Disorderly Conduct (The Academy) by Tessa Bailey

Title: Disorderly Conduct (The Academy)

Author: Tessa Bailey

Publication Date: August 29, 2017

Publisher: Harper Collins

Blurb:

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?

Review:

Well, here we are again.  At the corner of “female protagonist has trust issues” and “male protagonist has commitment issues”.  Thankfully, and I do mean this wholeheartedly, Disorderly Conduct by Tessa Bailey more than makes up for the slight cliché with fun twists, raunchy language, and heart-stopping romance.

This book had me laughing out loud while frantically flipping the pages to find out what could possibly happen next between Ever and Charlie.  Did I mention I love the name Charlie?  I so do.  These characters are passion embodied.  They’re push and pull all throughout the book, willfully blind to that which is right in front of them.  It’s frustrating, to say the least, but the ending wouldn’t be nearly as satisfying if they didn’t have to work for it.

The relationship is the story in Disorderly Conduct.  There’s little background drama or diverging plotlines and it didn’t need it.  It was a wonderfully written tale that captured and kept my attention the entire time.  I try to never let myself start a romance novel after nine at night because I know that I’ll mostly likely stay up past my bedtime finishing, but I picked up Disorderly Conduct and I read the crap out of it until well after midnight.  Whoops.  Worth it.

I can tell that I am going to love The Academy series because I so much loved the secondary characters whose books are already in the works.  There was no character mentioned without reason; no fluff, no moments of ‘who is this random person’, nothing like that.  They’re purposeful, dynamic, and fabulous and I cannot wait for their turn in the spotlight.

My favorite part about reading Tessa Bailey’s books is how Ms. Bailey isn’t afraid to get down and dirty with her language.  You won’t find fluffy euphemisms within the covers of her books.  Her writing, to put it simply, makes my blood heat.

This isn’t my first Tessa Bailey experience and it won’t be my last.  I plan to devour her novels one by one until I’m one of those fans foaming at the mouth for her new releases.  It’s a natural response after reading her work.  Disorderly Conduct comes out next Tuesday, August 29^th, so get your Kindles set to pre-order.