The Dating Dare is a cute story following Tara and Seth. A game of truth or dare leads Seth to daring Tara to go on four dates with him without falling in love in one month before he leaves for Paris. Their dates and seeing how their relationship progressed as they learn more about each other was fun. The dialogue felt a little forced at times, but overall this was an enjoyable read. I read this book without reading the first book, but I am now interested in reading the first!

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I’m keeping this review short because I don’t want to speak negatively about it needlessly; this book might be other’s cup of tea but it was not mine.

Right from chapter 1, I was put off by the writing and dialogue. Everything felt very awkward, overly cheesy, and contradicting. The whole premise, while sounding good in theory, was not developed is a logical way. I wanted to DNF at less than 10% in but I powered through solely because I don't like to DNF ARCs (unless they're harmful/triggering to me).

I simply could not get into this book, or say I enjoyed anything about it, as badly as I wanted to fall in love with Tara and Seth.h Tara and Seth.

This book was too cute!!
Tara and Seth are both engaging and their romantic tension is so charming, it had several tropes I’m fan of. Jayci Lee writes her characters really well, and the plot was just a joy to read, I had so much fun reading from beginning to end.

It was just a happy, feel-good read that I highly recommend picking up when you can!

Special thanks to the author and her assistant and St. Martin’s Griffin for sharing this ARC with me in exchange for an honest review.

This book is cute. We follow Seth and Tara who get drunk and play truth and dare. The result—they must go out on four dates in one month because Seth is going to move to Paris for a cool photo gig.

During the course of three weeks they spend more time together than 4 dates and get to know each other. They learn they have a lot in common. They both dated bad people in college, both love that they do, and have the same sense of humor.

But neither of them expected this fun fling to turn into something more. They develop real feelings for each other and Seth hates his soul but Tara turns him down. Of course she ends up apologizing and they end up together.

The main issue with this book is that the dialogue feels really fake and forced. Some parts are funny but it seems like they fit together TOO well and their instant attraction is so played out we don’t really get much romance until the end.

Well now I'm pink goo after reading this cute book. I had a little trouble getting into the book at the beginning because it felt like I was thrown in a story that was in progress, which is possible as I picked this book out not realizing it was book two in a series. Once the dare took place I enjoyed the dates, each characters protestations against developing feelings and learning more of how our hero and heroine have in common. I love all the zany exclamations and overall this is just a lovely sweet read. I can't wait to read more Jayci Lee, maybe ill pick up book one in this series now 😅 thanks NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for granting me access to this eARC.

*I received a free copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

I loved this book so much! It was super cute and soft with some steamy tension. It was a balance of both and great. I really fell in love with both main characters and have a great dynamic. I also read it all in one sitting which just shows how much dedication I had towards this book. I do, however, wish we could've explored more about when they were in college. Overall, I believe this was an amazing read though!

Disclaimer: I got this book in exchange for media coverage.

I intend on writing a book review on Pop-Culturalist.com so I won’t be discussing it here but I absolutely adored The Dating Dare and I highly recommend it!

This was a super fun book! While I'm not a huge fan of quick romances that exist because it 'just feels right," this book did it in a way that was so much better than most! Each of the four dates were so adorable and thoughtful. The way they were described made it feel like I was there, and they honestly did give off a magical energy.

I also really liked the sort of more unconventional professions that each character has. I would definitely love to see any of the photographs that Seth has taken.

Would definitely recommend to a friend. Admittedly, I hadn't read the first book because I knew this book could be read as a standalone; I didn't feel lost at all, and it made me want to read the first!

*I received a free copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

I loved this! It was so cute. And it was steamy without being explicit, which is hard to find these days. Seth is a dreamboat - perfect book boyfriend. Tara is a BA - her confidence is the best. I honestly loved them together and their dare was so fun! I liked both of their character development and the ending wrapped up nicely. I would have loved a further look into the future, but I can just use my imagination!

So cute! This wasn't as great as book 1, but I loved it almost as much; Jayci Lee does such an amazing job incorporating Tara's Asian heritage, but not in an overwhelming way. It's just normal everyday things, but that just happen to be Asian; I love it! Anyways, back to the story itself; Tara and Seth are both fun and I loved the way they slowly came together. It was good to see an update on Audrey and Landon, plus a guess who the next couple up will be (I have my guess). For some reason, I just didn't connect as much with this couple; perhaps there was a smidge less heat for me? Looking forward to book 3!

This was a classic "will they won't they" storyline with some steamy tension throughout the entire book. I appreciated the banter and the way the author slowly unpacked the reasons why these characters were terrified of a relationship. A few cliches here and there but it didn't matter. This was a quick, fun read that made the world feel a little brighter. Enjoy!


I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I received this novel as an advance reader copy from net galley in exchange for an honest review. This novel was cute and fun as explored explored the idea of no strings attached relationships turning into much more. The characters had great chemistry.

This was overall a great book and sequel to A Sweet Mess. Given the adult content, I don’t think this would be appropriate for the classroom, but would recommend for mature readers.

Set in the same world as the author's first novel (A Sweet Mess), now it's Aubrey's best friend's and Landon's little brother's turn to find love. Tara Park has one rule when it comes to dating: nothing serious. Between her past heartbreak and a laser focus on the family's brewery, there's no way she could even entertain the idea of dating. When Landon's brother Seth waltzes into town, he's a massive temptation to her and she may be willing to bend her rules for a few dates with the well-known fashion photographer. Seth is only in town for a month because he's moving to Paris soon after. While he's in town, he challenges Tara to a four-date no-strings-attached dating dare that could be a nice distraction for them both. But the more he sees of her, the less willing he is to let her go when the dare's over. As I read the dual-perspective book, I found it had banter and spades that had me hooked. It's an easy, quick romance read that you can polish off in a day even. The romance is cute, the characters are dynamic, and all that lead to a cute and fun romance read.

I want to preface this review with saying I didn't know that it was the second book in a series and I didn't read the first book prior to reading this book.

Tara and Seth are people who have both been hurt by prior relationships and therefore not interested in a long term relationship (you know where this is going, right?) A game of truth or dare leads Tara to agreeing to going on 4 dates with Seth, with the agreement not to fall in love. This book follows Seth and Tara through their four dates, flipping back and forth between the two characters.

While I enjoyed both main characters in this book, the book and story line was a little predictable. If you are looking for something light and easy to read, this may just be the book for you. And while you don't have to read the first one, first - you may want to start there in order to understand the characters a little better.

4.5 stars
This is one of the sweetest reads! Tara and Seth are fiery and witty but they are just amazing together!

With the promise of only a month Tara and Seth decide to a perfect compromise to feed their attraction. A month of dates 4 to be exact and then they will go their separate ways! They didn’t count on enjoying each other’s company or for the attraction to build and grow until they couldn’t contain it! As their days start to tick down their love starts to grow but Taras fear might be their undoing!

I loved how strong and quick witted Tara is! She’s a fierce independent heroine and I loved her! Seth can handle her sass easily and though he’s confident he’s also caring and has a huge heart of gold!

A dare that involves dating and the promise to not fall in love? A slightly drunk dare at that? What could possibly go wrong?

Literally everything.

Tara and Seth are kidding themselves when they make this little dare to go on four dates to kill some time before Seth has to move to Paris and Tara's best friend is on her honeymoon with Seth’s older brother. And boy, it’s painfully obvious.

Why 2 stars? Honestly, I found this book predictable and lacking in parts. Maybe it had something to do with how I hadn’t read the first book, so some references were missed on me. The chemistry between the two characters was hot from the start and I had to say that I love that Seth respected Tara’s boundaries, but everything was hot and heavy from the start and I just... it was too much?

This just wasn't my cup of tea, but it was pretty adorable and I would recommend it to somewhat who is looking for all the romance and borderline fake-dating.

I don’t think I can explain the “why” too much about my rating, just that I had high hopes and was sadly disappointed in the pace and over-explaining of so many different things.

A Dating Dare is a sweet rom-com, second in the Sweet Mess series. I enjoyed the characters and how their stories progress through the book. There were a few characters that seemed to pop up out of nowhere , so I would have appreciated a bit more development there.

This was a feel good, fun romance that is worth a read!

Jayci Lee's The Dating Dare is a phenomenal read. The characters are well developed and you can't help but fall in love right along with Tara and Seth. Lee takes such care writing the emotional journey of her characters that you float with every high and are gut-punched by every low they experience. Both sweet and steamy at times, fans of contemporary romance won't be able to put this one down!

I liked the previous book in this series and was glad to spend more time with characters in this world. While I thought the main premise of dating for a month seemed to telegraph what would happen in the end pretty plainly, I still enjoyed the book. Both main characters had interesting backstories and reasons to be the way they are and I enjoyed it.