CONduct Series Blog Tour Series Review and Giveaway

For our stop on the Conduct Series Tour, we’re doing a series review. Let me tell you, this is one hell of a series.  Be sure to scroll down towards the bottom of this post for the giveaway.  You don’t want to miss the chance to have one of these books!

This series revolves around two parolees, Grant Marsden and Sophie Taylor.  Both of them have ties to the Barberi crime family, they just don’t realize that those ties will bring them together and face to face with their worst nightmare. 

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.

Grant Marsden and Sophie Taylor meet, briefly, outside their parole officers office soon after their releases from prison.  Grant had just spent the past two years in Gurnee State Prison for aggravated robbery while Sophie spent a year in a woman’s prison for accessory charges.  Neither of them know how link their lives are.

From their brief meeting outside their PO’s office, both Grant and Sophie are drawn to each other.  But it’s not until Grant offers Sophie a supportive hug and helps her find a job that they really take the time to talk to one another.  Agreeing not to talk about what landed them in jail or who they were in the past, they set out to get to know one another.

Grant is the youngest son to Mafia Godfather, Vincenzo (Enzo) Barberi.  The man was an abusive drunk who terrorize Grant, his older brother Logan and their mother.   While their mother was able to get them to the safety of her brother, Joe Marsden, it wasn’t soon enough.  Logan ran back to the only family he’s ever know…that of his uncle Angelo, Enzo’s younger brother.  While Joe did what he could to save Grant from the Barberi influences, Logan embraces the “families” line of work.   Unfortunately, Logan embraced it a little too well and that ultimately led him to the doorstep of new psychologist, Dr. Sophie Taylor.

Sophie crossed a professional line when comforting her client, Logan, turned into a sexual relationship.  She knew it was wrong, but she was confident she could help Logan deal with the abuse he suffered at the hands of his abusive father and the guilt he felt when he couldn’t protect his little brother.  She thought Logan cared for her too, but when she’s arrested by the police, he leaves her high and dry to take the blame.

As Sophie and Grant’s romance heats up, their tie to Logan Barberi rears it’s ugly head and both of their pasts start to catch up with them.  With Grant’s family after both of them, can they manage to outrun the mafia while staying out of prison?

This book is an emotional roller coaster.  I swear, if there was a real Grant Marsden I would have to run up to the poor man and give him a huge, comforting embrace.  Grant was one of the most emotionally gut-wrenching heroes I have ever read.  The trauma this poor man has suffered at the hands of not only his father, but also his brother, is horrifying.  He’s a sweet, lovable man that breaks your heart every time he has to relive one of those awful moments with his family.  Thankful he’s met Sophie, who’s more than capable of dealing with Grant and his issues.

Sophie was groomed to work with her father in his construction business.  So when she choose to study psychology instead, her domineering father casts her out on her own.  After her conviction, she’s convinced her father hates her, not only for falling into trouble because of Logan Barberi, but because she caused the death of her mother.  The woman was very good at covering up her lack of self-esteem.  She took fault and blame for everything that went wrong and didn’t trust her judgement in men.  But McSailor (Grant’s nickname) changed all that and showed Sophie that good men protect those that they love.

This book will rip your heart out for our hero and heroine while providing an excellent intrigue storyline with Grant’s mafia family and what they’re involved in.  Have a tissue handy….you’re going to need it!

Grant Madsen’s got issues. He’s still battling his Mafia family and doing everything possible to keep his loved ones safe. With the cruising season coming to an end, he has to find another job soon or he’ll rejoin his father in prison. And he’s trying to convince his rebellious teenage nephew to stay away from their criminal relatives (you can imagine how that’s going). But worst of all, Grant’s parole officer has mandated that he attend therapy.

The only saving grace is that they’re couples sessions with his girlfriend, Sophie Taylor, a fellow parolee who’s struggling with a few issues of her own. Sophie desperately hopes her past with Grant’s brother won’t destroy her future with him. There’s a sleazy professor at work who revels in sexually harassing women in the psychology department. And her father still hates Grant.

Their psychologist has his work cut out for him.

When Grant’s ruthless father hints at a plot to get out of prison, Grant must use everything he’s learned in therapy and beyond to try to stop him. It’s a race against time — and a race to rescue Sophie from the Mafia’s clutches once again. But this time McSailor and Bonnie refuse to play victims. This time the cuffs are coming off.

The second book in the CONduct series picks up shortly after the first.  Sophie is still recovering from cousin Carlo’s attack while preparing to start her teaching position at DePaul.  Grant, still reeling from the torment his family put Sophie through, dealing with the death of his brother and the prospect of finding a new job,  really doesn’t want to participate in the couple’s therapy sessions their PO has assigned.  

But therapy is what Sophie and Grant embark on with Dr. Hunter Hayes.  Hunter was working with Sophie when she was first released, but he agrees to take on the couple against his better judgement.  He knows right away that things with this couple are not going to be easy.  He was right.

Grant’s nightmares are bad and with therapy, things seem to get worse.  Reliving the nightmare he lived through and knowing that the woman he loves knows all his dirty little secrets is almost too much for him.  And when Grant learns exactly what kind of relationship Sophie had with his brother, Logan, Grant snaps.


But Grant’s not the only one needing to deal with issues.  Sophie’s dealing with her tenuous relationship with her father and trying to figure out what her professional life is going to be like now that she’s teaching about psychology instead of practicing it.  Plus there’s her ex-professor/crush who she now works with and makes her feel inferior.

While Grant and Sophie have their own individual issues to deal with, they also need to help Grant’s nephew Ben.  Grant’s determined to make sure Ben doesn’t fall into the family business, but Ben’s not fully engaged in his clean-cut lifestyle.


But as Grant and Sophie make strides in strengthening themselves and their relationship, old foes resurface and put our couple right in path of trouble.  Can they finally stop the Barberi’s and live happily ever after?


Sophie and Grant are as cute as ever in this addition to the series, but they both face some real hardships in their relationship.  Through their counseling sessions they both learn they have their own set of issues that need to be worked on in order to ensure their relationship will be strong.  It was very interesting to “watch” them work through those issues and get to the place where they can actually address those that caused the brunt of their issues.


The continued Barberi story was interesting and we get to witness Enzo Barberi first hand and how the man can still terrorize his thirty year old son….even from behind bars.  My only complaint would be what happened to Enzo and the rest of the Barberi family after the events that happened at the end of the book.  Maybe we’ll get more of that in the third book in the series.
  
While not quite as heartbreaking as “With Good Behavior” but it was nice to see a good therapist help Grant and Sophie deal with their issues and work towards being healthier individuals and creating that strong, lasting, loving relationship.  


Can’t wait for book 3.

Giveaway
As part of the blog tour, we’re giving away (winner’s choice) an ebook copy of With Good Behavior or Bad Behavior.  To enter the giveaway, complete the Rafflecopter below and then leave a comment about which book you’d like.  The winner will be chosen, at random, on December 11th.

Grand Prize Drawing
There is also a tour wide grand prize of a $25 Amazon or Barnes & Noble gift card that will be given out. To enter the Grand Prize leave a comment to each post within the tour (link to the tour schedule is below).  The winner will be chosen, at random, at the end of the tour from the pool of commentors from all tour stops.

Powered by Linky Tools
Click here to view The Conduct Series Tour Schedule…

<a href=”http://rafl.es/enable-js”>You need javascript enabled to see this giveaway</a>.