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

Dirty (Dive Bar, #1) by Kylie Scott

Publication Date: April 19, 2016
Page Count: 288
Published by: St. Martin's Griffin
Source: eArc from Publisher

Synopsis from Goodreads:

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?

While reading Deep, the 4th book in the Stage Dive series, I became really interested in a secondary character named Vaughan. Even though he only had a very small part, he was memorable and made quite an impression on me. So when I realized that he would get his own story in a spin-off series, I was beyond excited. Then I was more excited when I got approved for an eArc on NG. But that excitement soon faded when I started reading Dirty and realized the story isn't even from Vaughan's POV! What a total let down.

Unfortunately, Vaughan had little to no personality. Or, at least he wasn't the same character I fell in love with originally. We're told that he's cute, he's funny, and sexy as all get out, but I wanted to get deep inside his head and figure out what really made him tick! And I didn't get the chance to do that. So, yeppers, I'm disappointed that there wasn't MORE to Vaughan than a generalization from a character that doesn't even know him.

I ended up liking the characters and the story well enough. I thought Lydia and Vaughan were good together, and despite the crazy fast timeline, I felt they could make things work in the long run. They were both at a point in their lives where they knew what they wanted, and what they didn't want, and they weren't afraid to be honest about it. They were really cute together at times, and I enjoyed their witty banter. Humor makes everything better. Although, I must admit that some of the childish dialogue got on my nerves.

So, despite me liking the story, it would have been SO much better (and made more sense) if it had been from Vaughan's POV (or at least dual POV so I could get Vaughan's story, which is all I really cared about.) Even a cameo appearance from Mal didn't make me feel better.

It's been over a month since I read this book, and I'm still disappointed. I don't want to be! I'm so bummed that it wasn't told from Vaughan's POV, it's just ...frustrating. WHY did you have to do this to me? Why have a spin off series with a fascinating character, and then not tell HIS story? I just don't even know how to get over this.

I'm sure I'll still continue to read this series because a few new interesting characters were introduced. I just hope I'm not disappointed anymore.

My rating: 3 really sad stars