Dare To Rock by Carly Phillips
Series: Dare To Love, #7
Contemporary Romance
August 4, 2015
Self Published
Reviewed by Tori
Favorite Quote: “I saw you, you know. Everywhere I looked.”
Avery Dare lives a quiet life as a popular vlogger. Though she never forgot her first love, Grey Kingston, she knows his fame and lifestyle was never for her. When she receives a ticket backstage for one of his concerts, she attends only to see him wrapped up in a crowd of groupies, proving what she always thought.
Grey Kingston left home at eighteen to fulfill his dream of being a rock star. Now seven years later, he is at the top of his game as lead guitarist and singer for the band, Tangled Royal. He has everything he could he want-fame, money, and all the women he can handle-but not the girl he left behind. Tired and ready for a change, Gray heads back to Miami, hoping he can convince Avery to forgive him and give him another chance.
As Grey weaves his magic once again around Avery and their love for one reignites, there are those out there who don’t want them together. With the paparazzi circling and a stalker starts threatening Avery, she wonders if their love for one another can survive the fishbowl Grey seems to live in.
Dare to Rock is a short steamy second chance romance about a rock star and the girl he left behind. Number seven in Phillips’s Dare To Love series, each book can be read as a stand alone. This series follows the Dare family. The Dares’ are a group of siblings whose father carried on a secret affair for years and fathered four additional children with his mistress. YIKES. This installment is Avery Dare’s story. Avery was particularly hurt by her father’s deception because not only was she forced to deal with the cruelty of the world over the affair at a young age, but her father also asked her to donate bone marrow to one of her step siblings who was dying from cancer, reinforcing that her father loved his new family more than her.
I liked Dare To Rock overall even with it’s formulaic storyline. Phillips’s is a talented writer whose sexy romance contemporary entertains. Engaging characters and dialogue, along with a small suspenseful subplot, keeps the story running fast and smooth though I did feel we were dropped right down in the middle with not much to cling to as the story starts. Avery and Grey’s relationship picks right back up where it left off with little fanfare or conflict. We aren’t given an in depth look at their romance as teenagers nor do we get to see the results they suffered when Grey left. In fact, we barely see or hear anything of what happened to them (emotionally) in those years apart so I never got a good feel for how they were compared to now. Also, while I definitely felt the chemistry between them, I was a little more weary of what kept the attraction alive for seven years of no contact and how easily it was for them to fall back into it.
The sexual aspects of the romance are loud and proud as Grey is dominant dirty talker who loves to show Avery just how much he wants her. Which is all the time. :P Avery matches him sexually deed for deed which made for some nice steamy scenes. They are a cute couple whose connection is easily felt.
“He wanted to own her.To claim and possess her, to brand her so when she walked aout the door, she wouldn’t just smell like him, she’d belong to him. And come back to him.”
Avery and Grey’s reconnection blends well with their separate external relationships. I liked that Phillips’s didn’t isolate this couple to the point where nothing and no one else mattered. Avery has a strong relationship with all her siblings and a job that requires her continuous presence. Grey also has issues with his family that needed to be addressed and a career that didn’t just stop when he went home. Phillips’s gives just enough with the secondary characters so that new fan’s interests are peaked to scour Phillips’s backlist while more established fans will be pleased to see what past couples have been up to. The sparks between Erin and Tyler were HAWT and I hope their story comes soon.
The Dare To Love series are the perfect length and heat level to give even the busiest of readers a nice pleasant respite from the demands of everyday life. I recommend the series to everyone who enjoys a short but sweet romance with low level conflict and complementary characters.
RATING: C+
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