Dirty: A Dive Bar Novel (Dive Bar, #1)

by Kylie Scott

Dirty is the first in the Dive Bar series from the author of the New York Times bestselling Stage Dive books.

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 at a crossroads. 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?

• ISBN10: 1250083273
• ISBN13: 9781250083272
• Publish Date: 19 April 2016
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: St. Martin's Griffin
• Format: eBook
• Language: English

Reviews

[nitzan_schwarz]

3.5

First things first - I forgot how much I enjoy reading Scott's writing! Lydia's narration is so fun and funny and it flows soooo good.

Honestly, the first half of this book was SO GREAT. It was pretty much everything I wanted it to be, despite the slapstick elements of it which are not my favorite. But it was funny and sweet and I felt like we really got to see the chemistry between Lydia and Vaughan shine. These two are really great together--their conversations flow, they are not afraid to fight and put each other in their places, and their banter is hilarious.

But then.

Well, I got over the sex quickly. Not because it's bad, but because I wanted to see them talk more. it wasn't as bad as some other books I've read, but I definitely skimmed quite a bit wanting to get to more interesting parts of the story.

At this point, this was still a four star read, though. But then... then came the ending. And you know what? You can tell a woman wrote it. I know that sounds bad, but it is true. Vaughan leaves to continue with his musical career, and five days later he comes back. Declaring his new dream is to be with Lydia (family, marriage, the who shabang). He tells her he loves her and that he has arranged EVERYTHING so they could be together - everything he was so against until this point. He tells her he was probably in love with her an hour into knowing her but he was fighting it. And I'm just sitting here thinking... what? That's how this whole thing's resolved? Seriously? I rolled my eyes. I sighed. I was thinking to myself "this is so dumb". If this is how this was going to end, why was his leaving even necessary? It's not like we get to see any part of that that could influence his decision and he literally comes back ONE PAGE after he leaves. Like, don't even go there if this is how it's going to end.

Blah.

That being said, I did really love Lydia and Vaughan together, and I am definitely going to read more Kylie Scott novels.

[EBookObsessed]

This was not what I expected and the ending did seem a bit abrupt, but I did enjoy it. There was a lot of secondary character introduction to set up for future stories.

Lydia is a curvy bride who finds out that her Prince Charming intended her to be his beard and that their whirlwind romance was intended to keep her from finding out that this Prince really wanted to bat for the other team. But someone sent her a video of her intended with his BFF just before she walks down the aisle. I do wonder that she wasn’t a little more busy that morning dressing and prepping for the wedding that she is checking her emails, but maybe she got bored waiting.

Lydia makes a run from her at-home wedding by climbing over the back fence and climbing into a neighbor’s open window, which is pretty impressive for a plus-size girl in full wedding gown. The house looks slightly abandoned and she hides out in the neighbor’s bathtub hoping no one will find her. That was going well until Vaughan wakes up and decides to take a shower.

So why would a musician get involved with this soggy runaway bride? Vaughan has just returned home after his band broke up. He needs money to return to LA and is going to sell his parents’ house. He hasn’t been back since his parents died and finds being alone there is depressing. Submerging himself in Lydia’s problems keeps him from floundering in his own. So as long as he is in town, Vaughan invites Lydia to stay with him so she get her life back in order and decide what her next step is and this way he isn’t alone in the house flooded with painful memories.

Sadly, Vaughan and Lydia mesh nicely although they admit they probably would never have met if Lydia didn’t climb in his window. I say sadly since we know from the beginning that Vaughn has every intention of leaving town and returning to LA to try to build a new band. While at first Lydia wants to get as far away from her ex and this town as possible, as she meets people outside of her ex-fiance’s social circle, she finds that she wants to stay and make a life here.

While Lydia and Vaughan’s friendship keeps building, it is always intended to be a short-term, two ships passing in the night relationship and you are left with a feeling of that sucks. This is a first person story told by Lydia and we know of her growing feelings toward Vaughan, but Vaughan gets very closed off with any indication of their relationship being anything but temporary since he is determined to go off and make music. Because Vaughan keeps trying to keep in the moment and then move on, the ending solution seemed a little abrupt to me.

Overall I liked the characters introduced here and while not overly exciting, it was a well written story.

[stacey_is_sassy]

The Dirty Princess was looking at the wrong Prince.

I’ll start off by saying that I’ve met Kylie Scott once and heard an interview with her another time and through the whole time I was reading Dirty it wasn’t my voice in my head, it was hers. Anyone else who has heard Kylie talk, know she’s got quite a husky voice. Let’s just say, I think she could REALLY pull off narrating her own books. Anyways…I really, really enjoyed Dirty. This was a fairly short story that flowed well and kept my attention from start to finish. The characters were humorous, original and interesting with a love story that sparked from the beginning but ignited when their feelings could no longer be denied. It’s insta-lust…kind of insta-love, but never really felt like it. Considering the story spans just over a week, it felt like a lot longer. Maybe because it was dealing with a lot of issues, or maybe it was because the characters connected so well from the time they meet.

Lydia has realised (too late) that her fiancé was hiding a very big secret. Luckily, she found out before she walked down the aisle. With feelings of anger, frustration and complete devastation, she runs…and there isn’t any wall too high she won’t climb to get away. Sneaking (running as fast as she can) away from the wedding, she comes across a little cottage that looks abandoned. There is a window leading to the bathroom opened with enough room to climb in. Thinking to hide for a little while, she climbs in, steps into the bathtub and has a little meltdown.

The house wasn’t abandoned. Vaughn was visiting his childhood home with plans to sell his half to his sister Nell. Feeling a little rusty and a lot uncomfortable, the last thing he expects to find is a very sexy, busty woman, in a wedding dress, sitting in his bathtub. Vaughn, being the laid back kind of guy he is, doesn’t automatically call the cops. He wants to find out what the breasts are doing in his house before he chucks her out. After getting breasts out of the tub, grabbing a towel to contain his swinging bits and making coffee, he finally sits down to have a talk man to chest. If you haven’t cottoned on yet…Vaughn’s a titman.

Lydia and Vaughn, having not met each other before, find comfort in their anonymity and share their secrets. Just in time too, because the wedding party comes to Vaughn’s house and there is war in the front yard and the bad guy is left bloodied. Everything settles down, but Lydia is left jobless, homeless and scared what her future will hold. Vaughn is facing his own dilemma but they are both sure that this is just a pitstop and they will be moving on soon. He offers a place for Lydia to stay for the few days she’s here and before he heads off himself. Living together, it doesn’t take long for Lydia to meet Vaughn’s friends and family. Most of them either work, or are a part of Nell’s bar called Dive Bar. It’s not long before Lydia becomes one of the gang and finds she doesn’t want to leave town afterall.

Dirty addresses many issues that we as a society deal with every day. Body issues, family issues, divorce, cheating, running a business, having dreams, lifetime goals and following your heart. Do you keep persevering with a lifetime dream when it’s been derailed, or do you make new dreams? Is it easier to move on from heartbreak, when you realise your heart wasn’t really involved? A few tears, a bit of laughter and a lot of self-reflecting helps both Vaughn and Lydia work out what makes them happy and who they want to be a part of that happiness.

I’m glad I got down and Dirty with Lydia and Vaughn, took a Dive with Nell, Eric, Joe and Rosie, and caught up at the next Stage with Mal. I wonder what the next Twist will be.



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 -