Book Review and GIVEAWAY: Dirty Rush, by Taylor Bell, ends 1/26

"By the way, Taylor. You're gonna get a bid. Obviously, you can't tell anyone until it's official, but the chapter seems to be in love with you and it just makes sense. I guess some things are meant to be."

"Wow." My face starts to crinkle out of some sort of weird mixture of amusement and genuine happiness. Or maybe I was just so overwhelmed by the last hour of my life that I couldn't do much besides smile and nod. I definitely didn't have any burning desire to be a part of this group of crazy girls, but the fact that they wanted me to be a part of their world felt good.

"Thanks, I'm ... um, I'm excited."
"Good. You should be."
"I ... am."
"Good. You should be."
"No, I totally am."

We both looked straight ahead.

"Welcome to the dark side."

I haven't had much time to read lately - most of my reading has been done on my work breaks - but I sped through this novel in about two days. Perez Hilton has called it "Mean Girls at a sorority house," and the rights to the movie have actually already been bought. "Taylor Bell," the author, is actually two MEN (!), which really surprised me based on the content of the book and the first-person POV in which it's written, and they've written similar books before, too.

Official synopsis:
In this shockingly true-to-life novel written by an all-star team of Internet phenoms from the Total Frat Move generation, you’ll get the first true glimpse of “real” sorority life in all its f**ked up glory.

Dirty Rush by Taylor Bell is what happens when you take the creative minds behind Babe Walker (author of the New York Times bestselling White Girl Problems series) and add Rebecca Martinson to the mix. Rebecca Martinson—yes, that bitch—the former Delta Gamma sister responsible for the scathing, expletive-filled email that verbally assaulted her entire chapter for being “so f**king boring” at social functions, and threatened to “c*nt punt” every last one of them if their behavior didn’t shape up. Dirty Rush is a no-holds-barred look at what really happens when you “go Greek.”

Taylor Bell comes from a long line of Beta Zeta sorority sisters, who all expect her to pledge upon starting at the university. But Taylor has other plans: she’s determined to give her family the proverbial middle finger and destroy the rich tradition they hold so dear by eschewing sorority life altogether. However, Taylor’s resolve soon melts when she falls in with a group of hilarious, ultra-saucy girls, who introduce her to all things Greek and soften her to the idea of joining. Resigned to the fate the Greek gods have dealt her, Taylor pledges Beta Zeta and embarks on a collegiate career filled with the kind of carousing sure to make any sorority sister proud.

Soon, Taylor’s experience as a BZ starts to feel like a jacked-up, drug-infused, and X-rated fairy tale—especially when reality comes crashing down and a rather lewd sex tape is leaked. The girl in the video looks a lot like Taylor. Has Taylor gone off the deep end? Or is someone trying to frame her? Unless she can prove her innocence and re-ingratiate herself with the sisters who’ve accused her of leaking the video in a Kim Kardashian–style bid for attention, Taylor is at risk of losing everything she’s fought (partied) so hard for.

I definitely wouldn't recommend this book if you are sensitive to language or college "partying," to put it lightly. I never pledged a sorority when I was at U of M, but I was in SAI, which is a "women's music fraternity," - it was more of an "academic" frat but we still had sisters, so I could relate a little bit to Taylor's experience. 

The novel definitely had the amount of partying and craziness that I would expect from rushing and then being an active sister in a sorority, but there was also a surprising amount of closeness and loyalty between the sisters; when Taylor finds out about a scandal going on at Beta Zeta that involved her ACTUAL sister, Kelly, who had graduated the year before, some of her new sisters help her delve in further, in order to clear her own name as well. 

This was a fast and fun read and I can't wait to see the movie version - if it's as crazy as the book was, it should be pretty wild. My cast would look something like this:

Taylor (main character) - Anna Kendrick

Colette (BZ sister and head BIC) - Anna Camp (yes, I know they're both Pitch Perfect alums)

Meg (BZ sister, friends with Taylor) - Jennifer Lawrence

Jack (Taylor's boyfriend + frat brother) - Liam Hemsworth

Jonah (Taylor's BFF) - Dan Byrd

4 stars out of 5. 

{Click here to purchase}

GIVEAWAY:

Enter via the widget below. One lucky reader will win a paperback copy of Dirty Rush. Giveaway will end on Monday, January 26th at 11:59pm EST, and winner will be notified via email the next day and have 24 hours to respond, or an alternate winner will be chosen.

U.S. residents only, please.

Good luck!

Dirty Rush