Review: Dirty Like Me by Jaine Diamond
Series: Dirty, #1
Contemporary Romance
Released: November 2, 2016
Self Published

Reviewed by Sheena

Favorite Quote: “I’ve noticed that the girls who ask this question have come prepared, marker in hand, and have pretty much accepted the fact that you’re not going to fuck them, so they take the opportunity to have you rub the tip of a felt marker on their flesh, usually their breasts or their butt crack, while they bend over provocatively, as a three-second substitute.” “The ultimate quickie?” “It’s all very ejaculatory, if you think about it.”

Rock star romance? Yes please! I recently read a delightfully kick ass rock star romance so I was primed and partial to jump right back into the world of sex, romance and rock & roll! Janie Diamond is a new author for me, the premise was cute and inviting and the rest is history.  Katie Bloom is girl next door hot and catches the eye of rock star Jesse Mayes when he is floored by her appeal and cute wide-eyed, nice girl shtick and casts her for his latest sexy video shoot.  Only, he is in for the surprise of his life when he realizes that Katie is the real deal and their chemistry on-screen has the public clamoring for more.  Set to go on tour in a matter of days, he has little time to convince Katie to join him on tour as his girlfriend, capitalizing off of the sparks that flew on their video set that he hopes will translate to record sales.  The proposal is scandalous and indecent, pay for romantic playacting and the consequences could break them both.  Katie is no groupie, only recently discovering Jesse and his band, Dirty, so convincing her is not a slam dunk.  However, after a little persistence and bad boy charm, Katie is off on her first tour. Her job- Jesse Mayes’ girlfriend du jour.

Dirty Like Me starts off a little awkward, the first few chapters sort of clunked around, alternative points of view between Katie and Jesse and I was flirting with the idea of bailing, however, things clicked in chapter four when Jesse and Katie finally get down to business on a king size bed…to have fake sex on his video shoot, in front of a camera crew and the spotlight.  Katie was thrown into the deep end and is a little skittish, but determined to make it through her shy, embarrassment and Jesse was a shark in the water, smelled her vulnerable blood and in jackass fashion attacked, pushing her and teasing her throughout the shoot, testing her boundaries and pushing for a reaction from the girl he was attracted to, but couldn’t quite figure out.  Jesse quickly found out, just how different Katie could be.

I could also see why Maggie and Brody picked Katie for this scene.  She was super fucking cute. Yeah, I could snap my fingers and replace her with any girl in the house.  But I didn’t want any of the other girls in the house.  Anyone could see this girl was different.

….

I didn’t stop. I kept on doing anything and everything I thought I could get away with to make Katie Bloom uncomfortable, and possibly aroused.  Call me immature, but yeah, I was that brat at school who pulled the hair of the girl I had a crush on.

I pretended to get my thumb caught in her panties and flashed a full ass cheek at the camera.  I accidentally bit her earlobe while I was whisper-singing in her ear.  I yanked so hard on her bra strap while we were pawing each other that her pretty pink nipple popped right out.  The next few takes became a kind of groping argument, a silent battle over who could irritate the other into more discomfort, or in my case, increasing horniness.

To my frustration, she was quickly winning.

“Sorry…that I’m not…cock-struck.”

Was I fucking stupid?  Was I jaded as fuck?  Because it never occurred to me that the girl wasn’t angling for at least one of us.

After shooting the video, Jesse convinces Katie to join him on tour, and despite her very valid reservations, she decides to go, neither of them knowing that falling in love was part of the bargain.

I found Jesse to be a nice guy, sexy, forthright and just enough jerk to be interesting, but not turn me off with an off the scale douche factor.  He was honest with Katie and didn’t play games with her.  When she began to fall for him, and expressed her concerns and little jealousies, he listened to her and wanted her cared for and protected.  Their sexual tension was good and I for one needed to break out the fan once they  both stopped dancing around their carnal attraction and gave into to their passions.  The little riffs and disagreements between them never lasted and I appreciated that they spent more time in harmony than manufactured discord.   The dissolution of their arrangement was expected and I saw it coming a mile away, however, I enjoyed being along for the ride.  The band mates and band co managers were appealing characters.  The men of Dirty is a text-book rock band- the flirt, the manwhore, the joker and the nice one, all insatiable handsome and supportive of Katie in brotherly ways.  Maggie the band co manager is a petite fire cracker who obviously has something brewing for band leader and heart-throb, Zane, and not to forget Brody, the ruthless and cunning band manager who keeps the entire circus in check, cleaning up messes and managing band scandal and crisis.  It is a total likable cast and set up for more novels to come.  Nothing that screams unique, the plot is completely textbook and predictable, however, the author does the troupe well, so not many complaints from me on that front.

Dirty Like Me, is a solid novel.  There was a twist of sorts, a reveal regarding Jesse’s family that I felt was maybe meant to add an emotional dimension, however, it just seemed extraneous and unnecessary.  There were a few chapters toward the end that were a little slow and gave me the itch to just skip to the end, which is never awesome, however, nothing too bad.  One of my favorite scenes is a total  hoo-rah! for all girl-kind, when Katie leaves Jesse in her dirty talking dust.  Let’s just say he was the one left panting and grappling for air!  Go Katie!

There is an HEA that feels a little too abrupt, considering all the great groundwork for the couple and there was no epilogue (seriously, this book really needed an epilogue!) but in the end I was satisfied just enough to want more.  Lucky for me, the author has “Dirty Like Us” (Dirty 0.5) in the works.  I am a little bummed because it’s a novella and it features Maggie and Zane- dude, how can they not have a full lengther?  It’s Zane!?!  Way too much went into his description and the subtle hints between he and Maggie, scream tension, battle and conquest! How can all that awesome be stuffed into a novella? Gah!

I’m all in with this series and believe many rock star romance fans would agree.  I see great potential in this author and can’t wait to see what she has in store in this Dirty world.

Grade: B

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