This is the second Natasha Preston book that I had a great time with until the end and then everything fell apart. This is an example of a story that I NEED at least one likable character. Not a single person in this story had redeemable characteristics. I wasn't rooting for a single person and especially hated what Marley did at the end of the book. Honestly, what was the purpose of that? It was so beyond frustrating.

On top of the obnoxious characters and painful ending, this was a pretty close rip-off of "I Know What You Did Last Summer." It wasn't even just inspired, it was almost directly ripped off for the main plot line down to the unhinged characters. I was really enjoying the dares and that aspect of the book, but once the "I Know What You Did Last Summer" plotline started, I began to lose interest. This book was just straight up frustratining and I wish I had found at least one character to like.

Marley is in her senior year of high school, just weeks away from graduation. She has been dating her boyfriend Atlas for the past 3 years and her long time BFF Luce has been dating Jesse; they are a really close group and while looking forward to graduation they are nervous about splitting apart. To make the best of their senior year they join in on the senior pranks lead but Rhett who's brothers have been known to take things too far during their senior pranks. Rhett has decided to include dares into the mix and if you refuse to comply he will let everyone know your biggest secret. Marley and her grew were given the first day which was drive on the most dangerous road in town with headlights completely off. Jesse assures everyone it is no problem and everything will be fine; and it is until something jumps into the road and they hit it. Was it something or was it someone?

I loved this story just as I have loved all of Natasha Preston's books; the twists in this one were great! I definitely recommend!

Thank you Netgalley, the author and publisher for my ARC!

This was a fun YA read. It was a little far fetched but that’s why we read fiction, right!? It was fun to kind of live vicariously through these teenagers and reminisce about my senior year of high school.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review

The Dare by Natasha Preston is an edge of your seat thrilling YA read that's sure to be another hit!

When Jessica gets dared to drive a dark and twisty road for her "senior dare" her and her friends could have not predicted it'd end how it did. Now, the teens are bound together by a twisted secret that none of them will ever speak of again....or will they?

The Dare kept my attention until the very end! I loved the pacing of the story and although at times the number of characters was hard to keep up with, it wasn't overwhelming.

This one was a little slower for me. The last 1/4 of the book was very good though. The very last twist at the end sent me! Did not expect it at all .

I liked the beginning and couldn’t wait to find out what pranks they would be given.
There were plenty of twists and scheming and interesting characters.
3.5 star rounded up for Goodreads

Thank you Netgalley and Random House Children’s for the ARC e-copy.

Marley, Atlas, Luce, and Jesse are seniors in high school and with that comes senior pranks and the dreaded senior dares from the rich kid at school. But, when a dangerous dare leads to a tragic accident, everything changes for the group of friends. Can they stick together and bury their secret or will the pressure of senior year and guilt ruin their friendship and future?
Review:
The Dare is marketed as a YA and it definitely reads as a YA thriller. It would be a great book for someone just starting out reading the thriller genre. It is a very fast paced read and is action packed which I really enjoyed. I did find it a little predictable and I didn't connect with any of the characters. But, I did really enjoy the very last twist at the end. It was a nice touch that I didn't expect to happen. Overall, I recommend picking up The Dare when it publishes on May 7th!
Thank you to NetGalley, Natasha Preston, and Random House Children's/Delacorte Press for this ARC of The Dare in exchange for an honest review!

WOW!!! Natasha Preston is a must read author for me, so I was so excited when I saw this book was coming out. This book makes me so thankful I was homeschooled and didn't have to do high school pranks or dares. LOL I definitely don't think this stuff would happen in real life but it still makes you think are people really this nuts to try this stuff. I don't think someone could blackmail me enough to get me to do this stuff. This one did start out a little slow for me especially trying to keep up with the characters but once I got about 20% in I really got the grasp of it and I was ready for the ride. This was a fun YA thriller that kept me guessing until the last minute. I absolutely loved the ending. I also have to say I loved the cover of this book!! I would definitely recommend this book. I would also recommend any other book by Natasha Preston.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Children's | Delacorte Press for allowing me to read this ARC for my honest opinion.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children’s Publishing for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Okay, so I have some strong feelings about this book. I have nothing against Natasha Preston and I actually really enjoyed her book The Lost a couple of years ago, but The Dare was not really for me. I have several reasons why, which I explained in length on my Goodreads page, but here they are in less detail:

The main character, Marley, was never really described. I love visualizing characters as I read, but we received so few physical descriptions of her that it was nearly impossible to do so. Additionally, I found pretty much every character to be exceptionally frustrating. I know this book is YA, but it felt VERY YA - the young characters’ choices and actions in the story were beyond stressful. There were also a couple things that happen in this book that are never fully explained (and I can’t say much more without spoiling anything, so I won’t). Lastly, I found the whole ending wildly unrealistic - not even because of the events that occur, but because our main character’s entire demeanor switches on a dime. For most of the book, she is extremely upset and deeply affected by something that happens, only to seem completely fine with everything by the end; honestly, the change was really jarring.

With all of that said, I did enjoy the shorter chapters along with Preston’s pacing of the story. As angry as I was at the characters in The Dare, I still couldn’t put the book down and finished it in two days. If you’re someone who does enjoy YA thrillers where things go really off the rails, you may like The Dare.

VERY good for a YA thriller

The beginning reminded me of the Amazon Prime show Panic

Great pace and the twists kept me pleasantly surprised.

Kept me rooting for a *specific* trope but CURVEBALL!

I always feel 50/50 with Preston’s books so I went in with no expectations and this one was quite entertaining. With how the main character kept going around and around in circles of how she was feeling and dealing with her guilt I was absolutely shocked at how this story ended!! I had an inkling it was going to happen but I honestly didn’t give her character enough credit. The only part of Preston’s story writing that I find so smart but also infuriating is the who actually did what is still a little up in the air in the end, she gives you hints but it’s never definitive.

Also, it was nice to read a Preston book that didn’t end with a cliffhanger/ambiguous ending, it just ended in a complete way.

I was surprised how much I liked this book with it being a YA thriller. This was definitely a page turner and I did not expect the twist at the end at all! Overall I really enjoyed the characters and Natasha’s writing. Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Children’s for allowing me to read this book before the release.

I could not put this book down, I was instantly hooked from the beginning. Natasha really knows how to keep you on your toes. This was such a fast and easy read for me and I loved every minute of it!
This follows a group of friends that are in high school. It is a few weeks before graduation and senior pranks start to happen, nothing wrong with a little joke.. Well their high school takes it to a whole different level and one of the senior boys gives out dares to everyone and if you must complete them or your deepest darkest secrets are exposed.
Marley and her friends are given a dare and this dare wouldn't have been so bad if something horrible wouldn't have happened that could send her and her friends to jail.
This was a page turner for sure and will definitely keep you guessing. By the end of it your jaw will be on the floor.

This was a bit slow for me and juvenile. I understand it is a young adult book and I am not basing my rating on that. However, I have heard of this author being highly recommended for thrillers/twisty books throughout many book clubs but it seems like it’s certainly more geared towards a younger crowd. There was some repetitiveness and loopholes. It also seemed far fetched and stressful for high school kids, but the story itself was decent nonetheless.

Thank you NetGalley, the author and Random House Children’s for the DRC.

Marley is excited to wrap up her senior year. She and her boyfriend have big plans to head to California for college. However, it’s senior prank time….turned dare time in recent years. Rhett and his brothers have been pushing the limits of assigning dares knowing their parents have enough money to bail them out of any trouble. When the worst happens during the dare goven to Marley and her friends, she quickly finds out her friends are not who she thinks they are and loyalty is a thing of the past. Can she save her herself and will Rhett end up being her saving grace?

This is my first book by Preston and won’t be my last. I like her writing style and there are just enough surprises to keep me entertained!

This was just an OK book, but with many good twists and turns. It centers on Marley, a high school senior, who along with her boyfriend and 2 best friends, does something unthinkable as part of a dare. The rest of the book focuses on them trying to figure out what to do as the stakes continue to get higher. This is a YA read, FYI.

I found the first part of the book to be very repetitive and thought it was going to be a slog to get through, however, the pace picked up about halfway through. None of these characters were likable and I felt like sometimes they seemed too young for their age but other times seemed too old. I also would have liked a little more background on some of the dynamics between these characters, like the whole Wilder family (of which we are only introduced to one) and what kinds of things Arthur did to turn him into the town pariah. The book had some good twists as it continued and the ending provided a few surprises, but there were some plot holes that caused me to suspend my disbelief. I did like the way it ended, all things considered, because I wasn't expecting it at all.

Overall, decent read with definite shock value, even if there are some questions left unanswered. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Natasha never disappoints! I absolutely loved this book, I couldn't put it down! It was a little slow in the beginning but around 30% everything started to pick up. It gave me pretty little lairs vibes! Senior pranks aren't what they use to be, friendships, relationships, and lies keep you engaged and not put the book down! Thank you for this arc!

I love this author and I want to see all the best things for her. I will definately be following her career.
This book was frustrating for me though. These kids are just so dumb. Obviously they didn't grow up in a bad neighborhood like I did. And I am biased because I absolutely hate pranks.
I love all the twists.
I wasn't expecting any of that end stuff. I few times I had to set the book down and stare at the wall for a bit.
That ending was classic Natasha Preston!

The Dare by Natasha Preston is essentially a rip-off of I Know What You Did Last Summer. I guess that since that movie came out in 1997, we have a whole generation of people who aren’t familiar, but I am old enough to remember. We have a group of kids who hit a guy while out driving on a dark twisty road at night. They hide his body because they of course can’t do the right thing and take responsibility for their actions. That would ruin their future. But, shockingly, someone has seen what they did and starts texting ominous messages. The group of friends starts turning on each other. This book moves slow to start with and eventually it does pick up the pace and get more interesting. Until that point I was lowkey annoyed that it wasn’t an original story at all. Our main characters are a bunch of morally corrupt idiots. Marley, who is our narrator, isn’t even fun. The best character in it is Rhett and you’ll see how that goes for him if you read this. (Spoiler: not well) The plot holes in this story are huge. Any halfway decent forensic team that investigates the crime scenes would blast the ending apart. It definitely reads like a young adult book, but in an insulting way- young adults are brighter than this story gives them credit for. Honestly, the greatest feat this book accomplished was making me mad that I read it. The only redeeming quality about it was the end. It took a turn that I can’t say I enjoyed, but did add some spice to the book. 2/5 stars. Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me access to an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Publication date May 7th, 2024. This review will be found on Instagram and Goodreads indefinitely.
Instagram book reviews @CandaceOnline

Thank you NetGalley for the E-ARC!

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Okay Natasha, I am pleasantly surprised!

I’ve read some of her others works and haven’t been much of a fan, but in this book she really has improved on some of her previous flaws!

For starters I liked the characters way more in this book, they felt more believable. And while she still has some work to do, it has greatly improved!

The mystery was also better in my opinion! Where her normal writing style is mindless killing, this one felt more like it had a purpose, and it felt deeper somehow.

I do wish we had seen more of Marley’s relationships with her friends, past and present, but I can get over that.

My only bone to pick is I WANTED RHETT TO BE END GAME 😭😭 NATASHA WHY

Over all this was a pleasant surprise and her best work so far!

💖❤️💖
You’ll love this if you like…
• A kick butt MFC
• A fast paced page turner
• Plenty of twists
• Scheming
• A smart set of cast