Disorderly Conduct by Tessa Bailey Pages: 384
Series: The Academy #1
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Source: ARC, Edelweiss
Also in this series: Indecent Exposure
Also by this author: Thrown Down, Too Hot to Handle, Raw Redemption, Worked Up, Risking it All, Too Beautiful to Break, Follow, Indecent Exposure, Mouth to Mouth, Sink or Swim, Reborn Yesterday, It Happened One Summer, Window Shopping
Goodreads
You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone…
Police academy cadet Charlie Burns can’t believe his luck when the gorgeous blonde he meets in a bar murmurs those magic words: “Nothing serious, ’kay?” Mind-blowing, no-strings sex with Ever Carmichael—it’s the holy grail of hookups for a guy who’s too busy following in his law enforcement family’s footsteps to think about getting serious. Charlie’s all about casual…that is, until Ever calls it quits and his world tilts on its axis.
Ever knows that when you control the relationship game, you can’t get played. But for the first time, she wants more than short-term satisfaction. Step one: end her fling with commitment-phobic Charlie. Step two: sacrifice herself to the ruthless NYC dating scene. Yet everywhere she turns, there’s Charlie, being his ridiculously charming self. No online match or blind date compares to the criminally hot cop-in-training, but they’re over. Aren’t they?
If love is a four-letter-word, why does the idea of Ever seeing someone else tie Charlie up in knots? Now he’s desperate to win her back…and a little date sabotage never hurt anyone, right?
Disorderly Conduct pits 2 independent, one night stand type people against each other in a battle of wills! Will either of them admit that maybe a long term relationship is exactly what they want from the other? (I’m not so sure…these two are pretty stubborn!)
Ever’s mom, grandma, and great grandma all taught her the Mistress rules. Ever doesn’t sleep with married men like the other women in her family, but she still follows the rest of the rules because she fears getting attached and the heartbreak that comes with it. Charlie is a new recruit to the police academy and can’t believe he is able to score a no strings, sex only relationship with Ever. Then, suddenly, she calls it off. He isn’t okay with this and decides he isn’t going to take it! Game on.
Honestly, I didn’t really like either character. Ever’s ridiculous mistress rules were degrading and offensive. Charlie is your classic, trite manwhore character that, frankly, I am over at this point. So, the book didn’t start off so well in my opinion. Then her mother visits and, in Ever’s words, gives her a glimpse of the ‘ghost of mistresses future’ and begs her to give relationships a shot. So, knowing Charlie doesn’t want a relationship, she ends it.
I understand why both Charlie and Ever are so anti-relationship. Their entire lives have been a lesson in why it is bad. They are both still young in the story (early 20’s), so their blind allegiance to the teachings is understandable. Frustrating? Yes. But, I reminded myself they are young and a product of their environment. I was happy to see Charlie begin to change his mind a bit. His little visions of life in a relationship with Ever made me see he was capable of change. My fear was that he would sabotage her dates so he could get her back as a fuck buddy which would have been so messed up. But, he does grow and change so I could root for him (even when I wanted to knock their heads together for being so stubborn! A simple conversation could have ended this whole charade!).
If immature characters get under your skin, you might want to skip Disorderly Conduct. I liked that both of them experienced character growth, and as long as I kept reminding myself they are young, their behavior and actions were ‘more’ understandable (I won’t stay I understood them totally because I’m old, but if I think back to 21 year old me, I probably would have done some of this stupid shit too). You have to take this book with the same level of levity as you would a college romance. The characters are not perfect; they are young and make some dumb decisions. Once I kind of beat that into my head, I was able to enjoy the story. Its kind of funny to watch Charlie come up with ways to sabotage Ever’s dates!
- POV: dual 1st
- Tears: no
- Trope: manwhore,
- Triggers: none
- Series/Standalone: stand alone
- Cliffhanger: View Spoiler »
- HEA: View Spoiler »
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How to Date a Douchebag by Sara Ney, Clam Jam by RC Boldt, …then you will probably like Disorderly Conduct!
Disorderly Conduct
Paperback Copy of Indecent Exposure: The Academy #2
I have struggled with this author at times, and I am not a fan of immature characters. I just can’t relate with them on any level. So I will probably pass this one up. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this one.
I love most of Tessa’s books. This one was the first one that I REALLY struggled with. It did get better, and there was character growth but geez, these two were killing me!
Boy were they stubborn!!! 🙂
YES! So freaking stubborn!
Hmm, I want to read this authors books but for some reason, I don’t. I think all of the stubbornness would annoy me so I’d probably DNF. Still, I’m intrigued. It’s going on my list anyway. Thanks for the review, Samantha!