“They told me to write what I know so that’s what I did. I wrote dirty. I wrote erotic. I wrote the truth. And then they called me a liar. But it’s not me who’s lying. It’s them.”

The reviews on this book were SO good…lots of 4 and 5 stars. Therefore, I really wanted to like this book too, but I am sad to say, that I just didn’t. I don’t want to say this book was terrible, because at least the writing itself was decent. The plot however was awful and I found myself getting extremely bored and I definitely rolled my eyes every five minutes. Maybe it’s me (I don’t read so many romance or erotica novels), or maybe this book is like Sharknado — so bad it’s good? I just don’t know.

The story is told from the alternating perspectives of Connor Arlington and Kiera Bonnaire (Connor is on track to be a Senator (his father’s dream not his) and Kiera is an erotica writer – but more on that later).

The book opens with Connor finding a book called “The Dirty Ones” at the airport. And I guess since this name was uber original / unique or something, he immediately knew that the book was about his time at college, when he and five other people (who called themselves “The Dirty Ones”) were blackmailed into performing sexual acts on each other…or were they?? Was it all in their heads?? End of book nonsensical plot twist alert! Connor becomes very angry because he thinks that Kiera wrote the book (which could ruin his chances at being Senator (which he didn’t want to be anyway, so what’s the real issue??)), and so he goes to confront her at her cottage in Vermont.

The plot unfolds from there. Essentially, “The Dirty Ones” were a group of rich kids from prominent uber rich families, all except for Kiera who came from a “long line of erotica writers” (what???). She was only included in the blackmail to write down all the “dirty” acts the group performed on each other…because the blackmailers knew she would be an erotica writer too(?). What qualifies as “dirty” is pretty “normal” stuff like hetero sex, sometimes in a three-some or a four-some (honestly, I thought the 50 Shades kind of sex was dirtier). The group of blackmailers was not known until the last 10% of the book, and I was super disappointed in the big reveal. I thought it was going to be some mason or other fraternity cult stuff, but alas it was not.

The sex scenes were steamy, but didn’t seem to fit with the plot…actually they confused the plot even more. The characters were one-dimensional and not very engaging. There were a lot of things that didn’t seem to make sense in the book, but I can’t really go into them without spoiling the ending, which I will not do.

If you decide to read this book, I would recommend going in with very low expectations for plot or storyline, and just enjoy the steamy scenes for what they are!

Check out this book on Goodreads: The Dirty Ones http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42361309-the-dirty-ones

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”