Guest Review: Dare To Love by Jaci Burton

Christine’s review of Dare to Love by Jaci Burton.

A romantic game of chicken—and they’re both too stubborn to flinch.

Lucy Fairchild, lawyer and heiress to the Fairchild fortune, has just had the worst day of her life. Her father has found the perfect man for her to marry. Yes, she’s thirty and single, but that doesn’t give her father the right to run her life. She’ll choose her own husband—someday.

Jake Dalton is struggling to make his fledgling construction company a success. Ever mindful of his father’s derogatory comments that he’d never amount to anything, he’s spent his entire life trying to prove he’s not a failure.

From their first meeting on a construction site, verbal sparks fly. Their argument escalates into a dare for a date—and the game is on. Lucy thinks Jake is the perfect fake boyfriend to parade around in the hopes of getting her father off her back. Jake is amused by the chance to annoy both Lucy and her dad—he doesn’t intend to take the dating thing seriously.

But the heart is a fickle thing, and not above playing dirty. In their quest to prove something—to each other, or maybe to themselves—they find themselves building a case…for love.

And suddenly all the rules have changed.

Dare To Love is a very sweet love story. Lucy Fairchild and Jake Dalton come from completely different backgrounds and seem like the last two people who belong together. She’s a lawyer and comes from a wealthy family and whose whole life has been carefully planned out by her controlling father. He’s a construction worker who started his life as a young runaway and struggled on his own to make a decent life for himself. Lucy and Jake come together on a dare, and despite their differences, something stirs between them that goes beyond the physical. As they get to know each other in their ploy to convince Lucy’s father he can’t run her love life, Lucy and Jake discover that the other fills an empty spot in their hearts and they might actually have the makings of a great relationship. Before they get their happily ever after, though, both Lucy and Jake have a few obstacles to overcome such as their own social class prejudices, Lucy’s controlling father, and their basic willingness to take a chance on love where they least expect it.

Dare To Love starts out with a fun, yet predictable story line of lovers from opposite sides of the tracks, but great dialogue, little surprises in character strength, and meaningful intimacy turn this story into a delightful story filled with emotional depth. For the first time in her life, Lucy finally has a reason to step up to her father and take back control of her life and his name is Jack Dalton. Likewise for the first time in his life, Jake has a reason to stop letting his father’s haunting derogatory remarks keep him from realizing he can have what he truly deserves–the love of an exceptional woman named Lucy Fairchild. Lucy and Jake are well rounded characters who make mistakes throughout the story, yet have enough sense to know recognize they’ve got something good and thankfully learn from their mistakes and work it out for the chance at love. Jaci Burton has written a sweet and spicy love story in Dare To Love that is layered with self realizations and well paced intimacy that truly delivers a convincing and satisfying happily ever after for Lucy Fairchild and Jake Dalton.

This novella is a delightful romance that is well written, fun, and quick to read.

4.5 out of 5

This book is available from Samhain Publishing. You can buy it here in e-format. You can also read an excerpt here. To learn more about Jaci Burton and her other novels, visit her here.

Read more from Christine at The Happily Ever After.

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