A romantic comedy of how love goes wrongâand rightâwhen youâre a twenty-something still figuring out how to adult.
Jake, an architectural designer pushing thirty, is stuck in a job he hates. Heâs spent the last two years overworked and underpaid in the dark basement of Burnham & Modine. He and his coworkers get through the day pulling pranks and gambling on how long interns will last.
Lindsay loves her job as the producer for a talk radio show. But her new timeslot means she and Jake are now working different hours. Worse, she expects Jake to teach her what he learns in a ballroom dancing class she can no longer attend. Already hurt by Lindsay's prioritization of her career over their relationship, Jake feels betrayed when he accidentally discovers that to help pay the bills she's been moonlightingâas a nude model.
Kaylee is Jakeâs new partner at dance class. Sheâs a cute and free-spirited Trekkie geek who's trying to figure her life out after going from high school valedictorian to college dropout. Soon Jake and Kaylee are spending more time together off the dance floor than on it ⌠and the state of being ânot dressedâ just might be contagious.
A romantic comedy of how love goes wrongâand rightâwhen youâre a twenty-something still figuring out how to adult.
Jake, an architectural designer pushing thirty, is stuck in a job he hates. Heâs spent the last two years overworked and underpaid in the dark basement of Burnham & Modine. He and his coworkers get through the day pulling pranks and gambling on how long interns will last.
Lindsay loves her job as the producer for a talk radio show. But her new timeslot means she and Jake are now working different hours. Worse, she expects Jake to teach her what he learns in a ballroom dancing class she can no longer attend. Already hurt by Lindsay's prioritization of her career over their relationship, Jake feels betrayed when he accidentally discovers that to help pay the bills she's been moonlightingâas a nude model.
Kaylee is Jakeâs new partner at dance class. Sheâs a cute and free-spirited Trekkie geek who's trying to figure her life out after going from high school valedictorian to college dropout. Soon Jake and Kaylee are spending more time together off the dance floor than on it ⌠and the state of being ânot dressedâ just might be contagious.
âLindsay, you wonât believe it.â
âWhat? What happened?â
âI just got an email from Burnham & Modine. Theyâre offering me a job. I can start on Monday if I accept.â
âThatâs great.â
Itâs not great, really. I mean, of course, itâs great that they have offered me a job. Iâve been unemployed for three months now. I got laid off from my last job literally like a week after we signed the lease on our apartment. The past few months have been rough, but Iâm still not totally happy about this job offer.
After months of not getting anywhere in my job search, Burnham & Modine was the first architecture firm that didnât send me a stupid form letter telling me how âimpressiveâ my qualifications were but they âsincerely regretâ that they couldnât offer me employment. After my interview, I had a feeling they would offer me a job. The interview itself didnât give me a good vibe or anything, but I just knew that since I didnât want the job there they would be the first to offer me one.
âHow much are they paying?â she asks. Normally money wouldnât be the most important issue, but right now it kind of is. I hadnât even thought to scroll down the email to look because I was so stunned to see the words âBurnham & Modine is offering you a position as an architectural designerâŚâ that I forgot to even look at what they were offering. There is another part of me that doesnât even want to accept the job, regardless of salary. My instincts are telling me to turn it down and wait for something better. They have offered me a job; thatâs clearly a sign that my luck is changing and something better will come around soon.
I scroll down to find the part of the email where Mr. Modine explains the salary and benefits he's offering.
âItâs not much money,â I tell her. âJust barely more than I was making before.â
âMaybe itâs like a trial salary. Once you prove yourself and have a review, youâll probably get a nice raise,â she says.
Iâm not convinced and say nothing.
Lindsay frowns. âYou donât want to take the job, do you?â
âNot really. The place is a dump. Itâs this small office in an old rundown building near Chinatown. The projects they do are pretty lame, too. I showed them my 3D renderings, and they were impressed, but I got the impression they donât do that in the office.â
I knew before I even sat down for the interview I didnât want to work there. It was a grimy-looking office, piles of papers everywhere. They never even gave me a tour. I thought that was a big red flag. If theyâd offered me a lot more money, it would have been easier. But, nope. Iâll still be underpaid.
âIâm sorry, I know how much you like that 3D stuff, but beggars canât be choosers, you know,â Lindsay says. âWe have rent to pay and⌠other expenses to think about.â
By âother expensesâ she means our future wedding. I havenât proposed yet, but now that weâre living together, getting married has been discussed more than usual. Lindsay believes that it makes sense to wait until weâre in a better financial position and I agree. This job wonât exactly improve our financial position, but it will let me continue to save money for a ring.
âRight,â I say.
âLook, I know youâd like to wait out for something better. I understand that, really. But, youâve been unemployed for three months, andââ
âI know. I know. Iâll take the job.â
âThank you.â
âBut Iâm not going to settle for this place,â I assure her. âThis is just going to be a bump in the road for me.â
âThatâs fine. Take this job and see how it is. Maybe it will grow on you. If it doesnât, you can keep looking. They say itâs a lot easier to get a job when you already have a job.â
âI hope so. If I donât like it, Iâll start looking again in a few months.â
âThatâs the spirit.â
I write Mr. Modine a short email, accepting his offer.
From: Jacob Evans
Date: Friday, March 24, 2017 9:43 AM
Subject: re: employment offer
To: Arnold Modine
Mr. Modine,
I am very pleased with your offer and would like to accept the position. I believe this is a great opportunity for me and I look forward to contributing to the success of Burnham & Modine. I can start Monday, March 27th.
Thanks,
Jake
After Lindsay looks it over, I hit send, and she looks satisfied. âThanks, babe. Letâs celebrate.â
I know itâs a good thing that I have a job again, but I honestly donât feel like celebrating, and Lindsay notices.
âCheer up, babe. You know we need the money. Sometimes we gotta do things we donât want to do. We canât afford this place on my income alone.â
âI know. I know.â
âSo stop pouting. You got a job! This is a good thing.â
âMaybe it is, but I promise you here and now that within six months I wonât be working at Burnham & Modine anymore.â
Not Dressed is a romantic comedy with 45 chapters split into 3 parts. Our main character and narrator is Jake, who hates his job and is currently living with his girlfriend Lindsay who loves her job. Like, a lot. The book begins with Jake claiming he will not be at this new job for more than 6 months, and then jumps to two years later â and he is still stuck. Lindsay comes off to me as absolutely insufferable and almost immediately I wonder why Jake is still with her. Jake's sister is getting married soon so Lindsay signs them up for dancing lessons without telling Jake until after he reluctantly agrees to go along with her plan. Then Lindsay's talk radio show gets bumped to the evening time slot meaning that she won't be able to attend the dance lessons. Rather than cancel them, she suggests Jake go on his own and teach her what he has learned on the weekends. Somehow, Jake agrees. Â
Jake goes to the dance lessons and thinks he is going to be stuck being paired with the teacher, but it turns out that there is another student who is solo and just happens to be a female, so of course they pair up. Kaylee is a Trekkie and geeky fangirl to the extreme and she doesn't know when to shut up. She drops Star Trek references everywhere but despite all this, she and Jake seem to hit it off and form an odd friendship.
I was intrigued by this book because it was a romantic comedy with a male author instead of a female. I tend to lean towards female written books so I was curious to see how this might be different, aside from being narrated from the guy's perspective. (Most other books either alternate or are from the female's perspective.) There were a few instances where I thought, "no girl would ever say that" but for the most part I enjoyed it. By about halfway through I found myself either absolutely hating or being very, very annoyed with all three of our characters - Lindsay (I was hoping with every new page that Jake would dump her ass), Jake and Kaylee. They all bugged me for different reasons - yet while this may have made me opt out on finishing other books there was also something about them that just drew me in and I had to see how these stories would end. There were some twists and turns along the way and I think I was pretty much ok with things in the end.
If you are a fan of a romantic comedy, maybe a smart geeky girl or hate your job in architecture, you might want to check out this book.