Review: Dirty by Kylie Scott (Dive Bar #1)

April 19, 2016

Note: This ARC was provided by St. Martin's Press via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

"But what if there was crazy at first sight? Because I think we have a credible basis for that."

For a moment he just stared at me, obviously deep in thought. "I definitely thought you were crazy the first time I saw you, sitting in my shower in that dress."

"Mm-hmm."

"And you do drive me crazy, sometimes."

"Ditto."

His tongue played behind his cheek. "I might be a little crazy about you too."

Do you believe in "crazy at first sight"? If you don't, you will by the time you read Dirty, the first book in bestselling author Kylie Scott's new series, Dive Bar, which is about the personalities involved in a dive bar in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho called Dive Bar and also happens to be the series spin-off of the author's highly successful Stage Dive series. Introduced in the fourth and final book in the original series, Vaughan Hewson was the bassist for Fourth Down, the opening band during Stage Dive's tour and was dealing with break-up of his band close to the end of the story. Here, he's returned to his hometown of CDA, in hopes of finding funds to help him continue pursuing his dream of making music, and instead finds a runaway bride that's broken into his bathroom and in a matter of hours, makes him believe in "crazy at first sight".

Lydia Green is twenty-five and should be spending her day celebrating her marriage. Instead, she receives a video showing her fiancé busily having sex with his best friend...who just happens to be his best man. When she climbs through the window of a nearby house, the last thing she expects is to be discovered by the homeowner just when he's ready to take a shower...in the buff...naturally. Thus begins an unexpected kinship between Lydia and the tattooed gorgeousness that is musician Vaughan Hewson, who is probably about two or three years older than her. The plans they had for their lives are at a standstill, with some elements falling to the wayside, and now they're both taking a breather of sorts before they go off in different directions, still trying to live their lives as they know it--she as a real estate agent, he a musician.

But their coming together is kismet, allowing them to experience the phenomena dubbed "crazy at first sight". And yes, these two are crazy about each other, but commitment is something neither one is particularly interested in at the moment. With the Dive Bar providing as an added distraction, Lydia and Vaughan spend a couple of weeks as if in fast forward. They come to many a realization in that amount of time, but sometimes, it takes a wee bit longer for that realization to hit someone full force, maybe waiting for that perfect time for them to be ready to accept the inevitable. What they share may be what they believed was something for right now, but will they be able to walk away when it feels as right as it does? Maybe, this time around, they'll need to not merely move forward but move on to new and better dreams.

I smiled a lot and laughed often with this quirky love story. From Vaughan's boob fixation to Lydia's smart-ass commentary, these two formed an irresistibly crazy couple. That's not to say, however, that they're perfect. Hell, there were times that Vaughan's reticence in admitting to himself that Lydia was a game changer had me wanting to pick up his guitar and using it to smack him upside the head in hopes that he would wise up. But it's the fact that the main characters evolve by the time we get to the end plus those sweet moments that I don't think Vaughan meant to be intentionally swoon-worthy yet turned out to be exactly that. This series starter has me all kinds of curious about the rest of the Dive Bar crew and I can't wait to get to know each one even better. Dirty and I? It was a case of "crazy at first sight". Five-plus stars. ♥

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