In Jazz Age Chicago, Dot Rodgers sells hats at Marshall Field while struggling to get her singing career off the ground. Independent and feisty, she's the life of the party. But underneath the glitter, she doesn't believe she's worth the love of a good man. Why would a strong, upstanding man want to build a future with a shallow, good-time girl like her?

Ain’t Misbehavin’ transports you back to the 1920’s from the first page. It is here that you meet Dot Rodgers, a former speakeasy singer who currently works in the millinery department at Marshall Fields. She is getting ready to attend a New Year’s Eve party with her straight-as-an-arrow boyfriend, Charlie Corrigan. Charlie lives with his parents and helps run the family dry goods store.

Their relationship goes through some rocky times as the story progresses. We meet many friends and family who impact the romance in surprising ways.

Is it possible for Dot to reclaim the faith she lost knowing that her preacher father is scamming believers into helping fund his ministry? Charlie certainly does his best to encourage her to try.

Ms. Leo stays true to the era by using popular slang of the day and tying the story to the financial times. Business is great until the stock market crash in 1929. How do Charlie and Dot weather this era?

We are, of course, looking at a romance and anticipate a “happily ever after.” This does happen, but I felt it came about a little too quickly – as if the story needed to be finished to make a deadline. However, it did not keep me from my overall enjoyment of the book.

I received an advance copy of Ain’t Misbehavin’ from Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas. My review is voluntary, and all opinions are my own. ( )

Ain't Misbehavin’ by Jennifer Lamont Leo is the bee’s knees! I just had so much fun reading this book about the Jazz Age and the Roaring Twenties. The cover is what first attracted me and the story is just as good!

Ain't Misbehavin’ is the second book in the Roaring Twenties series but can definitely be read as a standalone. The writing is superb. Ms. Leo immediately transports the reader to the Jazz Age. I love the phrases and words she uses that are reminiscent of the period (dapper, spiffy, the bee’s knees). Don’t those words just put a smile on your face? The author has such a grasp of the period and it’s evident in her writing.

The characters in the story are swell! We have our former good time girl, Dot, who used to hang out with the wrong crowd at the wrong places. Charlie, our hero, is a sweet man from a small town. The two are as different as can be. At first, I felt Dot was rather shallow and I didn’t want Charlie to be with Dot, especially since they weren’t both Christians. But I love how the author employs a great character arc with Dot and I really grew to like her. I was even cheering her on by the end. Dot has had bad experiences with Christians and believes they are all hypocrites. I appreciate how Dot comes to realize that is not true through the love of some real Christians. Dot has to learn what real faith is.

Ain't Misbehavin’ is a fun book that will transport you to a time of flappers and speakeasies. Sit back and enjoy a well written book with some great faith themes.

Content: This is a clean read with a PG rating for some minor content. Some examples of the content are: mentions of speakeasies and booze; a dress is said to be low cut; people smoke: characters are at a party where there’s drinking and smoking; a woman is wearing a skin tight outfit; a man is smoking something stronger than tobacco; it’s said that a character curses but the word isn’t written.

Rating: I give this book 4 stars!

Genre: Christian fiction; Historical; Romance

I want to thank Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours, Jennifer Lamont Leo and Smitten Historical Romance for the complimentary copy of this book for review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I express in this review are my own. This is in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s CFR 16, Part 255. ( )

While looking for a way to get her singing career up and humming, Dot Rodgers is right in the thick of the sparkling Jazz Age in late 1920s Chicago. But she may be in a little thicker than she wants to be. Meanwhile, the small-town, Great War veteran who loves her, Charlie, is hoping his family's business--as well as his investments in the stock market--will make him the man of means a woman like Dot would go for in Ain't Misbehavin', a novel by author Jennifer Lamont Leo.

This novel has a nice take-off point, following the novel before it, You're the Cream in My Coffee. Given all that's evident or revealed about that previous story in this book, I'd highly recommend reading that novel before this one.

The covers and Roaring Twenties settings of both these novels just get me. Jazzy tunes, women's bobbed hair, "the cat's meow," and newfangled gizmos like heaters and radios built into automobiles, no less. Yowza! Besides that, some of my favorite moments in the story are away from the city's "roar," in a cozy farmhouse setting. Call me sentimental.

I came to like Dot more than I thought I would. She's flawed and makes mistakes, and she doubts herself, but she's also competent and capable when she puts her mind to things, and she's a real sweetheart without being too syrupy.

I did, however, find it hard to follow the course of her thoughts and feelings sometimes, as well as Charlie's. The two of them can go up and down pretty fast, or they jump to conclusions. While Charlie expresses some early concern for Dot's spiritual state, his actions don't really show that he considers it to be a priority. And his behavior toward the end of the book left me feeling iffy about him for other reasons, which is an unfortunate feeling at the end of a romance novel.

There's also a thread of suspense that seems to be left open-ended...

Anyhow, I could say more about what I liked in the novel, so if the Roaring Twenties series continues, or if a spin-off carries into the thirties or something, I plan to be there.
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I received a complimentary copy of this book for an honest review. ( )