When I'd first looked up Dirty English, it had a great average rating, higher than 4 and was getting rave reviews in general. A month back, the rating had gone down to a little below 4, seeing an approximate .5 drop. The reviewers were still gushing about it but not as much as before. 
 Having read it finally, I realised why. Sporting a male lead who's involved in the underground fighting scene, and a heroine with a terribly tortured past experience, I would've expected a much grittier story. Dirty English certainly wasn't so. 
 The storyline was so typical, I can count a few books, right off the bat, that have a similar plot if not the same. 
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 Elizabeth's a good enough character as far as romances go but certainly not that memorable. Her choices felt unbelievably stupid at times. Knowing that her natural response would've been running from situations that made her feel threatened or weak, she seemed to positively glide into them. 
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 Declan's character definitely won't make it to my list of possible book crushes, any time soon. He could have handled his ex better and worked harder at explaining himself logically to Elizabeth anytime they had a misunderstanding between them. Big muscles certainly do not maketh a strong man. 
 The dialogues between the leads left a lot to be desired as well. Elizabeth's vulnerable moments around Declan felt pathetic. I am not, in any manner, undermining her issues and hurt, but her conversations with Declan reminded me of the meek Manga heroines that annoy me so much. 
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 Last but not the least; The Pride and Prejudice references. Adding them to the text felt so forced that the story felt downright corny at those times. Let's not even get into the climax at the end. The whole thriller angle of the story started and ended in the last three chapters. Load, aim and shoot! 
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 The book's a passable read and not worth recommending to anyone.