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Ridgemont University
Breaking the Rules
Gay M/M sweet romance standalone short story in the interconnected Ridgemont University series. Focus is on character development and sweet romantic moments.
Medium heat, medium angst.
Connor Olivier is a freshman at Ridgemont University, living in Initia Nova, one of the newer residence halls on campus. He has always lived by the head prefect in school, straight-A student, and a bit of a stick in the mud. His small-town background and strict, religious upbringing always made him feel stifled, and the fact that he had steadily dated a girl all through high school never quite felt right. Studying at Ridgemont University is his chance to finally let loose and find himself.
Suddenly, everything makes sense when Connor is assigned a second-year student, Adam, as a mentor. Connor is instantly head-over-heels, and realizes that it won’t be easy to resist Adam.
Adam Scholtz is a reformed bad-boy. He partied too hard in his first year, and he is on thin ice with the university administrators after one wild night led to a very public and embarrassing scene. Adam is determined not to be led astray again and to complete his degree in peace. Nothing could be less convenient than the irresistibly hot first-year student who he has been assigned to mentor as part of his probationary re-admittance to Ridgemont. Adam is tempted to break the rules, but doing so might risk his future at Ridgemont University.
How will Connor and Adam deal with their overpowering attraction? Will they stick to the script, or will they end up breaking the rules? Find out in this first Ridgemont University Short Read.
This is a standalone story within the fictional Ridgemont University series by Meredith Taylor.
The Ridgemont University series follows the M/M gay romances of students at the fictional Ridgemont University in Cape Town, South Africa. The books are crammed full of flirty, fun and sweet romantic moments and complex characters that will make you care about them deeply (and maybe even have them tug at your heartstrings). The romances are organic and realistic, and even though the books are mostly light reading, they have enough substance for you to really dig into and think about long after you turn the last page. Give Ridgemont University a try; the boys might just steal your heart.
Medium heat, medium angst.
Connor Olivier is a freshman at Ridgemont University, living in Initia Nova, one of the newer residence halls on campus. He has always lived by the head prefect in school, straight-A student, and a bit of a stick in the mud. His small-town background and strict, religious upbringing always made him feel stifled, and the fact that he had steadily dated a girl all through high school never quite felt right. Studying at Ridgemont University is his chance to finally let loose and find himself.
Suddenly, everything makes sense when Connor is assigned a second-year student, Adam, as a mentor. Connor is instantly head-over-heels, and realizes that it won’t be easy to resist Adam.
Adam Scholtz is a reformed bad-boy. He partied too hard in his first year, and he is on thin ice with the university administrators after one wild night led to a very public and embarrassing scene. Adam is determined not to be led astray again and to complete his degree in peace. Nothing could be less convenient than the irresistibly hot first-year student who he has been assigned to mentor as part of his probationary re-admittance to Ridgemont. Adam is tempted to break the rules, but doing so might risk his future at Ridgemont University.
How will Connor and Adam deal with their overpowering attraction? Will they stick to the script, or will they end up breaking the rules? Find out in this first Ridgemont University Short Read.
This is a standalone story within the fictional Ridgemont University series by Meredith Taylor.
The Ridgemont University series follows the M/M gay romances of students at the fictional Ridgemont University in Cape Town, South Africa. The books are crammed full of flirty, fun and sweet romantic moments and complex characters that will make you care about them deeply (and maybe even have them tug at your heartstrings). The romances are organic and realistic, and even though the books are mostly light reading, they have enough substance for you to really dig into and think about long after you turn the last page. Give Ridgemont University a try; the boys might just steal your heart.
63 pages, ebook
First published January 1, 2016
109 people are currently reading
150 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
December 27, 2017
What the hell I just read????
May 7, 2022
Just so you know what is missing from this review that can be found here Reading Is My Drug is two or more paragraphs on how this approx 55 page book is actually about 30 and the rest is all promo. Just something to think about if you don't follow the link to the full review that this book is already short and is even shorter than the stated page length by almost half.
Okay, this story could’ve been something great. Boy on probation, trying to avoid a cute boy who obviously wants him. Just all sorts of awesome to be had here. Unfortunately, nothing about this really makes sense. Conner, who from what I can tell has never done anything with a guy, quite literally throws himself at Adam on their first meet. Which felt all sorts of out of place. All the awkward, ‘I’m not cut out for college life’, and ‘people are so weird here’, just went out the window because he wants Adam? The level of confused I was by this conflict of character thought process versus the actual action was high.
Then Adam, I dunno. He’s one year older than Connor I’m assuming. He thinks Connor is hot. Unless, as far as mentors go, we are talking teacher age type mentors, just like the Dean said he can date whoever he wants. It’s just odd especially when you consider the likelihood of them having to spend time together, unless there’s some problem, is rare. It’s not like they share the same classes or the same friends. Beyond showing him around and being there to help with stuff it’s not like he’s his boss and Connor is his protege and he has to be on him all day every day. I dunno, it was just weird the whole taking advantage of him stuff. They are college students. One night stands are a thing and especially in this case where he wasn’t initiating it. My opinion here translates to the hyped-up version of a photo being taken of two supposedly out guys kissing. It wasn’t nearly as intense as it was made out to be.
Getting angry over the photo was extreme for all the same reasons, if he was so sure he was getting expelled then at that point he should’ve just went for it, took Connor to his room and had his way with him because Connor was definitely ready. Then, for some strange reason, Connor runs away. Like ugh. If he was that shy, that fragile, and that afraid, none of his forwardness makes sense, which I already mentioned in the first paragraph as a cause of confusion. Even if he made the biggest screw up of all times, after only one day he’s in his car packed and gone. That’s a seriously fast runaway for someone trying to step out on their own. He didn’t even wallow in his own self-pity and doubt for a few days before coming to this conclusion. Way too much melodrama and forced angst/tension instead of organic drama. Then the hero rushes out to get him after the Dean does not expel him because who gets expelled over a kiss anyway? That never held much weight as I already said the photo of the kiss got way too much hype. The Dean’s random anecdote about love, sigh. I didn’t read it.
This story didn’t’ really go anywhere. Honestly, the ending ‘love who you want’ with Connor’s grandma, coupled with the Dean’s revelation, plus everything I said above is the entire novel. And all of it felt cliche’ and done before and, again, forced. No real character depth, the relationship doesn’t grow or mature, it never begins. And the title says it’s a first time MM romance so I was expecting one of them to be straight but nope. First relationship romance… okay. I can shift expectations. Unfortunately, even that doesn’t happen. And one kiss is not a monumental rule break as is evidenced by Adam not getting expelled. A full-blown relationship might have got me on board though but only slightly as I already stated it’s hard to see a problem with them just hooking up or dating for real. Readers are even supposed to hate Conner’s roommate but he gets one appearance and one sentence so that was like ‘why’ as well. He supposedly hates him after one day too. But Connor spent that entire day touring the school and barely spent the previous night with him as the roommate wasn’t even settled in the room when Conner arrived the previous day. So when did he or the readers get to know enough about him to hate him?
And that brings up the other point of Adam being in love with Connor and professing this in the Dean’s office. Yes, I’m back to the moment he doesn’t get expelled. His exact phrase was he’s got to know him over the past few days. Sigh. The only time he spent with him at all, was a minute or two when he introduced himself when Connor first arrived. He lost him during the tour because he was doing his job giving a full group the tour when Connor got distracted by hot guys so technically Connor lost himself. So he didn’t get to know him then. It took a brief interaction to invite him out and he got to know some basic info about him but nothing solid. All in all the total time spent actually talking to him was minimal. Two to three hours at best in the entire 24 hours he knew him. So this comment about getting to know Connor better over a few days was the oddest thing. And if Adam didn’t have enough time to get to know him the readers didn’t either.
All in all this story was too underdeveloped for its length and was too short for all of the emotions readers were expected to connect with. The relationship in this first-time romance never actually starts because when it’s about to begin the book ends. The tension over not taking advantage of a student to the kiss being soul-crushing was hard to connect with and overall the main characters did not act the way you’d expect given the circumstances, especially Conner. This story, unfortunately, didn’t deliver on the things I came into it expecting having read more than my share of short stories. I just expected more from this.
Okay, this story could’ve been something great. Boy on probation, trying to avoid a cute boy who obviously wants him. Just all sorts of awesome to be had here. Unfortunately, nothing about this really makes sense. Conner, who from what I can tell has never done anything with a guy, quite literally throws himself at Adam on their first meet. Which felt all sorts of out of place. All the awkward, ‘I’m not cut out for college life’, and ‘people are so weird here’, just went out the window because he wants Adam? The level of confused I was by this conflict of character thought process versus the actual action was high.
Then Adam, I dunno. He’s one year older than Connor I’m assuming. He thinks Connor is hot. Unless, as far as mentors go, we are talking teacher age type mentors, just like the Dean said he can date whoever he wants. It’s just odd especially when you consider the likelihood of them having to spend time together, unless there’s some problem, is rare. It’s not like they share the same classes or the same friends. Beyond showing him around and being there to help with stuff it’s not like he’s his boss and Connor is his protege and he has to be on him all day every day. I dunno, it was just weird the whole taking advantage of him stuff. They are college students. One night stands are a thing and especially in this case where he wasn’t initiating it. My opinion here translates to the hyped-up version of a photo being taken of two supposedly out guys kissing. It wasn’t nearly as intense as it was made out to be.
Getting angry over the photo was extreme for all the same reasons, if he was so sure he was getting expelled then at that point he should’ve just went for it, took Connor to his room and had his way with him because Connor was definitely ready. Then, for some strange reason, Connor runs away. Like ugh. If he was that shy, that fragile, and that afraid, none of his forwardness makes sense, which I already mentioned in the first paragraph as a cause of confusion. Even if he made the biggest screw up of all times, after only one day he’s in his car packed and gone. That’s a seriously fast runaway for someone trying to step out on their own. He didn’t even wallow in his own self-pity and doubt for a few days before coming to this conclusion. Way too much melodrama and forced angst/tension instead of organic drama. Then the hero rushes out to get him after the Dean does not expel him because who gets expelled over a kiss anyway? That never held much weight as I already said the photo of the kiss got way too much hype. The Dean’s random anecdote about love, sigh. I didn’t read it.
This story didn’t’ really go anywhere. Honestly, the ending ‘love who you want’ with Connor’s grandma, coupled with the Dean’s revelation, plus everything I said above is the entire novel. And all of it felt cliche’ and done before and, again, forced. No real character depth, the relationship doesn’t grow or mature, it never begins. And the title says it’s a first time MM romance so I was expecting one of them to be straight but nope. First relationship romance… okay. I can shift expectations. Unfortunately, even that doesn’t happen. And one kiss is not a monumental rule break as is evidenced by Adam not getting expelled. A full-blown relationship might have got me on board though but only slightly as I already stated it’s hard to see a problem with them just hooking up or dating for real. Readers are even supposed to hate Conner’s roommate but he gets one appearance and one sentence so that was like ‘why’ as well. He supposedly hates him after one day too. But Connor spent that entire day touring the school and barely spent the previous night with him as the roommate wasn’t even settled in the room when Conner arrived the previous day. So when did he or the readers get to know enough about him to hate him?
And that brings up the other point of Adam being in love with Connor and professing this in the Dean’s office. Yes, I’m back to the moment he doesn’t get expelled. His exact phrase was he’s got to know him over the past few days. Sigh. The only time he spent with him at all, was a minute or two when he introduced himself when Connor first arrived. He lost him during the tour because he was doing his job giving a full group the tour when Connor got distracted by hot guys so technically Connor lost himself. So he didn’t get to know him then. It took a brief interaction to invite him out and he got to know some basic info about him but nothing solid. All in all the total time spent actually talking to him was minimal. Two to three hours at best in the entire 24 hours he knew him. So this comment about getting to know Connor better over a few days was the oddest thing. And if Adam didn’t have enough time to get to know him the readers didn’t either.
All in all this story was too underdeveloped for its length and was too short for all of the emotions readers were expected to connect with. The relationship in this first-time romance never actually starts because when it’s about to begin the book ends. The tension over not taking advantage of a student to the kiss being soul-crushing was hard to connect with and overall the main characters did not act the way you’d expect given the circumstances, especially Conner. This story, unfortunately, didn’t deliver on the things I came into it expecting having read more than my share of short stories. I just expected more from this.
April 12, 2023
I'm giving this 4 stars but it's more of a 3.5. I just operate under a 'round up' rule for half points. Breaking the Rules was a lot cleaner than I expected. I went into this story, blind, having picked it up at random and fully expected a cliche college sex scene between an awkward experimental boy and a confident boy. Turns out this story has a YA vibe. I was happy to see this, as I needed a chill read. The characters had good development and the relationship didn't feel forced. I do wish Adam's past issues with the school had been explored a little more, but for a short read it flowed well.
August 12, 2018
What does a young gay man do when he reaches university in South Africa? That is the set up in this first installment/novella by Meredith Taylor. I realize this is setting up adventures to come but there isn't a lot of plot here. The characters are likable but inconsistent in the actions vs. their own words. Several things seemed a little too convenient to the moment but might have been more realistic if the author had expounded on it a bit more.
July 15, 2017
I'm not giving this short 3 stars cuz I didn't like it... I did a lot. Just think it could have been way better if it wasn't so short. The story is great and the characters are suprisingly well-developed for such a short piece. Based on this I will be reading the rest of this series. As of a day or so ago this short as well as a few of the other books in the series were free on Amazon.
July 14, 2024
Connor is net gestart op college en heeft het dorpje waar hij is opgegroeid achter zich gelaten. Hij is in voor een totaal nieuwe start. Connor voelt zich aangetrokken tot zijn mentor Adam. Maar Adam heeft de waarschuwing gehad zich vanaf nu aan de regels te houden.
Een te korte novelle over jezelf ontdekken en een ontluikende liefde met de vraag of die het waard is om de regels te breken.
Een te korte novelle over jezelf ontdekken en een ontluikende liefde met de vraag of die het waard is om de regels te breken.
February 1, 2020
Conner and aAdam
This was a well written story about a boy that is trying to find himself. Then he meets the one person that could be the one to bring out his wild side and still stay good. They were well suited together. Very sweet. Short story.
This was a well written story about a boy that is trying to find himself. Then he meets the one person that could be the one to bring out his wild side and still stay good. They were well suited together. Very sweet. Short story.
July 11, 2021
Review to follow
November 3, 2021
Eye-rolling
I realize these aren't complete stories but it's too much. Small-town boy guys too big university and, within three days, and a total of about two hours together, they're in love. I know m/m romances can move along quickly but this was too much. Pass.
I realize these aren't complete stories but it's too much. Small-town boy guys too big university and, within three days, and a total of about two hours together, they're in love. I know m/m romances can move along quickly but this was too much. Pass.
August 3, 2023
Otro libro gratis de Kobo JAJAJAJJA
Para ser sincera me agradó mucho. Mi unica queja sería que siento que todo pasó de manera muy rápida, me hubiese encantado un poco más de desarrollo.
Pero dejando eso de lado, para ser un libro gratis de Kobo, me gustó bastante.
Para ser sincera me agradó mucho. Mi unica queja sería que siento que todo pasó de manera muy rápida, me hubiese encantado un poco más de desarrollo.
Pero dejando eso de lado, para ser un libro gratis de Kobo, me gustó bastante.
August 3, 2024
Otro libro gratis de Kobo JAJAJAJJA
Para ser sincera me agradó mucho. Mi unica queja sería que siento que todo pasó de manera muy rápida, me hubiese encantado un poco más de desarrollo.
Pero dejando eso de lado, para ser un libro gratis de Kobo, me gustó bastante.
Para ser sincera me agradó mucho. Mi unica queja sería que siento que todo pasó de manera muy rápida, me hubiese encantado un poco más de desarrollo.
Pero dejando eso de lado, para ser un libro gratis de Kobo, me gustó bastante.
May 27, 2017
The writing is very awkward and clunky in this free short story.
Sweet idea but not very convincing scenario.
No sex-good idea! Maybe the rest of Connor and Adam's story is better.
Sweet idea but not very convincing scenario.
No sex-good idea! Maybe the rest of Connor and Adam's story is better.
February 4, 2019
This is a introduction to a larger plot; not a short story.
Read
April 6, 2019Dnf at about 60% and I'm amazed by myself for even getting this far. Insta love, insta lust, incredibly naive.
December 7, 2019
So confused...
Unsure what to say about what I just read. Unsure if I should call it a book. I will leave it at that
Unsure what to say about what I just read. Unsure if I should call it a book. I will leave it at that
April 11, 2020
Its ok
May 10, 2020
Short, sweet story. Clean.
October 25, 2024
Breaking the rules
A very short story written by Meredith Taylor. Happy for now ending. Both characters were sweet. I enjoyed reading this book.
A very short story written by Meredith Taylor. Happy for now ending. Both characters were sweet. I enjoyed reading this book.
February 7, 2025
A really brilliant and enjoyable read I couldn't put it down until I finished it 😀
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 1, 2025
The writing was pretty poor. It took me like 15 minutes to read. It read like a rough draft. Skip it.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews