• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Maryse's Book Blog

Following my heart, one book at a time...

  • HOME
  • MY REVIEWS
    • ALL MY REVIEWS (ALPHABETICAL BY AUTHOR)
    • 5 Star Reviews
    • 4.5 Star Reviews
    • 4 Star Reviews
    • FAVORITES LISTS
    • Recommendations
    • MY TOP 15 FOR 2018
    • MY TOP 25 FOR 2017
    • MY TOP 25 FOR 2016
    • MY TOP 10 FOR 2015
    • MY TOP 25 FOR 2014
    • My Top 25 for 2013
    • My Top 25 for 2012
    • My Top 25 for 2011
  • FAVORITES LISTS
  • BOOK RELEASES
  • READING ORDERS
  • IN THE MOOD FOR?
    • THE ENTIRE “PICK YOUR MOOD” LIST
    • AGE GAP ROMANCE
    • A SHORT STORY
    • A SLOW BURN
    • AUDIOBOOK RECOMMENDATIONS
    • BAD GUYS & ANTIHEROES
    • BIKER ROMANCE
    • BILLIONAIRES
    • A BROKEN HERO
    • BOSSY BULLIES
    • BROODING HEROES
    • BROTHER’S BEST FRIEND ROMANCE
    • COMEDY ROMANCE
    • DARK READS
    • DYSTOPIAN
    • FALLING FOR A NERD
    • FANTASY ROMANCE
    • FIGHTERS – PRO & UNDERGROUND
    • FORBIDDEN LOVE
    • FRIENDS TO LOVERS
    • HISTORICAL ROMANCE
    • HORROR
    • IN LOVE W/ A CELEBRITY
    • IN LOVE W/ A DOCTOR
    • INFIDELITY
    • INTERRACIAL ROMANCE
    • JAW-DROPPING TWISTS
    • LOVE AFTER LOSS ROMANCE
    • MAFIA ROMANCE
    • MARITAL STRIFE
    • MEN IN UNIFORM
    • M/M ROMANCE
    • OFFICE ROMANCE
    • OLDER MAN/YOUNGER WOMAN
    • OLDER MAIN CHARACTERS
    • OLDER WOMAN/YOUNGER MAN
    • PARANORMAL ROMANCE
    • PERSONAL GROWTH & SURVIVAL
    • POST-APOCALYPTIC
    • PSYCH-THRILLERS
    • RECLUSIVE HEROES
    • REVERSE HAREM
    • SECOND CHANCE ROMANCE
    • SINGLE DADS
    • SHELTERED HEROINES
    • STRANDED & SURVIVAL
    • SUPER-ANGST
    • SUPER-HOT EROTICA
    • TEARJERKERS
    • UNCONVENTIONAL LOVE
    • UNREQUITED LOVE
  • EXTRAS
    • BOOK DEALS
    • READER RECOMMENDATIONS
    • READER QUESTIONS
    • READER CONFESSIONS
    • WHERE DID THIS AUTHOR GO?
    • AUTHOR INTERVIEWS
    • BOOK & AUTHOR NEWS
    • MARYSE’S SURPRISE FROM HER FAVORITE BOOK BOYFRIEND’S
    • BOOK SIGNINGS
    • MY TBR LISTS
    • EDITORIALS
    • MOVIE REVIEWS
    • PRODUCT REVIEWS
      • MAKEUP & SKIN CARE REVIEWS
  • EMAIL
    • EMAIL ME :)
    • ABOUT ME
    • REVIEW REQUESTS
    • JOIN MY NEWSLETTER
      • MY NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE
    • MY RSS FEED
      • JOIN MY RSS FEED

Book Review – Dirty by Megan Hart

February 8, 2012 By Maryse 11 Comments

Dirty
Whoa. This was deep. Dark. But I suppose, real. Maybe too real. I had recently received a few recommendations for it…

from Lisa:

“I just got done reading Dirty and I fell in love with this book. … I am curious if you have read any of her books and if so what you think?”

from Chris:

“She wrote a book called Dirty and it is really really good… Check it out!”

But you guys kept “mum” about what I was going into… 😉 That’s okay. You know I love surprises! But OMG it was not at all what I was expecting when going into it. I’ll admit it took me a few chapters to connect, and to find the rhythm of the story being told…

Maryse’s Book Blog: “I’m not connecting to this one. It feels… stilted.”

… but when I finally clued in that this book wasn’t my typical sweet and edgy love story, I understood it. I let go of what I “felt” like reading, what I was hoping it would be, and let it take me on a very different journey. And I LOVED it. Not in the same way we love our romance novels. I love to fall in love with “love”. But this was not that. There was nothing funny, sweet or sigh-inducing here.

Well no. I take that back. Dan was beautiful. I adored him, and he was perfect. And real. And so was she. But this is not about romance. And while there is that “aspect” to the book, it is not about that at all.

Maryse’s Book Blog: Whoa but this book is kind of deep. Problem is I didn’t know what I was getting not when I started it. Now that I’m almost done, I can say I’m certainly into it. Right at about the 50% mark I couldn’t put it down. But it’s not romance. There IS that, but it’s not that.

Jenny: Oh really Maryse? Do I need to bump this up the reading order? I’m intrigued

Maryse’s Book Blog: Jenny – probably… yes. Knowing that you like the darker grittier stuff. This isn’t “alternative” but the main character struggles with a terrible secret, and it keeps her from expressing emotion. Very difficult read, but so good. It’s not what you’d expect from the cover and from the “title”. I mean, there’s plenty of “dirty” (hehe) but it’s so much more then that. Thing is, I walked into it expecting a more bubblegum romance/erotica feel and realized quickly that is not what this book is about.

And yet, while I have two very sweet fun book reviews to finish, this is the one that I felt compelled to finish first.

Elle has a dark past, a shame, a regret, from her childhood and is carrying a certain guilt that won’t allow her to truly live. Her personal growth has been stunted. Her belief in love, squashed. And she copes with her past by counting (she has a touch of OCD), by not forming personal relationships (at all, with girlfriends or otherwise), by avoiding her family at all costs. And by having detached, uninvolved sex with strangers. Many of them.

Sex had been a choice I made to ease an ache inside. I knew it. I knew why I did it.

And then, by not having sex with anybody at all. For years.

And one day, she encounters Dan. And everything about Dan is different. And everything about how she reacts to Dan is different.

By lunchtime I still hadn’t been able to relegate him to a memory.

And Elle doesn’t do “different”. She has structured her life just so, and Dan being in it, more than once is throwing her off balance. Forcing her to face things she didn’t ever want to face again. And forcing him to deal with her, and her “difficult”. Because everything about Elle is difficult.

This was a gritty, beautifully written, introspective book, but this was not romance. It had it’s elements of “dirty”, it had it’s elements of love, but it’s not about that. It’s about personal growth, facing the truth, acceptance and letting go. And it’s about the potential for trust and connecting again, after years of living a detached existence.

I looked up at him. He looked at me.

“What is this?” he asked, voice pitched low but still audible.

“I don’t know.” I shook my head, and my hair fell forward again, over my shoulders.

“Do you want to know?” He moved closer.

Now we sat thigh to thigh, his hand still enclosing mine. The heat from his body seeped through my clothes, but I shivered.

I knew arousal. I knew desire. Lust. This was something else, all three and something different, too. This was tumbling headfirst into the rabbit hole, this was standing on the edge of the cliff and preparing to leap, this was nothing and everything all at once.

“Yes,” I whispered, sure he couldn’t hear me. “I want to know.”

But none of this comes easy, and let me tell you, as I read this, I didn’t like Elle. She irritated me, aggravated me. I felt like telling her to get over herself. And then as it progressed… I got her. And I felt her. And I shed tears for her (and I was utterly surprised when it happened).

But when reflecting back to the character that she was, how could anyone react differently? This book wasn’t about the reader becoming the heroine (thank goodness for that, honestly) but it was about someone that the reader does eventually come to care for. And hope for.

Loved it, but in an entirely different way. Would I read this again? Probably not. For me it’s not the kind of book I want to re-live. It took me away, but not someplace I want to go again.

But will I continue with this author. Absolutely. Now that I know her writing style. Eloquent yet aching.

4 stars

Interested in the series? Check out the reading order guide!

Filed Under: contemporary romance, Megan Hart Tagged With: 4 stars, contemporary romance, erotica, megan hart, mental health condition, OCD, steaming HOT

avatar
11 Comment threads
0 Thread replies
1 Followers
 
Most reacted comment
Hottest comment thread
7 Comment authors
Mary joMaryseJimiamber**Chris** Recent comment authors
avatar
  Subscribe  
newest oldest
Notify of
Jackie
Reader
Jackie

Maryse
These books get such great reviews, but I’m not sure. Something is stopping me reading these – they intreague, but are also repelling – a little f****d up – but then again you don’t get more f****d up than Fifty and you know how I felt about him!
Hope you are feeling a little better! xxx

Reply
7 years ago
Maryse
Maryse's Book Blog
Maryse

Jackie. Right. This is a mess for sure. I think you’d like it. Honestly. Just don’t expect pitter-pattering hearts. I mean… it’s there. But not. Let me reiterate… Dan is beautiful. He says three lies to her where she has to figure out which ONE is the real lie and which ones are the truth.

Okay. I sighed there. Yep.

Reply
7 years ago
**Chris**
Reader
**Chris**

I am so happy you enjoyed Dirty. I agree that I would not re-read it but I did enjoy everyone! There was one I remember reading from Megan that was about a paralized man and it was really hard to read but I could NOT put it down. I will find the name and let you know….. Hope you are feeling better. Im looking forward to March and BDB and Kerrelyn Sparks book releases! OH YA!!!!! TTYL <3

Reply
7 years ago
Kathryn Hughett
Reader
Kathryn Hughett

I love it when my hometown is mentioned in a book.

“I met him at the candy store.

He turned and smiled at me and I was surprised enough to smile back. This was not a children’s candy store, mind you–this was the kind of place you went to buy expensive imported chocolate truffles for your boss’s wife because you felt guilty for having sex with him when you were both at a conference in Milwaukee.”

I’ll have to put this on my wish list. Going forward any new series is going to be on my Nook but any series I currently have in hard copy I will continue to get in hard copy until that series is done. I figure having an entire series is a good selling point on Craig’s list. Does that sound like a good plan?

Reply
7 years ago
**Chris**
Reader
**Chris**

OK….the book I want you to read next is ….BROKEN! This book is super intense and will make you cry but it was soooo good.

Reply
7 years ago
amber
Reader
amber

I love to be tortured by the author who’s book I’m reading…but I dont like to stay with that feeling after I’m done with the book. That’s my hesitation with this one…it sounds like I might be left with that feeling…

Reply
7 years ago
Jimi
Reader
Jimi

I love Megan Hart! I sent a book of hers called “Tempted” to Jackie after I read it. It was great! Gonna have to find this one next 😉

Reply
7 years ago
Maryse
Maryse's Book Blog
Maryse

Amber… Ok no worries. I was happy with the end. That’s a promise for anyone who was worried about that bad ending possibility. It was perfect and appropriate, and realistic. Loved it even more because of how it ended.

Reply
7 years ago
Maryse
Maryse's Book Blog
Maryse

Jimi! Excellent. I’m actually kind of stuck on her right now. I have a feeling I’ll read everything she’s written considering the positive feedback I’m getting about her other books.

Reply
7 years ago
Maryse
Maryse's Book Blog
Maryse

Chris. Excellent. Broken is at he top of my list!

Reply
7 years ago
Mary jo
Reader
Mary jo

Ok, you got me….and well, I’m 40% through and so far I’m loving it but, you’ve also kinda scared me. Ive been so anxious the entire time because while I’m enjoying it so much I can’t put down, I’m also scared at what’s coming up….biting my nails now!

Reply
7 years ago

Primary Sidebar

Facebook Pagelike Widget

About Me

Reading is my favorite! I love blogging about books, reviewing them, making "favorites lists" & reading order guides, & hearing your own 5-star recommendations to add to my TBR list! I love our virtual book club! 😀  [more about me]

Recent Posts

  • Latest Romance Book Releases – 12-10-2019
  • Kate Stewart – The Underdogs Series Reading Order
  • Monday Early Bird Book Releases – 12-09-2019
  • Book Review – The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
  • MJ Fields – The Firsts Series Reading Order + a Fun Facts & an awesome giveaway (signed book AND swag!!)

QUICK LINKS:

➔ Book & Author News
➔ Latest Book Releases
➔ Upcoming Book Releases
➔ My 5-Star Favorites
➔ My 4.5-Star Favorites
➔ My 4-Star Favorites
➔ All My Reviews
➔ Book Recommendations
➔ Reader Questions
➔ Reader Confessions
➔ Author Interviews & Tidbits

➔ Makeup & Skincare Chat

BEST OF THE YEAR:

➔ My Best Books of 2018
➔ My Best Books of 2017
➔ My Best Books of 2016
➔ My Best Books of 2015
➔ My Best Books of 2014
➔ My Best Books of 2013
➔ My Best Books of 2012
➔ My Best Books of 2011

READER RECOMMENDATIONS:

➔ Books that stayed with you
➔ Unrequited Love Books
➔ Infidelity in Romance
➔ What to read after…
➔ Broken Book Boyfriends
➔ Slow Burn Romance
➔ Risqué & Forbidden Love
➔ Comedy Romance
➔ Favorite Audiobooks
➔ Authors’ Favorite Books
➔ Readers’ Top 2015 Favs
➔ Readers’ Top 2016 Favs
➔ Readers’ Top 2017 Favs
➔ Readers’ Top 2018 Favs

➔ All Our Favorites Lists

IN THE MOOD TO READ:

➔ Super-Angst?
➔ a Tearjerker?
➔ Unconventional Love?
➔ Love After Loss?
➔ Books w/ a Pregnancy?
➔ Friends to Lovers?
➔ Forbidden Love?
➔ Falling for a Celebrity?
➔ Men in Uniform?
➔ Gritty Biker Romance?
➔ Marital Strife?
➔ Unrequited Love?
➔ Mafia Romance?
➔ Barbarian Warlords?
➔ Arranged Marriage?
➔ Bossy Bullies?
➔ Older Main Characters?
➔ Comedy Romance?
➔ Office Romance?
➔ Second Chance Romance?
➔ Psych-thrillers?
➔ Historical Romance?
➔ Interracial Romance?
➔ Older Man/Younger Girl?
➔ Older Woman/Younger Man?
➔ Age Gap Romance?
➔ Audiobooks?
➔ Reverse Harem?
➔ A Broken Hero?
➔ A Short Story?
➔ Brother’s Best Friend?
➔ M/M Romance?
➔ Reclusive Heroes?
➔ A Nerdy Character?
➔ Fantasy Romance?
➔ Urban Fantasy?
➔ Paranormal Romance?
➔ Vampires?
➔ Shifters?
➔ What to read after…?

➔ The ENTIRE “What Are You In The Mood To Read?” Genre List

Recent Comments

  • R. Renee on Monday Early Bird Book Releases – 12-09-2019
  • Harper on Book Review – The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
  • Jan on Monday Early Bird Book Releases – 12-09-2019
  • Jan on Monday Early Bird Book Releases – 12-09-2019
  • Jan on Monday Early Bird Book Releases – 12-09-2019

Archives

  • December 2019 (17)
  • November 2019 (43)
  • October 2019 (53)
  • September 2019 (47)
  • August 2019 (48)
  • July 2019 (53)
  • June 2019 (50)
  • May 2019 (54)
  • April 2019 (47)
  • March 2019 (56)
  • February 2019 (40)
  • January 2019 (57)
  • December 2018 (41)
  • November 2018 (44)
  • October 2018 (47)
  • September 2018 (46)
  • August 2018 (44)
  • July 2018 (48)
  • June 2018 (45)
  • May 2018 (47)
  • April 2018 (45)
  • March 2018 (57)
  • February 2018 (44)
  • January 2018 (45)
  • December 2017 (45)
  • November 2017 (40)
  • October 2017 (42)
  • September 2017 (41)
  • August 2017 (43)
  • July 2017 (52)
  • June 2017 (42)
  • May 2017 (45)
  • April 2017 (41)
  • March 2017 (55)
  • February 2017 (48)
  • January 2017 (59)
  • December 2016 (44)
  • November 2016 (45)
  • October 2016 (60)
  • September 2016 (53)
  • August 2016 (50)
  • July 2016 (58)
  • June 2016 (57)
  • May 2016 (54)
  • April 2016 (56)
  • March 2016 (55)
  • February 2016 (51)
  • January 2016 (60)
  • December 2015 (51)
  • November 2015 (44)
  • October 2015 (64)
  • September 2015 (59)
  • August 2015 (59)
  • July 2015 (59)
  • June 2015 (56)
  • May 2015 (60)
  • April 2015 (56)
  • March 2015 (54)
  • February 2015 (50)
  • January 2015 (50)
  • December 2014 (45)
  • November 2014 (47)
  • October 2014 (50)
  • September 2014 (39)
  • August 2014 (51)
  • July 2014 (47)
  • June 2014 (61)
  • May 2014 (47)
  • April 2014 (40)
  • March 2014 (46)
  • February 2014 (41)
  • January 2014 (50)
  • December 2013 (66)
  • November 2013 (50)
  • October 2013 (61)
  • September 2013 (49)
  • August 2013 (61)
  • July 2013 (56)
  • June 2013 (50)
  • May 2013 (51)
  • April 2013 (49)
  • March 2013 (59)
  • February 2013 (61)
  • January 2013 (49)
  • December 2012 (66)
  • November 2012 (48)
  • October 2012 (49)
  • September 2012 (44)
  • August 2012 (51)
  • July 2012 (48)
  • June 2012 (41)
  • May 2012 (40)
  • April 2012 (42)
  • March 2012 (39)
  • February 2012 (29)
  • January 2012 (37)
  • December 2011 (41)
  • November 2011 (41)
  • October 2011 (45)
  • September 2011 (30)
  • August 2011 (37)
  • July 2011 (35)
  • June 2011 (29)
  • May 2011 (28)
  • April 2011 (40)
  • March 2011 (39)
  • February 2011 (40)
  • January 2011 (29)
  • December 2010 (29)
  • November 2010 (36)
  • October 2010 (31)
  • September 2010 (31)
  • August 2010 (22)
  • July 2010 (14)
  • June 2010 (14)
  • May 2010 (18)
  • April 2010 (21)
  • March 2010 (15)
  • February 2010 (14)
  • January 2010 (19)
  • December 2009 (14)
  • November 2009 (14)
  • October 2009 (25)
  • September 2009 (10)
  • August 2009 (22)
  • July 2009 (10)
  • June 2009 (35)
  • May 2009 (33)
  • April 2009 (49)
  • March 2009 (41)
  • February 2009 (5)

Tags

3.5 stars 3.75 stars 4 stars 4.5 stars 5 stars alpha males angst bad boys bad guys bikers billionaires bossy bullies celebrity romance comedy romance contemporary romance dark read erotica fighters forbidden love giveaway infidelity kidnapped love triangle mafia marital strife men in uniform military romance motorcycle club new adult paranormal book releases paranormal romance psych-thriller psychological thriller reader favorites reader question reader recommendations rock stars shifters sports stars super-angsty unrequited love urban fantasy vampires werewolves ya

Footer

Contact Me | About Maryse | Privacy Policy | © 2019 Maryse.net - Maryse's Book Blog |
I am part of the Amazon affiliate program, which is designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Other than potential affiliate link commissions, I receive no compensation for reviews. All opinions I have expressed are my own.

wpDiscuz
X
Welcome, book friends! My posts include affiliate links meaning I may earn commissions from Amazon for qualifying purchases. All opinions I've expressed are my own. ❤️