Reviews

If You Dare by Sandy Lowe

lezreadalot's review against another edition

3.0

“It’s not the struggle that makes it hot. It’s the surrender. It’s being the one you surrender to.”

I think we can safely put this one down as not for everyone; it could have very easily been not for me. But except for one major thing that stymied my enjoyment, I fairly enjoyed this book, Sandy Lowe's writing style, the conversations that her characters had, and their chemistry.  

The one major thing actually isn't the kink. I'm always down for d/s and power play, and while there was some consensual non-consent that got a bit too intense for me, I actually really appreciated all the conversations that were had about kinky lifestyles, and getting to know and accept yourself enough to confront and ask for what you want. There is a fair amount of sex in this book, but a lot of it is also just talking about sex; the characters unpacking their trauma, the characters negotiating with each other, the characters getting to know each other. The talking and openness was really refreshing. Lauren and Emma don't magically understand one another right off the bat, or magically click together, and I like that the book showed that they had to get better at communication for their relationship to work. Their chemistry was really intense; an absolute delight. (Also Emma's had a crush on Lauren since high school, and I'm a slut for pining.) I'm also a huge fan of the writing style.  It was really fast and snappy and clever and insightful in a lot of ways, and made the reading experience go by really quickly. Other than a few jokes here and there that I didn't really enjoy, I thought it was excellent, and I'll readily read from this author again.  

Also I love this cover! It's so swoony. 

The one thing that tanked my enjoyment was the pacing. It was insta-love city over here. Sometimes insta-love is written in a way that I don't mind or I enjoy. Sometimes it's just a thing that I accept about a book. But here it was so frustrating because I really think that without that element, this would just flat out to be a better book. I said above that these characters don't instantly understand each other; they misconstrue each other's feelings and they're not 100 percent on the same page all of the time. I liked that, it's natural for the beginning of a relationship. (And I liked the fact that the misunderstandings didn't go on for too long; they worked to resolve them.) But for those same characters to be declaring undying love for each other a very short time later seems so very silly and unbelievable. The book takes place between Christmas and New Year's Eve, if you want to know just how insta-love we're talking. Yes, they were acquainted in high school, but still! 

The important themes in this book were exploring yourself, being comfortable with yourself and your desires, confronting uncomfortable experiences in your past and how they may (or may not!) inform how you are as a person today. There were meaningful character arcs. The characters had great chemistry. But they did not need to declare love. This would have worked so much better as an HFN, with hints towards how they could fall in love in the future. Tack on an epilogue one year later, if you really needed to. Trying to pigeonhole this into an HEA just made the story suffer, in my opinion.  

I really wanted to like this one more, but I still think overall it's a good book. You'll enjoy it if you like kink and don't mind insta-love. I'd love to read more from Lowe in the future, especially if it's better paced/more concentrated on the journey of the relationship. 

Content warnings: 

Spoiler

consensual non-consent via roleplay/fantasy, slut-shaming, kink-shaming.

☆ Review copy provided via NetGalley.

agentkp's review against another edition

emotional fast-paced

2.5

I really tried to like this book but it was pretty much downhill from the first few scenes were there are non consensual kissing and then the book goes pretty heavy on how consent is important. Apparently only works for actual sex but kissing someone out of the blue its fine. The characters weren't also all that loveable as we don't get to know them outside sex. Neither do they get to know each other outside of their sexual preferences which just takes a lot out of the romance and falling in love thing imo. You need to actually spend time and get to know someone outside of the bedroom for it to be this completely enamored in love relationship. Especially after only like , a week. The sex scenes we nice, I guess if you want to read just for that.

jamice's review against another edition

5.0

This story was oh so very steamy but it also had a really great storyline as well. Lauren and Emma’s relationship started off super quick but I loved how the two had to go back and have lots of honest conversations and really get to know each other on a not so physical level. This was my first book by Sandy Lowe but I don’t think it’s going to be my last.

florencia's review

fast-paced

4.0

I really liked this book. It's short, but it accomplishes what it sets out to do. It's really steamy, with well written sex scenes.

We follow Emma and Lauren after they meet at a bar and develop tension between them. They follow up in their desires and there's the possibility that it may turn out to be more. 

I want to highlight how well written the sex scenes are. They talk during sex about consent, negotiation and they talk about how each of them is doing. They are always checking with each other and I loved it. Plus, it's hot.

My only complaint is that there's not much more to it than the hook ups. We learn about the characters but we don't see them interact much outside of the hooking up.

Overall, I would recommend this story for anyone looking for a well written lesbian erotica.

Thanks to Netgalley and Bold Strokes Books for providing me with an ARC of this book.