Series: Dive Bar

Review: Dirty by Kylie Scott

Posted March 7, 2019 by Holly in Reviews | 3 Comments

Review: Dirty by Kylie ScottReviewer: Holly
Dirty by Kylie Scott
Narrator: Andi Arndt
Series: Dive Bar #1
Also in this series: Dirty, Dirty, Twist
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Publication Date: April 19, 2016
Format: Audiobook, eBook
Source: Library
Point-of-View: First Person
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 275
Length: 8 hours and 17 minutes
Add It: Goodreads
Reading Challenges: Holly's 2019 GoodReads Challenge
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
two-stars
Series Rating: four-stars


Love—on the rocks….

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 come with her.

Lydia Green doesn't know whether to scream or 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.

Just when this runaway bride has nowhere left to turn, a handsome stranger offers her a broad, muscular shoulder to cry on. Vaughan is the exact opposite of the picture perfect, respected businessmen she's normally drawn to. This former musician-turned-bartender is rough around the edges and is facing his own crossroads. But Lydia's 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?

Dirty is the first book in the Dive Bar series from bestselling author Kylie Scott.

I read the Stage Dive series the year it was released, but somehow I never read this spinoff series. After finishing Repeat on audio, I was in the mood for something else by Kylie Scott and decided to try this one. Sadly, it didn’t work for me at all. The short time frame of the story – two weeks total – really worked against it.

Lydia Green freaks out on her wedding day when she’s emailed a video of her groom having sex with his best man. She’s supposed to walk down the aisle in minutes, but she panics and runs instead. She hops over the neighbor’s fence and ends up crying in the bathtub..where Vaughn Hewson, the owner of the house, finds her.

Vaughn is down on his luck. His band recently split up and he’s broke. He’s come home to sell his parents’ house to his sister, but no way is he prepared to find a weeping woman in a wedding dress in his shower. Despite the circumstances – or maybe because of them – Vaughn and Lydia end up supporting each other as they deal with their own stuff. But Vaughn is only in town long enough to sell his house, and Lydia wants to settle down.

I had a lot of problems with this book. 1) Lydia made a lot of really questionable choices. She’d only been with her fiance 4 months, which even she acknowledges was rushing things. Yet within 48 hours she’s all in with Vaughn? Then she’s ready to make major life changes on whim? 2) Vaughn was a jerk to her half the time, but she still felt like she was falling for him? 3) The short time frame meant I didn’t believe for a minute they were actually solid enough to go the distance. 4) Vaughn’s decision at the end was ridiculous and made no sense.

I wanted to like this book, but I just couldn’t.

Rating: 2 out of 5

Dive Bar

two-stars


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Guest Review: Twist by Kylie Scott

Posted April 19, 2017 by Tracy in Reviews | 2 Comments

Guest Review: Twist by Kylie ScottReviewer: Tracy
Twist by Kylie Scott
Series: Dive Bar #2
Also in this series: Dirty, Dirty, Dirty
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Publication Date: April 11th 2017
Pages: 288
Add It: Goodreads
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four-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

When his younger brother loses interest in online dating, hot, bearded, bartender extraordinaire, Joe Collins, only intends to log into his account and shut it down. Until he reads about her.

Alex Parks is funny, friendly, and pretty much everything he's been looking for in a woman. And in no time at all they're emailing up a storm, telling each other their deepest darkest secrets... apart from the one that really matters.

And when it comes to love, serving it straight up works better than with a twist.

Alex Parks works from home in Seattle.  She signed up on an online dating site and has been emailing back and forth with a super-hot guy named Eric.  She’s knows it’s his birthday and that he’ll have a get-together with friends and family at Dive Bar, where he is part owner.  Alex hadn’t heard from Eric for a few weeks so decides to fly to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho to surprise him.  Eric’s incredibly surprised when she arrives because he has absolutely no idea who she is.  It turns out that Alex had been getting catfished by Eric’s brother, Joe.

Joe had helped Eric sign up for the dating site but Eric quickly lost interest.  Joe planned on shutting Eric’s account down but when he saw a message from Alex he answered her…as Eric.  Six months had gone by and Joe still hadn’t come clean about the fact that he wasn’t who he said he was.  When he sees Alex he’s more than freaked out that she’s in Dive Bar but truly wants to talk to he and get to know her.  She’s mad at both Joe for being an idiot and herself for falling for someone online.  Joe is persistent and doesn’t give up trying with Alex.  Eventually Alex decides to hear him out but instead of heading home to Seattle after their talk, she gets the flu.  She’s miserable but Joe is there to help her.  As the two get to know each other they become friends for real and then so much more.

This was a great book.  I really loved both Alex and Joe and together they made me laugh, a lot.  They worked together so well and played off each other’s strengths.  Alex was a snarky woman and I loved that.  The fact that Joe could not only keep up but give it back to her made me like them even more.

The friends to lovers aspect of the book was done well, I thought, especially in light of Joe’s catfishing.  Once they became lovers I thought nothing could break them apart but of course the author proved me wrong.  Fortunately they got their HEA and I was quite pleased with the outcome of the book.

If you haven’t read either Dirty or Twist, you really need to as they’re darned good books.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Oh, and this cover? Yum. 🙂

four-stars


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Review: Dirty by Kylie Scott

Posted May 10, 2016 by Rowena in Reviews | 0 Comments

Review: Dirty by Kylie ScottReviewer: Rowena
Dirty by Kylie Scott
Series: Dive Bar #1
Also in this series: Dirty, Twist, Dirty
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Publication Date: April 19, 2016
Genres: New Adult
Pages: 288
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
four-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

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?

This is the first book in a new Dive Bar series by Kylie Scott and it was also my first book read by Scott. I’ve read nothing but good things about her Stage Dive series and I’ve been meaning to read those books but never got around to it. That didn’t stop me from jumping into this book and I’m glad that I did give this book a shot because it was an enjoyable read.

Lydia Greene thought she was marrying Chris but when she sees a video of her fiance getting down and dirty with his best man, she jumps the fence and hides out in the neighbors bathtub. She’s so lost in thought that she doesn’t hear anyone come into the house until the guy is in the bathroom, taking a leak and turning the shower on with her still in the tub.

Vaughan Hewson’s band broke up, he’s broke and he’s back in his hometown. He needs to hit the reset button, get a plan together and then make it happen. He was expecting to get some grief from his sister for not visiting often, for not keeping in contact but what he was not expecting was a woman sitting in his bathtub in a wedding dress. He also wasn’t expecting all the drama that would follow that woman on his first day home. But the woman needs someone in her corner and before Vaughan knows what’s what, he finds himself in her corner.

Nobody is more surprised than both Vaughan and Lydia at how quickly they get close. The chemistry between them sizzles and I found their romance completely charming.

Vaughan was a solid hero whose tattoos I wanted to lick at the same time that I wanted to hug him close and tell him that everything would work itself out. I loved the easy way that he was with Lydia but also with everyone in his circle of friends and his family. There’s a wealth of love between all of the characters in this series and I felt it. I’m pretty anxious to see who gets their story told next. I think it’s too soon for Nell and Pat (they are going to get their story told, right?) but I wouldn’t be mad about Eric getting his book next.

There’s a Mal sighting in this book and even though I don’t know who he is (haven’t read his book), I remember Holly reading and loving him so I’m pretty anxious to dig into his series. This was a great start to a new series and I enjoyed this book enough to be thirsty for the next book.

4 out of 5

four-stars


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Guest Review: Dirty by Kylie Scott

Posted April 18, 2016 by Tracy in Reviews | 0 Comments

Guest Review: Dirty by Kylie ScottReviewer: Tracy
Dirty by Kylie Scott
Series: Dive Bar #1
Also in this series: Dirty, Twist, Dirty
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Publication Date: April 19th 2016
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
four-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

Love—on the rocks....

The last thing Vaughan Hewson expects to find when he returns to his childhood home is a brokenhearted bride in his shower, let alone the drama and chaos that come with her.

Lydia Green doesn't know whether to scream or 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.

Just when this runaway bride has nowhere left to turn, a handsome stranger offers her a broad, muscular shoulder to cry on. Vaughan is the exact opposite of the picture perfect, respected businessmen she's normally drawn to. This former musician-turned-bartender is rough around the edges and is facing his own crossroads. But Lydia's 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?

Dirty is the first book in the Dive Bar series from bestselling author Kylie Scott.

Lydia is quite upset, to say the least, when she is getting ready to walk down the aisle, literally, and she’s sent a video showing her bridegroom having sex with his best man.  She makes an instant decision to run rather than face her fiance’s snobbish and judgmental family.  She heads out the back door, crosses the lawn and climbs over the back fence.  She finds the yard she’s fallen into has a house with an open window.  She climbs in – gets into the tub and cries her eyes out.  Yes, she’s distraught about the wedding but when she thinks about it there were clues to this and she ignored them.

A while later the homeowner, Vaughan Hewson, arrives and starts the shower.  When he pulls back the curtain and finds Lydia he’s shocked but handles it well.  After hearing her story he ends up taking care of her a bit and even eventually offers her a place to stay while she finds a place to stay.

Vaughan is recovering from a band tour that ended with his band breaking up.  He’s trying to get a new one back together so that he can continue his music career but needs the money from the sale of the house to support himself.  Lydia being a real estate agent helps him and they both end up helping his sister in her bar/restaurant, The Dive Bar. While Vaughan and Lydia are getting back on their feet their finding themselves crazy about each other but both with the thought that what they’ve started will end soon as she’ll be moving and he’ll be back in LA with a new band.  Neither of them are thrilled with that thought but they know that it will happen eventually.

Meanwhile, Nell, Vaughan’s sister, has her own share of problems.  She’s separated from her husband but he owns a third of The Dive Bar along with her friend Eric.  She wants to buy him out but doesn’t have the money.  She’s slept with the third owner, Eric, and that’s made both Vaughan and Nell’s husband, Pat (yes, they’re still technically married) pissed off. Then there’s co-worker and friend Joe who’s got something up his sleeve but we never find out what that is.

The story is fun and funny as well as heart-wrenching in places.  Vaughan’s parents had died and he had never come to terms with it all.  He was avoiding dealing with it emotionally as it was just too hard for him.  That was one of the things that Lydia helped him with and I loved seeing her bluntness with him about it.  It was what he needed to hear as everyone else had just beat around the bush and avoided the subject with him.

The relationship with Lydia and Vaughan happens very quickly.  Major life decisions are made on the basis of knowing each other for a week.  While you would think that it couldn’t happen – it really did – and Kylie Scott made me believe that it could.  The story ended with what most would say was an HEA but I liked to think of it more of a HFN with a definite HEA on the horizon.  The pair knew where they were going and planned it together but they knew that life wasn’t easy and there were be obstacles.  They just planned on tackling them together.

Dirty is a great book and while I did have a few questions about Lydia that were never answered, it didn’t take away from my overall enjoyment of the story.

Rating: 4 out of 5

four-stars


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