With Good Behavior (Conduct, #1)

by Jennifer Lane

[Leah]

When I was asked to be part of Jennifer Lane’s blog tour for her “Conduct Series” novels, I said yes to participating, but I was hesitant because, well, it’s always hard to know how you feel about a book until you’ve read it, and obviously blog tours want good reviews (there’s really no point in having someone write a bad review during a blog tour that’s ostensibly there to get an author more sales!). I chose to read the first “Conduct” novel With Good Behavior and although I started it with trepidation, it was actually a really, really good novel.

I talk a lot about how I like books that surprise me. Books that I end up enjoying without knowing prior to reading that I will like it for sure (like when I pick up a new Kinsella novel, I pretty much know it’s going to be awesome) and for me With Good Behavior was one of those novels. It surprised me. It made me care for the characters, it made me want to just read one more chapter because it was so darn addictive and just so good! While With Good Behavior probably isn’t strictly a Chick Lit novel – erring more on the crime side of things, it has to be said – the romance aspect, between Grant and Sophie, helps to bring it around from being a straight up crime novel. I never knew a romance between two convicts could be so exciting, could be so enticing, so dramatic, so romantic. Yet it was.

The crime side of the novel provided a lot of suspense – a lot, a lot, a lot! Grant’s family, whom he’s trying his hardest to not be a part of at all, in any way, are basically the Mafia in Chicago, running the town without a care in the world and they aren’t happy that Grant doesn’t want to be a part of their life and they certainly aren’t happy that Grant’s brother Logan has gone AWOL, too. Sophie, too, has criminal ties, after landing herself in jail after inexplicably violating her code as a psychologist (but not just for that reason). Both have reasons to not let their past catch up with them again, but both find it hard to escape and a tie that binds them both could prove fatal (in the literal sense as well as the figurative sense). I can’t say for sure if pure Chick Lit fans will get on board with the criminal aspect, but as I like crime myself sometimes, I loved it and I found it very addictive and well presented by Lane.

With Good Behavior was surprising in the best way possible. It was well-written, it was edgy, it was compelling and the romance was totally believable, even if Sophie and Grant were both cons. (I mean, cons have hearts, too right?) I cared about the characters massively, because despite their history, despite their criminal past, Sophie and Grant were decent people, were really lovely characters and they sparked off each other nicely. The book was also helped by the addition of some awesome supporting characters. Jerry Stone, Sophie and Grant’s PO; Joe Madsen, Grant’s Uncle, Roger, who owns the architectural cruise where Sophie and Grant get jobs and Kirsten, Sophie’s best friend all add another dimension to the novel and Jerry and Roger in particular really made an impression on me. I found myself completely lost in the world of With Good Behavior and I can’t wait to dive in to Bad Behavior, the sequel, and be back with these wonderful characters again. This novel was a triumph, and I am so glad I took the chance on it.