Review: With Good Behavior by Jennifer Lane

From the Publisher's website:
In a world gripped by organized crime, family dysfunction, and dim hopes of redemption, can true love persevere? For Sophie Taylor, a beautiful psychologist who lost everything when she violated an ethical boundary, and Grant Madsen, a handsome naval officer who sacrificed everything to protect a loved one, finding that love may carry an unbearable cost.

Starting their lives over in Chicago, both are fighting influences from their family and running as fast as they can to escape the past. When their paths cross outside the parole officer's door, the attraction is instantaneous. But a hidden connection may not only shatter their fledgling love, but prove deadly to them both.

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The premise of this story caught my attention: Two ex-cons meeting at the parole officer's office and falling in love. It started out interestingly enough - I liked the parole officer and the hero and heroine seemed like they had interesting stories: she's an ex-psychiatrist who had an affair with a patient, he's an ex-naval officer who did some sort of crime.

From there, however, things went downhill. The characters were inconsistent and unbelievable. Grant is a former Naval officer but he seems very simple-minded and child-like; I couldn't figure out how he made it so far in the Navy. Sophie seems smart and dedicated but then does something she knows she should not do - date a fellow parolee, despite the fact that her parole officer, psychiatrist, and roommate tell her she shouldn't. It seems to me that this was basically how she ended up in jail in the first place. These two just kept making one bad decision after another - things like drinking tequila before driving a tour boat cruise around Chicago's harbor. Once Grant's brother came into the picture as the patient Sophie had an affair with and we get his thoughts and reactions to Sophie's incarceration, I decided this was not the book for me and put it down.

(This is a case of me wondering if I'm reading the same book everyone else is, as With Good Behavior has gotten great ratings on Goodreads.)


Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 713 KB
Publisher: Omnific Publishing; 1st edition
Release Date: July 13, 2010
ASIN: B003VU00QU
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-936305-26-1

My Rating:

I received this e-book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.