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Book Review: Caged Warrior (Dragon Kings #1) by Lindsey Piper

Next week Caged Warrior will revealed and I received an ARC copy through edelweiss thanks to Simon & Schuster and of course Lindsey Piper, for writing an honest and unbiased review. Caged Warrior, the first book in the Dragon Kings series, will be released on June 25. The second book, Blood Warrior, will be available on July 30. Silent Warrior is a prequel to these books and can easily be read separately.
The first installment in this fierce and sensual new paranormal romance series features demonic gladiators, ruthless mafia villains, and a proud race on the brink of extinction.

Ten years ago, Audrey MacLaren chose to marry her human lover, making her an exile from the Dragon Kings, an ancient race of demons once worshiped as earthly gods. Audrey and her husband managed to conceive, and their son is the first natural-born Dragon King in a generation—which makes him irresistible to the sadistic scientist whose mafia-funded technology allows demon procreation. In the year since her husband was murdered, Audrey and her little boy have endured hideous experiments.

Shackled with a collar and bound for life, Leto Garnis is a Cage warrior. Only through combat can Dragon Kings earn the privilege of conceiving children. Leto uses his superhuman speed and reflexes to secure the right for his two sisters to start families. After torture reveals Audrey’s astonishing pyrokenesis, she is sent to fight in the Cages. If she survives a year, she will be reunited with her son. Leto is charged with her training. Initially, he has no sympathy for her plight. But if natural conception is possible, what has he been fighting for? As enemies, sparring partners, lovers, and eventual allies, Leto and Audrey learn that in a violent underground world, love is the only prize worth winning.

Review:
Dragon Kings are not your traditional fire breathing animals, they don't even change form, but they do have certain powers and healing skills. Each clan has a certain specialty, but Audrey (human name)/Nynn (dragon name) never had any powers until now.

Because of the horrible things they did to her in the lab, her powers manifested and she is send in the Cages. She has to fight if she wants her son to stay alive. Now Audrey has to leave everything behind if she wants to survive and hopefully escape.
"His jaw was fixed in an expression she'd learned to recognize: You will find no mercy here."
Thus enters Leto. From a very young age he was shaped into the warrior he is now. He fights to protect his family and so that they may reproduce. In the beginning I absolutely didn't like Leto. He's way too crude, sinister, borderline evil and cruel, all in the name of trying to break Audrey, so she can become a great fighter. I don't approve of his methods and the way he thinks has me convinced he's kind of brainwashed. Placing it in the story, I do understand where he comes from and why he has to do those things to her. Of course he grows during the story, certainly in his behavior towards Audrey, starts realizing some things about his bosses etc. but still I'm not totally convinced of the man. His personality is maybe a little too hard for my taste.
"Break her. What a lie. She'd taken everything thrown her way and absorbed it."
The things they did to Audrey in the lab are sickening. I was so glad Lindsey Piper didn't went too far in detail with that or I would have just skipped those passages. There are some things I can't read or see, things that are unforgivable. Still Audrey, having been through all that does not give up. That woman just keeps on fighting no matter what you throw at her. The love for her son and the hate for the Aster family motivates her to make it out alive.
"Yet he was sexy in the basest, most primitive sense. Weapons and armor and strength."
If she wants to escape or even just survive the Cage, she will need the help of Leto. Audrey hates him and what he represents, but she needs him and strangely she has this attraction towards him, but fights it because that feels like betrayal of her love for her (ex-)husband and the life she had before. In due time she this all sinks in and the hatred she has for him very slowly turns in something quite else.

Caged Warrior has a lot of action, mental gore, but also complexity and depth you don't always expect. The main focus is on Leto and Audrey, two very well rounded characters, each with real flaws, hurts, hopes and dreams. The dynamic between these two is simply amazing. Also Audrey is such a strong character, being gone through all that and never giving up is very admirable. Other than that there are some political choices made, which will probably affect the next books. Some side characters that will make your skin crawl, you can not help but hate them, they are that evil.
"I've seen the snow and the sun now, but without you, I'll live in the dark forever."
I am crazy about this book. Blood Warrior is on my TBR list and I hope it can keep up with Caged Warrior. As always I'm really curious how the two stories will connect. I can say nothing more, but you just have to read it!!!


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Review: Faking It (Losing It #2) by Cora Carmack

*I received a copy from the author in exchange for an honest review*
Mackenzie “Max” Miller has a problem. Her parents have arrived in town for a surprise visit, and if they see her dyed hair, tattoos, and piercings, they just might disown her. Even worse, they’re expecting to meet a nice, wholesome boyfriend, not a guy named Mace who has a neck tattoo and plays in a band. All her lies are about to come crashing down around her, but then she meets Cade.

Cade moved to Philadelphia to act and to leave his problems behind in Texas. So far though, he’s kept the problems and had very little opportunity to take the stage. When Max approaches him in a coffee shop with a crazy request to pretend to be her boyfriend, he agrees to play the part. But when Cade plays the role a little too well, they’re forced to keep the ruse going. And the more they fake the relationship, the more real it begins to feel.
Review:
As you may or may not know, I absolutely didn't like the first Losing It novel, I gave it only one star on Goodreads. Still I liked Cade's character and when I read the blurb of Faking It I was intrigued and curious. Was I glad I gave it a chance, because I absolutely loved it!

Cade has been trying to pick up his life after his rejection from Bliss. He's been studying to get his master's degree and meanwhile also trying to find some paying work, without much luck. So when this gorgeous, special girl in the coffee shop asks him to play her boyfriend for a couple of hours, it might be the most exciting thing he has done in months. Certainly when circumstances keeps throwing them together and he realizes he doesn't have to make much effort to behave like her boyfriend.

Max parents have just arrived into town for a surprise visit and she needs a nice guy to meet her parents, instead of her real boyfriends whom they won't approve of. Her parents don't even approve of her hair color and her tattoos, let alone a guy called Mace. Luckily Cade is right available and without giving much thought to why a guy would do such a thing, she grabs the opportunity with both hands. Now it seems her parents will be here for a while, so she needs to keep bringing Cade along. Still even without planned meetings she seems to keep bumping into him everywhere.

What she doesn't get is why she feels attracted to him. Cade is a nice, decent guy, but Max doesn't do nice, decent guys. Meanwhile Cade believes Max might just be what he need. So there is this whole I-might-like-you-but-I'm-going-to-deny-it-but-you're-so-hot situation going on between these two, but physical attraction isn't the only thing that is going on here. While it's obvious Max has some parent/family issues, it also affects what is going on between her and Cade. They both have some secrets they need to share with each other, it's just a matter of time and stubbornness.

Faking It was truly a lovely read. I very much enjoyed and really liked Max, she literally a colorful character. The bantering between her and Cade is so much fun and almost made me laugh out loud. There is still plenty of frustration to go around, because you get to see both point of views and you just wish they make it all okay. If you read Losing It and didn't like that book, I definitely recommend to still read Faking It as it is so much better written. Also if you did like the first book, you're going to love the second!


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Excerpt + Giveaway: Girl with Guitar by Caisey Quinn

After Kylie’s dad dies in a freak accident, he leaves her with nothing other than her crazy step-mother, Darla, and the ability to play guitar. When Darla kicks Kylie out and she loses her job all in the same day, she hops a bus to Nashville determined to make her late father’s dreams come true.

Waitressing and saving her pennies to record a demo, her big break comes when she’s asked to join a tour going down the tubes with once platinum album-selling country music superstar Trace Corbin.

But touring with Trace is hardly a dream come true since he’s pretty much drinking his career down the drain. If Kylie can’t pull Trace out of his rut, he’ll pull her and her dreams down with him.
Excerpt:

Running lights on the floor illuminated the interior of the bus just enough to keep her from falling and breaking her neck on her way to the kitchenette. She reached out and felt around for the switch under the cabinets that lit up the area above the sink. She had just flicked it on when Trace’s bedroom door opened.

Her heart stuttered and Kylie froze. If the blonde from the bar was in there with him, Kylie was taking her ass to that Winnebago dressed just as she was.

Taking a few deep breaths to brace herself, she turned. Trace stood in the doorway, his dark shirtless figure making her heart race.

“Couldn’t sleep,” she said softly. He just stared at her, reminding her with his scorching gaze that she was dressed in a thin nightshirt that barely reached her thighs. “No company tonight?” she asked, doing her best to keep her voice light, unaffected.

Trace said nothing as he stalked towards her slowly, the force of his stare backing her against the counter.

“Trace,” she said softly as he came close enough to touch.

Still nothing. Just his eyes burning into hers as his bare chest expanded with each breath. His hair was a mess, like he’d spent all night raking his hands through it, and he was barefoot in jeans. Kylie was pretty sure this was the hottest she’d ever seen him. Heat flooded her body, liquefying the lust between her thighs.

The sensation became so intense it was almost painful. Before she had time to ask him what he was doing, Trace’s strong hands gripped her and lifted her onto the counter. His labored breathing was the only sound she heard as he used those same hands to spread her knees apart. Kylie whimpered when he moved forward to press himself between them.

This was not the Trace Corbin she was used to. This man had pleading eyes and was trembling to the point of vibrating with…want. Or maybe it was need. Kylie wasn’t sure. The muscles holding her rigid relaxed under his warm hands. He trailed them up her thighs, to her hips, finally reaching up and touching her face with gentleness she hadn’t expected him to be capable of. His thumb grazed her bottom lip and it sent a shock straight through her, causing her to arch into him.

“You played those boys tonight.” His quiet ragged voice raked over her.

She couldn’t speak, so she nodded. Yes.

“You been playing me?” He pinned her with an intense stare she struggled to return.

This time she shook her head no.

When he let his hands fall back to her hips, she reached up and placed her fingers in his hair, using the lush brown locks to pull him closer. His head dropped below hers with a soft moan, and she could feel him breathing her in. She took advantage of the opportunity to do the same. Bourbon, aftershave, and that woodsy scent that was all Trace. No cheap perfume from his friend from earlier. Trace’s soft warm lips brushed against her neck, sending another shiver through her with so much force it would’ve jolted her off the counter had he not been holding her in place. “I’m sorry about what happened in Jackson,” he whispered. “God, I’m so sorry.” His voice was thick and raw and broke something inside of her.

She still couldn’t manage to get any words to reach her mouth, so she just gripped him tighter. She’d already forgiven him.

Her mind raced with questions. The most pressing one being, what the hell are we doing? But somehow it didn’t seem important to figure it out right that second. She wanted this, ached for it. She hadn’t even realized how badly until that very moment. Holding him close to her felt right. Safe. As if this was what she had needed all along. This is what would take the pain away.

Trace pulled away, just a few inches, but Kylie moaned her displeasure. She tried to pull him back in, biting her lip when he shook his head. God, those eyes. Take cover, they said, because the storm was here, now. And Kylie wanted nothing more than to hurl herself right into its path.

She didn’t know what he was looking for, but his eyes sought answers in hers that she didn’t have. She didn’t even know what the question was. She just wanted him. Like she had never wanted anything or anyone in her entire life.

Cupping her chin firmly, Trace leaned in and oh, oh she was more than ready for his mouth. But he didn’t kiss her. He pressed his forehead to hers and closed his eyes. “So damn beautiful,” he rasped. Gripping his hips and pulling him as close as possible, until the only thing keeping them apart was the thin lace of her panties and the denim of his jeans, Kylie let her hand stroke his stubbled cheek. She pulled her legs up to wrap them around his waist and Trace let loose a deep growl that had her throbbing against him. The intimacy of it was like nothing she’d ever experienced, taking her higher than even performing on stage had. Trace Corbin should come with a warning label: highly addictive.

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Review + Excerpt + Giveaway: Taking Back Forever (Kindrily #2) by Karen Amanda Hooper

I absolutely loved Grasping At Eternity by Karen Amanda Hooper (click here for the review) so I definitely couldn't wait for Taking Back Forever. The review isn't actually part of the book blitz, but since I received it through NetGalley and already finished, I decided to include it. Taking Back Forever came out last week and as part of this book blitz I can share an excerpt and you can participate in 2 giveaways (one is open US/CAN, other INTL).

*I received a copy from the author in exchange for an honest review*
Forever is worth the fight.

Maryah erased all memory of her past lives, but she couldn’t erase her soul mate Nathan, or his undying love. Now, Maryah and Nathan have a second chance at a future together, but first Maryah must remember the person she used to be and embrace her supernatural gifts—more than one kindrily member’s life depends on it.

Maryah’s power is Harmony’s best hope of finding her kidnapped soul mate, Gregory. But Harmony isn’t big on asking anyone for help, and she’s tired of waiting, so she’s taking matters into her own hands. Heaven help anyone who stands in her way.
Review:
Taking Back Forever starts of right where Grasping At Eternity ended, so no quick overview of what happened previously, you just get thrown right in. If it has been a while since you've read the first book, you might want to read the last couple of chapters again before starting book two.

The story this time is mostly told from Maryah and Harmony's point of view. It certainly was very interesting to get inside the head of Harmony as she is so different to Maryah. Harmony is still on a mission to find and save her soulmate Gregory. Now that Maryah is in the know how, Harmony is hoping Maryah powers will return soon, but it seems it's taking longer than expected. Since Harmony has been without Gregory for almost twenty years, she's kind of running out of patience and tries to take things into her own hand.

Meanwhile Maryah really does want to help Harmony, but it's discouraging the little progress she is making, which is practically none. Not even Carson's new invention is helping her all that much. That's not the only thing Maryah is frustrated about. Things between her and Nathaniel are great, but still she's pretty much constantly reminded of reasons why she shouldn't have erased. So Maryah's feelings throughout the story are all about frustration and disappointment in herself.

Honestly Taking Back Forever feels like an in-between story to me, a transition between the first and the third (which I haven't yet read). There are a lot of things happening, but more on a personal growth level than with heavy action. You get to know all the members and the structure of the kindrily better, there is of course romance and even tragedy... Still you keep having the feeling there is so much more. The world of kindrily is endless and the way the book ends it could go all ways. The book doesn't end with a cliffhanger, but there is a sneak peek at the third book and that will definitely make you wish you could start reading the rest at that moment.



   


Excerpt:

“Shiloh, you know he has the ability to see clearly in the dark, and that he sees light and color differently than the rest of us.”

I nodded.

“Well, he swears he can still see your star in the sky.”

“You said my star fell. That it was gone.”

“I know. And I can’t see it. As much as I’ve tried and hoped to see a flicker of light where your star used to shine, I still see nothing. But Shiloh doesn’t lie. And he swears he can see something.”

I lifted my face and scanned the cloudless sky above us. “What does that mean?”

“It means you erased, but you aren’t gone. We know that’s true because you have remembered glimpses of our past. It gives me hope that you’ll remember more. I wanted to tell you what Shiloh sees so you could share that hope. Your star didn’t fall from the sky like I originally believed. Erasing caused it to burn out, but I believe you can reignite it.”

I looked at the sky again. I wanted to see the stars. I wanted to see my star. I wanted to burn so brightly that other galaxies could see me. But wanting and doing were very different things. Doing, I thought. It was up to me to do something. No one could make my star shine except me. Nathan did give me hope. According to Shiloh, I still had a place in the heavens. I was determined to turn on the light so that everyone could see I was home again.


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Review: The Trouble With Goodbye by Sarra Cannon


*I received a copy from the author in exchange for an honest review*
One night can change everything…

Two years ago, Leigh Anne Davis shocked everyone in tiny Fairhope, Georgia when she broke up with her wealthy boyfriend to attend an Ivy League university a thousand miles away. At school, she finds a happiness and independence she’s never known.

Until one terrifying night takes it all away from her.

With no place else to go, Leigh Anne heads home to reclaim her old life. A life she worked so hard to escape. On the outside, she seems like the same girl everyone has always known. But deep inside, she’s hiding a terrible secret.

That’s when she meets Knox Warner, a troubled newcomer to Fairhope. His eyes have the same haunted look she sees every day in the mirror, and when she’s near him, the rest of the world fades away. But being with Knox would mean disappointing everyone all over again. If she wants to save what’s left of her old life, she has no choice but to say goodbye to him forever.

Only, the trouble with goodbye is that sometimes it’s about courage and sometimes it’s about fear. And sometimes you’re too broken to know the difference until it’s too late.
Review:
Leigh Anne is moving back to Fairhope for the Summer, which means having to stay with her parents and mostly her condescending mother. If college wasn't a worse option, she wouldn't be here. She's hoping being home, hanging out with her friends and maybe even her ex-boyfriend would help to find her some normalcy. Quickly she realizes she can't do normal anymore. What has happened at college has changed her, when everyone in Fairhope has stayed exactly the same.

On her first night she meets Knox and when he plays her shining knight in armor, with her all slobbering over his t-shirt without any complaints from him, she knows he's something different. Still he's not the happy go lucky he at first seems to be, his eyes are hiding something. Slowly they grow closer together, not letting other people's opinions stopping them, and maybe they even let each other in on their secrets. But when the trouble from campus seems to follow Leigh Anne to Fairhope, all might be threatened and difficult choices will need to be made.

The Trouble With Goodbye is an interesting book and discusses a very difficult topic. While you might want to know more about Knox and how hot he is etc., the main focus doesn't lay on that blooming relationship. I feel it's more about Leigh Anne, how she deals with everything that has happened, how she has to learn not to let other people dictate her, how she has to come to peace with herself ... even saying goodbye to her old self. Which is with great difficulty when your previous life was so easy and drama free.

Overall a nice read, but I wasn't wowed. If you like the New Adult genre and want a little bit more depth to the stories, then The Trouble With Goodbye is a book for you.


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Excerpt + Giveaway: Have No Shame by Melissa Foster

Have No Shame by Melissa Foster got released a month ago and already the reviews on Goodreads and Amazon are saying amazing things about this book. This is definitely not some fluffy read but deals with real historical issues, that some even consider a taboo to talk about. A gripping coming of age story and we have the first chapter of the book here for you. One chapter not enough for you? Enter the giveaway to win a paperback copy of Have No Shame!
The racially-charged prejudice of the deep South forces eighteen-year-old Alison Tillman to confront societal norms—and her own beliefs—when she discovers the body of a hate crime victim, and the specter of forbidden love turns her safe, comfortable world upside down.

Alison has called Forrest Town, Arkansas home for the past eighteen years. Her mother’s Blue Bonnet meetings, her father toiling night and day on the family farm, and the division of life between the whites and the blacks are all Alison knows. The winter of 1967, just a few months before marrying her high school sweetheart, Alison finds the body of a black man floating in the river, and she begins to view her existence with new perspective. The oppression and hate of the south, the ugliness she once was able to avert her eyes from, now demands her attention.

When a secretive friendship with a young black man takes an unexpected romantic turn, Alison is forced to choose between her predetermined future, and the dangerous path that her heart yearns for.

HAVE NO SHAME is an emotionally compelling coming of age novel featuring a young woman who cannot reconcile the life she wants with the one she’s been brought up to live.Have No Shame will resonate with anyone who has ever fallen in love, and those who have been forced to choose between what they know in their hearts to be true, and what others would like them to believe.

Excerpt

Chapter One

It was the end of winter 1967, my father was preparin’ the fields for plantin’, the Vietnam War was in full swing, and spring was peekin’ its pretty head around the corner. The cypress trees stood tall and bare, like sentinels watchin’ over the St. Francis River. The bugs arrived early, thick and hungry, circlin’ my head like it was a big juicy vein as I walked across the rocks toward the water.

My legs pled with me to jump from rock to rock, like I used to do with my older sister, Maggie, who’s now away at college. I hummed my new favorite song, Penny Lane, and continued walkin’ instead of jumpin’ because that’s what’s expected of me. I could just hear Daddy admonishin’ me, “You’re eighteen now, a grown up. Grown ups don’t jump across rocks.” Even if no one’s watchin’ me at the moment, I wouldn’t want to disappoint Daddy. If Maggie were here, she’d jump. She might even get me to jump. But alone? No way.

The river usually smelled of sulfur and fish, with an underlyin’ hint of desperation, but today it smelled like somethin’ else all together. The rancid smell hit me like an invisible billow of smog. I covered my mouth and turned away, walkin’ a little faster. I tried to get around the stench, thinkin’ it was a dead animal carcass hidin’ beneath the rocks. I couldn’t outrun the smell, and before I knew it I was crouched five feet above the river on an outcroppin’ of rocks, and my hummin’ was replaced by retchin’ and dry heavin’ as the stench infiltrated my throat. I peered over the edge and fear singed my nerves like thousands of needles pokin’ me all at once. Floatin’ beneath me was the bloated and badly beaten body of a colored man. A scream escaped my lips. I stumbled backward and fell to my knees. My entire body began to shake. I covered my mouth to keep from throwin’ up. I knew I should turn away, run, get help, but I could not go back the way I’d come. I was paralyzed with fear, and yet, I was strangely drawn to the bloated and ghastly figure.

I stood back up, then stumbled in my gray midi-skirt and saddle shoes as I made my way over the rocks and toward the riverbank. The silt-laden river was still beneath the floatin’ body. A branch stretched across the river like a boney finger, snaggin’ the bruised and beaten body by the torn trousers that clung to its waist. His bare chest and arms were so bloated that it looked as if they might pop. Tremblin’ and gaspin’ for breath, I lowered myself to the ground, warm tears streamin’ down my cheeks.

While fear sucked my breath away, an underlyin’ curiousity poked its way through to my consciousness. I covered my eyes then, tellin’ myself to look away. The reality that I was seein’ a dead man settled into my bones like ice. Shivers rattled my body. Whose father, brother, uncle, or friend was this man? I opened my eyes again and looked at him. It’s a him, I told myself. I didn’t want to see him as just an anonymous, dead colored man. He was someone, and he mattered. My heart pounded against my ribcage with an insistence—I needed to know who he was. I’d never seen a dead man before, and even though I could barely breathe, even though I could feel his image imprintin’ into my brain, I would not look away. I wanted to know who had beaten him, and why. I wanted to tell his family I was sorry for their loss.

An uncontrollable urgency brought me to my feet and drew me closer, on rubber legs, to where I could see what was left of his face. A gruesome mass of flesh protruded from his mouth. His tongue had bloated and completely filled the openin’, like a flesh-sock had been stuffed in the hole, stretchin’ his lips until they tore and the raw pulp poked out. Chunks of skin were torn or bitten away from his eyes.

I don’t know how long I stood there, my legs quakin’, unable to speak or turn back the way I had come. I don’t know how I got home that night, or what I said to anyone along the way. What I do know is that hearin’ of a colored man’s death was bad enough—I’d heard the rumors of whites beatin’ colored men to death before—but actually seein’ the man who had died, and witnessin’ the awful remains of the beatin’, now that terrified me to my core. A feelin’ of shame bubbled within me. For the first time ever, I was embarrassed to be white, because in Forrest Town, Arkansas, you could be fairly certain it was my people who were the cause of his death. And as a young southern woman, I knew that the expectation was for me to get married, have children, and perpetuate the hate that had been bred in our lives. My children, they’d be born into the same hateful society. That realization brought me to my knees.

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Review: Dare You To (Pushing the Limits #2) by Katie McGarry

*I received a copy from the author in exchange for an honest review*
If anyone knew the truth about Beth Risk's home life, they'd send her mother to jail and seventeen-year-old Beth who knows where. So she protects her mom at all costs. Until the day her uncle swoops in and forces Beth to choose between her mom's freedom and her own happiness. That's how Beth finds herself living with an aunt who doesn't want her and going to a school that doesn't understand her. At all. Except for the one guy who shouldn't get her, but does....

Ryan Stone is the town golden boy, a popular baseball star jock-with secrets he can't tell anyone. Not even the friends he shares everything with, including the constant dares to do crazy things. The craziest? Asking out the Skater girl who couldn't be less interested in him.

But what begins as a dare becomes an intense attraction neither Ryan nor Beth expected. Suddenly, the boy with the flawless image risks his dreams-and his life-for the girl he loves, and the girl who won't let anyone get too close is daring herself to want it all....
Review:
We've met Beth in Pushing The Limits and even though the story wasn't about her, she really knows how to get noticed. In the beginning not much has changed about her situation. She's still living at her aunt's and hanging out with Noah and Isaiah.

The story starts off with her mother getting Beth into trouble. Once again I can't help but loath her mom. Some of the things that woman has done to her child are unbelievable. Beth's life is geting screwed up because of her mom and Beth never dares to give up on her. This all makes me just so sad, mad and frustrated.

With the latest alteration Beth has to go live with her uncle, whom only recently returned. Leaving her friends behind and starting a new school, Beth is not happy and it's something everyone will know and feel.

Ryan's situation is almost the opposite of Beth's. He's the high school's golden boy, gets good grades, great baseball player and until recently part of a happy family. When he first met Beth it was on dare, which you know will come bite him in the ass later. Now she's at his school and he can't get her out of his mind. Beth is different, refreshing and slowly he falls for her.

Beth isn't so easily convinced. Boys like him don't fall for girls like her and no matter how much he proves his feelings are real, she will not believe him. Time after time she keeps pushing him away. Beth keeps holding on to her anger and the feeling of betrayal. If she lets nobody get close, then they can't hurt her.

Living with her uncle has given her a chance to get her life back in order, a chance to start over, but Beth refuses to even try. This part really was the most frustrating, her endless stubbornness.

I really liked Ryan, the guy has some original romantic moves to win Beth over. Now he may be the golden boy, but his life is far from perfect. His dad is always pushing him, his brother is no longer welcome in their house and he's being pressured from all sides; friends, teachers and even Beth.

Somehow these two shouldn't work together, but they do. Dare You To was very well written. There were a lot of parts I wanted to scream at Beth, I was so caught up in the story. It's a beautiful story of personal growth, letting go of things that hold you back and daring to open up and give love a chance.


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