I was excited about this one based off the premise; a dystopian author whose book is being turned into a script & the studio heads are requiring her to work with an intimacy coordinator to make it more sexually appealing to the audience.

From the gorgeous cover to the writing style, this book had everything going for it but for some reason it just wasn’t for me and I had a hard time pinpointing why. I enjoyed parts of it, and especially enjoyed Caleb as a character but there was something unlikeable for me about Tash that just didn’t make her relatable to me in a way that I could connect with the story in the way I was hoping for. I enjoyed the details of the story more than the plot and character growth, so I would read this author again but this just wasn’t the book for me.

Thanks to Netgalley and HarperAudio I was able to listen to this one and while I thought the narration was fantastic, the book didn’t hold my attention like I was hoping. I think having Caleb’s POV would have made the book less difficult for me to get into, and seeing both sides would have made the chemistry more pronounced for me because I truly loved the concept of this one!

I was really intrigued by the premise of The Dirty Version—a writer and an intimacy coordinator working together to adapt a book for TV? I had an enemies to lovers rom-com pictured.

But honestly… I struggled with this one. Tash, the main character, was really hard to connect with. She came off as defensive and kind of mean at times, and she was always ready to snap. I get that she’s meant to be complicated and passionate, but it just made her hard to root for. I found myself frustrated with her more often than not and really wishing I could dig deeper in Caleb and his backstory.

I liked some of the behind-the-scenes Hollywood stuff, but the pacing was slow and the romance didn’t quite hit for me. There were glimpses of something great here, but overall it felt a little underdeveloped.

Not one I’d probably recommend unless you’re really into slow-burn, romance with messy leads.

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. This book was published on June 30, 2025 and is available to read. Overall, I rate the book a 2.25 out of 5 star

For fans of The True Love Experiment and also just for everyone that’s been invested in a movie or tv adaptation of a beloved book.

This was such a unique story line and loved the forced proximity aspect of Tash and Caleb. I really enjoyed the aspects of the film industry in the plot and diving more into what really goes into making a film,show or movie with script writing, negotiation, intimacy coordinator and script translation. The communication which started as banter between Tash and Caleb to full formed conversations with depth was a great aspect of the story.

The audiobook is was narrated by Natalie Naudus. She did such a great job giving voices to the main characters, Tash and Caleb. It was easy to follow and enjoyed the way she told this story with great emotion and feelings.

🎥Review🎥
4🌟
📖Book: 48/78
📚 Title:
The Dirty Version
✍️Author:
Turner Gable Kahn
📄Pages: 240
💫Genre:
Fiction•Romance
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📝Synopsis 📝
Tash wrote an unexpected hit feminist dystopian novel which is being made into a tv series. The producer does not see eye to eye with her and feels she needs to add more spice into the scripts. They bring in Caleb, an intimacy coordinator, to help her write more steam in her scripts.

💭My Thoughts 💭
Tash and Caleb’s banter was my favorite, but it was also a thought provoking read. She gets challenged to spice up her scenes if not she will loose control of her creativity for the script….Hollywood challenging the female and expecting heroines to be eye candy hotties. I loved how passionate she was about her novel, and I also loved the dynamic between Tash & Caleb.
Sadly there was no real spice so don’t let the title fool you🥴
🎥🎥🎥🎥🎥
The narrator in the audiobook format was amazing and set the tone perfectly. Thank you @netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
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💭QOTD💭
What has been your favorite book into movie adaptation?
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#netgalley
#TheDirtyVersion
#booksthatmakeyoulaugh
#bookreview
#bookreviewer #fictionbooks #summerbooks #bookrecommendations #bookworms #bibliophile

𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘥𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘢𝘥𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴? 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘵.


I love a good romance, yet I was drawn in and intrigued by the whole process of a novel being adapted to a TV series in this story. The author does a great job weaving all the ins and outs from script negotiations, script translations, and yes, an intimacy coordinator - enter Caleb.

Tash is the author of a hit feminist novel that a film studio has recently grabbed up for a TV series. But the producer wants to “dirty” it up, because sex sells. Tash is hard set against it; she has her reason, one being the integrity of her own work. Regardless, she is forced to work with Caleb, an intimacy coordinator, to rewrite and spice up the scenes.

While it took me a moment to fully engage with the story, I found myself thoroughly enjoying the dynamic between Tash and Caleb as they worked closely together. Caleb's patience and reassurance, even in the face of Tash's grumpiness, resulted in some witty banter during their brainstorming sessions. The evolution of their relationship, as boundaries were crossed and things became a bit chaotic and steamy, was fun to watch. This is a clever and original workplace romance that I thoroughly enjoyed.

🎧 I listened to the audiobook narrated by Natalie Naudus, and her natural and emotive narration gave the story an energetic boost.


Thank you @harperperennial for this #gifted book.
Thank you @harperaudio for the gifted audiobook via #NetGalley.

Tash’s novel is being turned into a film but the director wants parts of the script rewritten, make it more dirty. Enter intimacy coordinator, Caleb who Tash does not like from the start other than him having expirence and the credentials to back him up. Tash was very vocal on all her dislikes and started with very little wiggle room for her to be more open, giving Caleb the patience of a saint. I did struggle with Tash’s character because of this.

The Dirty Version by Turner Gable Kahn was a really fun not-quite enemies to lovers romcom with a unique film industry backdrop.

Tash, an adjunct professor at a Florida college, was a shocked when her novel became a feminist classic. She sold the movie rights to an indie film studio, not knowing that her smart, literary epic could end up in the hands of a huge franchise director who wants to make changes to her story that Tash is sure will alienate her feminist readers. Among his changes, he wants “the dirty version” of the book with women as eye candy and full-on sex scenes she specifically left out of her narrative, and he’s paired her with an intimacy coordinator, Caleb, to write the scenes whether she likes it or not. And Tash doesn’t like it. From the moment she meets (undeniably attractive) Caleb, she doesn’t like him or anything he stands for, but how long can she hold onto her distaste while they’re working together in such close quarters?

I really enjoyed The Dirty Version. Caleb is another book boyfriend for the ages. I loved his character and how calm and reasonable he was able to stay in just about every situation. He was such a sweetheart. And I think a lot of readers will also relate to Tash’s struggles to not compromise her morals. She has some darker backstory with past men in her life that give her even more reasons to be so inflexible around the issues of sexualizing women. Her best friend and partner were also a great duo in the book. I loved the way they handled Tash’s many meltdowns and the way they talked her off the cliff as well as providing some much needed objectivity. Tash has a core issue that comes up a lot in such a short book, but I definitely understood why she felt that way and it was nice to see her learn from her mistakes in the end. I think romcom readers will love this one.

I would definitely recommend the audiobook for this one. Natalie Naudus narrates with humor and brings an easy likeability to the character of Tash!

Ok....a book where the plot centers around writing love scenes when the book has NO love scenes?
I'll pass.

Love Natalie though! She is an auto-listen narrator

Harper Audio ALC
What a fun summer romance! If you want a book that shows the nitty gritty of adapting a novel for television - then this would make for the perfect book in a day summer read. Tash had certain ways she wanted her novel to be portrayed, but the production team didn't agree, so she was stuck with Caleb. I loved his role in all of this, from being an intimacy coordinator to a person who supported Tash and pushed her to grow. There was such great chemistry between them. I also appreciated the discourse around sexual situations and explicitness in shows and how it's viewed differently from person to person. This was a fun book with excellent growth, lovable side characters, and great depth.
I adore Natalie Naudus, so I thought her performance was perfection. She captured the tones and nuances so well.

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.

I really enjoyed listening to this unique romance expertly narrated by Natalie Naudus. She is a master at creating voices that draw you into the story and make you forget you're listening to a book. Caleb is such a strong character and I love how he listens to Tash as she tends to be single-mindedly focused on her point in restructuring the sexual content of her book for TV. She has her reasons, but can be a little hard to take at times. The secondary characters are so fun and enjoyed feeling like I was a part of their friend group for a bit.

DNF @ 25%

I tried twice to read this one. It gets too far into the weeds about the book within the book. I also never warmed to Tash. She is very annoying and

Natalie Naudus narrates and she is usually one of my favorites, but even she couldn't help this one.

I am not sure if it was directed by the author or creative license from Natalie Naudus, but I hated the pronunciation of Tash's name. Her full name is Natasha. Shortening it is normal- but it should be an O sound "tosh". Instead it is like it is spelled- tash- rhymes with lash. Awful.

I received an advance audio copy in exchange for an honest review.

Man, I wish that I had read the reviews before I requested this book. The main character was not likeable from the beginning and I couldn't figure out why Natasha was shortened to Tosh on repeat. It was very distracting to read this as a third person story and from what I can tell, this book is about a romance but the vibes were more about feminism. Not a book for me. Sorry

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, even if the outcome was slightly predictable. Great for a day at the beach or by the pool. Narration was spot-on

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This one is tough for me to review... I enjoyed parts of it, yet other parts seemed to jump the shark. I'm not sure exactly where this book or series is headed, so that makes it tough.

The characters are decent, and there is some growth among them, but there were too many characters and too much jumping around. I think there could have been fewer characters, and this would have been shorter, or the abundance of characters could have been woven in differently.

Although I didn't love it, I will read more from this series if it's a follow-up to this one. Or maybe the author will write others. We shall see.

3.5 stars

Thank you to #NetGalley and #HarperAudio for an advance listening copy of #The DirtyVersion by Turner Gable Kahn. Four stars.

DNF 57%

Unfortunately I found the main character (Tash) absolutely insufferable. I consider myself a feminist, but Tash’s feminist ideologue was so off putting and felt directed at really obscure positions. It felt like her viewpoint was so stubborn that at more than halfway through the book that was the emphasis and it distracted from any actual plot or storyline driving the book.

This was a fun read! Tash is definitely flawed, but does experience some growth by the end. The book does have my least favorite romcom trope - a third act breakup - but I still enjoyed the story! It’s definitely a light read and doesn’t contain any spicy scenes. Highly recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley, Harper Audio, and the author for the chance to listen to this ALC.

This book was interesting, I liked Caleb but had a hard time connecting to Tash. The narrator was great. Overall the book just fell a bit flat for me and I struggled to stay connected to want to stay interested in Tash. There were times I found her to be a bit of an annoying character.