| Title | : | Out on Good Behavior (Radleigh University, #3) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0990916855 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780990916857 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 290 |
| Publication | : | First published June 14, 2016 |
| Awards | : | Bisexual Book Awards Romance (2016) |
But when Frankie learns she's been on Samara's mind too, the idea of hooking up with her grows too strong to resist. Only Sam's not looking for a hookup; she wants—needs—the real thing, and she's afraid she'll never find it as long as Frankie's in her head.
Forced to choose between her first relationship and losing the girl who's been clawing her way under her skin, Frankie opts to try monogamy...under her own condition: 30 days of keeping things on the down low and remaining abstinent. If she fails as hard at girlfriending as she's afraid she might, she doesn't want to throw Samara's life into upheaval for nothing. But when neither the month nor Frankie's heart go according to plan, she may be the one stuck fighting for the happily ever after she never knew she wanted.
Out on Good Behavior (Radleigh University, #3) Reviews
-
my first f/f NA book was a SUCCESS
this was a lot of fun. i'm reading and reviewing 8 f/f romances for my youtube channel and this was the perfect way to start! the f/f romance genre as a whole is criminally under marketed and under hyped and i was determined to give some attention to it and find some gems. this one definitely is a ruby.
it follows our lovely pansexual main character frankie who is promiscuous (in the best way) falling for sweet closeted southern lesbian samara. i'm gonna try and keep it short.
what i liked
- frankie's unabashed pride and pleasure in sleeping around and yet not falling into the whole "bad bisexual/pansexual" stereotype
- the diversity among the side characters
- the sex. dude it was GOOD. really moistening, if you will.
- the simplicity of the storyline. not a whole lot of needless drama.
what i didn't like
this is totally a personal preference thing when it comes to romance but i really like there to be something more than just romance, especially if "side" things are mentioned. for instance, we learn that sam's parents will prolly disown her if she comes out. and that frankie's parents are kind of absentee. but beyond a brief mention of these things they didn't affect the story like... at all. i'm not saying that all books have to include families as a plot line but it felt weird to have them mentioned and nothing happen. and in general not much happened in the plot beyond the two characters getting together. and usually life isn't that simple. things happen while you fall in love. family shit, school shit, etc. and it felt like most of that felt to the wayside here.
additionally, i really felt the sexual tension between the two main characters but i wanted more slice-of-life moments. if someone is going to go from sleeping around to just sleeping with one person there's got to be a compelling reason like oh idk they're cool and have a personality you like. but there was only really one time in the book that we get mention of the two MCs really KNOWING each other. and it's because frankie mentions that she knows sam's middle name and favorite foods and shit. we don't actually SEE the relationship building.
overall
i think this is a really fun, sweet, quick f/f read. i would highly recommend it to anyone who likes a collegiate setting in a romance. and the complaints i had are not reasons you should stay away but rather are things i wish i had known before reading. def pick this one up :) -
Happy Pride Month, My Lovelies!
Buddy-reading will commence on June 27th.
2 I’m-just-not-sure Stars
Expectations. Expectations can be the root of all that is evil in a book-lover’s world.
I have always loved diversity. Even when, as a teenager, I lived in a small town that seemed to be obsessed with trying to stamp it out entirely. To say that I had pretty high expectations when I discovered that Frankie’s character was pansexual is an extreme understatement. You see, one of my best friends identifies as pansexual. And I have watched the harshness and cruelty which has been foisted on her for “not knowing what she wants” or “not being able to decide” all too often. So I was hoping for Frankie’s character to smash apart those misconceptions, to show that a person who is pansexual isn’t necessarily attracted to every single person who crosses their path. Out on Good Behaviour did not do that, rather it seemed to reinforce those unfair stereotypes. A pansexual person is no more likely to be attracted to every person in their field of vision that I, as a heterosexual, am likely to find every man attractive. That is absolutely absurd!
Now, don’t get me wrong, I have NO issue with promiscuous characters (or people). I love when characters have explored their sexuality prior to meeting “the love of their lives”, however it is unfairly represented here. Frankie is portrayed as quite the sex fiend. She will sleep with anything provided that anything is hot…
(How is this image relevant you may ask?! It really isn’t, I just love Ruby Rose.)
Alternatively to Frankie’s character, her leading lady Samara is basically your average virginal stereotype. The trope force is strong in this story. We, once again, have a promiscuous lead partnered with a virginal one; and while in this case they are both women, it still enrages me.
Of all the tropes in tropesville, this is one of my least favourites! Most especially when paired with, what should have been obvious to me from the title, the storyline of a player not getting their sex on in order to prove they are good enough for the gorgeous virginal prize. Bleh.
I really don’t have much else to say here. I enjoyed the writing style, if not the subjects themselves, it flowed very quickly and easily even when it was annoying me. However the tropes, the stereotypes and the misconceptions all left a very foul taste in my mouth.
Quick note: Mixing drugs and alcohol!! Authors, please stop having your characters do this! I almost threw my iPad across the room when it happened, and I really can’t afford to replace it!
Thank you to my ladies over at Unapologetic Romance Readers for the buddy-read! ♥ -
If you read the book and couldn't quite figure out all the YA references, check out
Samara's Reading List Revealed! -
I was caught between whether I should give this a one or a two, but
because I spent most of it being annoyed, I decided to round downafter thinking about it some more, I decided that one was an unfair rating, so I rounded up. Honestly, I don't know why I continue to bother picking up NA books. It's the same tropey mess over and over again. And yet, when I go long enough without reading one, I wonder was it really that bad??? Yes, it's reaffirmed again and again. Yes, it most definitely was. And this book was no different with how it utilized trope after trope, with an extra hearty helping of stereotype. On top of that, I don't feel that there was enough story here for the author to work with. The conflicts, for one, felt forced and inauthentic. And two, half the book felt like it was dedicated to cameos by characters from previous books.
First issue I had was with the promiscuous/virgin trope used. It's just like any other romance book that has the experienced manwhore paired with the super virginal virgin, only it was done with a female pairing here. While I'm not opposed to promiscuity for the most part, I am opposed to this trope. I also think another reason why it should've been avoided here is because the author's (inadvertently?) perpetuating stereotypes of those who are bi/pan.
One of the stereotypes about bi/pan people is that they're majorly promiscuous. The author does this here by having Frankie be super promiscuous. She goes on about her fuck buddies, booty calls, how she gets a lot of ass, how her freshman goal was to bang a person on every floor of her friend's dorm, etc. She has two current fuck buddies she mentions in the book, Racquel and Doug, with another ex-fuck buddy, Gideon, who makes an appearance. On top of just having these fuck buddies, she also goes to fraternity/sorority parties and clubs to hook up. She's "done everything." Another is that they can't do relationships, which the author has Frankie doing outright with her commitment phobia.
With the promiscuity, I wondered for a time if Frankie was just hypersexual. She goes on and on about sex. The girl legit has a one-track mind and is always on sexsexsex. Samara will be doing or saying the most innocuous things and Frankie's mind immediately goes to sex. During her month-long celibacy when she's with Samara, she talks about how she's masturbated so much that she feels like she might be getting Carpal Tunnel because her vibrator ran out of batteries. And it hasn't even been two weeks into the month-long celibacy yet. (Which is why I find the HEA hard to buy. This girl slept with everyone and the author wants me to believe she's down to wife Samara right quick? Riiight. HFN, if anything.)
Then there's the faithfulness. While there's no actual cheating in the book, I feel this was somewhat present in how, when the two got into a disagreement (or Frankie was feeling insecure), she went off to flirt with a girl in her class. In the beginning, when she's thinking about Samara, she has no problem using another person's body in place of not having Samara. She even went to a party and made out with her fuck buddy, Racquel. There's a bump in the road with Samara, and she immediately regrets not having gotten the hot redhead's number from the beginning of the book. This can even be stretched to how she's been interested in Samara for months, but she still has no issue sleeping with plenty of people in the meantime (which is contrasted with virginal Samara).
There's also how bi/pan people will fuck anyone and everyone. Frankie shows this with how, even with her plethora of fuck buddies of both genders, she's still looking for other people to fuck. She's at a party at the beginning and looking around for "a little fun." She asks her friend if any of his basketball buddies are coming so she can hook up with one of them. Actually...I know I said anyone and everyone, but she does have a restriction, and that's that the person has to be hot.
I know I said "inadvertently" at the beginning, but I really don't think so. At one point, Frankie says: “I’m the slut; don’t you know? I’m the kind who’ll fuck anything that walks because I’m greedy, because I can’t make up my mind.” I know she was being angry at this point, but it just shows that the author knew exactly the types of stereotypes she was perpetuating, yet she did so anyway. Sorry, but I ain't down for this. This is the best that could be thought of for a pan character? I don't think I've come across a pan character before, so this is disappointing as fuck. I ain't here for this shit. You need to check yourself if the best story you could come up with for a pan individual is a someone who's steeped in stereotypes.
The other thing I wasn't here for was Samara's virginity. First, it's nothing original for the politician's daughter to be a virgin. I felt like I was having deja vu as I read this because I'd read something very similar not too long ago. Samara says that, other than a forgettable kiss with a guy years ago, Frankie is her first for everything. Frankie is the first person she's ever been crazy about, first woman she's kissed, first person she's loved, had sex with, etc. (Meanwhile, because Frankie has "done everything," Samara is nothing new.)
Second, I don't understand why Samara is a virgin to begin with. What was the point? There's no actual reason for it to be the case, so I can only assume that the author was using the manwhore/virgin trope and using two women instead. There's even this part in which Frankie says that she wants to "earn" Samara, which I side-eyed the fuck out of because Samara's a virgin. So it came off to me as the promiscuous characters wanting to prove themselves worthy and earn their virginal prize.
So why was she a virgin? Is it because of her Republican parents? Well, she's been away from her small town and in university for over two years, so why hasn't she attempted anything with anyone yet? It's not that she's on the fence about her sexuality. She says that she's comfortable with it and has been preparing to come out to her parents for years. Samara is just a politician's kid. Frankie, on the other hand, is the daughter of a former priest and attended Catholic school. Yet she still lost her virginity before 16. Is it because she's shy? Well, she was quick to get over that after sleeping with Frankie. She immediately tells Frankie she
And on that note, I'd like to mention how dumb the conflict was. It was SO FORCED.
And THAT, right there, was another thing. The author has inconsistencies with Samara's character. Samara's hesitant and blushes at the mention of sex, but then she's the one who initiates their first close encounter. She's even the one who talks openly about sex and monogamy while Frankie stutters her way through that confrontation. She's even the one who wears satin and lace lingerie for Frankie, being all seductress-y for her. This girl gets blushy at being called pretty, and you want me to believe she turns around and does this??? Also, she's all afraid to even sit next to Frankie in public, but then, a while later, she's cool with making out with Frankie and pulling her shirt off in public right after a big basketball game? Sure they're outside and in the dark, but they're around the corner from where the big game is being let out. And Frankie is the one who ends that encounter, not Samara. Samara is even up for dancing up on some next girl at the end while, not even a month ago, she was hesitant about every public encounter with Frankie. Just too much inconsistency with her character.
And on a small note, what was the point of showing Samara's parents being racists (Samara's parents find out her roommate is dating a black guy and want her to move elsewhere as a result)? It's not resolved in any way, Samara never calls her parents out on it, so what was the point of including that little racist tidbit about a side character? To show how open and unracist the protagonists are? No thanks to that BS. Completely unnecessary.
There were other things that annoyed me about the book, but I'll just leave it there. I wanted to like it—I really did—but it was just a typical, tropey NA.
(This was read as a buddy-read with the
Unapologetic Romance Readers group for our Pride Month group read!) -
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We read OUT ON GOOD BEHAVIOR as a nod to Pride Month in my romance book club/discussion group,
Unapologetic Romance Readers. Dahlia Adler has made a name for herself advocating diversity and intersectionality in YA and NA, and I've been meaning to read her for a while, so kudos to
sraxe for getting the ball rolling on that with her recommendation.
OUT ON GOOD BEHAVIOR is a love story between a pansexual girl named Frankie Bellisario and a lesbian named Samara Kazarian, who's so deep in the closet that she's got one foot planted firmly in Narnia. Both girls have a deep and undeniable attraction for each other, but Frankie enjoys sleeping around with whichever one of her FWBs she has on call and is reluctant to enter the monogamous lifestyle and Sam has a republican family who's majorly into politics and she's terrified of what will happen when word gets out - especially if there's no committed relationship for her to fall back on. Who wants to go that alone?
Frankie wants Sam, but she doesn't want to commit. It's basically the stereotypical "playboy settles down" stereotype that's so prevalent in YA/NA, except gender-flipped. On one hand, this was refreshing, because women are often portrayed as meek virgins who have no idea how to go about pursuing their sexuality until a man walks up with the key, but there's still a virgin in this story - the only difference is in this case, the playboy and the innocent are both women. And all refreshing changes aside, I have to say that gender-flipping the stereotype didn't make it any more palatable.
Here's the thing about Frankie. I think she's kind of creepy. Sam's her friend's roommate, and while in their room, Frankie starts sniffing Sam's stuff and touching all of her things until her friend tells her to stop. She essentially says that if Sam doesn't want the attention, she shouldn't be so attractive. She uses her FWBs as substitutes for Sam to vent her sexual frustration, and spends a huge portion of the story whining about how she doesn't want to be tied down to anyone else. She also plays into a lot of the pansexual stereotypes (they don't know what they want, they can't keep it in their pants, they're not monogamous, they're attracted to everyone), as sraxe and Red both pointed out in their reviews, which is unfortunate.
For a while I sympathized with Samara, because who hasn't been attracted to someone they perceived as being the "wrong" person? I've been in that position before as a young adult, and it's difficult. Her struggle between wanting to pursue romantic happiness and her terror at being abandoned by her friends and family was really touching, and it saddened me that this wasn't really explored in greater depth (and her racist/bigoted family kind of disappears from the story entirely once Sam and Frankie get involved - were they OK with it after all, or do they just plan to conduct their relationship in secret forever and ever?), as I feel it's a topic that many LGBT+ people struggle with (sadly) daily.
My feelings for Samara changed after what I'm going to call The Misunderstanding. As with the last book I read - RUINED BY RUMOR - the conflict in this book hinges upon the two pigheaded MCs being too stubborn to talk to each other for five minutes, so they end up hurting each other until the truth is revealed. One of the most important factors in any relationship is communication, so the fact that an understanding of this magnitude could happen really did not bode well for the couple. I also found it difficult that Samara, even as inexperienced as she was, would not want protection or an STD test before initiating a sexual relationship with someone who had as many sexual partners as Frankie, especially since she was actively sleeping around with people who weren't exclusive, either.
I appreciated what OUT ON GOOD BEHAVIOR was trying to do, I just didn't like the characters it was doing it with. OOGB could have been an F/F version of Elle Kennedy's THE DEAL, and instead it was, well, just another basic new adult love story. I did like the female friendships in this book - something that many new adult books lack - and the dialogue, for the most part, flowed naturally and was engaging. Adler is not a bad writer by any means - something else that sets her apart - and I would read another book of hers, because I think I could really like her work. This one just wasn't it.
For what it's worth, though, the sex scenes are hot.
2 stars. -
It's Pride month, yay and I am so glad I read this!
I usually don't review NAs but in my opinion, not talking about this book would be a disservice to all the genre-defying Dahlia A does in this novel.
I believe, Dahlia Adler is one of those few writers today (Elliott Wake, Courtney Milan among others) who show the bird to the misogyny which has started to plague the NA genre.
Also, f/f sex OH, MY FUCKING GOODNESS. *puts away her vibrator*
So! I like how this book rises above slut shaming.
I like how this book portrays healthy friendship between girls and between boys and girls.
I like how this book is so LGBT friendly that it makes my heart hurt.
Did I mention the lesbian sex? Because, omg so hot lesbian sex. *___* -
Is it me?
My age?
My specific experiences, my way of expressig my sexual orientation?
Because I really didn't fall for this book, and I had been specifically asking for a f/f story....
No, it's not me, it's the damn book.
The conditions for a great read were all there: opposites attract, one truly pansexual character, one totally closeted still, bantering group of friends. Right. Wrong , so wrong. I think what really bothers me the most is that at the end of it all, the book left me with nothing. I will forget about it as soon as I get over the annoyance.
I was so excited about reading this I didn't realize it is a NA book and NA and I are not made for each other in almost 100% of the cases. If you're wondering why, the asnwer is: I'm too old for this shit. Or maybe I'm too intrinsically European. I have very little patience for juvenile behaviour and general lack of maturity. Especially when the characters don't have much else going for them, something truly endearing or peculiar.
The more I read, the more I had the impression the author has decided which demographic she wanted to reach and picked/used as many tropes as she saw fit to achieve the desired effect.
Girlfriends musketeers? Check
Super promiscuous lead converted to commitment? Check
Super sweet/shy/closeted/virginal co-lead? Check
Misunderstandings and insecurities? Check
Inevitable gay friend? Check
Multicultural homo friends? Check
There even is a phrase about the biggest cliche' ever: college time as obligatory sexual exploration period. PLEASEEEEE. Just tell me why?
Unfortunately, the narrator Frankie, a pansexual, mostly self-assured artist girl, is not a charming, intriguing, convincing voice. She grew on me, but I was still massively annoyed with her, her endless inner ramblings, her immaturity. For godsake, I was supposed to identify with her...she made me want to shake her very often instead. She's TOO MUCH of a rainbow poster child for once, the end result is that she feels a bit plastic to me, fake. And she's not the only one. While I really liked how well she knew herself, her wants, her preferences and how freely she enjoyed sex with all kind of partners, on her own terms, promiscuity is not something that attracts me, in leads, male or female. But that's my thing, I know, nothing to tarnish her personality nor anything else. I didn't enjoy being in her head, I didn't like the way she often referred to occasional fuck buddies and how she seemed to be constantly scanning for new potential hook-ups partners. There are several references in the book to 'how much ass' she constantly gets and how she can handle everything. In a scene she was getting all flustered just with talks about Samara and her reaction is to go after one of her regular fuck buddies to get it out of her system. No. Just no.
On top of that, she was 'afraid/uninterested' in relationships...and that's something I just DON'T get. There's not even a big reason behind it. She keeps freezing and panicking about the most stupid stuff...I just wanted her to grow up, fast. The shit with Xanax? Another big no. Don't mess with meds if you can't be responsible about them.
All of this was extremely uncomfortable for me to read. She seems to embody too many of the bullshit critics I always hear about bisexuals (undecided, unfit for relationships, horndogs etc etc), I wanted to fucking bite my laptop! Why would you create a pansexual character who really is not much different than any manwhoring male lead of so many hetero romances? It is painful. Why should I feel engrossed with her falling in love?
Samara, her love interest, was of course everything sweet and spicy one could imagine. And smart, polite, shy, all girly, a virgin...yeah, stereotypes aaaall the way. She's from the South and I must say, in more than once instance I wondered if the way her drawl, her manners, her food preferences were presented was disrespectul and biased. She came from such an oppressive family, she was so closeted, it was something that could have been explored to give depth not only to the character, but to their lovestory. The author never really gets there. I don't like when writers give their characters the most traumatic past ever, it's a gimmick, yet both leads past and families could have been treated elegantly and it would have made a big difference. We really don't get to know enough about her inner thoughts processes and emotions and she also ends up being a pretty cliché. Sometimes I felt like Frankie was very condescending with her, assuming things about her desires without even asking.
I liked them together, of course I did. But I was not really invested in anything going on in the story.
Before lovers of the book attempt to strangle me, I want to reassure possible readers that the romance works anyway. It is a quick read, just as incredibly fluffly and goofy and tender as you can expect. It tries to be sex-positive. Before Frankie and Samara finally consummate the UST is fantastic and I could relate to every single sexy and love-struck thought Frankie had about Samara. The friends-family works very well, too well actually. I appreciated the mention of Frankie always being present at the uni LGBTA center to put at ease all freshmen and newcomers.
It's sadly not enough to overlook all the other weaknesses: predicable plot and characters traits, annoying narrator, a f/f romance that has absolutely nothing inherently different, a semi coming-out totally underdeveloped, a very disappoiting first time and in general sex scenes that -despite all the horniness and desire - manage to be quite undetailed, so much so I think there is no mention of the word vagina or its synonyms in any of them.
Maybe it is really me, Out on good behaviour felt like a censured minors version of the real thing.
Buddy read for pride month with the great ladies of Unapologetic Romance Readers -
Buddy read with the Unapologetic Romance Readers group.
28/6 - This was my first f/f book, so I have no idea how it compares to other f/f books out there, but I thought this was pretty great. I felt the same reading this romance as I have with most previous romances - warm and squishy when love is finally admitted, frustrated when problems could be cleared up with a simple conversation and in need of a fan during the sex scenes. For my heart and brain it doesn't matter what bits go where or what shape those bits come in, if there's love it's all the same to me. I really loved Frankie and Samara, although I would have enjoyed this more if some of the chapters had been told from Samara's PoV because I don't feel like I got to know her very well, certainly not as well as I did Frankie. I wanted to know more about Samara's home life and I wish the epilogue had been longer, to show more of what happened once she and Frankie made it to her parent's place. I wanted there to be a HEA for Samara and her parents. Dahlia Adler is definitely an author I'll be looking out for in the future (both her f/f and f/m books)! -
I thought this was going to be a breeze to read... and it was, just 'cause it's that bloody good. I felt the angst Frankie was going through, that confusion about changing her needs with Samara. They sounded like such a cute couple too, so there's that.
Oh... the coolest thing of all has got to be Lizzie and Connor cooking up the Filipino dinner. My little Filipino heart/stomach was craving for a few of those dishes and then some. I actually text my mum requesting she makes this dessert dish I love (but can't remember the name) asap... mmmmnnn, yummy things. -
Trigger warnings: Slut shaming, LGBTQIA characters stressing over how their parents will react.
3.5 stars.
Let's do this as a pro/con list, because it seems easier on my poor brain at this point in time.
PROS
- Pansexual protagonist!
- Adorable F/F romance!
- Great female friendships!
- Excellent background diversity!
- It's a compelling story!
CONS
- A lot of the story is based on misunderstandings
- It's not a particularly long book (less than 200 pages), and probably two thirds of it is build up to the actual relationship
- And, like, that would be fine if it were a standalone. And it IS a standalone? But the initial set up happens in the second book, so...it felt a little dragged out?
Overall, it's super cute, and I adore the friendship between the three protagonists from the trilogy. But the misunderstandings when people could have just used their damn words? Those kind of drove me nuts. -
“It isn’t just the way she feels, or smells, or tastes; it’s the way she sighs into my mouth, like: finally. Like: you found me. Like: this is everything I dreamed it would be.
1☆
warning: english isn't my first language, so probably this is going to have a lot of mistakes, but whatever i need to talk about this.
This is going to contain spoilers, but not about the plot, more about the representation this gives to lgbtqia people (pansexual and bisexual):
1) First of all, this book series is about three friends and her romantic life + specific issues. The first thing that pissed me is that 2 of the 3 girls are straight and Frankie is pansexual, okay. In last will and testament the drama with lizzie's romance was that her love interest was her teacher, in right of first refusal the drama with cait's romance was that her love interest was her roommate's boyfriend, and lastly, in this book, the drama with frankie's romance was that she was afraid to commit to one person and she thought that she couldn't do it, see the problem?
I mean, the three girls talked about her sexual life and i like it, but lizzie and cait were capable to commit to one person without thinking: oh my good, how i'm going to have sex with only one person in my life like frankie did.
This pissed me off because bisexual and pansexual people have to fight against the stereotype that they can't be with just one person, that they're vicious people who have sex with everyone. In my past and in my present people tell me that all the time (i'm bisexual, btw), so yes, it pissed me off that the pansexual character in this book was the one who has more trouble with committing with one relationship.
2) Something that i really hate, really, really hate is when people try to look for a difference between pansexual and bisexual, plot twist: there's not difference. But that didn't stop this book to try and explain one, a false one. I'm going to put some pictures so you can see by yourself:
Bisexual people doesn't have sex with non-binary people?? Shut the fuck up, repeat with me: bisexual people fuck gladly non-binary people.in my case specially italian ones
again, repeat with me: bisexual people don't discriminate by gender or lack thereof.
Do you see what i mean? I don't know if the author really saw what she wrote, but the impression i got reading this book series is that bisexual don't have sex with trans, non-binary, intersex, etc. And that is so wrong, because bisexuals are also fighting with the stereotype that they're transfobic when they aren't (i mean, probably are but they are stupid people who also happens to be bisexual).
And that's all i have to say, i will try to look for another reviews about this topic and put them down below. -
That was sweet! This is my first book from the author and I think is also the 3rd and final book of the series. First is from Lizzie then Cait and finally Frankie. They're best friends. Actually, I'm tempted to read the first two just to read something about Frankie. Let's see about that soon.
Goodness! I can't stop smiling throughout the book.
I ship them hard! Frankie and Sam!!! I want to read more of them.
Frankie is a party girl. She enjoys quick hook-ups, she plays around. That's the life she wants to maintain on her college life. She doesn't want to commit because she doesn't want to give up her polygamous life. Well, maybe until she meets Samara.
Samara is the entire opposite of Frankie. She's looking for her OTL. She came from a very conservative and influential family. She doesn't mess around. Can she really change Frankie? Or maybe she's the one who'll change?
I like this kind of plots. And this will go to my faves and I will re-read this again soon!
The chemistry between them is amazing. You can really feel it. You will smile, you will feel bad, you will root for them until the end.
The bar scene is my favorite!!! It was sweet and hot at the same time!!
I will give this a few day before I will read again. Book hang over. More please! :(((((
NA/ Falling for the player -
3.5 stars
This was a cute read but I kinda wish it had dual POV. I feel like there was a lot of story left untold from Sam's POV, especially with everything going on with her family and that would've added to this story nicely, perhaps helped flesh out the story a bit more. Also, I've never read the first two books but I honestly wasn't a fan of Frankie's two best friends and have no interest in reading their books anymore which kinda sucks since I've had their books sitting on my kindle for forever but oh well.
I also didn't like how much this book was mostly focusing on whether or not Frankie could/wanted to be in a monogamous relationship since she's pansexual and enjoys being able to live the single life (aka hooking up with as many people as she wants, whenever she wants, etc). Her continual panic over not being able to hook up with other people really drew me out of the romance at one point and I just wanted to scream, "if you're so worried over all the potential hot men/women you could be hooking up with at the club then you clearly don't want to be with Sam that badly so just break up with her and go already!!". It was a bit annoying. I understand being scared of being in a relationship but I think it was the focus for basically the entire book and perhaps it shouldn't have been. -
Rep: pan mc, lesbian li, gay & bi side characters
extra star because frankie is horny
otherwise it's the way it's implied that frankie ids as pan because bisexuality is a transphobic identity and the way the lesbian character won't even use the word lesbian about herself for me!
and just generally there's a faint undercurrent of lesbophobia throughout
• the assumption that pan people are the only ones attracted to nonbinary folks (and, hey, that's biphobic too!)
• just the phrase "gold star lesbian" and frankie assuming this is what samara wants
• frankie asking samara if she doesn't want someone a "bit more lesbian" and assuming she's gonna be biphobic because she's a lesbian
• not using the word lesbian unless in faintly pejorative circumstances
• not letting samara use the word lesbian (the two times she does label herself, she calls herself gay, but the book obviously knows that the word lesbian exists (see above))
• frankie assuming that, after she and samara have 'broken up', it's because samara wants a girl who "doesn't suck dick" -
it was exactly what i had expected it'd be: hot and gay™ but the unwanted drama got me rolling my eyes i have to admit, i could have done without (3.5)
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My expectations may have been too high...
It’s a F/F romance with good girl/bad girl trope. While the book is easy to read and rather entertaining, I couldn’t get rid of the feeling that the inner struggle of the main heroine overweighted the amount of the actual romance. Also, the author gave our couple a useless 30 days tag and I lost any interest knowing that nothing exiting would happen before this deadline. And when something finally happened... it was laxly written.
Some pluses: The main heroine is actually pretty interesting. She describes herself as pansexual giving us some explanation about what that actually means to her and her family story is truly one of a kind. Her father used to be a priest and changed his path after meeting her mother. Obviously he was ostracised by his circles, but the h still received a good education about the religion and even attended all-girls catholic school. I think these are some serious topics that not many has the courage to write about. -
no bc frankie was kind of creepy...
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*3,5 stars*
A really cute and quick f/f romance.
I felt like the final conflict between the two girls was a little dramatic, but apart from that I really enjoyed this! -
Out on Good Behavior is the story of how a life-embracing, blue-haired art student with roses tattooed on her cleavage and piercings you can’t see in class falls, hard, for her best friend’s cute blonde roommate, a sweet girl who doesn’t drink and prefers books and gentle hangouts to clubbing.
How does the party girl–and this is such a lovely, positive portrayal of a party girl who really enjoys herself as opposed to, like, secretly not actually having a good time–handle her attraction to the YA-reading, quiet-evenings-in Girl Next Door (the Lesbian Edition)? Well, for one thing, Samara makes herself easy to like because she does supportive things like showing up for Frankie’s gallery showing and really taking an interest in her art on its own level and not just as something cool Frankie did.
“You know that doesn’t mean I find literally everyone on the planet fuckable, right? It’s not my fault you happen to surround yourself with people I do.” And with this line, out of the mouth of pansexual protagonist Frankie Bellisario, author Dahlia Adler shows that having an enthusiastic sexual appetite for people of all genders doesn’t mean you can’t be picky and discerning about which of those people you’d actually get with.
I feel confident that with all the bi and pan cage-rattling going on in queer lit, the next generation of multi-gender-attracted kids won’t grow up thinking “Well, I must be straight even though I have all these same-gender impulses–I like the gender I’m supposed to like!” the way I did until That Green-Eyed Girl (yes, for those who keep track of My Type, she was a brunette with incredibly pale skin. Of course.) A lot of us literally never heard of bisexuality as kids.
Frankie’s enthusiasm in her attraction to women is very positive, sunny, and reassuring for those of us who have been made to feel like our woman-on-woman impulses are automatically corrupt. “I was nine when I told him I wanted to marry Beyoncé so I could kiss her every day,” for example. Adorable! And “One thing’s for sure—if she’s not flirting, she is trying to kill me. And so help me God I can’t think of a sweeter way to go.” That would make a great tag line for the whole book.
I want to give Samara a hug and a pep talk when she says, “I swear, I have a thirteen-year- old-boy obsession with your boobs. I can’t believe you don’t notice how often I stare at them.” My lovely young fellow Southerner–a lot of us like breasts. Lesbian fiction, by lesbians, from lesbian publishing houses, is no stranger to descriptions of beautiful bosoms. But society lies to us and tells us that these desires make us male-like (or worse, “thirteen-year-old boys”–don’t worry, I say the same things to myself in my dark moments) when that is every bit not true. We are us, and we are okay, and we are valid.
This is not a criticism of the author because I know from personal experience that it’s realistic for women-loving women to feel the way Samara does. Dahlia is right and we need to do a better job of teaching young women-loving women that, within the bounds of consent, their love is okay. Including their physical love. This is an exquisitely sensual book, with sex scenes that are erotic in a poetic rather than pornographic way, and G-rated scenes full of lace and skin and curves and hair that just feel freaking validating because I guess the author must like a lot of the same things about women’s bodies that I do.
I have to commend the book for not going down a handful of roads I was expecting, typical romance novel tropes that I don’t like and I always have to push past like walking through rain to get from my car into the building. In other words if reading the blurb makes you nervous that this or that difficult scene is going to happen–it won’t. It does have its own difficult scenes but they’re not those scenes, if that makes sense. For example, you-the-reader don’t actually have to meet Sam’s shitty parents. So it’s gentle representation of someone dealing with a bigoted family.
I don’t entirely understand the climactic scene where the two girls are trying to resolve their problems and work out what they are to each other, and the conversation kinda gave me whiplash from the way they kept changing their minds, but eh, it got a sweet story to the ending it was supposed to have, so, that’s cool.
The friends are also an important element in this book. Frankie has one of those found-families you develop in college–I’m still fairly close with mine. (I still can’t get over one of them being a supervisor with people who work for her and shit. :-D ) They have easy, casual banter like:
“Someday they’ll ask Frankie to paint over the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and all she’ll say about it is, ‘Whatever, Michelangelo’s dead so they clearly just picked some rando’,” Lizzie adds.
In one of these friendship scenes I noticed a detail I thought was cute: a couple who automatically take the foods they don’t like off each other’s plates.
I notice Cait and Mase out of the corner of my eye—she’s daintily putting okra from her pinakbet on Mase’s plate, while he puts his tomatoes on hers.
This is one of those details from friendship and marriage that I love noticing in real life but have never seen in a book before. (I get the onions, Glassmasculine gets the pepperoncini. And several of my besties give me their tomatoes.) Stuff like this makes a book feel more real instead of just an excuse to get two cute girls together.
By the way, one of the people in Frankie’s QUILTBAG social group, as opposed to her mostly straight inner circle, is a bi hijabi. Can’t speak to the accuracy since I’m not Muslim but I trust Dahlia to have checked with the right people. The book also includes trans walk-ons. (Incidentally it’s also a good thing that she has her lead not having all cis het friends–I’ve got a lot of close cis het friends but I also have a lot of bi and trans close friends so it would be weird if everyone else in the book were straight except for the leading f/f couple.)
I received an ARC in exchange for an unbiased review. -
OUT ON GOOD BEHAVIOR is one of the first NA (New Adult) books I’ve read (other than maybe RW&RB?). The novel follows Frankie, a free spirited, out, proud & sexually liberated pansexual who gets around campus enjoying herself until she meets Samara, the closeted lesbian daughter of a Southern Republican politician. Samara is ready to come out but needs it to be the real deal, so they decide to date in secret - chastely - for 30 days.
This book was entertaining, cute and I read it in 2 sittings. If you’re in the mood for a light queer read - and a lot of throwbacks to things that felt like they mattered in college 😂 - I recommend it. This isn’t a critique of the book necessarily, but I’m just personally tired of reading the secret relationship trope in queer romance. I’m frustrated that coming out & shame always plays a central role in fiction about our love lives. The difficulty of coming out is a reality that I’m not denying - this book would have resonated SO MUCH if I read it in college. I just want more. -
3.5 stars rounded up
I enjoyed this book very much. Frankie is part of the trio of friends we are first introduced to in
Last Will and Testament, and I had too many issues with the first two books in the series to actually like them, but the one huge redeeming quality all the books share is the friendship between Lizzie, Cait and Frankie, so it was really good when we got her book too.
Sam and Frankie were a great couple to read about. Frankie was my favourite of the three girls and to be honest she's the only one of them that I found to be tolerable. I liked everything about what made her who she was, from the art that she uses to express herself, her sexual orientation, her partying and liberated lifestyle, to the eclectic background of her family. I loved that she was tattooed everywhere. But what I adored was how she fell in love with her complete opposite. Sam is a book lover, indoor activities kind of gal. Her life is basically Netflix and chill.
For the most part I enjoyed how slowly the relationship developed, it allowed me to see the actual romance of their relationship and it showed me why these girls liked each other. Unfortunately two things didn't work entirely for me. Part of the major reason I like Frankie is because she's anything but conventional, so I guess a big part of me was hoping that her and Sam's relationship would end up being unconventional and that it worked for them. I didn't like how she changed her mind and feelings about many things. I especially didn't like how she sort of ends up with a personality transplant by the end of the book. I was expecting an open non-monogamous relationship for them (and for a little while it seemed like it was going to happen which turned into a disappointing failure for me when it didn't). The second thing I didn't like was the sudden flowery prose and OTT declarations of the last chapters, which I mostly skimmed.
Finally, I also didn't like how some chapters of this books seemed to be dedicated to shoving down our throats the mushiness and happiness and forevers-and-evers of the previous two couples. I have a hard time believing in NA- 19 year old- college student- couples being "forever" on any given day, but when it comes from relationships I didn't even bought or liked in the beginning, that's doubly lame. Points taken from Frankie's book for trying to sell those stories again when they didn't even seem functional or real in their own books.
But all in all, this was a book I liked reading very much. Plus it provided a nice palate cleanse after a book I didn't like. And I am Team Frankie forever. -
I'll be posting my full review of this one on
Books and Ladders as part of
New Adult August!
I still don't think I'm 100% sold on the New Adult genre but that's okay because I did really enjoy this one. I really connected to Frankie in this one because I too am of the persuasion that I don't need to be in a relationship to be happy. But I was still rooting for her and Sam to get together. I thought their dynamic was really interesting and I am glad I read this one. I am going to read
Last Will and Testament and
Right of First Refusal as well because I really enjoyed the setting and the characters.
Read this as part of the
#ReadProud Challenge.
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4.5 stars
Dahlia Adler, glorious goddess that she is (and friend of mine blahdiblah), constantly outdoes herself. While Out on Good Behavior isn’t quiiiiiite my favorite of her novels (of which I’ve read all 6 because YES and my favorite may always be Just Visiting though who knows what with Dahlia’s awesomeness), but it is the hottest of her novels. And that is truly saying something because there’s sex in all of her books. And there are actually only a couple of sex scenes in Out on Good Behavior. But HOT DAMN, Dahlia. HOT damn.
There’s a shortage of good f/f in this world. Also a shortage of fluffy LGBT+ stuff. Out on Good Behavior is both of those and it’s massively fabulous. It’s by far my favorite of this series, though they’re all very good. Shocking no one, it’s also the most banteresting book of the series. Frankie banters and flirts with everyone around her, and it is so much fun being inside of her head.
Like most fluffy contemporary novels, Out on Good Behavior really isn’t a plot book; it’s all about dem character arcs. Frankie, who I already knew and loved from the earlier installments, loves to sleep around; she’s a pansexual delight, who’s looking to have as much fun as she can in college after being trapped in a Christian high school where she didn’t feel safe to do much experimenting. She glories in her freedom to try out different people and have casual relationships.
Enter Samara, who Frankie’s been eye-banging for about a year but mostly staying away from because her best friend, and Samara’s roommate, Cait forbid Frankie from going there. When the two wind up crossing paths, Frankie can’t resist. Samara, however, refuses to give up her family and possibly her friends by coming out unless this is going to be a real, serious relationship, something that Frankie is scared of and isn’t sure she wants.
I really, really love that Out on Good Behavior is about the fears that both Frankie and Samara have on entering into a relationship. Frankie’s terrified both of commitment and of not being good enough for, not deserving Samara. Samara’s afraid of getting in to deep with a girl like Frankie who plays the field like an MVP (Cait, did I do this sportsball metaphor right?) and also afraid to come out of the closet to everyone from home aka the conservative south. Especially, I love that, though coming out is obviously an issue on Samara’s mind and part of what she’s dealing with, this really is not a central issue between them, and this isn’t a coming out book. Even without that, there are plenty of internal new relationship feels for them to work through. I feel like books rarely touch on these fears and worries, instead focusing on that “honeymoon phase” where everything is perfect. The fact that Out on Good Behavior focuses on that made everything feel more realistic.
Samara and Frankie have amazing chemistry, obviously. That’s why this book is so incredibly hot. The sex itself is amazing, but omg the fingerbrushes and leg touches and heated gazes are all so powerful. Their every interaction is massively hot basically. The relationship got to the “I love you” phase a bit faster than I was really prepared for, but it didn’t bother me very much given the chemistry and the fact that this is the first time either of them has ever been embarking on a serious relationship.
Still, it wasn’t really a shock to me how much I shipped this, because I was already into Samara and Frankie (Frankara?) in Right of First Refusal. The surprise was how much more I friendshipped the whole group than I did before. As I said, this book has the most banter, and I was finally totally got the squad goals of Lizzie/Cait/Frankie in a way that I never quite did before. Also, I adored the way the significant others of the main crew were bonding and fitting in so much. Mase and Connor working out together and Samara saying she wants in? So adorable. Connor offering relationship advice because Lizzie’s asleep? Damn cute.
In contemporary companions like this, I often have problems with the cameos of prior ships in the series. For example, I love Miranda Kenneally’s romances but I often do not like the couples when they show up in later books, so I just pretend they’re random people not those characters I read. It happens, I think, because they drift in so the stability of their relationships can be admired from afar. Here, though, because it’s more than a cameo, I really like seeing the rest of the gang. I like Lizzie and Connor more for how they are in this book, especially because Lizzie shared some of her relationship fears about how it’s still kind of weird and scary to be so committed. Things like that make the relationship work for me in a way that just seeing them be all perfect on the surface does not. Plus, my two favorite quotes were actually Connor and Lizzie!
In general, Out on Good Behavior is also excellent for resisting some of the most common tropes of romance fiction. Things that ordinarily would have been a massive deal in the relationship and led to chapters of intense drama didn’t. Because of this, Out on Good Behavior does come out much fluffier than most new adult, even the prior books in the series. It’s pure fun and ship. Bless you, Dahlia.
For YA fans who maybe usually don’t venture into new adult waters, I highly encourage you to give Out on Good Behavior a try, even if you haven’t read the previous two (if you’re one of those monsters that can skip around in series), because there are so many YA book easter eggs in there since Samara is a big YA/NA reader. Out on Good Behavior is so very delightful, and I want more NA like this. *stares at Dahlia*
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representation: pansexual mc, lesbian li, f/f romance, filipina side character
interesting how lizzie and connor are the first and only heterosexual couple. no, i don't accept criticism.
anyway, ahhhhhh i love these characters so much and i pretty much giggled the entire time i read this (if you can't tell by my highlights). i LOVED how frankie was basically the gay female version of the douchebag manwhore love interest in every other romance book ever. some of the writing was cringe-worthy (like the rest of the series), but it's still a diverse, trashy college romance -
This really hit the spot when all my other reading (one big literary nonfiction and one self-assigned-Spanish-homework...) felt like work. It felt so genuine in an awkward-first-love way to see both characters learning new things about what they wanted out of sex and relationships. I know I've talked about this with another book on here, but I love seeing a pansexual character who flirts and has sex with a lot of people portrayed in such a positive, true-to-character light instead of as a tired stereotype. And also how her pre-relationship lifestyle never comes across as unsatisfying or inferior to her paired-up happy ending; it was right for her at the time and she grew into the next stage of her life without renouncing it. The whole virgin/player romance trope isn't one I've read much of, but I feel like it was done well here, with "can I really settle down for this awesome person" treated as a worthwhile question and not a forgone conclusion. Wish we'd seen a little more of how things played out with both characters' family relationships, but overall a sweet read.
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This was fun and cute and I enjoyed the romance. But there was genuinely no plot to this book, except for romance. There was hardly even a good setup, it was just… two characters dating. There was a bit of plot around committing to a relationship which I guess counts as plot, but was kind of just annoying in the end. But still, it’s physically impossible for me not to enjoy a good old sapphic romance!! What can I say? I’m easy to please!
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Cute and sexy f/f.
The final miscommunication seemed a bit contrived to me, but hey, no biphobia! -
This is not a review, I haven't read enough of this book to review it. Just like with
Let's Talk About Love, I tried to read this before the T5W romance topic and I was just not in the mood for it. I probably won't try again, but I didn't think it was awful, and I did like the pansexual rep. However, I thought
Under the Lights by the same author had better writing. -
College romance between two young women: a promiscuous pansexual named Frankie and a shy, inexperienced (and very much in the closet) conservative politician's daughter named Samara. For the first half of the book, I was really enjoying it. The author captured Frankie's voice perfectly, and the depiction of college life seemed much more believable than in many similar novels. I enjoyed Frankie's art studies and how she had realistic concerns, like needing a part time job to pay for her field trip. I really liked Samara as well, and was looking forward to seeing how she would learn to stand up to her bigoted, controlling parents and make her own way.
The second half of the book was much less enjoyable, as it revolved around a contrived and completely avoidable misunderstanding and all its subsequent drama. All of the interesting points from the first half--such as Frankie's art and Samara's wanting to stand up to her parents--just fizzled away. And all of a sudden, Samara's behavior became not only hurtful (telling Frankie she wanted to see other people, flirting with others in front of her, etc.) but completely inconsistent (what happened to the girl who was terrified of anyone even suspecting she was gay?)
On a side note, I have seen some reviewers complain about tropes and stereotypes in this book, and in retrospect, I can see that. For me, while reading, I did not think of Frankie's behavior as adhering to stereotypes of pan or bisexuals so much as being a sign of her immaturity. Basically, before she realizes how much she likes Sam, her life is a carefree series of casual hookups and clubbing, with apparently no worries about STDs, unplanned pregnancies or even hurting someone's feelings. Thinking about it later, I realized I'd given Frankie some leeway because she was a girl; I hate it when male characters act that way.
So, overall, three stars. Honestly, it was more enjoyable than many "new adult" stories I've read, but still somewhat disappointing. Read for Unapologetic Romance Readers 2017 challenge: college category -
I can't believe this is the end for the Radleigh crew *cue crying* It was such a fun ride, thank you Dahlia!!! I love this cast of characters so much, probably one of my favorite in all NAs. They are so fun together, especially when they have scenes all of them together. They have fun, are cute, ridiculous conversations but yet the relationship between friends is to perfection.
We say goodbye with the last book - Frankie and Sam's story. I have been waiting for this one A LOT. And yes I'm not joking or lying. Since Dahlia let us know Out On Good Behavior was Frankie's book I was already in love.
I'll give more detail in my full review on the blog, but this wasn't amazing as the other ones, for me. Maybe because I didn't like Sam like a lot. I did love Frankie and she's the best, but Sam wasn't my favorite person *sad emoji* It was nice to see the whole gang together and probably those were my favorite scenes in the book. Lizzie, Cait and Frankie will always be my fave trio.
