Dirty
by Kylie Scott
When the opening to a book is the hero finding the heroine, in her wedding dress, hiding out in his bathtub, you have to read it. Have to.
On her wedding day, Lydia Green receives an anonymously-sent video of her soon-to-be husband getting it on with his best man. Cue panic attack. She bails from her McMansion, where the wedding is being held, and does her best to scale a fence. After a little breaking and entering (but really, the window was open), she gets into the house behind hers and takes refuge in the bathtub. Rockstar-turned-bartender Vaughn Hewson is certainly not expecting a crying bride in his bath when he turns on the shower.
I have to admit, it was a pretty awesome meet cute. And from then on, the two form an unlikely friendship. Helping Lydia through her problems gives Vaughn a chance to ignore his own and, as Lydia is a relative newcomer and stranger to the town, she’s really in need of a friend. So if friends-to-lovers is your catnip, this might be your bag. Lydia is also a plus-sized heroine, which I loved.
This is my first book by Kylie Scott, though I know Elyse has enjoyed her Stage Dive series in the past. The dialogue was fun and Lydia is a girl who certainly isn’t afraid of hard work, as she quickly pulls herself together with the help of Vaughn and his sister. It’s also pretty damn funny and decently low on melodrama.
Regarding Lydia’s fiance, his sexuality seemed to be a thing everyone knew about except Lydia. It was rumored that he had a romance with one of the football players in high school (the best man) – a romance that apparently continued while he was dating Lydia. His family wasn’t very accepting of the idea that their son could be gay, and they thought Lydia was just making up the video. Since Lydia was new to the small town, it was rather cruel to me that everyone seem to be “in” on this sort of thing. But Lydia’s fiance had his own happy ending as well – he and the best man used the honeymoon to go to Hawaii.
I will warn that the grovel is insufficient, and the main conflict keeping Lydia and Vaughn from being together is wrapped up in the last fifteen pages by some unrealistic romcom type resolution. And the family of Lydia’s fiancé seem too much like caricatures with their villainy. However, I spent most of my RT line waiting with my nose buried in this book if that’s any indication of how much I enjoyed it.
– Amanda
The last thing Vaughan Hewson expects to find when he returns to his childhood home is a broken hearted bride in his shower, let alone the drama and chaos that comes with her.
Lydia Green doesn’t know whether to burn down the church or sit and cry in a corner. Discovering the love of your life is having an affair on your wedding day is bad enough. Finding out it’s with his best man is another thing all together. She narrowly escapes tying the knot and meets Vaughan only hours later.
Vaughan is the exact opposite of the picture perfect, respected businessman she thought she’d marry. This former musician-turned-bartender is rough around the edges and unsettled. But she already tried Mr. Right and discovered he’s all wrong-maybe it’s time to give Mr. Right Now a chance.
After all, what’s wrong with getting dirty?
Contemporary Romance, Romance
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I agree with your assessment. While I gobbled up ‘Dirty’ I did NOT join Elyse’s Bad Decision Book Club to read it. I didn’t find it as satisfying overall as the first 3 Stage Dive novels. (The 4th didn’t work for me as well.)
I’m hoping it’s suffering First in a New Series Syndrome, though. And looking forward to the next one, although I’ll probably get it from the library. (I’ve got to learn what Joe was up to on the computer, for one thing. Lol)