I Dare You (Dare, #1)

by Shantel Tessier

[Eve1972]

 
 
~WRITING - PLOT - PACE~
Well, color me impressed because this book turned out to be all kinds of awesome. It actually reminded me a little of Corrupt by Penelope Douglas. The writing was fantastic. The pace was very good considering that this was a LONG book. It took me near to six hours to finish it. It is told in a dual POV style (Cole & Austin). The plot was super engaging and had me skipping my lunch so I could see where this was heading. There were twists and turns. Secrets and lies. Blood and death, and revenge, lots of revenge. Last, it was all wrapped up in an OK ending --- this is where it lost half a star for me. I thought the ending was a little abrupt, and it felt a little rushed. I felt like it needed a chapter or two more to wrap the story up. 


~HERO~
COLE...Cole was a complete a$$hole through a lot of this book, but I couldn't help but love him. He was devious. He was dangerous. He was angry. Most of the time I didn't know if I wanted to smack the everloving sh!t out of him or give him a hug. He was a complex character for sure.


~HEROINE~
AUSTIN...I really liked Austin's character as well. Although there were many times I wanted to smack her upside the head and say; "WAKE THE F@CK UP!" That said, she was also strong. She was feisty. She held her own with the GWS (Great White Sharks). She was a very good heroine.


 

~SECONDARY CHARACTERS~
There were some awesome secondary characters in this one. I LOVED Becky. I LOVED Deke --- I really hope these two get a book of their own. I was also intrigued by Shane, Brennet, and Kellen, and Lilly was cute as well. A lot of them play quite large parts in this book that made it all the more excellent of a read.


~HEAT LEVEL~
Medium. For high school students, these peeps sure did get around (lol). The sex scenes were suitably spicy, and the frequency was fairly high. There is also some rough sex and choking.


~ANGST LEVEL - SEXUAL HISTORIES~
High. This was a pretty angsty read. All of it coming from secrets and lies. There are a lot of acrimonious scenes between the hero and heroine. A little bit of physical abuse. Blackmail. Stuff like that. Neither were virgins. The hero had been celibate for 9 months (although he was a manwhore prior to that). The heroine only had one previous lover (I think). There was really no OW or OM drama to speak of. 


~IN THE END~
I enjoyed this one a whole hell of a lot. The writing was great. The plot was engaging. The main characters intriguing. The secondary characters were awesome. The sex hot. It had a good amount of angst that didn't come in the form of other people --- my favorite type. If the ending had been just a teensy bit more fleshed out, I would have totally given this a 5-star rating. There is really not much left for me to say...just read it and enjoy it.