Member Reviews
3.75 stars
10 Truths and a Dare follows Olivia as she tries to finish up the last credit she needs to graduate high school. She is a very focused student and is the one kid in her large extended family who always seems to have it all together. But this time this one class slipped through the class because of what she was trying to do. She must get the last hours needed and still find a way to go to all the graduating senior parties all without her family knowing, to do that she'll need some help from Wes, Charlie, and Sophie. The one hitch in this is that her entire family is extremely nosy, and the fact that her mom has a tracker on her phone because her parents are out of town for work for the week and want to make sure she is safe.
10 Truths and a Dare like 10 Blind Dates is full of humor, drama, and big family drama as well.
Overall I really liked this one and I actually enjoyed it more than 10 Blind Dates. The premise of this one I liked more and Olivia as a character is a good one. We first got to meet her in 10 Blind Dates and I liked her as Sophie's cousin/best friend and she was my favorite character besides the grandma in that book. Olivia was able to find a way to make it work kind of. Was it high stress to be in one place and have her cousin and friend being her to trick her mom, yes yes it was. But it worked and I get her reasoning for it. I also liked the ending and how she dealt with what happened and was able to tell her family and had that support that is needed.
I hope that Elston makes another companion to this one and we keep getting to see this family because I do love them.
Last year, I read “10 Blind Dates” by this author. It was a charming YA contemporary set during the Christmas season. I was excited to pickup her newest read, which follows one of the minor characters from that story. This time around, we follow Olivia, who is a straight-A student, salutatorian, and bound for LSU. However, she must complete her required off-campus P.E. course in only a week, or she can kiss graduation goodbye. Sounds like the making of a great contemporary, right? Maybe not.
This was a book that I ended up not finishing due to lack of interest in content. For that reason I was unable to rate more than one star.
10 Truths and a Dare is the sequel to 10 Blind Dates, however, it can be read alone. This book follows Olivia, one of the Fab Four from 10 Blind Dates, during the week leading up to her graduation. Olivia is the planner and the perfectionist of the family so when she learns she will not be able to graduate due to an issue with her off-campus PE class, she feels lost. Now instead of attending all of her friends' graduation parties, she has to volunteer at a golf tournament and keep her mother, who is a little to excited to have discovered a way to see Olivia's location, from learning of her mistake and telling the whole family. This is where the Fab Four will help. They hatch a plan where each of them will take a day, trade phones with Olivia, and attend the parties for her. Between the stress of hiding her real activities from her family and slowly developing a friendship, and feelings, for the one guy her friends would never like, Olivia is in for when crazy week.
I absolutely adored this book. I read 10 Blind Dates back when it first came out and loved it, so when I realized this was its sequel, I was ecstatic. I loved getting to hang out with the Fab Four again and enjoyed getting to know Olivia as more than just a side character. I also really enjoyed getting to see more of Olivia's big, crazy family. I loved the emphasis on family and friendship and having people you can depend on. In addition, the romance was perfection (enemies to friends to lovers is always a win for me!). I would totally recommend this book to anyone looking for a fun contemporary romance or a book with great family and friend relationships.
DNF - did not finish. I struggled to connect with the writing style/plot. Thank you Netgalley and publisher for the early copy!
I enjoyed this almost as much as 10 blind dates! The family and friendships in these books are the real focus with a side of romantical things.
The issue with Olivia played out at a fast pace and was realistic to some crazy shenanigans that teenagers would do. Revisiting Sophie and Wes was so awesome, I love being able to follow characters that we have met before.
This story was full of life. Olivia is funny while also being serious about her future, it was great to see. The plot is a good plot, but the characters are gold.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!
Interestingly enough, I was one of the rare people who wasn't crazy about 10 Blind Dates by Ashley Elston. 10 Truths and a Dare, however, absolutely swept me off my feet! I have to say I relate to Olivia so much, and I adore the easy relationship that develops between her and another character (No spoilers!). I also want to be apart of The Fab Four so much it pains me. All in all, this book is a delight. There's no other word for it!
I loved this book!! I loved getting to know old characters on a deeper level and getting to see the main characters from the first book again! I love companion books and I feel like this one was done very well, I loved Olivia, she was such a relatable MC and I loved her! I loved her cousin relationships so much. The whole family is so entertaining and it made me wish I had a big family like theirs! This was a great book and I will definitely be recommending it!
I loved 10 Blind Dates and was so excited to get my hands on this one. Maybe my expectations were too high but this was just okay for me. I would suggest reading 10 Blind Dates before this. It gives you insight to the family and the Fab Four. Also, there are definitely some spoilers in here from that one. I loved all the scenes with the family. They were just the right kind of crazy. The Fab Four was amazing as usual. I especially loved Charlie’s antics. My main problem was the whole setup of the book was so unrealistic and absurd. The mom in here was the ultimate helicopter mom and made me very uncomfortable. Olivia wasn’t so great either, which was surprising because I liked her a lot in the last book. This whole story just didn’t completely work for me but it definitely worked for others, so take my review with a grain of salt.
Fluffy, family, friend fun. I didn't read the first in this series, so the characters were all new to me. It didn't hurt my understanding of the story. Perfect tween book.
Just like her first book, I loved this one so much! I really hope Elston keeps writing books about these characters! Super cute and sweet! I finished it in under 7 hours!
I was so excited to read this after reading 10 Blind Dates! 10 Truths and a Dare was just as fun, exciting and hilarious as its predecessor. It was easy to fall in love with Olivia and I think she is a very relatable protagonist for many teens. I love the emphasis that this book puts on family and this family is particularly fun and enjoyable to follow.
Loved learning about the secondary character of 10 Blind Dates and was happy to jump into another Elston rom-com!
I requested this early review copy because I absolutely adored the first book in the "series" with Sophie. This one was just as funny, sweet, and entertaining except that it takes place during the summer and not Christmas. I really hope we get another book revolving around Charlie! If you're looking for a family focused cute YA book, then pick these books up because they are so much fun!
**3.5 Stars**
Olivia has always been the overachiever in her family and now on track to be second in her graduating class- that is until she learns she is failing her super easy golf PE class. Olivia has one week to boost her grade enough to graduate, while having her closest friends attend senior week of parties so the tracking app her mom uses won't know anything is wrong. Olivia soon finds she is in way over her head and has no idea how the week will turn out or how to tell her family the truth.
Overall this was cute, fun and a very fast read for a lazy summer day (I will admit I adored 10 Blind Dates while I just liked this one but totally still worth reading). Yes this is a sequel-ish, maybe more a spin off(?) of the book 10 Blind Dates with the same cast of characters but with a different romance and overall conflict to overcome and this is very much able to be read without having read the other book (but read the other book because it is super fun). This is the perfect escapist read that at times was a little over the top with the scheming level of antics -seriously, it would have been so much easier for Olivia to just tell the people close to her the truth instead of keeping up this elaborate super awkward ruse for a week. I did think the dynamic between the 4 main cousins/friends and the Evil Jo's did not resolve like I expected it to so I feel a little like this aspect of the story needed more attention, but oh well. This author writes fun charming YA contemporary romances that I enjoy and I will gladly come back for another and recommend them to anyone looking for a fun, light, clean YA romance.
This book was so cute! It’s technically the companion novel to 10 Blind Dates, but I definitely think it’s worth reading the first before reading this one! I love that the whole big family (including Nonna, the Fab Four and even the Evil Joe’s) are all back.
This one is about Olivia, Sophia’s cousin, who is supposed to graduate as class salutatorian, finds out the week before graduation that her off-campus golf PE elective was never submitted. She didn’t realize it because she actually didn’t complete the number of required hours for the class! To make up hours, she hast to help out with the golf tournament while her parents are out of town. The problem is, her mom put a tracking device on her phone and Olivia doesn’t want her family to know that she’s this close to not graduating.
Enter the rest of the Fab Four! they’ll help pretend to be Olivia while she is working at the local golf tournament. There’s lots of hijinks, there’s a romance and there’s even more crazy family moments. I highly recommend for a quick and cute summer read!
This story was very predictable. It was cute, but I pretty much figured out what was going to happen by about the 3rd chapter. I liked the first book in this little series much better than this one. It also reads very young, so would definitely recommend to those in middle school or high school still.
I read Ashley's other book 10 Blind Dates last year, and have been looking forward to more from her ever since - and let me tell you: this book did not disappoint!
I loved getting to know Olivia more and to be reunited with the Fab Four. This is such a fun time and Ashley Elston is quickly becoming a favorite author of mine.
I loved reading 10 BLIND DATES, so I was very excited to dive into 10 TRUTHS AND A DARE! One of my favorite parts about this series is the large family! My family is on the smaller side, with my cousins being way older or younger than me—so I love reading stories where cousins are close in age and best friends. Unfortunately I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I did the first, but it was still a fun read with all of the graduation parties and phone high jinks.
Ashley Elston is one of my favorite authors and this book did not disappoint! The romance felt a little rushed, but I read these books for the family. I love the family dynamics and how they'll do anything for each other. They are awesome! I really hope there is another book with them. We will definitely be purchasing this book for our library.