FRANK, Ella & BLAINE, Brooke - Dare To Try Tome 2 : Dare Me

Dare Me
Ella Frank & Brooke Blaine

Sortie le 30 Aout 2021

Quatrième de couverture :

The moment Bash “Miss Razzle Dazzle” Vogel sashayed into Lieutenant Kieran Bailey’s life, both their worlds were turned upside down.

What started as an easy friendship quickly morphed into sizzling chemistry that neither one could deny.

But what Kieran knows better than anyone is that when a fire burns this hot and heavy, someone’s bound to get burned.

Do they dare to risk being together? Or will the flame of this hot match consume them both?

Dare Me is book two of the Dare to Try trilogy, which must be read in order.

I have rarely been so excited for a book : Dare You ended on a cliffhanger that left me hanging for the tiny month that separated the two books. If you haven’t read Dare You, don’t read this review.

Dare Me is picking up where Dare You left us but with Kieran point of view. We know that Bash left for good but he doesn't. So when he goes to Bash’s hotel and find him gone, my heart ache for him. Even more so when he tries to contact Bash with no success. Bash, on his part, is back to South Haven with a broken heart and no desire to talk about Kieran with his friends.

Both men have feeling for each other but they both face issues with those feelings : for Bash falling for a straight guy who never had any kind of serious relationship with a woman, and who would happen to want one with the first guy he is into ? That sounds too good to be true, and seeing him with Summer showed him how impossible it sounded. For Kieran falling for Bash is jumping into the unknown, with the possibility of people judging him for that.

Those issues are skillfully addressed in this book : despite a worrying start with our two lovers apart, they reconnect in South Haven and communicate about their issues. They try to find a footing for this relationship and those feelings that took them by surprise. It was also great to see them on Bash’s playground after seeing them in Chicago in the first book : we got to see Bash’s friend gain ! I loved their story in the South Haven series and if you haven’t read it you should totally check it out ! Jackson, Lucas, Trent and Shaw are interesting characters in Dare Me, so it is great to have a little more insight by reading their story (and seeing Bash being Bash, because let’s be honest, he always steals the show)

This book really deepens their relationship : what started as a flirty banter and friendship, turns into more. The intimacy initiated in the first book gets even hotter in this one. Bash and Kieran’s chemistry is off the charts. The fact that Kieran having no experience with men tries his best to do right by Bash while keeping his confidence impressed me. But intimacy is not only sexual it is also emotional. They open up even more to each other, especially Bash who struggle to do so and that made me tear up. For me the fact that he allowed himself not to be as strong as usual, to let down his walls shows his absolute trust in Kieran. And Kieran did not disappoint and made me swoon along with Bash ;)

Despite being very different people with different circles and interests, they try to immerge in each other’s world and find out they are not as uncomfortable as they thought. Bash tries the local pub in Dare You, while in Dare Me, Kieran tried Argos ;) I loved seeing him out of his depth but still being confident and not backing down when questioned by Bash’s friends.

As always my favorite ladies wrote a funny book with lots of romance : the phone call scene between Kieran and his brother Sean got me laughing so hard ! Brooke and Ella always find the balance for the romance, the fun, the storyline and the secondary characters. When I read one of their book, it always feels like coming home.

The ending for this volume is not really a cliffhanger but I am truly impatient to know how Kieran and Bash are going to deal with the fact that they both live thousands of miles away from each other. But since they dealt with their previous issues with maturity, I have no doubt that this obstacle is only temporary ;) Truth Or Dare, the third and last book in this series that will answer to all our questions, will be release on the 27th of September !