by Tessa Bailey
Series: The Academy #1
Genres: Contemporary Romance, Erotica
Publisher: Avon Books
Publication Date: August 29th 2017
Source: ARC received for review
Rating: ★
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You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone…1 stars is too much for this book ...
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?
Folks, settle down. I'm about to get real ranty in this review for Disorderly Conduct. I normally like Tessa Bailey's books, but they've progressively been getting worse, turning from sexy contemporary romances to outright crass pornography. Despite my grumblings about some of her last few books, I've been looking forward to reading Disorderly Conduct because she goes back to cops here. It started out okay, but man this book turned out to be a really messy, and problematic romance.
I'm genuinely sick and tired of authors romanticizing heroes who are problematic as hell, and then fangirls swooning over said problematic heroes saying how they want one in their lives. There are just some things that would be absolutely disturbing in real life and would have you requesting a restraining order. Charlie, the "hero" here, is one such despicable hero. From the very start, he exhibited really problematic traits, which I'll get to in a bit. Maybe if we had seen some growth, and more regret on his part I would have been a little kinder on this book. But for now based on the ARC version, his character is creepy, gross and unpolished. And to thing that he is studying to become a police officer ...
I'm going to let you all judge him for his actions. Warning, there are spoilers ahead.
- He and the heroine, Ever, have a no-strings attached sex relationship at the start of the book. But the heroine decides she wants a relationship and because she knows that's not what he wants, she breaks it off with him. But Charlie can't take this idea. He wants to continue having sex with her, but 100% does not want a relationship. How romantic! A hero who does not respect the heroine's wishes. I'm swooning hard right now!!
-So what does he do? Sabotage all of her dates using his friends, so she doesn't know that he's ruining her dates. This leads to her being emotionally hurt and upset after a few of the dates go wrong, but Charlie does not give a shit. All he wants is to fuck her.
- Then, the genius gets the bright idea of creating a fake dating profile so he can connect with Ever and not immediately plan any dates so she won't go on any other dates. Sure, go ahead, ruin her social life just because you want to keep sleeping with her. And this isn't creepy at all. This is exactly what women want because it's so so romantic.
- He also jacks off to her photo in a bikini ...
- Even better? The heroine tells him she doesn't want to have sex with him anymore because she knows she's going to grow attached. So what does he do? Rub his cock on her ass every instance he can, and seduces her. The word "no" is not in this man-child's vocabulary.
This is someone who wants to be a COP, folks. A COP. How is any of this romantic? I feel sick to my stomach when I think that this is what some readers find enjoyable. I get it, it's fiction, but there should be limits to fiction as well. Listen, I get it. Alpha heroes can be very sexy. But Charlie was not an alpha-male who showed any sort of respect to the heroine or her privacy. And the fact that he barely repented his actions just made me hate him even more.
I didn't feel a strong connection to Ever either, and thought she was honestly a doormat at times. I wasn't particularly a fan of how quickly she was to forgive Charlie.
The sex scenes were once again gross. I love a good sexy times myself, but Tessa Bailey's recent ones have been so weirdly descriptive lately, to the point that they had me cringing instead of fanning myself. She takes the dirty talk too far, and I found myself skimming them, which is unheard of for me.
Anyways, I can't recommend this book. It was too gross, and made me too angry. Skip it, and spend your money on better romance novels.
What are some recent toxic books you've read that I should avoid?
Let me know in the comments below!
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