I’m gonna take a moment to talk about Dirty by Kylie Scott. I just finished it last night and I originally gave it 5/5 stars. I woke up this morning and decided to knock it back down to 4. And surprisingly, it’s not for the reason I was scared it would be.

See, I started this book with some real feelings of trepidation. Lydia, our heroine, is a runaway bride. She finds out moments before walking down the aisle that her husband-to-be is having an affair with his best man. Yes! A secret gay! A secret gay who betrays the heroine. I was really hesitant about his book because I was so afraid of encountering a Depraved Homosexual or Sissy Villain kind of trope. And even if Kylie Scott managed to avoid these harmful stereotypes, just the presence of an Evil Gay in the story would be enough to ruin things for me.

Consider the rest of this spoiler territory.

Thankfully, Scott doesn’t spend that much time on the ex-fiancee. He is a piece of shit, but not in a harmful, stereotypical kind of way. More because of the fact that he lied to and betrayed Lydia, which is true. Now, a more nuanced novel might have picked up on the fact that as a closeted gay man in a small-ish town in Idaho, the ex was also lying to himself and betraying his own partner… This is sort of touched on in the story, but not explored to any depth. But overall I thought Scott handled the character well. He isn’t redeemed on any level in the story, but he’s also mostly an off-page kind of villain. His gayness isn’t his villainy, it’s his lying and manipulating of Lydia that makes him bad.

What knocked the book down to four stars was actually the lack of nuance or development in Vaughan, our hero’s, character. He’s kind of flat for most of the book. Oh, ridiculously charming and incredibly hot, yes. But we’re mostly told about his hang ups and insecurities and not really shown them.

Lydia, however, is a real delight. Funny, witty, self-deprecating. And she’s a plus-sized heroine! Yeah, she has some body-issues to deal with in the story, but again, I thought Scott presented these with finesse and empathy.

Overall, I really enjoyed the novel, much to my delight.

( )

This one pains me because I LOVED all the Stage Dive books! I felt this moved along too slowly and I really didn't feel the "love" between Lydia and Vaughn. The biggest problem was Lydia's self image issues and the description of her plus size in the book. It kept coming up so much that I finally had a mental picture of a very obese ugly woman! It just somehow took over the story! I loved the visit from Mal and his insane/funny self! Most of the dialogue between Vaughn & Lydia was so detached and without any real emotion. ( )

Wasn't too bad. Wasn't too thrilling, either.

Loved this book. The heroine was funny and sweet and spirited. The hero wasn't super alpha nor was he beta. Just seemed like a cool guy. There were quite a few interesting secondary characters. Some of whom are surely going to have their own books. This is a side series I believe to Ms. Scott's rock star books which I haven't read because I just don't find rock stars all that interesting. But I may have to read them anyway since I enjoy her writing so much. (I loved her zombie apocalypse books and really want more of those.)

Well plotted, moved right along even though there was some insta love, it seemed believable. ( )

Quite a fun contemporary romance, reminded me of Before Jamaica Lane by Samantha Young, which I read a few weeks ago. The beginning is alive! when Vaughn finds a runaway bride in his bathtub. Lydia is a wise arse, funny and good hearted gal. She finds Mr Right in the heavily tattoo-ed rock star and tattoo artist, Vaughn.

While I found this a pleasant, easy read, it lacked some oomph that would have earned it 4 stars. But it was more than oomph...

I didn't listen to it continuously, but "dived" into it multiple times over my 3 week loan - partly because I found the relationship between Lydia and Vaughn tense, and it gave me anxiety, waiting for the next misunderstanding or fallout between them.

I think I came across this book because I was researching Australian romance writers. I'd never heard of Kylie Scott except that I'd read Lick - but didn't know till my research that she is Australian and lives in Queensland! my home state!

WINNER OF THE 2016 AUSTRALIAN ROMANCE READERS AWARD FOR FAVOURITE CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE From New York Times bestselling author Kylie Scott comes the first novel in the Dive Bar series.

I liked this quote on Google: "There's a Lydia inside each and every female heart. Filled with knowing. Confusion. Understanding. Above all, love. Dirty is a remarkable book." Abbi Glines, New York Times bestselling author. Unfortunately, the quote is all too accurate, which is why I found myself a little beleaguered by dread reading this.

Unfortunately, I missed the HEA because my library loan expired when I was about 45 mins from the end. So I must go back and savour it one day and it might make me feel better!

I don't think I've confessed this before in my commentary, but a thing that disconcerted me about this book was the male lead being called Vaughn - pronounced 'Von' of course. I've never know a fictional character where his name so didn't match his depiction! It was like a splinter under one's fingernail, it was that bad. - a personal reaction of course, and I can say I've never known any Vaughns, so I don't know why I had such a visceral reaction. ( )