Joelle Babula’s debut novel "Infidelity Rules" is — yes! — a captivating read and a delicious, upbeat escape, but it is even more. Its engaging and iconoclastic protagonist breaks the rules with her unexpected depth of interiority that expands the sometimes-breezy genre of romance novels. Well-drawn characters, lots of humor, and insights into relationships and infidelity make this story come alive.

A six-foot-tall leggy redhead, Quinn Davis works as a sommelier at Persimmon Restaurant in Washington, D.C. In her personal life, she is resolute in her decision to only date married men, but with a strong caveat: they must be unhappily married, and dads with young kids are off limits. All she wants is a simple life, with relationships she can “easily shimmy out of.” Otherwise? “Marriages can often float along for years on a subterranean river of resentment, guilt and god only knows what else. It’s too complicated. And I don’t want my life to be.”

Along comes New-York-based pilot Marcus, who is hot and charming, “at least a head taller than anyone else around with broad shoulders, sculpted arms and a gorgeous statue-of-David ass.” It’s not clear that he’s married, but what is clear is their insane attraction to each other. Since he regularly flies in and out of Dulles Airport, he shows up often at Quinn’s restaurant, especially after meeting her. Quinn makes herself focus on another new man who is clearly married and “still just dipping his toes into the waters of adultery,” even as her attraction to Marcus overwhelms her. Yet there is no way Quinn would get involved with a single man, right? Or is Marcus single?

Behind all this, as we learn early on, Quinn’s heart is battered. She’s been fiancée to a man she adored who dumped her days before the wedding. Then she married a sweet man she tried to love, but that ended in divorce and loads of guilt on her part. As her new dating adventures unfold, Quinn relies heavily on her outspoken journalist brother Alex and her generous best friend Dezi for support and advice. The level-headed bartender Julian helps her, too, as a sounding board and for finessing the logistics of juggling her men. He may be the most generous of the bunch, with his view that “it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks.”

Alex urges Quinn to get over “this notion that marriage strangles romance and kills love.” Quinn couldn’t disagree more. Then, as bad luck would have it, Dezi’s new boyfriend Elliott has a sister whose “worthless prick of a husband,” as Elliott describes him, has cheated on her and torn up the family. Dezi stresses over what would happen if Elliott were to find out about Quinn’s proclivities. Would Dezi be forced to choose between Elliott and Quinn?

That seems increasingly possible to Quinn as she wonders how she can possibly resist falling for a man who “transforms the molecules in my air space. And … makes them dance.” It only gets messier (and juicier!) when the wives of the married men make themselves known and threaten everything.

A cautionary note: reading this book while hungry may lead to some serious snacking. Babula’s lavish descriptions of food rival those written by those in the food industry.

Here are a few samples. “Shatteringly crisp soft-shell [crab] sandwich slathered in homemade lemon mayonnaise … Glistening, fat cherries. Crisp, tart tomatillos. Candied bits of citrus peel. And green olives, oozing with creamy blue cheese.” Quinn describes wine with the same specificity. Her favorite is a fancy French red wine called Chateau La Conseillante from the Pomerol region of Bordeaux, with “that classic nose of violets, licorice and truffles indicative of the chateau’s terroir.”

"Infidelity Rules" leaves a lasting impression with Quinn’s self-confident yet vulnerable first-person voice. Her tone injects a satisfying depth into what pushes a beautiful single woman to go after unhappily married men. Until Quinn finally decides what she can give up and what she must have, all we know is that her happy ending could go so many ways. And that makes for an exciting read.