Until the following items are met by the SMP team, I will be withholding any promotion or review of any St. Martin's Press titles (including SMP Romance and Wednesday Book titles):

1. Address and denounce the Islamophobia/racism from your employee.
2. Offer tangible steps for how you're going to mitigate the harm this employee caused.
3. Address how moving forward, you will support and protect your Palestinian, Muslim, and Arab readers, influencers, and authors in addition to your BIPOC readers, influencers, and authors.

An emotional romance that explores the complexities of relationships, featuring a fun and bold heroine and a charming hero, with a touch of humor and a chance at forever love.

I really loved the first book in this series and the second was enjoyable but not AS good. Tara is such a fun main character, I really enjoyed seeing her fall in love. The premise of this was rather interesting, a dare to go on 4 dates and then they end up being perfect for each other and falling in love and her best friend is married to his brother? LOVE.

I liked this more than the first in the series.

Narration: Excellent casting. Great performance by Natalie Naudus.

Thanks to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for my chance to review.

I thought this one was very cute. Seth and Tara are definitely attracted to each other, but Tara had a bad relationship experience and has basically sworn off men. And Seth is on his way to Paris so it's not a good time to get involved, but he's so into her that he dares her to go on several dates with him before he goes to Paris. As is typical, they eventually do confess their feelings for each other. That being said, they still had the problem of timing and circumstances just not being right for them. Not all love stories end happily ever after, but did theirs?

I also want to mention the narrator of this book. I thought she did a really good job of reading the various characters' parts and I liked her voice. I didn't find anything annoying about it (which sometimes I do), but I thought the pace could've been a little faster. But, I guess that's why we can change the speed of our audiobooks.

I'd like to thank NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for giving me a free audiobook in exchange for my honest opinion, which I have given.

This was a very cute audiobook. I liked the narrator and the storyline. Easy read(listen) and a solid 3 star romance.

Do you ever see the average rating for a book and go "I'm built different"?

I tried. I really truly tried. I wanted so badly to love this but I am not built different, and I'm very sorry to say that that average rating at the low end of three stars is very correct. This was a two disappointments and a half.

Romances built solely on lust are clearly not my thing, and this book proves why. Right from the start, Tara and Seth are clearly into each other. They want to rip each other's clothes off and constantly fantasize all sorts of naughty images. But that is all there was. Take it away and you're left with a few pieces of cardboard.

These characters were so poorly developed outside of how much they want to fk. I got so excited when I learned that Tara runs a brewery and would be creating new ales to take to a world championship. That is such a cool detail and I wanted desperately to be a part of that, watching this Korean woman smash through the craft beer industry. But aside from a few scenes of her filling some pint glasses and trying to leave so she can be with Seth, it's basically an afterthought for the story. Seth too, we're constantly reminded that he's leaving in a month to go to Paris and what a great opportunity it is for his career, but I feel as though we barely scratched the surface of why it's not something he wants to do art-wise. There were so few vulnerable and personal moments between them that there was nothing to interest me in these two as individuals.

I also take great issue with how this romance panned out. The Dating Dare itself was really cute, and the idea of them going on these dates for fun would have been so much better if they--again--hadn't been lusting after each other every single minute. I got a little annoyed in the beginning that all of the saucy bits were in Seth's POV, then when we finally get something from Tara's POV, it's fade to black. An annoyance that only grew when every. single. steamy. scene after that was fade to black or incredibly vague, short and distant. And that's what made me dislike this book so much. Not that there is no on-page sex, let me clear, I honestly don't care if a romance is closed door or not. What I do care about is that I was completely misled. I'm subjected to page after page of over the top naughty thoughts and hard d*cks and wet panties, only for the actual pay off to be a whole lot of pg-rated nothing.

A final note: I read this via an audio copy graciously given to me by the publisher. And if there's one thing I've learned, it's that this could have been the best romance novel I've ever read and it wouldn't have mattered because I cannot do romance novels by ear. It is can be so uncomfortable if the stars don't align. I usually love Natalie Nadus as a narrator, but it felt so awkward here and not a good fit at all. Her voice is very sultry, but it made these characters feel so off and not for me.

I'll be steering clear of the rest of the books in this series. I always seem to start these at book two, so I already know the first book couple and have little interest in them. And honestly, I just don't think I can be subjected to an experience like this again.

I love these books so much. I'm so glad I had the opportunity to listen to the audiobook for The Dating Dare. Tara was such a fun character in A Sweet Mess so I was excited she got a love story of her own!

I definitely recommend!

The Dating Dare is the second book in the Sweet Mess series. In the book it follows the story of Tara Park and Seth Kim. I thought this title was just okay. It wasn't as good as Jayci Lee's first book.

Thanks NetGalley for the preview!

This book was really not my favorite. The characters felt like they fell in lust, not love and there were some cringey moments I could not get on board with. The story was cheesy and the dialogue was awkward. I think the narrator was fine. I also felt like the park scene was super weird. One minute they are picnicking and then playing with kids and then basically mounting each other in the grass. Did not make sense and creeped me out.

This was such a cute, fun read. I tend to pick these kinds of books up when I need a light, fast read. Jayci Lee provided just that. I will definitely be looking for more of her books!

Super cute, romcom sequel. I had to go back and listen to the first book and I’m glad I did! I can’t wait for book 3!

I love a good rom-com, especially on audio! My fav line from the book was right at the start when Tara said 'you need to stop staring at my ass' because that was the line that got me hooked. I knew this was going to be a fun read based on that line alone.

I enjoyed listening to this one. In terms of the audio portion, the pace was not too fast but not too slow. It was engaging and I genuinely enjoyed it.

However, I did not so much enjoy the plot. I felt like it was very predictable - I could see it coming right from the synopsis. I felt like the issues in this story didn't have a lot of substance.

It was okay, wasn't stand out great but was not bad either. The audio portion was performed well, just wish that the story worked a little better for me.

Last year, I read and enjoyed A Sweet Mess, by Jayci Lee, which was a romance about a Korean-American couple. It was cute and sweet (as indicated by the title) and involved food! (a fave subject of mine). So, I was excited to pick up the new follow-up, The Dating Dare.

The Dating Date picks up at the wedding reception of the couple from A Sweet Mess. Tara is a bridesmaid and the best friend of the bride. She doesn't DO relationships. She is all about the hook-up and moving on. But, she detects a spark of connection with Seth, the brother of the groom. Seth is known as a bit of a playboy, so Tara really doesn't want to be interested. The two agree to a dating dare, where they will go on four "uncomplicated" dates with each other.

This missed the mark for me a bit. I didn't like it as much as the first one. Maybe it was the lack of food or maybe it was that I didn't get why Seth and Tara couldn't just try to communicate a little better. Whatever it was, I am not ruling out reading additional books by this author.

The audiobook was well done and entertaining.

Of course when you dare someone not to fall in love that’s literally exactly what happens… at least in romance novels and movies. So no surprise there it was a fun cutesy little romance and very much a rom-com. The story was good and the narration was great.

Tara and Seth met at a wedding they were both in. Seth is a photographer and will only be in town for a month. Tara has been burnt in the past and has hauled off relationships forever. But when Seth asks for 4 dates, she thought it would be the perfect setup. However things never go as planned and it’s a HEA. I thought this was a cute heartwarming read

I enjoyed The Dating Dare by Jayci Lee. It was entertaining, it was sweet, but in the end, it wasn't really memorable for me. It was good, not great, and I wanted it to be great after experiencing A Sweet Mess, the first book in the series.

Although Tara and Seth are attracted to each other, Seth is leaving town in a month, and Tara is not looking for a relationship. But they decide to date until Seth needs to leave. I really enjoyed them falling for each other. But what keeps this from being a 4 or 5 star for me is that they would complain that the other doesn't communicate, and then they wouldn't communicate. They both had the same compliant. And then they were freaking out because real feelings were developing, which I know is scary sometimes, but it felt like they dealt with all of this a little immaturely.

Narration by Natalie Naudus is always amazing, and this is no exception. She's a top narrator for me.

A game of Truth or Dare leads to a series of dates between Tara and her best friend's brother-in-law, Seth. The chemistry between the two characters was fantastic, but I got frustrated that the tension was that Tara was so opposed to love that she wasn't able to notice that she was in love and in a relationship until it was gone.

While I don't usually gravitate towards the romance genre, I do enjoy - especially in the summer months - listening to a good romantic comedy. Unfortunately, this one just didn't resonate with me. It's actually a sequel - though maybe from what I understand, more property a spin-off, as the first book focuses on a different couple who play rather minor roles here. I usually hate reading a series out of order, but I don't think that this is mainly what bothered me in listening to this one. It's a romance based largely on physical attraction at first - and the physical side of romance, though somewhat drawn out, plays a large role here. That's not my favorite aspect of this genre - particularly when listening and a lot of time is devoted to that and those feelings.

The overall premise - the titular dare - crosses over into feeling a bit silly to me, too - an agreement for four dates with the caveat that no one can fall in love... plus some of these date are just too corny to even feel remotely believable to me. The main conflict in the romance feels massively blown out of proportion - I really hate when better communication is really all that is needed for a resolution.... But, performance-wise, the audio is quite well done. I have listened to this performer before and she is definitely talented- I just couldn't really connect with these characters. I wanted there to be more to their development - and unfortunately felt like there's a lot of reliance on the dialogue to convey both the character development and their backgrounds. I just wanted cuter and funnier scenes than this one delivered. It just was not for me - though I did appreciate the diversity of the cast, that just wasn't enough to carry the whole book for me. Tara and Seth both crossed the lines into feeling unbelievable as characters and so I don't think I will be reading more in this series.

I loved the continued family story of this one. Seth & Tara have a great banter and the dates they have as part of dare are so clever and romantic. Thank you for an advanced reader copy of this one.