MY RATING: 2.5/5

I was provided an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was my first Jessica Clare book and giving that this is book number two in the series of Roughneck Billionaires, it's not very fair for me to judge the book as part of the series. But seeing that each individual book can be read separately from its own, I'm going to judge solely based on Dirty Scoundrel by itself.

Dirty Scoundrel seemed to be following the troupe of enemies to lover romance and as well as second chance. I prefer my books to have a clear direction in where it is going and I guess because we really don't know what the heck our hero, Clay wants from Nat, I had to knock it down a couple of stars. Because really does Clay want to hate Nat and get her back for the humiliation and heartbreak she supposedly put her through or does he want to win her heart because I'm seriously confused here.

And furthermore, the conflict involved in this book focused majorly on miscommunication and having being manipulated by Nat's father which can be tiresome to read. If you're not into reading a story based on someone playing devils advocate I suggest to skip this one because you're going to have to read a lot about how this man moves the plot.

But you know what? I'll give credit when credit is due and the sex scenes inside dirty scoundrel were sufficient and good. There was tenderness and sweetness from both parties that I cared for immensely.

MY RECOMMENDATION:

It's an enjoyable read that you can get through but the quality in plot may be a whole lot similar to what you've read in the past. Read it if you want something sweet, sexy, and predictable.

This is the second book in a series but I didn’t feel I missed anything by not reading the first. Clay Price was from the wrong side of the tracks. He and his high school girlfriend Natalie were in love but Natalie’s manipulative Father managed to break them up. Now 7 years later Clay and his brothers have made more money than they know what to do with in oil. Clay still can’t stop thinking about Natalie.

This book was an OK romance. It had alternating chapters told from Natalie and Clays perspective. I found all the brothers to be a bit immature and had trouble relating to them. It didn’t seem to me that Natalie and Clay had matured much in the 7 years they had been apart. I think 1 book in this series is enough for me. Thank you to net galley for an advanced readers copy of this book.

Eh...this book was just okay for me. I didn't love it and I didn't hate it. I really struggled to even finish the book as it was pretty clear how it was going to end.

I felt like an entire back story on the brothers was missing. Even when they finally did reveal it, I just didn't feel like it was enough. More like it was a condensed version.

Clay I found to be incredibly immature. He acted like he was 16-17 rather than a grown adult.

Dirty Scoundrel by Jessica Clare
Clay and Natalie
I WAS ALL IN FROM THE BEGINNING
5 Stars

I knew going in that this one would be emotional. I knew I’d need tissues, beer, and a good supply of chocolate chip cookies. It was humorous, charming, unpredicted, and heartbreaking.

Natalie is so darn cute. I love her spunkiness even though she sometimes smiles through gritted teeth. Her life from the outside would seem to be privileged and posh, but it’s anything but. She tried her hardest to make her father and everyone else around her happy, that she’s completely given up on her own happiness.

Clay is everything alpha and much more. He’s dealing with some old feelings that drive him to be a huge dick to Nat, but don’t hold your breath, cause his softy side will make itself known soon enough. Don’t think you know him yet though cause there is so much more to come.

This story was everything I needed and much more. It has suspense, wit, passion, and some sexy-time! The characters are likeable and commanding. The dialogue flows with efficiency and the writing style is, well, it’s Jessica Clare, so shaaahhhh, it’s awesomesauce!! I loved it and can’t wait to read the next one!!!

**ARC provided by author via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**

Clay Price and Natalie Weston were in love then after a major misunderstanding that left the two heartbroken they were separated for years. Their lives went in completely different directions. When they knew each other before, Natalie was the daughter of a successful Hollywood movie star and clay was poor and lived in a trailer with his dad and four brothers who all had different moms.

Now, seven years later, Clay is a billionaire and should have everything he wants but he doesn't, because what he wants is Natalie, for awhile, for revenge, or so he says. When he sees her and realizes her life is completely different from what it was he makes her an offer. He will help her with her money problems if she agrees to be his.

Natalie who is broke and drowning in debt has no choice but to take Clay's offer not only for her, but for her dad who she cares for and who has dementia. Since his stroke, she is his only caregiver. All his money gone, the wife, the friends all left when the money dried up, but not Natalie. Now Clay is her only option left.

This is a second chance romance novel that starts with a proposal....of sorts, and ends with a HEA.

Clay is a billionaire who can afford to buy anything and anyone he wants including, apparently, the high school ex who broke his heart. Now usually I'd stop right there and be done, because...ew. What kind of controlling jerk pays for his ex to essentially prostitute herself to pay off her ailing dad's hospital bills? I'm still not really okay with the entire premise, but Jessica Clare does a fine job of convincing us that Clay and Natalie never stopped loving one another and that this is just Clay's roughneck billionaire way of getting what he has always wanted...her. This book was short, and sexy but I'm not sure if I can get over the ick factor.

Dirty Scoundrel is another fun and sexy read by Jessica Clare. The hero here- Clay, the brother of the hero from the first book isn't as caveman alpha as his brother but he does have some of those tendencies (more toned down) when it concerns the heroine, Natalie. He wants revenge for her dumping him when she went off to college because her father manipulated the situation. But Clay still has strong feelings for Natalie, so his form of revenge is helping her and her now sick father (he has dementia), and give her great loving while he's at it so she'll never leave him again.

This is a rags to riches reunion romance of sorts. When Natalie was 17, she had the entire world at her feet because her father was a big time celebrity actor with money to burn through. Clay was dirt poor, and Natalie's father didn't think he was good enough for his daughter. He made Clay believe Natalie was only using him for fun since why would she want Clay when she's rich? Well, the tables were quickly turned. Clay became a multi-millionaire, and Natalie doesn't have two pennies to rub together. Her life is sad and depressing because she takes care of her father 24/7 while trying to make a go of a museum of sorts in their crumbling down mansion. When Clay re-enters the pictures, things turn around for Natalie in much better ways.

Clay does try to prove he's an alpha millionaire, but he's really a beta hero at heart. He adores Natalie even though he tries to blackmail her into being his assistant with benefits on the side. You'd think as the reader this would be disgusting, but Clay can't go through with it because he doesn't want to hurt Natalie. So he gives in and treats her like the princess, his princess.

The love scenes are uber hot, which has become Clare's trademark style. Clay and Natalie have great chemistry, and their dialogue is honest and true. There are nice moments of humor also.

A must read fun time contemporary romance that Jessica Clare is well known for. Also a rich bearded hero who throw his money away to make his woman happy is a big plus for me!

Millionaire/Billionaire books aren’t exactly the sort of reads I go after, simply because their implausibility severely impedes my ability to suspend disbelief for this sub-genre in romance. But Jessica Clare’s Roughneck Billionaires who start out dirt poor and had their fortunes skyrocketing because of oil are a bunch of men who defy my expectations of fictional corporate raiders. They’re crude, somewhat unkempt, sometimes brutally uncouth, filterless and madly alpha, which can be a refreshing contrast to the slick, suited men who manage more than swimmingly in both boardroom and bedroom.

‘Dirty Soundrel’ is Clay Price’s book and is pretty much a second-chance romance that picks up 7 years after an acrimonious breakup thanks to a meddling father who thinks the world of himself and less of his daughter and her boyfriend. An idiotic act of revenge however, doesn’t go according to plan and in rather predictable fashion, merely covers emotions that have never quite gone away, though it takes a while for both protagonists to face up to that fact.

Clay and Natalie did have a history together, which made them more believable as a couple. That they’d only had eyes for each other, even all these years later, did convince me that they did want and love each other, though that had gotten lost for a while. I did however, feel for Clay more than I did Nat (whom I thought needed to grow a bit more of a spine) who seemed to embody straight-shooting talk and practical sense in way that I couldn’t help but like him for it. Despite the blunt crudeness and his inability to deal with the opposite sex, Clay’s bumbling honesty and perception actually won me over—again, in contrast to Nat’s loyal blind spot to her father which seemed to suggest that advanced age and failing health are not only perfect reasons to excuse abominable behaviour but that it could be rewarded in the end.

‘Dirty Scoundrel’ is nonetheless, a low-angst read that focused more on the pairing than anything else, sometimes to the exclusion of what I felt were major events that could have been teased out more thoroughly when they happened later in the book. These twists were glossed over a little too easily, as was Nat’s interfering, manipulative (and sick) father’s own ‘happy ending’, so not having proper closure or comeuppance was exactly what my little black heart demanding but didn’t get. Wrapped up with a rushed HEA and an even more abrupt conclusion, ‘Dirty Scoundrel’ unfortunately fell a tad bit short of a great read.

I enjoyed this book. It was the first one that I had read by this other. I thought that the chemistry was very good, and I believed that the pacing was solid. I think I might pick up another book by this author, but I'm not sure.

this book was a "its me not you" type of thing

this is the second book of the (Roughneck Billionaires series) and no i didn't read the first but i really don't think you need to unless you want too.

I had only really one problem with this book and it's name is CLAY he is just a big fat jerk and the way he treats Natalie and reminds her with every chance he gets that he "bought" her seriously thats just messed up

I'm on the fence about this one. I totally stayed up way to late and even started reading again when I woke up in the middle of the night, but I didn't love it as much as the first one. Don't get me wrong, I can't wait for the next one in the series. Maybe I just like the almost crass type of personality of a millionaire that isn't typical, or maybe I just love the idea of someone doing things outside of the norm because a) they don't really care how others will view it b) social climbing doesn't matter to them and c) their heart is really good when it comes down to it. I always look forward to Jessica Clare books and so do my customers!

I've read other books in this series and enjoyed them a bit more. Although I adore a second chance at love, Clay's character was a real hick and lacked the maturity and sophistication I prefer in a main H.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2137085650

"I've been the peacemaker for too long. The price brother that never makes waves. The one that tries not to get ruffled feathers over anything. Fuck all that."

Dirty Scoundrel is a bit of a tough book for me to review, as I had a major love/hate relationship with this book. I loved the synopsis and the sound of this story. I think revenge stories that turn into second chance romances can be a lot of fun if executed correctly. However, this book just frustrated me to no end. There were so many times I just wanted to either shake or throw my kindle in frustration. Dirty Scoundrel started off really well. The story-line between our two main characters was intriguing and at the same time heartbreaking and had me excited to see where it all was going to go. However, things went downhill pretty fast after Clay and Natalie were reunited after 7 years of being apart. My first impression of Clay was that he was a total jerk. I know he thought he had been wronged by Natalie, but the way he treated her was just awful. He was mean and cruel and it felt like all he wanted to do was hurt her; like he had no heart what so ever. I hoped that he would eventually win me over, but sadly he didn't. He became tolerable at best. And Natalie, she drove me just as crazy. I hated that she let Clay treat her the way that she did. I don't care how much she loved him in the past, he was a total ass now and really needed to be taken down a peg. I felt bad for her because she had a lot of insecurities about all the changes she's gone through over the years, but it honestly got old fast. I couldn't connect with her at all. My other issue with this story was the lack of communication. A lot of jumping to the conclusions and misunderstandings that could have been avoided if the just would have talked to each other.

Now, I know it sounds like I didn't like this story at all and you're probably wondering why I gave it 3 stars. I gave it three stars because I liked the fact that it brought out so many emotions in me. I liked the overall idea of the story, but could not connect with the characters. I thought that the characters had great chemistry and when Clay wasn't being a jerk, I loved the push and pull between him and Natalie. This story does have a lot of angst, which I am total sucker for. And despite all my dislikes, there were some really sweet moments.

Overall, this book was just an ok read for me. I think it's one of those stories that will be a hit for some and a miss for others.

I can’t tell you how excited I was to see that I had been approved to get access to this title. I have been waiting for this book for like FOREVER. I really had a blast with book one Dirty Money. This series is about five brothers, who won the jackpoint rigging for oil and became billionaires overnight. This book is Clay’s book and man he is yummy if he is a bit of a jerk sometimes. Now Clay has been in love with Natalie, they were once high school sweethearts. And then they were driven apart on the night he was going to propose to her, and they have been separated for seven long years. Neither Clay or Natalie have ever forgotten or been able to move on. In Clay’s mind, there was only one woman for him and its always been Natalie. Natalie has been busy taken care of her father who had a stroke and then suffered from dementia and trying to keep them from going to the poor house. Clay wants Natalie back in his life and is willing to do anything to get her back. So he hatches up a crazy plan with the not so help from one of his brothers. He will give her an offer, take care of all her financial troubles, if she will become his “personal assistant”. Yeah kinda a very crazy plan for a man that has an almost endless amount of cash on his hands. But our heroine reluctantly agrees. She hates the idea of practically selling herself to keep herself and her father afloat. But what goes from a sordid arrangement turns into an affair of love and trust and communication. Clay wants to appear hard and mean and a “scoundrel” but he caves the moment Natalie gets emotional.

At first I really struggled with the hero. I so didn’t like how he treats Natalie at first, like he wants her to hate him so much he has to treat her like a bedmate. However he really grows on me, because he is SO flawed. He makes mistakes and he admits that they are stupid decisions and he should have just come clean with Natalie about how much he really loves her. Once they get everything out in the open and realize what drove them apart, this is where their relationship really blossoms and boy the swoons these two cause!! I quickly got over my not so good feels for the hero, and fell in love with him and Natalie too. I could see parts of myself in Natalie very easily. She isn’t good in big crowds, she is more reserved but hardworking and loyal. I did love how devoted she is to her father despite how bad he treats her and always has in raising her. So I relaly liked how protective Clay was especially when it came to her father. And the family…..boy they were fun and entertaining. They remind me of big burly bears….rough on the edges but have soft and cuddly hearts. And this is true for Clay. He is very rough around the edges for sure, but he hasn’t touched another woman since losing Natalie because he has never stopped loving her. *sigh* yeah he is pretty dreamy in moments in this story. I also was drawn to them as a couple. Because they fit so right together. And not just when it comes to sex. Once all the drama gets out of the way, and they learn the truth about each other, they fit like a glove, bound by the hip. They are so at ease with each other, comfortable, and are able to let go of the lost seven years.

Now I did want to mention that there is a bit of a cliffhanger…not really. More like a shocker toward the end. Not about the couple, but something happens to the family that shocked me and one I never saw coming. So fair warning. :0

Dirty Scoundrel is a fast paced, quick witted romance that leaves you laughing and full of smiles from beginning to end. Its packed with real life characters that put the reader through their paces, challenge and get a bit teary eyed in moments. THIS READER HAD A BLAST!!