I dare you by Shantel Tessier

I dare you by Shantel Tessier
My Rating : ⭐⭐⭐3/4

Amazon blurb
https://www.amazon.com/I-Dare-You-Shantel-Tessier-ebook/dp/B07BJD5XRN

I mean not a big fan of YA. I personally think, thoughts of teens will never be that matured. But some books were so good that it changed my opinion. That’s the reason I picked this YA. Plus it was all about bullies as per blurb, so I thought combo should be good.

This book is a standalone and told in dual point of view. It does fall under erotica suspense. It almost borders on psych level dark. In my opinion none of the late teen guys will have that level of mindset and thoughts. Yes, i liked the mix, where teen characters are highlighted equally with more mature thoughts( but, tough to accept this mindset of YA in real life, anyways good in books)

Austin Lowes is a 17 year new girl in town, who comes to stay with her father after her good for nothing mother and her abusive boyfriend ships her off, telling she is trouble.She plans to stay with her father only for few months till she turns 18 and plans to have her only life later. However on the day 1 in new town she accidentally witnesses a murder and get caught witnessing it.

Austin is feisty, smart and strong. I liked how she handles the situation after they blackmail her after murder. For a girl who is new in town and to handle situation of a murder and blackmail so smartly is a super plus in this book.

Cole Reynolds is portrayed as antihero in this book. He is strong willed, cruel, angsty popular person in town. He and his 4 other teen friends are popular in town as Great shark waters in town as they are all in swim team and always dare one another to do some task. He and his friends will get into small troubles for their dares, but never be actual trouble due to their wealthy and powerful family links.

Austin and Cole starts with hating each other and Cole has ulterior motives. His interest towards Austin spikes knowing about her farther. He is screwed up and i didn’t understand the attraction between them at all. Cole exhibits possessive and abusive behavior. In the entire book I couldn’t find a single dare which any normal teen does. It was beyond psych.

Some secondary characters were good. Becky and Deke are nice characters of good friends. Celeste (Austin’s Stepmother) is also portrayed well. Lilly is cute. I was intrigued by Bennett and Shane character, however we won’t get to know more about them.

The plot was very gripping in the beginning and became more sloppier at some point, may be because teen characters catches up.They are after all 18 or close to it. The murder mystery which Austin witnesses is solved early in the book, yet it did have suspense and twists. Its definitely an unconventional love plot.

Book was good enough to finish but nothing more, definitely not a reread material. Characters weren’t lovable nor for that matter hateable, in short just a ok read and a nice time pass as long as you ignore several aspects. It did have some potential but could have been executed better.