3.25 ⭐️

While I enjoyed the premise of this book and the sentiments behind it, I felt conflicted almost across the board.

There were some really lovely, well-crafted passages—moments where the writing felt intentional and emotionally resonant. And then there were others that felt weighed down by clunky exposition and an overuse of adjectives. I’m all for detail, but it has to serve the story. When it doesn’t, it starts to feel like a stand-in for actual depth or character development.

As for the protagonists, Caleb was warm and likable, easy to root for. Tash was more of a challenge. I don’t mind a flawed character—honestly, I often prefer them—as long as their arc feels intentional and earned. But Tash came across as so rigid in her worldview, so unwilling to see outside of it, that when she did shift, it felt abrupt and unconvincing.

And then there’s the whole “book about writing sex scenes” where none of the sex actually happens on the page. Was that a bold narrative choice? A meta statement? A bit of a cop-out? Still not sure.

What I did enjoy was the story within the story—the script Caleb and Tash were working on, and the creative push-and-pull between them. That part felt sharper, more alive, and honestly more interesting than the romance itself.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and Harper Perennial for providing this arc in exchange for by honest and unbiased opinion.

This was fine but only if you like a main character who is so harsh and self sabotaging that you will want to bang your head on the wall. I thought this would be steamier based on its title and description -- and it had such potential -- but I just found one miscommunication after another as well as horrible decisions made this ultimately not work for me. Hope you have better luck!

The Dirty Version comes out next week on July 1, 2025, and you can purchase HERE.

"Professor Grover?" The student clutched a hardback copy of Tash's novel, The Colony, to the peeling skin above her tank top. She thrust the book forward, over Tash's desk. "Will you sign this? I knew I couldn't geek out while we were still being graded, but I love your book. I'm so excited it's being made into a series."
Tash paused her frantic sweeping up of class notes and rearranged her panicked features into something she hoped appeared composed. She very intentionally kept The Colony out of her classroom in order to avoid a conflict of interest.
Without a completed master's degree, Tash's adjunct standing within the English department was more of a tenuous sway.
However.
On the inside of this girl's wrist, next to a straggle of string-bracelet knots, the words Mother Beast were inked in a magenta gothic font.
Janelle arrived at Tash's side, and Tash saw her spot The Colony fandom tattoo, also.
Janelle smiled placidly at the student. She offered the girl her pen.

This one took me awhile to get into, but once I did it was a quick read with a good story. The main character frustrated me a lot in the beginning, but it gave her a lot of room for character growth throughout the book.

Thank you to Harper Perennial for the eARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a solidly entertaining workplace, forced proximity, opposites attract debut contemporary romance that sees a novelist forced to re-write the film version of her book with the help of an intimacy coordinator/expert. I liked the conversations between the two main characters and the EXCELLENT narration by Natalie Naudus but if I'm honest it's not going to be a super memorable book for me this year. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest review.

Spicy, Fun, Flirty, Banter-y and the best kind of setting for a summertime beach read. This isnt the most raw and deep book you'll ever read, its quick and good for a vacation, but there isnt a lot of character development outside of the fun and flirty side.

An excellent debut! The Florida keys setting is beautifully depicted and immersive. Writers on writing is one of my favorite tropes, and collaborative writing takes it to an even better level! I thoroughly enjoyed the angry FMC and her sassy BFF. While this was mostly a hit, the word choice felt a little overly flowery at times. Caleb’s job as an intimacy coordinator tended toward a s*x lessons vibe, which is a trope I love, but most of the scenes faded to black. I wish the author had used this set up to really turn on the heat on page to a full simmer.

A wonderful premise with a middling end result. I tend to be drawn to novels featuring a plot that ties into the entertainment industry, and it was interesting to see how Tash struggled with keeping the spirit of her feminist novel alive while trying to adapt it into a TV show and appease potential viewers by adding titillating content. I liked seeing what intimacy coordinator Caleb was able to draw out of her in their meetings together, both concerning the show and their growing connection. However, I didn't feel an undeniable attraction between these two and the tale is built upon far too much miscommunication driven by Tash's constant rush to anger. The story's saving grace is that it is short and makes for a quick read. I do find it rather ironic that a book with this title features a closed door romance.

I cannot read third person, I struggle to connect with the characters and plot in this format. Nothing wrong with the book or characters itself, just the formatting is difficult for me personally

DNF at 20%…the summary sounded interesting but I couldn’t get into the book. I understand Tash is supposed to be a feminist which is great but she is so stubborn to the point where she is unlikable. I couldn’t get into the writing style.

The Dirty Version was a breath of fresh air. Turner Gable Kahn gave us a fun, cheeky, rom-com that some people will find relatable. I received an advance reader copy from NetGalley and am leaving my honest review.

This is an easy going beach read, in my opinion. I am a TV junkie and have formerly worked the industry so I knew that I was going to probably enjoy it but my expectations were, yet again, exceeded. I laughed and swooned (a little) but overall was satisfied by Kahn's delivery throughout. There is much to say when writing a rom-com and people start to relate to certain scenarios or relationships within. There is also a bit of reality thrown in, as far as Tash' circumstances (around the series and rewriting, etc.). I had a jolly good time while taking in the sun in The Dirty Version.

I look forward to what Turner Gable Kahn presents us in the future, I will be there to enjoy the publication.

3.25 / 5 Stars
I struggled with how to rate this book because there were a lot of great parts and then a few parts that just weren’t for me. But read on, because maybe this book is for you and might make you feel incredibly seen! Quick plot synopsis: Tash has written a feminist, dystopian, girl warrior novel that is being turned into a TV series by this book’s equivalent of Michael Bay. He wants a hot, dirty version of the book and Tash is contractually stuck. She must work with Caleb, the intimacy coordinator, to help flesh out (pun intended) the scripts. And sparks fly.

This book is a quick, well-written read. It has a really intriguing plot and learning about the intricacies of script negotiation, intimacy coordinator, and script translation was fascinating. Caleb is incredibly patient and shows Tash a lot of grace. He likes her barbs and her fiery personality. He has nuance and decency. There was a good chunk of the book where their romance felt swoony and very fun.

However, I struggled with Tash as a character. I think there are folks who may feel incredibly seen in Tash’s complicated relationship with her parents, siblings, and her former romantic partners. But overall, I found that for most of the book, Tash shoots first and asks questions later. She lives life in a very black and white way with no shades of gray. She is quick to judge people, especially other women, whether rightly or wrongly. She views compromising on her artist vision as selling out and as letting other people control her. Her go-to emotion is anger which is hyper realistic – oftentimes we learn that there is an emotion that we can express more safely and that becomes our replacement for other less safe to express emotions – so she expresses her fear, sadness, insecurities as anger. I think she was purposefully written this way so that she has room to grow (for example, her views on feminism and exploitation evolve). AND YET, it was not particularly pleasant to read and her growth happened really late in the book. I will never, ever call a female character (or human woman for that matter) unlikeable (men, I will call unlikeable every damn day) and I don’t believe that all female characters need to be pleasant to be liked, but because her growth happens so late in the book, I felt like that meme of Tyra Banks yelling “we were rooting for you” at Tash.

If any of the book’s description speaks to you then you should definitely check it out. Or if you have a soft spot for Florida (someone must have a soft spot for Florida), you may like reading all of the well-written setting descriptions. Personally, I think I will read other books by this author based on the quality of writing alone.

Thank you Harper Perennial and NetGalley for providing the eARC! All opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I really loved the idea of this. An author has their story turned into a movie and we're along on that journey. The aspect of it being based around the intimacy coordinator was so unique, I was so excited to read it.

I enjoyed the overarching premise of the book, but there was a lot of miscommunication between characters and that is always so frustrating for me to read personally. It's not my favorite trope, and it makes it feel like the story is really dragging its feet to get to where it needs to go. I think I would recommend this book to friends that DO enjoy a lot of the tropes in this book though! It was a quick and easy read, and I enjoyed it overall.

This was a solid debut with an interesting premise. But I found the prose to be pretentious at times, and the protagonist unbearably self-righteous all of the time.

Tash's main conflict is that the rights to her (feminist fantasy) novel were transferred to a new studio that was intent on including on-screen sex scenes. Why her contract was transferrable in the first place boggled my mind to the point of distraction. Especially since she apparently carefully chose the original studio because of a shared vision. And if your vision is so precious, why sell the rights in the first place? Nothing on page led me to believe she needed the money...

Then we find out she has rights of first refusal to write the new scenes and that she was refusing to accept or decline. I couldn't understand why she didn't just accept in order to maintain control. At first her hesitation seemed like maybe she was asexual or uncomfortable with sex for some reason. But nope, she just assumed any on-screen sex would cheapen her <i>Important Work</i>.

So then Tash is paired up with an intimacy...chaperone, I think he calls himself? Caleb (and the producer/director and star?) is coincidentally in Tash's Floridian college town for a film festival and together they proceed to take whole weeks of eight-hour+ days to write what seems to be four scenes.

Why the majority of this book is set in Florida, I could not tell you. Especially considering Tash's brother lives in West Hollywood and at one point she says that she would be there right now if not for the looming sex-scene deadline. Maybe it's so the author could sprinkle in phrases like "the salty surf-song drifting over from the beach" or "within a mojito-muddling wrist-flick of the surging, star-swept Florida seas."

I also could not tell you why Caleb was attracted to Tash apart from the fact that equally attractive people tend to want to bang each other.

I feel comfortable calling Tash unlikeable because I couldn't understand why she was the way she was. Various potentially formative an/or traumatic experiences in her past are introduced, but only one seemed to truly resonate in the present. The others all just seemed to drive home the fact that she has always been self-centered.

Anyway, nothing was so bad as to cause a DNF. And I'd be interested in seeing what else this author comes up with. But unfortunately this was a meh.

Thank you to Powers That Be for the ARC. All opinions my own.

cute romance book and the enemies to lover worked here, although the third act meltdown felt kinda forced. 4 stars. tysm for the arc.

I appreciate the opportunity to read this title, but unfortunately it didn’t quite capture my interest. While the premise was promising, I found it difficult to stay engaged. That said, I’m sure it will find its audience with readers who connect more strongly with the writing style or pacing.

This is an enemies to lovers, Hollywood/literary backdrop, yet something felt slow and like the timing was off. I just couldn't vibe with this one. Writing was good, don't get me wrong, I just couldn't get into the story on a personal level.

I just could not get into it. I found the characters unlikeable and mostly self absorbed. To me, feminism means pro-woman, not anti-men. There's a big difference! This went into my did-not-finish pile. Life is too short to read books I don't enjoy.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

went in with high hopes—the premise was intriguing and right up my alley. Unfortunately, it just didn’t quite hold my attention the way I expected. While the writing had its moments and the concept had potential, I found myself struggling to stay engaged. That said, I can see how others might connect with it more than I did. Sometimes it’s just a matter of the right book at the right time

If categorized in romance, I would give The Dirty Version around 2 stars. If categorized in women’s fiction, however, it was mesmerizing and I would easily up that rating to 4 stars. Because although the romance didn’t spark anything for me, the main character, Tash, was so humanly flawed that I was drawn to continue her story. To be perfectly frank, there were moments when I genuinely disliked Tash, and yet that made her growth all the more relatable, plausible, and inspiring. It was the journey of a woman trying to navigate the cognitive dissonance of living with strong convictions within a dialectic, gray-scaled world. And even if those convictions were stronger or at times different than my own, as a woman with strong convictions of my own I understood Tash’s anger, grief, determination, confusion, and hope. And that’s a beautiful thing to behold in writing.

This was such a fun read! The Hollywood setting makes it feel like the reader is right in the drama of the story. Loved it!