Review: Dirty English by Ilsa Madden-Mills

Minor spoilers ahead!

A scarred fighter.

A girl with rules.

One night of unbridled passion.

There are three things you need to know about Elizabeth Bennett: she’s smart as a whip, always in control, and lives by a set of carefully crafted rules. She’s learned the hard way that people you love the most always hurt you in the end.

But then she meets Declan Blay, the new neighbor at her apartment complex.

A tattooed British street fighter, he’s the campus bad boy she’s supposed to avoid, but when he saves her from a frat party gone bad, all her rules about sex and love fly out the window.

She gives him one night of unbridled passion, but he longs for more. 

With only a cardboard-thin wall separating their bedrooms, he dreams of possessing the vulnerable girl next door forever.

One night. Two damaged hearts. The passion of a lifetime.

*Read via Kindle Unlimited*

Ebook

Full-length novel

First Person, alternating POV

Yes.

No.

No.

Yes.

No.

No.

Mild.

Dirty English is a new adult, college, romance between a sexy British wannabe MMA fighter and an English Lit major with issues. It’s loosely (and I mean loosely) based around the plot of Pride and Prejudice. 

As what I’m about to say is laid out in the first chapter of the book, I don’t feel bad about it being a spoiler. 

I’m stating it up front so that others who are sensitive to this topic are forewarned before reading: 

Elizabeth was raped in high school and subsequently attempted suicide. 

The rape is described, as is the aftermath. 

It is tough to read but it is real. It is not glossed over or trivialized. 

I appreciated that although the topic made me incredibly tweaky when reading. 

You get through that first chapter and the book is essentially Elizabeth truly healing from the events of senior prom and finally getting closure while finding love, and learning to trust, along the way. 

Elizabeth and Declan have insane amounts of chemistry and I liked them both individually and as a couple but their relationship wasn't a straightforward one which gave me some angst.

The book is well written, it’s entertaining and despite the darker undertones, it is a snarky and enjoyable read full of random things that made me giggle. 

I’ll definitely read the next book in the series - Filthy English - for it focuses on Declan’s cheeky Romeo of a brother and I really liked him, but it's unlikely that I'd add Dirty English to the re-read shelf. 

Can't say the cover drew me to the book but it doesn't put me off either.

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“Big moments happen with the smallest actions, and sometimes it's not until later we connect the dots, but in that instant, I knew that somehow, someway Declan was going to own my heart.”

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“His understanding of the theme of the book made me hot. Right then and there, I wanted to toss him down on the floor, crawl on top of him, and ride him like the Jane Austen reader I was.” 

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“She was my queen and I wanted to be her king.”

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