“Fun, light hearted and sexy, usually with a bit of a brooding alpha hero and a strong willed, independent heroine. DARE TO DESIRE has exactly that!”
~ Under the Covers
I’ve been playing catch up on this series for Roll Back Week and as you probably have been able to tell in the past, I’m a fan of Carly Phillips’s writing style. It’s exactly what I look for in a contemporary romance. Fun, light hearted and sexy, usually with a bit of a brooding alpha hero and a strong willed, independent heroine.
DARE TO DESIRE has exactly that! This is Alex’s story, whom we met in book one as the best friend of the heroine. He’s lived his life to the fullest of his quarterback playboy abilities, and never thought he would be settling down. That is until one woman made a bigger impact than he thought would be possible.
After an injury that ends his sports career as he knows it, Alex has to rethink everything about his future and where his life is going. And when Madison comes across his path again for a project they must do together, he knows he wants to hold on to what they had and explore it further.
Madison has a lot of issues to get over, being in the foster system she’s grown up feeling she’s not good enough for love. That she can’t trust people to care for her and be there for her. I found her problems got to be a bit much for me, and her confidence should’ve been growing a bit more. I’m not sure how I can believe she won’t crumble again after their HEA. But I get it, the media focus on a star athlete can be a lot to deal with for a normal person and maybe she just needed time to come to grips with it.
Alex was completely adorable though. Perfect swoon worthy, sweet and sexy, sports hero. He’s just old enough that he’s had his fame and has played the field. He knows that the relationships around him need to be strengthened and it’s time for him to grow up. That includes the woman in his life, as well as his hang ups with his brother Ian.
This book has a pretty well rounded story for the low page count. We get plenty of romance, plenty of family and friendship bonds, and an overall good story. I enjoyed it quite a bit, but I think it was missing a little something extra to make it special. Not quite sure what to put my finger on. Still a nice story and I’m ready for the next!
Book Tags:
[about-author author=”Carly Phillips”]
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I’ve got this on my tbr pile…thanks for the review Francesca
I usually go to her when I need a light, quick read that can be a bit sexy
Exactly!
I have been a fan of Carly Phillips – loved the Serendipity, Bachelor Blog, and Hot Zone Series. I haven’t gotten started on this new series, because I am primarily a print book reader & I think these are all trade size & not at Target or Walmart. Also, it appeared to be erotica. Am I wrong about that?
True, I believe these you would have to order online for the print and yes trade size. I don’t think I would classify them as erotic romance, though. I’ve read a lot of her other series as you mentioned, and I find that the sex (amount, description, etc) can be quite similar to her Serendipity series. So I still put them under contemporary romance. Some of the stories have a bit of extremely light BDSM and that may be what’s tipping some people over to erotic romance. But I would say they are in line with her old work.