Speed Date: Dare You To by Katie McGarry

Have I mentioned how much
I don't like this cover? Because I Don't

The Plot: After taking the fall for her alcoholic mother (who trashed her boyfriends' car), getting arrested and ultimately sent (or dragged) off to live with her Uncle Scott in a town outside Louisville, Beth isn't having the best start to her senior year, as she's forced to leave Noah and Isaiah - the only people she could rely on during the last few years - and move in with the Uncle who abandoned her once before and his hostile wife. 

There is also Ryan Stone, best high school pitcher in the State and Scott's next door neighbor... who also happened try to get Beth to give him her phone number a few days before, on a dare. Beth doesn't like jocks, she was badly burned by one before, and she doesn't like that, deep down, she kind of likes Ryan anyway.

Ryan has plenty on his plate too... his parents are fighting all the time since Ryan's older brother Mark came out to them at the beginning of summer, and their dad kicked him out; and now both mom and dad spend their time pressuring Ryan to do what they want - Mom wants him to return to his old girlfriend Gwen, never mind that she dumped him, Dad wants him to abandon everything that won't mean he'll turn Pro once he graduates high school, like college and his other talents. 

For Ryan, Beth is prickly and complicated and he wants to be with her, dare or no dare. 

First Date: All right... this set up is taking for freaking ever, but I got it. Ryan is a spineless wonder when it comes to his parents, Beth is a scared little girl acting tough. Gotcha. 

Second Date: I have to say that I like Lacy, but by GOD if I were her I would have slapped the crap out of boyfriend Chris long ago, he of the stupid dares and who never knows when to shut up. Also, Beth is acting dumb. Sure, give your drug addicted and alcoholic mother all your money and your trust, that's SO going to work out well, dumb ass. 

Third Date: Sigh, I can't help feeling like that was a) way too long, b) anticlimactic as hell, and c) kind of predictable and boring.

Relationship Status: It's best if we don't see each other for a while...

Okay, so, last year when I read Pushing the Limits, I really liked it, the way secrets were kept and the dual point of views that helped to keep things moving at a brisk pace even though the book was a bit on the long side.

In Dare You To, that dual voice just make everything so slow, as both Beth and Ryan kept going over the same stuff over and over and over in their heads.

Neither of them started well with me, Ryan with his stupid dares and his "I don't lose"; and Beth with her stringing Isaiah along, willfully blind and TSTL ways - for someone so "tough" she has an impressive lack of survival instinct. 

Ryan redeemed himself for the most part, but just barely. Beth, though? not really. Maybe I'm a bit hard on her but she made no sense to me. And there were plenty of ways to make her side of the story better, if it had explored her relationship with Scott and Lacy, for example, if they had shown more about Allison - Scott's wife - who goes from hating Beth to embracing her with no in between or character development whatsoever - if she had had a transformation that wasn't "Oh, I'll decide to behave different today."

So yeah, we won't be riding into the sunset together and I'm going to take a break before I tackle Isaiah's book Crash into You.
1/2

What's a Book Speed Date, you ask? It's a quickie review--about 150 words or so--of any genre book (variety is the spice of life, after all).

If you want to join in or just read other speed date reviews, check out The Book Swarm

Book Review: First and Again by Jana Richards

At First Sight: After a bad divorce that left her broke and dealing with a surly teenager daughter, Bridget Grant is back in Paradise, North Dakota, the town she left at 18 swearing she would never go back.

Bridget always felt out of place in Paradise, while her mother and sister quickly made of it their home, and she's not happy to be back as a failure, working at her mother's bar and barely making ends meet. Worse of all, Jack Davison - the guy she loved but left behind - is back in Paradise as well.

Trying to give her daughter some incentive to behave, Bridget is forced to contact Jack and make a deal with him: he'll help him cater an important business lunch and he'll give her daughter riding lessons in return. And arrangement that no only brings them together, but also will force Bridget to face her fears after a reception gone wrong a couple of years before, which destroyed her business in San Francisco.

Jack doesn't really want to get tangled with Bridget again, not after the way she left him, but her daughter Rebecca needs his help, and she's really nice to his own daughter, Leslie, who has a disability, so he's willing to try to help Bridget out, as long as his heart doesn't get involved.

Second Glance: First and Again was a fun book to read, it was interesting seeing things from both Bridget and Jack's perspectives. Particularly regarding their kids, Jack love his daughter but he treats her like she's useless and helpless because he hasn't quite dealt with what having a disabled kid means. Bridget is so dead set to shield her daughter from her father's indifference that she has practically turned into a doormat for Rebecca to bent her anger on.

But when the four of them are together, they balance each other out so well. Bridget is convinced Leslie can do more and sees that the way Jack has been bringing her up is just making her very vulnerable in the real world. On the other hand, Jack can talk to Rebecca when they are tending to the horses, and indirectly helps her see that maybe her own father isn't so great since he never pays attention to her.

That's where the book shines, when it shows what a wonderful family these four would make.

The problem comes when dealing with the couple stuff. Jack is always perfectly willing to believe bad things about Bridget and Bridget never quite grows a spine to tell Jack or her ex what she really thinks.

And the ending is quite rushed. 

Bottom Line: First and Again is a fun read for the most part, though it's not perfect and could have used a little more development in the relationship department.

Book Review: Almost Mine by Lea Darragh

At First Sight: Cate and Nick have always been friends, and no matter what type of self-destructive behavior Cate indulged in, Nick was always there for her.

Even when she turned out pregnant and - not sure if the baby was his - he married her, determined to make a go of it, since he has always been in love with her.

But they struggle through the first few years of their marriage, as Cate isn't sure she can love Nick as he deserves and he eventually tires and starts to pull back, prompting Cate to realize how much she does love him... even as he decides it's time to let her go. 

Second Glance: Almost Mine is a bit hard to review. For one thing, I Really liked the IDEA of the story, of these two friends tossed together and forced to deal with their feelings for each other.

But the execution wasn't stellar.

Most of it because of the structure of the story. The first chapter opens with them already strangled and them having an awkward dinner, then it goes back to them and the events that lead them to marry and how their marriage became such a mess even if they are young and attractive and successful.

The trouble is that MOST of the book is spent there in this prolonged flash back, and you already know it's going to end bad and that they don't get together and that they are going to screw up, but there is absolutely no tension since we're being told everything after the fact.

There is no big reveal of mystery.

Then we go back to the present and everything that was wrong with them gets inconclusively solved in a couple of chapters. You never see them work it out, or what's different that this time they are going to work. It's just all magically fixed.  

Bottom Line: I didn't like Almost Mine, is not a terrible book but the style of it left a lot to be desire regarding the narrative structure. And it definitely needed more time to develop 

Book Review: The Sum of All Kisses by Julia Quinn

Okay, so I've been trying to write this review for almost two weeks, but somehow the worlds wouldn't come out or adhere to format, so I decided I'm just going to do another Free-Form review. 

The Sum of All Kisses start the week before Marcus and Honoria's wedding (from Just Like Heaven), where the whole Smythe-Smith Clan is gathered at Marcus' home in Cambridgeshire. Sarah, Honoria's best friend and one of her plentiful cousins is the designated maid of honor and she gets the dubious honor of keeping Hugh Prentice company during his stay. 

Which wouldn't be a problem, except that Sarah hates Hugh and blames him, among other things, for getting Honoria's brother Daniel exiled for three years, causing a huge scandal and ruining her own life. Hugh has never understood what her problem was, and the few interactions they have had during the last three years have been awkward, uncomfortable and hostile. 

But now they have to spend the week together, at Honoria's and Daniel's request, who are trying to show everyone that Hugh and Daniel have put the past behind them, even though neither Sarah nor Hugh is happy about it. 

Still, they spend the required time together and get to know each other a little better, particularly after Hugh shows Sarah a little kindness after a thoughtless remark from her cousin Iris sends her mind spinning and finally makes her question her motivations in life. 

Seeing Sarah with her family, particularly with her sisters, shows Hugh that her over-dramatic manner is just how she is with her large, loving group of siblings. Yes she is given to grandiose statements, and tact isn't her strongest suit, but she loves her sisters and her cousins and is actually pretty smart and funny. And the more he likes Sarah, the more aware Hugh is of his own limitations: his limp and ruined leg, which often make him feel like less of a man. 

The story follows them along as they go from Honoria's wedding to Daniel's, and how they have a little unorthodox courtship but fall in love none the less. And, for the most part, I liked this story, it was sweet and fluffy and the dialogue was amazing. I loved Frances - Sarah's youngest sister and the awesomest character of the book, honestly, who is unicorn obsessed - and her interactions with Hugh were really sweet. 

I was so rooting for this book and loving every second of it, and, deep down, I still think it was quite excellent... but then we get to the last quarter of the book... for which I'm entering spoiler territory, I'll try to keep it light, but never the less, high light if you wish to see. 

Okay, so in the last part of the book, Hugh is going to ask Sarah to marry him and then Daniel finds out and MAKES SUCH AN UNHOLY FUSS AND COMPLICATES EVERYTHING, and without a really valid, makes-sense reason. Hugh did something pretty extreme to get his father - who was the one who was pissed off about Daniel shooting Hugh, while Hugh understood he kind of brought it into himself - to stop trying to kill Daniel so he could finally come home. And Daniel is adamant that Hugh tells Sarah, for which I didn't see much of the point, it made me dislike Daniel and he wasn't my favorite character to begin with. 

Then we get to the villain: Hugh's father. He's so mean and evil that he seems almost out of place in a Julia Quinn novel! The things he does are despicable and dark, and when is revealed what he did to Hugh's brother Freddie? Well, I felt like I was reading a book by whole other author, someone who likes torturing her characters, not Julia Quinn. 

Other than that, the dialogue and the rest of the story are fun. I even grew to like Sarah and I didn't think I would because she was a bit of a whinny brat in the previous two books. But, sadly, a book that could have been love, ended up in mere like.

Favorite Scene:
"Sarah doesn't believe in  unicorns either." Frances said. "None of my sisters do." She gave a sad sigh. "Im quite alone in my hopes and dreams."
Hugh watched Sarah roll her eyes, then said, "I have a feeling, Lady Frances, that the only thing you are alone in is being showered with the love and devotion of your family."
"Oh, I'm not alone in that," Frances said brightly, "although, as the youngest I do enjoy certain benefits."
Sarah made a snorting sound.
"It's true, then?"
"She would be quite dreadful if she weren't so innately marvelous," Sarah said, smiling at her sister with obvious affection. "My father spoils her abominably."
"He does," Frances said happily. 

2/3

Book Review: Ask Me for Tomorrow by Elise K. Ackers

The Deal: Dean Foster is finally getting back on his feet after the death of his beloved wife three years earlier, and finally going from a phase of merely going to the motions for the sake of his children to actually moving on.

He's ready to let go of the past and start a new. And part of it means expanding his business - an auto repair shop - and for that he needs someone to handle the office stuff so he can spend more time doing actual mechanical work and taking care of his two children.

Alice Jaye is struggling to make ends met for her and her son, so she applies for the job with Dean, and gets it. She is very private though, and doesn't like when people get in her business, specially her old childhood acquaintance  Dean.

But as her son starts coming around to the garage and following Dean around, and the two of them start hanging out with Dean's family and friends, she can't resist the pull she feels toward Dean, even if her life is too complicated right now. 

My Thoughts: Ask Me For Tomorrow was a very fun novella, and later I found out is part of a series of novellas about Dean, his brother and their best friend Cal; and that Dean's was the last.

Still, I didn't feel like I was out of the loop or anything regarding this story, but I did feel the sense of community  around the Fosters and their friends, and that was quite lovely.

As for the romance itself, well, I thought it needed a little more time to develop, since Dean and Alice don't interact that much with each other, is always Dean interacting with Ben (Alice's son) or all of them with their friends, but one on one time is rare.

All in all, it was a fun, easy read, and it made me want to go back and read the previous two titles Ask Me for More and Ask Me to Stay