After the third book in the Birmingham Rebels series came out I was hesitant to even read the fourth book in this series. However, my faith has been renewed with Misconduct. This story was amazing and I couldn’t be happier that I got this series early.

Tom Kelly discovered he was bisexual during the first book in this series after helping a friend. Now a couple months later after months of promiscuous sex with men and women, he wants to start getting serious with someone(s). His roommate Danny and Carmina a girl he recently met but is falling for rapidly are top on his list of people he wants. Carmina was injured in the line of duty overseas with Sam and now has a brain injury that gives her speech trouble. She has an instant attraction to both Tom and Danny, but after one hot time in the shower together Danny doesn’t want anything to do with Carmina. Danny lives in denial about what he feels for Tom and Carmina since he doesn’t want to want them and he harbors too much guilt and anger over what happened to his best friend.

I loved Misconduct. First, off the issue I had with the last story was that there wasn’t much story and too much sex. Misconduct did not suffer from this issue at all. The whole story was fantastic. There was football, training, character development, and of course super hot sexy scenes. I enjoyed every waking minute of this story. The pacing was just right and I read this in one sitting.

Tom Kelly is a young football player who discovered he was bisexual and went on a sex spree. After having been with one girl his whole life, he felt it was time to let loose a little. I loved Tom’s character. He’s mostly laid back, but during the sexy times, he was completely dominant in all areas. Yum. I enjoyed reading about how he changed and grew throughout the story. I love how he was with Carmina and Danny and how they were with him. Carmina struggled a lot with pretty much everything since she got out of the service. She can’t have an orgasm, she had trouble speaking again, and she lost her family due to pressure from them to get better fast. Danny had a lot of struggles with anger and letting go of the past.

So much fun with this story. I enjoyed it from start to finish.

This is my first book by this author and I have found another one to follow. i will definitely be backing up to read the previous books in this series. This book was so hot and there was so much more going on. These three were just amazing, I loved all of them. I loved how they all had some inner demons to fight and with the help of each other they were able to overcome and come out stronger. This was an amazing book and I can't wait for more.

Misconduct is book four in the Birmingham Rebels series. It can be read as a standalone. Each book focuses on a different group. This one is Tom, Danny, and Carmina story. Danny and Tom are football players. Carmina is best friend's with Sam (who is also a football player). Carmina is struggling after a traumatic tour in Afghanistan. She's suffered a brain injury. She has her struggles but she's rebuilding her life. She's a really likable character. Tom is a sexy football player. He has no problem finding men or women to hook up with. He likes Carmina. He's nice and sweet with her. Danny struggles with what he wants sexually. He also struggles with his past too. Danny did some things that surprised me a bit. I wasn't sure where his head was at sometimes. I was rooting for all of them to get on the same page. I really liked this one.

The hotness continues! We finally get Danny and Tom's story. We know Danny has definite anger issues. Now he's working through feelings he doesn't know how to articulate much less determine if it's what he wants. We briefly met Carmina when she's introduced as Sam's best friend. She has her own issues stemming from the war and is wary of taking on a relationship. maybe these three were meant to heal each other.

I’ve always enjoyed the Birmingham Rebels series and this story was good once it got going. I was a little baffled by Tom’s description of “forbidden” referencing his bi-sexual preferences, especially in this day and age. I can only surmised it was regarding him being a famous football player and the stereotype that is portrayed by buff, hard-bodied athletes.

That said, the storyline was interesting and followed a similar path to previous books in the series with these tough guys finding their sexual groove, and the right partners to have a future with.

I enjoyed this book far more than I expected to! I love the depth that the author gave all the characters which is something not always done in these types of books. I felt the attraction Carmina had with both Tom and Danny as well as the closeness that Tom and Danny had for each other.

There were a couple sticking points that prevented me from giving this book 5 stars. First, there was no real reaction from anyone on the relationship these three had. No one reacts or even blinks an eye. I wanted Sam's reaction especially given how picky he was about who from the team she should get involved with. But it was as if he disappeared from the story except for a random phone call. Second, there were far too many triad relationships on one football team. I mean, the probably of there being one triad relationship on a football team is rare enough but to have 3? Plus several team members engaging in group sex with members of the same sex? It just seemed unrealistic.

That said, I enjoyed reading this story. I appreciated Carmina's back story and the struggles she had as it related to not just TBI but also PTSD. I appreciated the struggle each felt with the attraction they felt for each other especially as it went beyond society's norms.
**

I hadn't read any of the other books in the series but thankfully, that wasn't needed as the book pretty much brushed on anything you needed to know about the previous books.

I really loved how the M/M/F relationship was done here. All three people in the relationship were separate from each other, with their own hopes and fears regarding the relationship. It wasn't like the focus on Tom/Carmina together, it was Tom/Carmina, Carmina/Danny and Tom/Danny because they all had to work out how to relate to each other in different ways because they were different people. I liked how there were several female characters in this book and they were all different people, despite the book was centred around a football team. I really liked how the ending climax scene ended because it would have felt wrong if Danny had carried out what he wanted to do.

However, there were several things which made my skin itch and so I wouldn't be able to wholeheartedly rec this book because of that.
Tom's bisexuality- Tom came across as someone who would miss fucking men too much to be a monogamous relationship with a woman and considering he's a bi character, that came across as really skeevy.
The way race is handled- I'm not American so some of the stereotypes, especially of Puerto Rican people, sometimes pass me by but when Carmina was described as the fiery Puerto Rican girl (or something similar) and Danny, in the next sentence, as 'the sexist black man', I winced. Like, it really wasn't needed to mention what race they were there and it came across as fetishising.
Danny saying no- I get what Kane was going for with that scene. She was trying to show that Danny wasn't letting admitting to himself what he did want because he saw it as messed up and Tom was helping him push through that barrier in his mind. However, it came across not like that. When Danny says 'don't' and 'stop' several times and Tom keeps going, it made several warning bells go in my head. Later the narrative tried to justify it by Tom thinking that Danny could throw him off if he really didn't want Tom on top of him because he was stronger than Tom and I wanted to point out that Danny might not do that because he would be afraid of hurting Tom, considering Tom is his best friend and all. Then later, Tom joked that Danny was saying no but his body was saying yes and solidified my complete dislike of that scene.

I did like this book but because of the problems mentioned above, I cannot recommend it and I won't be continuing with the rest of the series.

I always knew Carmina de la Cruz was going to be an emotional character for me to read just from her introduction in the previous book. And although I will say that it was emotional, Samantha Kane did a fantastic job seamlessly weaving her past in with her present. She also highlighted what it was like to be a combat veteran in a way that I haven't read before, and I applaud her for doing this so well without losing sight of the romance elements. That takes talent and it's something that I've come to love about Kane's writing.

So I was surprised by some of the events in this book, but I was so proud of Carmina going after what she wanted after struggling for so long. And Tom...oh Tom is just such a sweetheart of a guy and I just wanted to hug that man for all of his sensitivity to not only Carmina, but also Danny as well. I will admit that I thought he and Carmina were a perfect couple, but I did feel that Danny was a bit forced into the situation and didn't quite fit in right after that shower scene. Thankfully that feeling quickly dissipated though towards the end of the book, and these three characters really worked well for me as a menage relationship because they balanced one another so well.

This series from Kane has been exactly as I have expected from her writing. It has a perfect balance of emotion, action, romance, and steam that you just can't help but love it. I will caution that you should read the series in order and that this book is better read along with the others. Not that it detracts from the book to read it alone, but more so you will understand the characters a bit more. So with all that said, this is a definite read for all those football loving menage readers out there.

I love Samantha Kane and her Birmingham series is awesome. She writes wonderful characters that are well developed. I loved this story and look forward to more stories from this author.

I love a good sports romance and although I haven't read any other books in the Birmingham Rebels series, I was able to get into the story after a couple of chapters. I like the female lead, Carmina and the polyamorous relationship that unfolds between her, Tom and Danny. I have read quite a few books that feature this kind of relationship but I did feel a bit disturbed that male gay sex (for Tom's character) was described in one part as 'forbidden' when in fact it's just sex between consenting adults. That said, I did quite enjoy the book and how the relationship unfolded between the three characters, it had enough of a slow burn and the characters back stories were believable and had enough depth to keep me interested.

I've been a Birmingham Rebels fan since book 1, Broken Play. And I love getting lost in their world. We've seen glimpses of Danny and Tom throughout the other books, but I really enjoyed finally getting their stories! Tom has always been a good guy. The boy next door, with newly found sexual desires and temptations. He finds himself attracted to Carmina, but never acted on that desire. Danny, on the other hand, has found himself in trouble in the past and he's a part of the Rebels for a reason. He's trying to move past that part of his life but hasn't quite overcome the trauma and the anger he has held onto. Tom has been a good friend to him and a good roommate. They understand each other. They also shared an experience with a few other people to help Marian overcome her trauma. It was unexpected for Danny and he couldn't talk or think about what happened.
Carmina is trying to get her life back to "normal". She wants to date and be treated like a woman, not someone overcoming a traumatic experience and dealing with a head injury. She has had Sam as her protector, but she wants to spread her wings. Tom is safe and a comfortable choice for her. He helps her when he learns about a problem she has.
I enjoyed the ease Tom and Carmina have with each other and loved how sweet he was with her. Then the sexual tension between Carmina and Danny had been building. And whew! H-O-T-T! When heat up between them, they are scorching. Danny has to face what he didn't want to acknowledge and even though it's an atypical relationship (for most, not others on the Rebels team), it works for them. I was sucked into this book and enjoyed their story and their love for one another. If MFM isn't your thing, then skip this book, but Samantha Kane writes in such a wonderful way that she may change your mind. She makes the reader feel for her characters and let's that slow burn happen. Great series and I really enjoyed this read!

I was pleasantly surprised by Misconduct. I was expecting a book that started and ended with sex. Not only was the sex sparsely handed up in the book but the sex scenes were beautifully written. I have read several ménage books where everyone was just like “group sex/sex with a man. Let’s do it”. Instead, she had Danny teetering on the edge of wanting to do it and at the same time not wanting to. I loved it because when it finally does happen (both the group sex and sex with Tom), it was explosive.

I really liked that while the sex was part of the book, the author chose to focus on the characters and their different issues instead just having them have sex all the time. Carmina was a Wounded Warrior and was in therapy to help her relearn how to talk. Tom was sowing his wild oats and Danny had issues going back to college with the quarterback of another team. It was interesting to watch how the author had them work through their issues (well Tom banging everything in sight really wasn’t an issue).

Carmina was an interesting character to read. I will admit, that opening scene with the dildos and vibrators did make me giggle but once it was explained why she was having sexual issues, I stopped giggling. The giggling came back when she was telling Sam that she needed to have sex, to orgasm and he was pointed out who was wrong for her and she ended settling on Tom, her crush. And that first sex scene with Tom. I felt awful and honestly thought that maybe he should have stopped and not gotten off.00

I didn’t think that Danny or Tom would have ever crossed that threshold in the book (even though I knew it was going to happen). I really thought, at one point, that it would be just about Carmina and her sexual healing (sorry, had to throw that phrase in there). So when it did happen, I was a little surprised. Actually, a lot surprised.

Now, ménage books are normally not my kind of thing to read. They really just don’t do it for me but this book did, somewhat. Like I said, the author didn’t have the main characters humping their way across the book and I think that is what did it for me. For me, too much sex can be a bad thing.

The end of the book was what I expected. Not that I didn’t enjoy it, I did. It was just your typical HEA.

How many stars will I give Misconduct: 3

Why: Good book with surprisingly good plotlines. Just really couldn’t get into the characters or the sex.

Will I reread: Maybe

Will I recommend to family and friends: Maybe

Age range: Adult

Why: Sex and language

**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**

Tom, Danny and Carmina make an interesting love triangle. They all have their issues that get in the way of living their lives the way they would like. Can they overcome their issues and have a truly loving relationship or will the opinion of others and their own hangups get in the way?

The heroine, Carmina, is not only Puerto Rican, but she’s also an Afghanistan veteran, and not just a vet, but one with traumatic brain injury. Who hasn’t had an orgasm since her injury. Maybe I shouldn’t even address the heroine’s description. So just briefly, based on the fact that less than 15% of our military is female and very few of them are Puerto Rican, the percentage of THAT percentage injured in combat must be astronomically low. Of her two love interests, Tom is a white, Nebraska farm boy, and a stereotypical horndog. Danny is a black repressed submissive with anger issues.

In fiction, you can, of course, dream up any characters you want and they need not be believable. I’m just pointing out that Carmina wasn’t believable to begin with, and the three together were a ménage a trois United Nations. Only with more issues. It was like trying to build a ‘perfect’ sundae – start with two scoops of ice cream, add some fudge sauce, oh hey how about a handful of nuts, a couple of maraschino cherries, hmm, maybe some marshmallow sauce… and eventually it’s just way too much. 2/5 stars for characters.

Random observations: You’d never know from the cover that the story will be about a ménage relationship. And I picked up a new sex word: frottage. Sounds classier than it is. ;).

Warning: The sex is explicit, not for those who blush easily. This straddles the line between erotica and romance. Sex scenes (I counted four, maybe five) are HOT and really well written. Very mild dom/sub. M/F/M, M/F, M/M. 5/5 stars.

For you sports fans, there’s only one play-by-play ball game in the book, a real nail biter, right at the end. The plot was okay, but revolved heavily around Carmina’s damagedness. All the references to people and events from previous Rebels books make the plot a little hard to follow, though it does work okay as a standalone. My recommendation: read the series in order . 3.5/5 for plot.

Misconduct is the first book I've read in this series and the first book I've read from this author. I'm a little hesitant when it comes to m/f/m type reads because not ever author writes the story in a way I enjoy. This story had parts I liked and disliked but nothing that completely turned me off of this story. Tom and Danny both wanted Carmina;, there was no doubt about that but when it came to Tom and Danny, I felt as if Tom pushed Danny a little too much. It seemed as if Tom pushed Danny to come out sooner than he was ready even though, Danny wanted both of them. I wished somewhere in the story it was Danny's decision to come out instead of feeling pressured. Overall, I liked the characters and the storyline and I enjoyed quite a few laughs while reading this story. I absolutely loved that Tom wouldn't change anything about himself for anyone. He was confident and when he cared about someone he did things to make they happy in his own twisted way sometimes. I'm glad I gave this book a try because it was really good. I would read more books from this author in the future.

This book, like the others by this author, is just hot hot hot. I felt for Carmina and what she had been through. I loved that these two guys wanted her with such a passion.
I voluntarily reviewed an advanced reader copy of this book provided by NetGalley.

We met this couple in the last couple of books and got to partially know them there, but really got to know their past and everything here. Three individuals, all with different issues, that learn that together they are perfect together. Though their relationship is controversial and will take work, they are better together, and help heal one another. This was an enjoyably, hot read. It is an enjoyable addition to an entertaining series. I hope we get Nigel's story.
I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book.

This Birmingham Rebels series just keeps getting better and better! The plot is intriguing, the writing impressive, and the characters just jump right off the page! I've really come to love these characters. They're so original, authentic, and honest, and they completely draw you into the story and you just can't help but become invested in their lives. After that, rooting for them just becomes second nature. This particular story of Tom, Danny, and Carmina really hit home for me. Three people who need each other more than they know and a true testament to the healing power of true love. This book was impassioned and insightful, seductive and romantic, enchanting and enthralling, and absolutely riveting. I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a sweet, sexy, and compelling read.

Another great entry in the Birmingham Rebels series! Loved the story of Carmina regaining her life after a life-altering event. Emotional, funny, and hot all at the same time.