Ah this one had some of my favorite tropes and micro tropes but just really missed the mark. There were so many characters that the main characters felt overshadowed most of the time, the writing was missing it for me and felt like I barely got the characters truly interacting to build the story. I couldn’t get through it past the 40% mark and really wished some of the small things were shaped more, as there is a lot of potential.

I loved this book so much! It started off serious and sad but it went on to be a super wholesome book! Lars has always loved his best friend and couldn’t find a way to tell him. The way he hid his emotions was frustrating in the best way possible. I loved how they got together and how they always stood up for eachother! It was a lovely book but it was hard to get into. There was also lots of people and backstories that were really confusing. But and I totally reccommend it to anyone who loves hockey MM romance books!

Want to start by saying this is my first book from Heather Leighson. 
So I was overwhelmed by the amount of side characters, it was written like I should have know who they were and it clued me into the fact that I might be missing some early books that I should have read before.
Did it take away from the story ? Not really but being confused for the first 20% of a short book is not fun.
Once I could get into the story I really liked it, Dylon and Lars were so sweet and deserved each other in the best way.

This is my first read from the author, but I already want more. Right from the beginning it alreasy set the tone of two people struggling but devoted with one another. Reading how Lars helped Dylon face his internal demons and work through everything was so touching. This read really squeezed at my heart with their interactions! I already want to reread this, it's definitely making my love for hockey romance really grow!

A scorching romance with undeniable tension, Misconduct Zone delivers steam, sass, and emotional depth. The chemistry between the characters is off the charts, fueled by endless flirting and dirty talk. But beyond the heat, the story tackles real struggles, including past traumas and alcoholism, adding weight to the romance. An addictive, emotional, and fiery read that will have you hooked from start to finish!

I lovedddddd this book. Such a gorgeous MM sports romance.

It does deal with addiction and sobriety so please check the triggers if this book sounds of interest to you.

The ARC between our two MMC's is gorgeous, I liked the writing and the spice was perfect.

I found it quite easy to read. Highly recommend check this one out.

3.5-3.75 ⭐

Tropes:
🏒teammates to lovers
🏒bi-awakening
🏒hurt x comfort
🏒forbidden romance
🏒addiction recovery

After overdosing on pills, Lars vowed to take care and support Dylon through his recovery, despite being in love with him for pretty much forever. With Dylon back this season to play hockey and back on their line together, can the two of them maintain their friendship, Dylon's recovery, and their budding relationship. The two of them were so cute with exploring their relationship and I love how Lars was happy to go at Dylon's place while he was comfortable and how he stood by his side through it all.

The book was a bit of a slow start for me, but overall I really enjoyed the story. I think it had a good representation of the difficulties of recovery, especially with people that don't take the recovery seriously. There were a lot of characters that were introduced, which I think sets Heather up well for the rest of this universe and I'm excited to see what comes next!

This is a cute friends to lovers hockey book, but was just missing a little something to me. Still a read I would recommend, depending on what people are looking for!

This isn't a typical golden retriever/black cat, more like a golden retriever/scared cat a bit, but still loved that energy! Dylon and Lars were a great duo that moved from friendship to a relationship, and I do think their progression made sense and felt accurate. They were a good pair and I was happy to be along for the ride as they figured things out.

There is a bit of addiction rep in here, which I was glad to see woven throughout the book. It was an important part of the character and we got to see how it affected him, his surroundings, and his family. With it being dual POV, it was great seeing both aspects of it - how it affected the MC and how it affected the LI, one who was addicted and one who was there through some of the worst of it and helped him through it overall.

This was my first Heather Leighson book and it sounds like there are a bunch of characters that overlap with a previous series. I'm definitely interested in reading more, but at times felt like I was missing important parts of them and the couples. I was a bit lost in the beginning because I felt like I should know more than I actually did. I'm open to reading the others, but did feel like it was a bit hard to jump in here, even though it's the start of a series.

Overall, it was an enjoyable read, but I think it is best read in order of publication date for the author, as you'll be up to date on the couples and really see the full picture.

Thank you to HL Books Co and NetGalley for this E-Arc. All opinions are my own.

This is my first book by Mx. Leighson, and its the first book in the Enforcer series. I went into this book excited to step into a new world, but honestly it kind of felt like being dropped in the middle of a marathon walking. This is a standalone and the first in it's series but heavily interconnected with the "Unframed Art Series" and has a free prequel that half way through the book I picked up to get a better understanding of what was going on. I had a difficult time and felt like i was playing catch up with the book having so many characters and their established relationships.

Overall I did enjoy the story and appreciated both Lucky's and Lar's journey into their relationship. Their banter was funny and the hockey/team dynamics was fun. I appreciate the fact that they both were open towards the end to a degree of their fears and actions they take to address them. With that being said I give this book a solid 3. The spice was nice, the main MCs were engaging but I felt that i didn't connect with the writing style and had a difficult time with being dropped in the middle of this universe.

I understand that this is the author’s first foray into hockey romances but the hockey was severely lacking in this story. Instead, this reads like a melodrama in which the characters happen to be hockey players but could be anything else.
I’m not a big fan of over dramatic stories and right from the start, that was the vibe I got. Also the writing style is not my favorite. It’s choppy and too fast paced but then it drags on when you want it to pick up the pace. It felt like reading fanfiction tbh (and not a good one)

Misconduct Zone by Heather Leighson is an instant tbr addition for readers who love friends to lovers and/or golden retriever/black cat tropes. I was immediately rooting for Dylon while hoping Lars would get everything he was pining for! When I sat down to read Misconduct Zone for the first time I was engrossed and read 30 percent in one sitting. Don’t miss this hockey romance!

3.5 stars

Lars and Dylon's love story was a rollercoaster. It was full of complicated feels and emotional turmoil. It was slow burn with many layers of love. It's my first book by the author and I enjoyed it.

🏒 what to expect🏒
* sports romance/ hockey romance
* friends to lovers
* forced proximity/ roommate to lovers
* MM romance
* forbidden romance ( teammates)
* trigger warning - addiction, h0m0phobia
* super spicy
* bi Awakening

Enforcers star player Dylon Felix was saved by his best friend Lars when he overdosed on painkillers after his injury. Lars took care of him even after that and was a strong support through the rehabilitation. He is determined to be his best for the team and his new attraction for Lars is confusing him. The truth is Lars wanted him for a long time but thought Dylon is straight. A lot is at stake. Dylon's recovery. The media perception. Though their team is so supportive.


Lars and Dylon both had issues. Lars had heartbreak before and he is unsure if Dylon won't break his heart again. He is a big man but a softie inside. He loves Dylon so much. He stayed by Dylon's side through some dark time but his heart is scared of getting hurt. He is a bit brooding and silently loving one. On the other hand, Dylon was the life of the team before the injury. He has a boisterous personality. He loves to have fun but the near death experience changed him. His family isn't a good one and the toxicity can take toll on him. His new found sexuality was an adjustment too. But he knew that he cannot live without Lars. His heart was at a constant battle with his demons. That's why he acted like a fool sometimes & hurt Lars but his love guided him. Their freinds and teammates were such positive forces. They faced everything together and finally found their happily ever after. Their chemistry was insane. The dirty talk, the forbidden tension, the filthy times.. all were on point.

I had a bit difficulty getting into the book because it started at Dylon's overdose and I felt like I missed their initial bonding. There are a lot of secondary characters and I was confused so many times. The focus was getting lost in the crowd of the other people. But the author really brought all the pieces together towards the end when the emotions were raw and beautiful.

I reviewed an early copy voluntarily

When I first started this ARC I had trouble getting into it because I felt some stuff was missing for a first book in a series. Ofcourse I went to look if there were any other books that played in this universe. And it did. This series has a prequel 'truth zone' wich happens to be free if you join the author's newsletter.
I read the prequel and after that I restarted this book wich ofcourse made it way easier to get into the story.

I really enjoyed reading Misconduct Zone. I love hockey romances and this one delivered cute moments aswell as talk about some serious stuff like addiction, toxic family,...
It was a quick read and I just really liked the chemistery between our main charachters Lars and Dylon.
Misconduct zone is a,
- friends to lovers -no breakup - possesive MMC
-golden retriever\black cat
,book and the author delivered these tropes perfectly for me.
The smut was also very good, those two could not stop touching eachother! You could feel that their affection and love was sincere from pretty much the start.

As someone who has a friend that went to rehab for addiction, I personally found it nice that the author didn´t go over this swiftly and that she portraited the fact that going clean isn´t easy and has some challenges, for the person itself aswell as the people around them.
As a reader that gets attached to the charachters I read about, I´m proud of dylon to get through it with the help of Lars. I feel that together, they can conquer the world.

Overall I really liked this story and I´m defenitly exited to read more of this series once the second book is written. Thank you again, Heather Leighson and Netgally for the chance to be an ARC reader for this masterpiece.

I liked this book. Specifically the beginning parts of it.
It’s friends-to-lovers and while this is not my favorite trope, I enjoyed the book for the most part.
The MC who thought he was initially straight acknowledged his attraction to his friend early on. It was not dragged out. I appreciated that about this book.
I also liked that the book touched on important topics like: addiction, sobriety, toxic family dynamics, and the concept of having to “come out” in a world where people see heterosexuality as the default.

I liked how Dylon was able to eventually do right by himself and his mental wellbeing. Especially where his family is concerned.

The reason this book isn’t rated higher is because of the writing. I struggled with it because a lot of things(emotions, actions, thought processes) felt a bit repetitive. It felt like I was reading the same thing over and over(with a little remix of words here and there).

The plot point of them worrying about the backlash and reactions of the public to their relationship is not a new concept in sports mm romance. It is valid and I’m sure is a reality for couples in real life.

However, I feel I would have loved it a lot more if the entire book wasn’t just about their constant worry.

If there was more on-page scenes of them just being a couple(even if it was secret), more dates(whether indoors), with them talking about other things, I might have rated this higher.

Regardless, I still liked the book. And I would recommend. Especially if you’re new to mm romance books.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an ARC of this book.

Overall it's a great friends to lovers sport romance. It was sweet and quick read. But also it deals with rather serious topics such as addiction, overdose, toxic family, emotionally abusive parents. So you might want to check out trigger warnings for it.
After reading the synopsis I was so ready for all the tension, ready for Dylon and Lars pinning for each other. But I feel like they got together way too soon. I just needed more of all that tension. And before I got enough of it, it all became sugar coma level of sweetens.
One more thing - I am not a huge fan of misunderstandings and/or someone assuming things without actually talking it out. I can see where it came from, but it's just my least favorite as it comes to reasons of some sort of conflicts.
After everything I said, i still found it very enjoyable read.
3.5 rounded to 4 ✨

The beginning was slow to get through because I didn't know all the already established couples. I haven't read this authors other series so I was a bit lost because of that. Once I kind of got into the story, everything definitely picked up for me. I loved Lars and Dylon together once they got past all their issues and opened up. I'm curious about book two and will be picking it up.

I appreciated that this book highlighted addiction recovery in a realistic way. It’s not an easy road. I also appreciated the demisexual representation as it doesn't happen enough in books and also really liked that they had to seriously think about homophobia in hockey. I struggled with the writing though, there was telling rather than showing happening at time I.e the therapist scene, and so I found it difficult to really connect to the story. I didn’t realise this was a spin off series either because there are characters in here I felt I should’ve known already but as I didn’t it came across like I was missing something.

This was a fantastic story, I really enjoyed it! Dylon and Lars were so cute together, and their friendship and chemistry were amazing. I loved how they both struggled internally, grappling with their attraction while fearing it might jeopardize their bond. Seeing them finally open up to each other and watching their relationship grow was so rewarding.

I think this story was a cute idea but the way it was written really threw me off and I couldn't get sucked into it. It was super rushed for me and the skipping of time threw me off.
I'm sorry

Misconduct Zone by Heather Leighson features two hockey players who are teammates, roommates, and best friends, one who is in recovery from an overdose as they fall in love and deal with the repercussions of their past impacting their futures. While this is technically the first book in the series, there were too many characters from the author's previous series to fully appreciate those characters if you hadn't read those books as references were made to those books a lot. Focusing on just this book though, So much pining, so much angst. Which to be honest is really enjoyable for me. There's even some hurt/comfort. While slightly predictable in some of the tropes the pining really did it for me and made it really enjoyable and worth a read.