Wednesday 4 June 2014

Review ~ Dirty Series by Cheryl McIntyre

Reviewed by Donna ~ Series rating 4.5 Stars

Getting Dirty (Dirty #1)
Playing Dirty (Dirty, #2)
Talking Dirty (Dirty, #3)
Fighting Dirty (Dirty, #4)
Staying Dirty (Dirty, #5)

“A dead man, inside a scarred body, living only for revenge.”

Yes I am a series junkie, I love them and hate them, yet when this one was presented in front of me I was for once glad that it was complete. After starting to read this series it soon became apparent that I never would have survived had I had to wait for the next instalment. It was that engrossing, addictive and captivating that I had to read it in one sitting when I originally had them pencilled in as an instalment to fit in between books. This series though commanded my attention, it would not let me leave, it kept me page turning, I was glued, hooked and I seriously couldn’t put it down until I had finished.

“Scars like that are universal. We earn them differently, we wear them differently, but we all carry them the same.”

This is predominantly a book about revenge, but it also develops into a lot more. There is a love story, but it is also a book about soul searching, learning to cope with the past and putting it to rest, living for the now and the future, opening yourself up to others and learning to live and love again.

This book is dark, my husband and I had several conversations regarding this one. I couldn’t keep it to myself and I needed to talk about it. What would we do if it was one of us? Would revenge make us feel better? Could we justify it? Would it make it better? Would it make it go away? At the end of the day, what has happened in your past will always be there, you will never forget it. Even taking into account this most heinous of crimes, personally I couldn’t have done it, but by husband was emphatic with his thoughts. Perhaps men have a different train of thought, they are wired differently and although it is easy to say what you would do in this situation, bringing those thoughts to fruition would be a totally different kettle of fish. As you can tell by my ramblings, this is a book that will make you think A LOT! 

So if you are in the mood for a dark, disturbing but equally riveting read, then you need to embrace Link and Rocky. They will cement themselves into your heart, you won’t want to let them go and you will be craving more at the end. Both characters are extremely broken, both have had horrific pasts that I cannot even bear to think about.

Link is driven by the past, his quest for vengeance the single most important thing that he can think about, until he can put his plan into action though he has immersed himself in making himself stronger and also helping others to be able to help themselves if and when faced with similar circumstances. He is heart-broken, immersed in a life of grief and sadness, stumbling through, trying to cope. His heart has been decimated, nothing left for anyone else, it is dead, gone, forgotten, but can Rocky be his glue, the sticky needed to piece together the shattered remnants that are left of his heart?

“I’m just not ready yet.”

Rocky, you could tell that in the past she was a ballsy girl, however like Link, her past contains an event that changed her, manipulated her present and future, immersing herself in just an existence rather than a life would Link be the man to help her, pull her out from the depths of despair that she finds herself in or is he too broken too? Maybe together they could be just what the other needs?

“If ever there was a man that could steal my heart, it’s him.”

My only little criticism is that I would have liked more, this is one of those books that screams EPILOGUE, I was not ready for these two to depart and I so want to know what happens in their lives going forward. Don’t get me wrong, this series does tie up at the end but once you have irrevocably fallen in love with characters you cannot help but want to keep hold of them for longer, you want to know the ins and outs of their futures, you just don’t want to let go.

“People like us don’t get a happy ending. We just get an ending. But we can make the most out of the time that we have.”

I can’t wait to read more from this author.

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