Title: Dare to Seduve
Author: Carly PhillipsSeries: Dare to Love #8
Release Date: November 17, 2015
My Rating: 5 Stars
Max Savage has had a thing for Lucy Dare for as long as he can remember but he values his long standing friendship with her brothers too much to cross the line.
When Lucy shows up at an engagement party on the arm of another man, Max doesn't like the changes he sees in her.
It's now or never. Max can think of one way to convince Lucy she's with the wrong guy. He'll dare to seduce her...
The last time Max had seen Lucy, she’d been her wild and free self. Then she’d hooked up with that guy and she’d changed. And not in a good way. He wanted fun, sexy Lucy back.
“How badly do you want to punch that guy’s teeth in?”
“So badly,” Max muttered, then glanced over, realizing the question came from Lucy’s brother, Decklan Dare.
Max shook his head and changed his answer, because it would do no good to let his best friend know he was obsessing over the guy’s little sister. He’d kept it to himself for years, partially as an excuse to deny what he really wanted, but regardless, this wasn’t the right time to bring up the issue.
“Who do you mean?” Max asked.
Decklan rolled his eyes. “Oh, come on. I know you hate that Spielberg wannabe as much as we do.”
“Can’t say he’d be my first choice for your sister.”
“That’s rich considering it’s your fault she’s with him to begin with.” Decklan eyed Max with distinct annoyance in his gaze.
“How the hell do you figure that?” Max asked.
Decklan’s older brother, Gabe, joined them, and from the look on his face, he’d clearly caught the tail end of the conversation.
“Face it, Savage. We know you have a thing for Lucy,” Gabe said.
Just how the brothers had gleaned that bit of knowledge was beyond Max. Nobody had a better poker face than him.
Decklan merely nodded in agreement.
“You didn’t take your chance last time she was in town, and now she’s with that asshole,” Gabe added, angling his head toward where his sister stood with Lucas Kellan.
“Well, fuck.” Max wasn’t about to deny what had clearly been more obvious than he’d intended.
Both Dare brothers narrowed their gazes on him, waiting for an explanation.
“What? I didn’t think you’d approve, and I wasn’t about to mess up years’ worth of friendship if you didn’t.” He was sticking to the tried-and-true excuse he’d told himself for years. In reality, Max had his reasons for staying away from
Lucy for so long and for fucking up more than just his life in the process. But they were his, and he wouldn’t be sharing them.
“The only way you’d compromise friendships would be if you used or hurt my sister. If your intentions are honorable, I have no issue,” said Gabe, the man who’d raised Lucy after their parents died in a car accident.
Max glanced at Decklan. They both knew Max’s recent past. He’d married young, lost his wife, Cindy, in a car accident, and had a subsequent lack of serious relationships since. What Decklan didn’t know was the guilt Max harbored over the emotions he hadn’t been able to give his wife, due to the feelings he’d always had for Lucy. Hell, he’d married Cindy because he didn’t have those intense feelings, and everyone had paid a price.
Max shifted uncomfortably and cleared his throat and glanced at Decklan, who, like Gabe, was extremely protective of his sister. “You too? You’re okay with this?” he asked.
His best friend shrugged. “Well, you’re an asshole but you’re our asshole.” He slapped Max on the back, his expression sobering. “Look, Cindy died four years ago, and you haven’t been with anyone seriously since.”
Neither one of them mentioned Max’s penchant for sex clubs on the weekends. It had been a way to fill the emptiness inside him, nothing more.
“But Gabe is right,” Decklan said. “I see how you look at Lucy. You should do something about it if your intentions are solid.”
They finally were. For years Max had denied his need for Lucy and the emotional bond he knew they would share if they took things to the next level. Fear had driven him. Now Max was finally ready to go after the woman he’d always wanted.
“Just don’t blow it or we will have an issue,” Decklan cheerfully added.
Max didn’t need to be told twice. He made his way across the lawn and veered between guests, coming up to where Lucy and her date stood by the bar.
You know those books that you wait for, and wait for, and you're so psyched to get it, you cuddle up with your favorite blanket and dive in and it just blows your ever loving mind? This is that book. Dare to Seduce dives into Lucy and Max's story. I have been JONESING for their story. The unrequited, yet miraculously requited, just avoided due to tortuous pasts love story was exactly what I wanted. I am a sucker for the brother's best friend book, but Dare to Seduce delivered a whole new dimension to it. A whole new layer of angst, and warm fuzzies that I reveled in. Let it be known that while I may have raved about the previous Dare to Love books this ones holds my heart within its grasps so tightly I don't think I'll get over it anytime soon.
Ms. Phllips yet again let's her strength for welled-up passion, and knife-twisting emotions soar in this book. Max and Lucy were hotter than hot, and each had such a story and baggage to overcome it took a lot of leaping and bounding as far as their character growth went. These two were in for a tough fight and fought as hard and deep as possible. The end result was nothing short of fascinating to watch. I literally felt like I was watching two close friends fall into a love that had been there for years and embrace it wholeheartedly.
What I hate and love about this series is the realness of it. I sincerely have a place in my heart for these characters and would love to see more from each of them. And while I do speak of the series as a whole each book is standalone. Though, why you wouldn't read all of them is far above my understanding. Dare to Seduce is a solid and above 5 star book for me. It gave me every satisfaction I was hoping for from the glimpses of Lucy and Max. If you're looking for an intense, yet fun-loving and steaming, burning hot read, you just found your next willing participant!
Happy Reading!
*ARC provided by the author in exchange for an honest review*
Links to Buy:
DARE TO LOVE SERIES
Author: Carly Phillips
Series: Dare to Love #1
When it comes to family, Ian Dare gives his all but in relationships he offers the bare minimum. Until one glimpse of sensual Riley Taylor arouses his dominant and protective instincts. He will do anything to possess her … and does. But any future with Riley must include him dealing his half-brother who is a constant reminder of the pain he’d rather forget.
Riley Taylor believes herself immune to domineering men – until charismatic Ian Dare turns a simple kiss into an all out assault on her senses and she discovers she likes his brand of control in the bedroom. As their affair heats up, they soon realize they complete each other in ways neither imagined. But Riley’s past is closer than she cares to remember, and her struggles with Ian’s dominance might just cost her everything. (love story, contemporary romance, alpha heroes, beach reads, sports heroes, bad boys, billionaire)
Series: Dare to Love #2
Quarterback Alex Dare, had it all -- an all-star football career and his choice of willing women -- until a severe injury forces him into early retirement. Social worker Madison Evans grew up in foster homes and knows what it means to have-not. She isn't impressed by Alex Dare’s wealth or charm. Not since she fell hard for him once before, only to discover she was just one of his too-easy conquests.
This time around Madison refuses to succumb to Alex so easily. But Alex wants Madison. And if there is one thing Alex does well, it’s to get what he wants. Can he convince Madison to take a risk and dare to love?
Links to Buy:
Series: Dare to Love #3
After ending a relationship to a cheating, domineering man, Isabelle Masters takes off in her leased Mercedes, only to be arrested for grand theft and hauled to a local police station. To her surprise, she is rescued by the most unlikely person possible, Gabriel Dare, a man she’s been attracted to for far too long. Gabe offers Isabelle freedom along with an invitation to Eden, an exclusive island resort where everything and anything is possible.
Although Gabe yearns to possess Isabelle, he knows all too well he must fight his primitive need to bind her to him, and instead help bring out the independent woman she yearns to become – or risk losing her for good.
A woman who needs to run her own life. A man who needs to exert control. Can she surrender to his erotic demands without losing her sense of self once more?
Title: Dare to Submit
Series: Dare to Love #4
Series: Dare to Love #5
Dylan isn’t a man who does anything half way. Once he decides to pursue Olivia, he goes all in. When the Pro-Bowl takes them to the desert oasis of Arizona, Dylan is determined to make sure their time together isn’t all business. What happens while at the luxury resort is life altering but when Olivia admits her deepest pain, will Dylan be able to prove he’s a man with staying power? Or will Olivia be disappointed again, this time by the most important man in her life?
Title: Dare to HoldAuthor: Carly Phillips
Series: Dare to Love #6
Release Date: April 14, 2015
When Scott Dare hears Meg’s friends are determined she have a night of hot sex, before her life changes forever, he decides that man must be him. Their one night is mind blowing and life altering. And Scott, a man already burned by his ex-wife, finds himself all in anyway. While protecting Meg from her violent ex and becoming part of her increasingly complicated life, he’s falling hard and he can’t seem to find distance. Not when their bodies respond to each other with such heated intensity and he’s drawn to her unique combination of strength and vulnerability.
But Meg’s future is one Scott has accepted he’ll never have, even if his growing feelings say otherwise …
Links to Buy:
Title: Dare to Rock
Author: Carly Phillips
Series: Dare to Love #7
Release Date: August 4, 2015
At eighteen, Grey Kingston left everything he knew and loved behind to seek fame and fortune as a rock star, and he found it as the lead guitarist and singer for the band, Tangled Royal. Fans adore him, women throw themselves at him, and he can afford everything he couldn't growing up. Yet at the height of his career, he's ready to walk away and return home to a simpler life... and the woman he left behind, if he can convince her to give him another chance.
Except moving on isn't as easy as Grey would like. When Avery is threatened by a stalker, it becomes evident Grey's fans not only don't want him to retire, they don't want Avery in his life either. And Avery isn't sure she wants the pressures that are part of Grey's life... but she doesn't want to lose him again, either. Can their recently renewed love survive the fallout?
Links to Buy:
Meet Carly:
New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author Carly Phillips N.Y. Times and USA Today Bestselling Author Carly Phillips has written over 40 sexy contemporary romance novels that today's readers identify with and enjoy. After a successful 15 year career with various New York publishing houses, Carly is making the leap to Indie author, with the goal of giving her readers more books at a faster pace at a better price. Her Serendipity books will still finish up in January/February 2014 via Berkley as planned. Carly lives in Purchase, NY with her family, two nearly adult daughters and two crazy dogs who star on her Facebook Fan Page and website. She's a writer, a knitter of sorts, a wife, and a mom. In addition, she's a Twitter and Internet junkie and is always around to interact with her readers.Connect with Carly:
No comments:
Post a Comment