Dirty English (British Bad Boys, #1)

by Ilsa Madden-Mills

S K Hartley (Illustrator) and Rachel Skinner (Editor)

A scarred fighter.
A girl with rules.
One night of unbridled passion.

There are three things you need to know about Elizabeth Bennett: she’s smart as a whip, always in control, and lives by a set of carefully crafted rules. She’s learned the hard way that people you love the most always hurt you in the end. But then she meets Declan Blay, the new neighbor at her apartment complex.

A tattooed British street fighter, he’s the campus bad boy she’s supposed to avoid, but when he saves her from a frat party gone bad, all her rules about sex and love fly out the window. She gives him one night of unbridled passion, but he longs for more.

With only a cardboard-thin wall separating their bedrooms, he dreams of possessing the vulnerable girl next door forever.

One night. Two damaged hearts. The passion of a lifetime.

*A modern love story inspired by Pride and Prejudice*

• ISBN10: 1517687462
• ISBN13: 9781517687465
• Publish Date: 9 October 2015
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 272
• Language: English

Reviews

[stacey_is_sassy]

An audio review

***3.5 Stars***

I've been listening to audio books a lot more lately and it has been very, very interesting. When I went shopping looking for a new purchase I came across the cover for Dirty English. To say I was a little distracted is a HUGE understatement. I may have even been so distracted that I didn't read the blurb. I mean, I'd seen a lot of friends who had read and loved it, why not just jump in and take the plunge? Well, you can imagine my surprise (and my smacking my forehead in frustration) when I realised I'd picked up an NA, College romance. Ok, Sassy, suck it up buttercup and give it a go...SO I DID!!

The introduction certainly caught my attention and I was sucked into Elizabeth Bennett's world....hold up, haven't I been here before? No, wrong Elizabeth Bennett (cheesy, I know, but I couldn't help myself). This Elizabeth survived a horrible experience that has left her scarred and troubled. She has somewhat put herself back together, but she will never again be the same girl she was before Prom night. Now, that she is in college, she is determined to get her degree and make a life for herself. She has a loser mum who she knows she can't depend on, so any success and future will be all up to her. For awhile things go smoothly and she manages to keep her nose to the grind and keep her relationships strictly to the one night only kind...until she meets Dirty English.

Dirty English is the name that Declan Bray has become known as in the fighting ring. Declan has his nose to the grind too. His dream is to open a gym for fighters and he is definitely on track to have it become a reality. He studies hard and works out hard. To help finance his gym he does some underground fighting. It's dangerous but it is also something Declan loves to do. When Elizabeth Bennett walks into his life, he knows that things are about to change.

This journey is not an easy one. They push and pull each other (as college relationships are wont to do) finding that the attraction is turning to something a lot deeper than either of them expected. Friends are there to have their backs when the ex's (for both of them) invade their lives. Unfortunately, both of them have bad ones...who maybe even have a screw loose...or two...or three. Family get involved and we see how dysfunctional both their lives have been up till now.

Now, in regards to the audio... besides the cover, I picked this one because it has a male narrator and his voice was really appealing in the sample. So, the male narrator does Declan's chapters and there is also a female narrator who does Elizabeth's chapters. I thought it would be cool with a male narrator, but I'm not fully convinced, to be honest. I think the female narrator does a better job dropping her voice for the male characters than the male narrator doing a higher pitched female voice. Just my opinion, though.

Overall, I enjoyed Dirty English. I'm not a huge fan of NA so a 3.5 stars mean that it was pretty damn good. Will I go back and read/listen to more from this author? Maybe, if she does an adult contemporary.

To buy Dirty English from Amazon - http://amzn.to/2atG2Hg

I’m an Aussie chick who loves to read and review romance, drink coffee, be a Style Setter and stalk David Gandy. To see more of my reviews, fashion, food and pervathons -

[Linda]

This review was originally posted on (un)Conventional Bookviews
Dirty English is dark and gritty, beautiful and hopeful, and has some very interesting and complex characters. I have to admit I cried, because Elizabeth had truly been through hell, but then, so had Declan - even if that was a different kind of hell.



From the beginning of Dirty English, I knew I was going to enjoy this story! The prologue made me cry - Elizabeth's hell was very personal, and also something that was shared against her will with several people. However, once the first chapter opened, and she was in college, moving in to her new apartment, next to a guy who had old classics in a box by his door, I just knew it was my kind of story. And Declan... yeah, talk about hot guy! A fighter, an English major, smart, good-looking, tender-hearted and strong-bodied. What's not to like, right?

Dirty English is written in dual point of view, with some chapters from Elizabeth's perspective, others from Declan's, and I really got to know both of them very well. Strong personalities, which they needed, and also loyal and loving - when they opened up, which didn't happen often at all.

The character development for both of the main characters was great, because they both had a lot of crap in their past that they had to let go of, but that can be so very scary. However, especially Elizabeth realized that as long as she let the past dictate her present and her future, she wouldn't really have a life at all, she'd only have an existence, and she knew she both needed and deserved more than that.

The only negative note I have about Dirty English is that there are sex-scenes without condoms... and that's just a big no-no in my opinion! Using a condom is not something you just forget! That's like forgetting to go to the bathroom when you need to pee. And nobody should trust someone they're just starting to get to know when it comes to their health and past sex-life. The story is very emotional, but the characters were so realistic, and the main storyline really spoke to me, and I loved how Elizabeth and Declan dealt with the things they needed to deal with. And I loved how Declan's British accent came out in his dialogues ;)



As far as I knew, Nadia was still with her new guy, some fancy tennis player form Brazil. Donatello or Michelangelo or something. Ninja Turtle? Yeah.

Elizabeth Bennett was the most awkward person to ever come to a frat party. Not only had she came through the door like she was going to an execution, but she'd asked me to shag her in the most unsophisticated manner I'd ever seen in my days at Whitman.

She debated for a few seconds, a small smile curving her mouth. Full and plump, those lips on mine had been my fantasy way too many nights. "Okay, but only if you let me take you down a few times. Like flip you over my shoulder, toss you to the ground kind of take down. Maybe sit on you."
I exhaled, picturing that little scenario, and I couldn't stop the little grin on my face. "You can sit on me whenever you want."

[Sam@WLABB]

Madden-Mills does it again. She gives us a slightly damaged heroine, and a fantastic bad-boy hero. Declan....sigh. He had some many different sides, and I loved them all. He was tough, fierce, but tender and sensitive. The prologue was so dramatic. What an opening. Loved it!

[thebookdisciple]

Dirty English is now one of my favorite books. Honestly, there wasn't a single thing I didn't like about it! Elizabeth is more than the typical 'broken girl' and her methods for coping with her pain were more realistic than many other books. Dirty English, aka Declan, is more than just a bad boy fighter. The book isn't about the broken girl falling for the bad boy. It isn't about underground fighting. It isn't about abuse. Its about Elizabeth and Declan finding each other and its beautiful. Their story is deep and tragic. You will get ALL the feels! Abuse, desperation, self doubt, compassion...this book has it in spades. You also get dual POV which is, in my opinion, AWESOME! I hope that Ilsa will continue this series. Dax needs a book and I am not done with Elizabeth and Declan! I want to see how things with their families progress. I want to see how they deal with life after college. I want to see Dax get his HEA. This book is difficult to classify because its so many things. Is it a fighter book? Yes. Is it a book about abuse? Yes. Is it a book about finding yourself and doing what you want to do in life? Yes. Is it a book about love? Yes. Its all of those things but one of those things alone isn't enough to explain this book. Its everything and more.

[Cocktails and Books]

I loved this book. LOVED! Once again, Ilsa Madden-Mills has completely blown me away. Full review to come.