issues and other things to work through. I loved how the other characters, especially Phillip and Marj, enveloped Shannon and the kids into their lives and how Phillip's faith in God strengthened Shannon's faith.

I fell in love with these characters. Shannon with her protective and loving nature towards Neil and Jeanie as she became an adoptive mother to them. Phillip's love for Shannon and the kids and his compassion toward them for their past struggles. Marj's immediate love and bringing so much joy into the children's lives. Other characters who formed a larger family for Shannon and the children and created a home and loving community for them.

The story was engaging. The romance moved quickly at first and then slowed down quite a bit until the end. For the most part things went smoothly with a few more intense moments here and there. I would have liked to have delved a little deeper into the story and the characters' experiences, but it was still a well-told story.

I would recommend Legally Lawfully Yours to those who enjoy Christian romance, the author's other books, or women's fiction. I actually would love to have a sequel to find out what happens to Shannon's brother and the children's father after he's served his time.

Content: Clean
Source: I would like to thank Covenant for my complimentary copy, which did not affect my review in any way.

[Amy S · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read a lot of Anita Stansfield books about ten years ago and enjoyed most of them. I picked this book up thinking it would be nice to revisit a past favorite author but this book was a disappointment.

I'm not sure how to describe the writing other than to say it felt like an overly detailed story of mature topics being told in the anxious voice of an adult trying to explain things to a curious child.

All these unimportant details were emphasized while the most meaningful pieces were almost skimmed over. All the characters were "perfectionized", so that the places where there would have been tension or contention were instead handled as though scripted by a psychology magazine. The one actual scene of dramatic confrontation sounded like a seven year old boy created it and an adult added the vocabulary. "I did a kick! Hyah! Then it beat the bad guy!" *karate chop motions*

The romance scenes were so carefully clean that they felt like some kind of author arranged marriage that two poor characters were making the best of.

The pacing kind of jumped around. What dialogue there was felt awkward. The words 'moist' and 'such' were way overused.

There was a happy ending.

Some violence. No sex. Mild language. Vague themes of abuse, neglect, criminal behavior, drugs, alcohol, PTSD

[Sydney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Award-winning LDS author, Anita Stansfield, has once again written a story that readers will love and thoroughly enjoy. This story is written about the horrible truths kids being taken away from their alcoholic and drug addicted parents; the kids are also either put into foster care, sometimes not any better than the situations with their parents, or allowed into the custody of loving relatives. Anita tells a story of the reality of these situations, as well as brings in a story of romance. I would highly recommend this novel to all readers that enjoy Anita Stansfield’s inspirational writing.

Genre: contemporary fiction; LDS fiction; inspirational fiction
Publisher: Covenant Communications
Publication date: August 1, 2015
Number of pages: 249

A review copy of this novel was provided by Covenant Communications.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this story that had a good message. Drug on a little in the middle and seemed a lot longer than 256 pages.

Content: Clean Christian fiction (nondenominational)

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you like Anita Stansfield, you will more than likely enjoy this. If you don't, you may sprain your eyes rolling them.

[Jessica Van Tassell · Rating 3 out of 5]

So unrealistic, so cheesy, so good for an easy Sunday read.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

There was a time when I loved Stansfield's books, so now and again I will pick one up again as a quick read. The bones of the story (except that it relies a bit to heavily, for me, on love at first sight) are good and the main characters likeable.
However, Stansfield spends way, way too much time in her characters heads. I found myself skimming entire pages because the only thing happening was repeated ruminations and worries, which most of the time were so vague as to not even move the story along or help the reader learn more about the character; for example the book starts inside Shannon's head where it is learned that bad things happened to her growing up and she fought through them, but no specifics of those bad things are shared until halfway through the book when she reveals a few details in a conversation with Philip.
Stansfield tends to default to telling rather than showing a little too often (in one scene the reader is told that Neal is shouting at Shannon and even some of what he is saying, rather than those things being part of the dialogue) which has a tendency to flatten and diminish the more active parts of the story.
I can tell Stansfield cares a great deal about mental health and frequently uses her stories to share good advice about best practices in interpersonal relationships, but sometimes I just want to read a good story.

[Sariah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m not exactly sure why I finished it. The narrative style of writing was really hard for me to endure. And it felt like there was no real plot developed. Details were added like a grocery store list. And every scene felt perfected to the point of being sterile.




*Side note on the way I rank books. My rankings and reviews are primarily for me to keep track of my own reading. My ranks may reflect my own state of mind at the time I read it and wouldn't necessarily be the same at a different time. 1 Star = I hated it. Often I didn't finish it. 2 Stars = I didn't like it. I wouldn't recommend it. 3 Stars = I liked it. It was an interesting way to pass the time. 4 Stars = I really liked it. It's worth recommending to others. 5 Stars = I loved it. I would definitely read it again.

[Kayla Squire · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was ok. It was as cute story. Wonderful messages. It was pretty cheesy and predictable (which I know is not why you read this kind of book, but it still felt too much so for me). The ending also felt very anticlimactic to me. I guess I was expecting more from it, and it all seemed too quick and too easy. The writing style wasn't my favorite and overall felt really unrealistic and too idealistic.

[Carolina Colleene · Rating 2 out of 5]

Language: G (0 swears, 0 "f"); Mature Content: PG; Violence: PG
The conflict in Shannon's story is mostly explained in chapter one as things that previously occurred, and the book is dealing with all of the consequences of that off-page conflict, which made for a slow book.
The mature content rating is for mentions of alcohol and drugs, illegal activity, and mild innuendo. The violence rating is for gun use, assault, and mentions of neglect, child abuse, and sexual abuse.

[Jessica Liza]

This book was just not my jam. I think I would have loved it as a teenager. But from my perspective, and my life experience, it just didn’t cut it. I almost stopped multiple times - but sometimes that’s hard for me. It felt too “trauma-bonding.” I don’t know - happy ending for lots of good people, but sometimes the conversations felt so overdone and condescending. But I was glad for the happily ever after endings.

[Jodie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute fast read. I was slightly annoyed with some grammatical errors. I was extremely frustrated with the portrayal of the trial. unfortunately the system does not work even remotely close to the timetable in the book. In family cases it usually takes years. Also, it is not likely at all that children would be put on the stand. Otherwise a fun book.

[Teresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. I really love Phillip's character. I felt like a few plot points were a little too ideal, but it was still a good story.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good

[Shelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good wholesome book!

[Tracy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a favorite for me, but clean and enjoyable.

[Alexis · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was as good as any book just without the swearing and such which made it so much easier to enjoy and even a little better than most books just for that reason.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is just a really great love story.

[Cherri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty formulaic, not enough drama

[Kim Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book, it hit home multiple times, and made me grateful to have the Lord on my side. Thank you Anita Stansfield for continuing making me love reading more and more.

[Kelly Stanworth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Never can go wrong with an Anita Stansfield book. I just love an easy read with a good story.

[Nicole Price · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy, enjoyable read like all of Anita Stansfield books.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have enjoyed the series romances by this author so I thought I'd try a stand-alone book. It was good but I didn't just love it. Can't quite put my finger on why, maybe it was just my mood and what's happening in my life that made me view the story differently. Glad it had a happy ending!

[Pamela · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was immediately drawn into the plight of Shannon and her niece and nephew. I also enjoyed their interaction with Philip and Marj. However, I found it a bit unrealistic that Shannon was allowed to take her niece and nephew without a home already established for the children. That kept me from completely losing myself in the story.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anita Stansfield wrote “Legally and Lawfully Yours” in which varying levels of meanings can be seen. One level is of a young woman who, through diligence and hard work, has finally reached her goal of being a top attorney in New York City. Her personal life is in shambles after her fiancée cheated. Her brother is in prison and her co-workers make her life miserable to the point she hides herself away. She has to ask herself “what now?”

When she gets a message from her brother about his kids, Shannon jumps right into action to check on them. Their mother has never been a favorite of Shannon’s due to her drug life style and lack of motherly affection. What Shannon finds at the house has her fighting to keep her brother’s children until he is released and can be there as their father.

Level two comes in to play. Domestic Abuse! Shannon and her brother, Greg, were children abused by their parents and ultimately became a part of the foster care system and separated. Having lived through this, both Shannon and Greg, took different paths in life but shaped none the less by their childhoods. When seeing her niece and nephew living a nightmare her own past insecurities and memories surface and she must fight those demons and rely on her training and her love to make a better life for all of them. Contacting social services Shannon puts into motion a plan to get the kids legally and take them away. She has survived and she will make sure that Neil and Jeanie do as well.

Now level three. Shannon and Greg had never been exposed to God nor attended a church. While in prison, Greg attends Bible classes and through his faith in God has become a changed man. He speaks of prayer and faith to Shannon which he never has done before. Shannon believes there is a higher power but has never prayed and doesn’t even know where to begin. Following a “calming” feeling Shannon lets herself be lead to Sugar City, where she feels home may just be for them. There she finds people who genuinely care for her, Neil and Jeanie. She learns of acceptance, kindness and generosity. Most importantly she learns of God. Through the love of Philip and his Mother Marj, she and the kids learn how to live by faith and trust in the Lord. Having God in their lives, going to church and becoming a family soon have not only Neil and Jeanie but Shannon quickly on their way to healing.

Anita Stansfield has a wonderful, heartwarming story here within “Legally and Lawfully Yours”. She has characters whose feelings are based upon being a victim of abuse so for some people this may be hard to read. She has drama. She has layers of psychological emotions that her characters deal with. She has faith and learning to trust God and live again with people who love and not hurt. If I could give a hint to the author for another book with these characters it would be a story about Greg and possibly Ceclia. New beginnings for both of them!

I received this book in exchange for an honest review....this is a wonderful, inspirational story of love and faith!

[Krista Rowley]

Book 12

A girl names Shannon has just ending her engagement with this guy that was cheating on her. She is an attorney and she loves her assistant. Her brother is in jail because he got addicted to drugs and had bad friends. He has two kids Neal and Jeanie. There mother B.K is very abusive and seh doesn't take care of them as well as she should. So Shannon quits her job and saves them she drives as far away from new York city as possible. She comes to this old small town and meets some friends. She gets along with Philip very well and his mother. Until one day.....will B.K's friends be able to find them?

Shannon and Philip are friends. Shannon tells Philip why she is here and he helps protect her and the children. He keeps her safe and comforted when she gets scared that they will find the children and her. But she is mostly scared of what they will do to her when they find them. Neal and Jeanie are the children that Shannon is protecting. When they lived in the city there mother left them without any food or clean clothes and they basically had to fend for themselves. So together they made it out of that miserable place.

This book was a very good book. What I liked about it was that Shannon risked basically everything to save her niece and nephew. I liked how she comforted them because they were scared. But what I didn't like was how she had to leave her assistant. she loved her assistant they were best friends. But in the end it all worked out. The theme was, always do what you think will help others and what is right.

[Michelle Llewellyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

The setting is modern day New York state but since Sugar City is fictional the entire story could've taken place anywhere (like Idaho).
Narration alternates between Shannon and Phillip but mostly Shannon who is a very flat character. She does not grow or change. She is your stereotypical damsel in distress. All of her decisions that shape the main plot of the story are very irrational such as taking custody of her niece and nephew, quitting her job, packing up all her belongings along with the kids, withdrawing all her funds and driving for three days straight with no destination or plan.
She meets the town's only eligible bachelor named Phillip who is immediately attracted to them, letting them into his life and the home he shares with his mother because he's such a nice guy and there's nothing at all creepy about that.
The only plot complication involves the looming threat that Shannon's sister-in-law will swoop down and take the kids away from her. Will she succeed? Read the book.
Only seventeen chapters, this was a very fast and easy read. There's no sex, swearing or explicit, in-your-face themes, as this author has been wont to do in past books. LDS readers will immediately pick up on the fact that Phillip and his mother are Mormons but nobody gets baptized. A safe, clean (albeit boring) read for all ages.

[Susie Sharp · Rating 5 out of 5]

As with many if not most of Anita Stansfield books, the main character comes to face internal struggle from past abuse or tragedy. She demonstrates how quickly a person can find common ground and encourage the opportunity to bond with others and seek healing and/or empowerment. At times the male character seemed almost too good to be true. However, it is comforting to believe that there really are righteous men who are willing and capable to put a woman's need above his own. I personally know of such men and so even though this character is mainly an ideal of true manhood, he can be found in our society.

This book also championed the cause of caring for and nurturing children who are born into unsavory circumstance. It was sweet to see the way the children flourished when they were allowed to be children and when their needs were acknowledged and where they were also empowered with some measure of choice regarding their lives and future.

As usual, (with Anita's writing) I had a difficult time putting the book down. Another treasure to put in my treasure box of stories that warm the heart and strengthen my resolve to be a better person and not be afraid to reach for lofty goals.

[Tarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book started out great, and I got drawn in right away to what was going to happen with Shannon and the kids. However, once they get settled (and by settled I mean they drove for three days straight, and then end up in the same state they left, New York. Seriously? New York is not that big, and if you were trying to get away from people, wouldn't you want to go as far away as possible?) the book changes in its tone, and instead of being in the story and experiencing it, you just get told stuff, and I'll admit I got bored, until right at the end when the tone changed again to like it was at the first.

Phillip is great (I admit I have a thing for Veterinarians). He is super understanding of Shannon's past and the situation at present. Also, he's a nerd, and I'll admit I have a thing for nerds too :) However, sometimes he seemed a too great, if you know what I mean. I loved his mom though, she was fun.

Legally and Lawfully Yours is a clean read that handles some disturbing situations in a G rated manner

*I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for a review.

[Shauna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book grabbed me from the very first page and I couldn't put it down until I had read every word. SO. SO. SO. GOOD!

I was so impressed that Shannon would leave her luxurious career to find greater happiness in helping raise two small children who really needed her.

She becomes the aunt she wishes she had had when she and her brother had no one else.

Now she is on the run and hiding and trying to find a new home for these children and herself.

Along the way she finds a support team and more family members in Phillip and Marj and others from the town of Sugar City...you will LOVE how that all comes together!

Follow Shannon as she battles to get the kids to safety and keep them there.

So many GREAT SCENES!
Such GREAT WRITING!
Really LOVED this one!