I enjoyed reading The Dating Dare by Jayci Lee. This was my first time reading this author. The main characters Tara and Seth create a dating dare. It was fun to read about their relationship.
I received this ARC from St. Martin's Press and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Thank you!

This book is part of the Sweet Mess series. In this wonderful book, Tara says, "Nothing Serious", when it comes to dating. But when she meets Seth, that might just change. They have a fun night of drinking and talking, when he proposed a dating dare, she reluctantly agrees. Will it be a positive experience, or one regrets?

I wanted to like this book so much but this was very cringey and not executed well. The insta love was too...insta.

DNF'd at 55%

The MC's were both nice, but the book/ plot was moving at such a slow pace, I was incredibly bored. I usually read a book this size in a couple of hours.. I've been pecking at this book for a few weeks now. I had an e-arc and when a key scene went missing (went from the beginning of a key scene to a few days later), I saw that glitch like the sign I needed to give up on this.

DNF at 36%. I wish I could have continued but this is not my kind of romance. I don’t like reading sex scenes and dirty comments on every page but that is the case in the book. This might be an amazing story for someone but I struggled to even get to 36%. I do enjoy Tara and Seth as characters and I wanted to see their romance develop but it was nonstop comments that are not my cup of tea. I was happy with the premise and how quickly it was introduced. It was also refreshing to see a male character who respected the female lead in vulnerable situations. I hope that whoever reads this review will not think that this book is at fault for the DNF. We are just not a match.

I received an arc from Netgalley in exchange for a free review.

This book was a fine read. I did not find myself overly crazy about the story or the characters but the trope is one of my favorites and a go to must read for me so it was a fine read for sitting on a float in the pool in the summer. I will look for more from this author in the future.

This was a little too insta-love for me. There is no way that after three weeks, you're willing to drop everything for this person that you claim to be so in love with. I did like the fact that the main character worked in her family's brewery and that she had these sweet older brothers to watch out for her. All in all, this was just pretty average.

This was cute, but lost some interest for me at the end with the grand gestures. I don’t think this series is for me.

Thanks to St Martin’s Press and Netgalley for my copy to review.

This book was so cute!

I did feel a little behind as this was clearly a book in the series but after the first few chapters that did not really bother me.

I loved the representation and continue to gravitate towards books of POC.

This book started with a super cute drunk scene and the relationship continues to develop from there.

The cover is phenomenal.

I look forward to reading the previous book in this series!

This was a lovely rom com. Tara meets Seth, the brother in law of her bes friend. Who is leaving for Paris shortly. So when Seth proposes a no string attached dates Tara is interested as she isnt looking for a serious relationship either. They have fun on these dates and it is so sweet. I loved all the friendships and relationships in this story. I thought it was a very sweet story overall. I really enjoyed this one!

I loved A Sweet Mess by this author so I had to request this one! It did not disappoint. I absolutely adored Tara and Seth. This was a fun and sweet romance and I definitely recommend it.

This was a stand alone romance that had overlapping characters from Lee's first book that I have not had the chance to read yet. This story is about Tara and Seth and is probably my favorite romance of the year. I honestly loved the ending and felt like the way Tara handled Seth's departure was real. It was very authentic and I loved it.

I loved the dare of the four dates setup that Tara and Seth created. Their dates were so much fun and I loved how the story had spice and steam, but the writing did not need it to make it a great story. Tara and Seth were both very likable characters as well as the siblings and best friend from the first book. I liked the secret dating trope turned to love then heartbreak. This romance did feel reasonable and gave me hopes that this would one day be my own reality. I can't wait to see what comes next for another character of Lee's.

When Tara's best friend gets married and goes on her honeymoon, Tara get lonely. When her best friends new brother-in-law is staying in town to watch the couples house while they are away, they run into each other. After having a few too many beers at her family's brewery, she realizes that she has agreed to a dating dare with Seth, the brother-in-law. It's only four dates and he will be moving to France at the end of the month, what could happen?

This is a cute story that keeps your attention and keeps you rooting for the couple to get together.

E-ARC provided by Netgalley

I didn't read the first book in the series but thankfully I didn't feel lost or anything, The Dating Dare is it's own story. Maybe I would have benefited from learning more about Tara and Aubrey's friendship (which I loved in this book) but I never felt Iost.

That said I finished the book only feeling okay. The start of Tara and Seth's acquaintance was interesting but very insta-lusty, they coudn't take their eyes off each other. Things got better when they started talking and came up with the idea of the four dates with an expiration date (Seth is leaving for Paris in a month). But the conflict at the end felt very forced and the resolution even more so. Tara just seemed a little too fixated on not having a serious relationship.

I liked the dates though, they were cute I just think I needed a little more character development.

Will there be more books about this little town? I hope so! I loved this one because it is a quick paced romance. Being part of a relationship that was very serious very quickly I love reading this trope. I will say it was kinda weird for both of them to have been in an awful relationship and both swearing off love but it worked out for them in the end.

As far as the characters go I was already ready to love them since I loved the characters in A Sweet Mess. Not gonna lie, Seth is smooth as hell. I would’ve fell for him too.

This book is good to show that your shouldn’t hold the mistakes or misdeeds that happened in your previous relationship(s) against a new possible relationship.

An important note about this book is the mentioned emotional and mental abuse Tara went through with her college boyfriend. I think this is something that people need to talk about more. People always warn you about physically violent relationships but neglect to mention the possibility of emotional and mental abuse. That’s how people end up in these types of relationships and then say but (s)he doesn’t hit me. It’s sad. It’s also a dark place to be and you can easily become isolated and fall even deeper under that person’s spell because they are the only voice you hear.

Seth and Tara are undeniably attracted to one another. But after an experience of a really bad relationship a few years ago, Tara has sworn off anything seriously resembling a relationship. On the other side of that Seth is moving to Paris in a couple of months, so he's definitely not looking to start something serious.

So, Seth dares Tara to go on four dates with him before he has to leave. Only for fun and only because they genuinely like each other. Of course with all that attraction there's bound to be complications with "keeping things casual". But will their determination to stick with their plans ruin their chance at real happiness?

I've been sitting on this review for quite a while now thinking, over time, I might be able to better express my feelings about this book, but honestly, I don't think that has happened. If anything I'm just as stuck as when I finished reading the book.

To start, I did not read Jayci Lee's previous book A Sweet Mess and I'll admit there were some characteristics of both Tara and Seth that had me questioning how much interaction the two may have had in that previous book that was kind of prepping for this book. While their story is a complete stand-alone and I could follow along fine with who each of the characters were, I couldn't help but feel like I missed some piece of the puzzle into Seth and Tara.

What I really liked about the story was following along as these two characters plan out the trajectory for their lives, with all intentions of fulfilling those plans, but ending up questioning everything once they admit their feelings for one another are more than just casual.

Tara and Seth together were perfect, no doubt. But it's the idea of what if perfect isn't enough? Sometimes it all comes down to timing and circumstances. In Tara and Seth's cases, they have to find out if their feelings outweigh the timing and circumstances. I liked seeing this unfold and the inevitable vulnerabilities that come to the surface for each of them as they tap into the reasons why they've planned things out the way they have.

Overall, I enjoyed the book and will definitely be interested in reading the next one. There's a possible setup for one of Tara's brothers to get his own story next. First things first, I'm going back to the first book.

This was such a fun novel - loved it and love Jayci Lee. This is a wonderful series and I highly recommend it.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for fair and honest review.

"The Dating Dare" was a light and easy romantic comedy. The steam was low-key, the story entertaining. This can be read as a standalone to the "A Sweet Mess" series.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Cute, fluff romance but that’s about it. I really wanted to love this book but I struggled to get through it at times. Some of the dialogue was very awkward and didn’t feel realistic. I also had an issue with how some unnecessary things were over described while more important things were glanced over. The two characters also frustrated me in regards to their communication, or lack thereof. When one would finally end their inner monologue and communicate, the other would short-circuit which was the only real conflict in the story as well.

If you want low-angst and low-tension romance with plenty of family interference (even from away) and two people who are perfect together (if not completely discovered within the pages) then this is the story for you.

Taking a leap (albeit a pushed one) into a games night with her best friend and the newly acquired (and always THERE) brother-in-law – Tara is not interested in relationships. Period. Taking time away from what she wants to do isn’t worth the effort. But there’s something different about Seth – something that’s she’s able to discover as their games night turns into a four-way date debacle that lets her know that Seth isn’t long for town – having accepted a job in Paris that begins in a month. Short-term, with a defined end-date JUST might work, and soon Tara and Seth are dancing with a ‘no strings’ relationship that’s got an end date.

But, the gods are conspiring, and Seth soon sees that Tara is everything he didn’t know he wanted, and it appears that she likes him just as much. Keeping the truth that they can barely admit to themselves, let alone one another or their friends is difficult – perhaps this was meant to be? Lighthearted with just enough friend and family interference to show the ridiculous lengths Tara will go to to keep her own ‘private life’ private from her family and keep everyone at arm’s length – this is the perfect complement to the first book in the series, and sure to keep you entertained for the hours it takes to read it.

I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

Review first appeared at <a href=” https://wp.me/p3OmRo-aYi /” > <a> I am, Indeed </a>