The Bottom Line: A genuine page-turner that balances the adrenaline of courtroom combat with the charged intimacy of an off-limits attraction. Five stars.
Baking Ice Cubes begins as veteran Chicago trial attorney Helen “Hank” Hart arrives in the small Wisconsin town of Apple Grove to salvage a high-stakes medical malpractice defense. Her new clients—a respected electrophysiologist and a seasoned nurse—stand accused of negligence in the death of a beloved grandmother. Making matters more complicated for Hank is the fact that the plaintiff, the deceased’s granddaughter, is a Certified Nurse Assistant who works at the same hospital where the alleged negligence occurs.
Central to the case is whether one or both of Hank’s clients improperly operated a medical device involved in the untimely death. Fortunately, Hank thrives on defending doctors’ and nurses’ care. She immediately sets about parsing depositions, reviewing a thousand-page last-minute document dump, and devising cross-examinations under extreme time pressure.
While working in a local restaurant the day prior to her first courtroom appearance, she can’t help but notice a magnetic stranger. While she can’t take her eyes off the curvy woman in the floral print dress and bold red heels, an act of fate quite literally brings Hank and “Livvy” together. Their chemistry is immediate and electric. Only the next morning does Hank learn the truth—Livvy is Judge Olivia Marshall, presiding over the very case Hank has come to town for. What follows is a taut legal thriller featuring the simmering tension of a forbidden romance, as attorney and judge navigate their roles under the unblinking eyes of the courtroom.
Informed by decades practicing law, Venice has few peers when it comes to crafting high-stakes legal thrillers that feature LGBTQ romance. Baking Ice Cubes finds Venice fires on all cylinders as she turns “big city professional goes to quaint small town” tropes on their head. Here, the small-town setting isn’t merely a backdrop for folksy lessons about life priorities and love. Instead, Apple Grove is a challenging environment with its own entrenched power dynamics and no shortage of hostility. The tone is sharp, competitive, and steeped in legal realism. Discovery abuses, tactical witness prep and courtroom brinkmanship abound.
Hank herself is a vivid, layered lead whose confidence and polish make her a protagonist readers will want to spend time with. Supporting players sharpen the tension as well. Plaintiff’s attorney Katrina Flanagan-Perry (KFP) is a worthy adversary who’s not averse to keeping the lines of communication open. Arthur Bondurant is entertaining as a blustery Southern foil representing the device manufacturer, adding flavor with his amusing snark and colorful language (“That ruling is loose as a wizard’s sleeve”).
The story itself moves like a made-for-TV trial—fast, confrontational and with no guarantee of a clean emotional resolution. Hank and Livvy’s undeniable chemistry becomes a professional hazard, not an easy path to love. The result is a legal thriller with heart, heat and a heroine you’ll root for long after the verdict is read.
