Don’t tell my husband, but my new obsession has become Dark Romance suddenly. He already knows I read Romance books because he’s forced to work from home and have my books surrounding him in the office/library. He’s dealt with my library growing, and if he knew what was on my kindle, he would have me committed. (Just kidding, he wouldn’t.) He’s wanted to read one of the books I’ve read recently, and I may end up having him read The Dare by Harley Laroux since it was a quick dark erotic novella with a reverse harem. I’ve seen this book on TikTok and Instagram in the past and decided I needed to read it after reading the synopsis. Unfortunately, Amazon has banned this book (kindle ebook), so I went to Apple Books to purchase it. Damn you, Amazon! What’s your problem? I’ve read Dark Romance, and this one isn’t even that dark. Get your act together, Amazon, because you have already been pissing me off with other issues that have come to light.
My Thoughts: Why the hell did I wait this long to read The Dare? Seriously, after I was done reading it, I had to go back and reread some scenes. I need more of Manson and Jessica and Manson’s friends Vincent, Jason, and Lucas.
Jessica, the former popular girl, goes to one of her former high school classmate’s parties dressed up as a sexy angel with her friend. She finds out immediately that one of her former classmates that would have never been invited to the party is there. She’s bothered by it at first, and then she plays Drink or Dare with the guy she used to bully in high school. He beats her, and she has to be his slave for the night. Manson Reed is the guy she was fascinated with but never could be with since they ran in different social circles. It also didn’t help that he got expelled after pulling a knife on someone. Now, Jessica is forced to do humiliating stuff that Manson issues as commands to her. Some of the kinks and fetishes are kissing his boots, being denied orgasm, spanking, and other things that she’s not used to, but it turns her on. The popular girl realizes that being with Manson brings out another side that she likes.
There is a lot more between Jessica and Manson in this book. Some additional characters are introduced, and if you don’t like clowns, you may be bothered by Manson’s friends when they show up at the Halloween party. I know I was weirded out at first with the clowns until I realized it was a Halloween party, and it also helped when I had names with clown faces. This is a Reverse Harem, which means the female MC has sexual group activities with Manson and his friends in this novella. I’ve read RH before, so this was nothing new to me, and Harley Laroux made me want more with all the characters after reading the scenes.
Jessica did drive me crazy with her constant pushing with Manson in the beginning because she was used to getting what she wanted. Manson didn’t make it easy for her. He is definitely a dom, and she needs to learn submission, which he is trying to teach her.
The ending came too quick, too, in this book, and I was left wanting more. I need more. Thank goodness I found out recently there is another book after this one that the author is writing. Yes, ma’am. I will be preordering it as soon as I can because I need more of these characters.
Overall, I give this book four stars, and I can’t wait to read more from Harley Laroux after reading this book. I’ve already added several of her books to my TBR, and I will be making time for them.
(FYI…I used to have issues with reading Dark Romance until Keri Lake. She’s why I became obsessed with this genre, and I’ve been branching out to find more authors in this genre.) Thanks to other bookstagrammers/bloggers for sharing The Dare by Harley Laroux. =) I now have another author to add to my auto-buy list.
Standalone or Part of Series: It’s standalone. Harley Laroux is writing a follow-up book after this one. (No release date yet, but I recommend following her on Instagram to keep up with the details of the upcoming book. I know I am.)
Steaminess: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
Would I recommend this book? Yes. If you enjoy Dark Erotic Romance with Reverse Harem, read this book. Please read the TW/CW, which is found in the synopsis.