Misconduct
Penelope Douglas
Teacher and millionaire with teenage son in New Orleans – contemporary romance
I live in New Orleans, so it was fun to read a contemporary romance set here. The details of the setting were wonderfully accurate. I’m just left with one burning question: Do people elsewhere seriously not drink at funerals? Now, I don’t mean during the service. I’m talking about at the gathering afterwards. A character says New Orleanians drink at all events, even funerals. And I went, “What do you mean, even?”
There isn’t a funeral in this. It’s not a tearjerker. It has its drama, but it left me feeling good, optimistic. The characters are complex and believable. There were things I liked about them and things I didn’t, which makes them feel real. Would I want to date Tyler? No, but I wouldn’t be or date Easton either. Neither of them do relationships anyway. They treat sex much too casually for my taste. But many people do, so if that doesn’t turn you off right from the start, then I recommend this. It is a fast, enjoyable read with lots of humor that I have come to expect from Penelope Douglas.
The sex scenes were hot and well written. Tyler could be a little dominant, but Easton could dish it right back, playing with him in an amusing way. There is a possible trigger – she says no when she acts yes. He doesn’t stop, and she doesn’t want him to. This bothers me a little as It is so dangerous. Later he argues that she can’t say no to him, and I went, “But, actually, she did!” I got past this easily, but I like dark romance. Since this isn’t dark, maybe it bothered me more, because no should mean no, you know?
I liked and enjoyed this but didn’t love it so much that I would read it again, so 4 stars.
1st person past tense with chapters from both Easton and Tyler.
This is very well written and edited. I only caught 6 errors, and that’s amazing.
Favorite Quotes:
Easton: People didn’t trust signatures so much as they trusted your ability to bullshit while you were drunk.
Easton: Probably midthirties, judging by the faint lines around his eyes. And although that wasn’t old, it was almost outside of my generation at twenty-three. I liked that, too. If his hands were sure, maybe his tongue would be, too. Conversation-wise, I meant.
Easton: It didn’t matter if you were fourteen or twenty-three, a student, a teacher, or a parent—you still got nauseous when the principal called you down.
Tyler: She wouldn’t be easy. In fact, I had a strange feeling it would be like high school, and I’d feel like I’d scored if I just got my hand up her shirt.
V. B. Law 