Dare Me by Rebecca Shea is a complicated and compelling story that will make you laugh, make you cry, and then leave you wanting more.

Rebecca Shea’s new story weaves a tale of love and loyalty that no romance reader should miss. Check out a brief summary of the premise and read on for our review. Enjoy Dare Me!

About ‘Dare Me’

Saige Phillips has a long history with Chicago. As a kid, she lived in and loved the city as much as her father, until a business deal went wrong and everything fell apart. This spelled disaster for her family, and they moved themselves back to the family farm in North Dakota. Tragedy on the farm complicates the painful situation even more, and leaves Saige with scars that may never fully heal.

Fast forward a number of years later and Saige Phillips has just begun a career as an interior designer for Jackson-Hamilton Aviation and is settling nicely back into the city she once loved. Her roommate is a trusted friend, her colleagues are a band of loyal and unique characters all their own, and her boss is a sexy-as-hell man that she admires from afar.

One night, she and her co-worker friends hit the bar after work for happy hour and a few drinks in start a game of Truth or Dare that will change Saige’s life for good, and maybe for the better, too.

‘Dare Me’ book review

When I first picked up this book, I was instantly surprised by its dreary start. The prologue, while absolutely necessary in understanding who Saige is and how she became the successful and lovely woman she is now, ends horrifically and had me asking, “How does anyone go on from there?”

It was all part of Rebecca Shea’s master plan, though. Once you begin chapter one, you see how Saige has managed to push forward with her life after her father’s untimely demise, as well as how she hasn’t truly dealt with the horrifying truth of it. You meet her loving roommate, her ridiculous co-workers (who I definitely wouldn’t mind sharing a cubicle with), and the man who will make her question everything, and see that life does in fact go on. Saige has created a full life that her father would have been proud of, and in the same industry no less. It isn’t until she and Holt start seeing each other that you see her world start to fray at the edges a bit.

I didn’t expect to also get Holt’s point-of-view in this story, but it adds so much to its telling. Holt has his secrets that become increasingly obvious to the reader as the book goes on, but which stay a mystery to Saige until an unexpected visitor turns her new life to blender-fodder. If we hadn’t been privy to the inner workings of his mind, it would have been far too easy to vilify him as Saige eventually does. Holt is a good guy. He’s trying to do right by Saige, and in the end finds himself too closely involved to set things straight. He’ll have you swooning, I promise.

So, if you are in need of a heartbreaker of a read that will have you giggling and crying in equal measure, while simultaneously making you wish for an extra couple hundred pages or so, Dare Me is the book for you. The romance between Holt and Saige is just a small part of what makes this book work so well.

If I never hear more from the amazing cast of characters that make up the Jackson-Hamilton Aviation office, I will definitely need some sort of therapy. Rowan, Zay, Kinsley, and Emery are the icing on the cake of a perfect story. Each is so brilliantly different and quirky that I hope each gets a book all their own at some point. I need to see Rowan on the arm of some good-hearted hottie. Zay needs a woman who can handle all the spice that he has to offer. Kinsley has to find a sweet-hearted hunk that can handle her brutal honesty, and Emery needs a kindred spirit to challenge her. I truly hope there is happiness for each of them in the works.

Saige has true friends that look out for her best interests. Holt is a decent guy with completely justifiable reasons for doing the things he does. The connection they build is intense and quick, but no less wholesome than a slow build over decades. The reader can see why all the pieces between these two characters click into place so easily, yet, ultimately still manage to be the hardest puzzle to solve.

Rebecca Shea has won over this reader, and I hope we will get more from her amazing cast of characters, but Saige and Holt’s story is more than enough to leave you satisfied. These two will leave you with one hell of a book hangover, but seconds after seeing the final words you’ll be clamoring to fit in a re-read. Go ahead, I dare you.

Dare Me is available now, so make sure to grab your copy from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Indiebound!