The Dare
by Harley Laroux
Jessica Martin is not a nice girl.
As Prom Queen and Captain of the cheer squad, she'd ruled her school mercilessly, looking down her nose at everyone she deemed unworthy. The most unworthy of them all? The "freak," Manson Reed: her favorite victim.
But a lot changes after high school.
A freak like him never should have ended up at the same Halloween party as her. He never should have been able to beat her at a game of Drink or Dare. He never should have been able to humiliate her in front of everyone. Losing the game means taking the dare: a dare to serve Manson for the entire night as his slave. It's a dare that Jessica's pride - and curiosity - won't allow her to refuse. What ensues is a dark game of pleasure and pain, fear and desire.
Is it only a game?
Only revenge?
Only a dare?
Or is it something more?
Spice Level: 5/6 | Story Score: 6/10 | Rating: 3.5/5 |
This book has popped up several times in the FB Groups and I gotta admit that the cover made me leery. Then, I found out it was banned on Amazon. THEN, I read the trigger warnings. Man, this book was like a walking “probably gonna break Kayla” book from the get go. Then again, I’d put off Her Soul to Take for the trigger warning scare. After reading Her Soul to Take and LOVING it, I bought this one at a bookstore while on vacation.
I’ve decided that Harley Laroux is the Consent Queen and I love her.
This book was very much like Scream for Us. It's just one night, at a Halloween party. They know each other from high school. She was a mean cheerleader and he was an outcast that she picked on. (This takes place a little over a year after graduation.) She loses a bet and has to be his slave for the night and quickly realizes how much she likes it. So he degrades her and humiliates her and punishes her and teases her…but, it's heavy on consent which is my only requirement. Lol. He checks in with her a lot and offers her an out and such. She asks for all of it and he doesn't hurt her in meanness.
Jessica isn’t particularly likable, but she’s also not hate-able. Manson is pretty likable, I think. He plays his part well. Then again, this book is only 144 pages so like any novella, you can only expect so much connection between the characters and to the characters and to the story.
Honestly, it’s a fun read and I recommend it if you’re into a bit of humiliation and degradation. There’s DEFINITELY more to it than that, but those are strong kinks in the story. If you need a heads up or spoilers, I’m going to break them down in the spoilers section. This book is really about a girl realizing she likes being controlled because it takes away her responsibilities and blame and her letting someone guide her through that enjoyment for a night.
-SPOILERS-
Humiliation and degradation are straight-up in here. Lol. It is consensual and she is NOT trapped in any situation. She chooses to continue them.
Fear play: This is MOSTLY tied to the clowns because Jessica is scared of clowns, lol. She’s scared of them, and she knows the guys that are dressed up as them. He uses her fear of them to enhance some activities. I think she’s scared of something else in here too, but I don't remember what.
Pain play: Um…there’s spanking, hair pulling, orgasm denial…His friend slaps her during the blow job, but he does it gently until she encourages him to do it harder. Other than that, she likes to hurt him.
Knife play: Manson has a butterfly knife that he’s had since their high school days. He holds it in against her skin while she gives his friend a blowjob. He keeps in her periphery during parts of it. And he fucks her with the handle. I dunno, there’s some other knife play in here, but he never harms her with the knife nor does he draw blood.
CNC: Jess has a reputation to uphold so she straight brats out to cause him to push her because she doesn’t want to admit that she likes any of it.
Orgasm Denial: This is a full book theme. He doesn’t let her come for most of the book. She’s real whiny about it, lol.
Boot worship: This is a weird one. It’s in several parts of the book, but y’all, this girl is INTO it. I dunno. She really likes them boots.
Spanking: It is what it is. She brats out until he spanks her - a lot. He gives her a safeword first.
Clowns: His friends are dressed as clowns at the Halloween party.
Group: She’s interested in giving his friends attention and he tells her to.
Spit: She takes a drink of his beer, then spits it back into the bottle. Later, he takes a drink from the SAME bottle and spits it into her mouth. He doesn’t spit on her and she knows it’s coming.
Bondage: Uhhh, his friend likes restraints and handcuffs her for the blowjobs. Then Manson handcuffs her to the bed to keep her from touching herself.
Public play: Maybe this is while they’re playing beer pong (Drink or Dare). One of his dares is to kiss his boots and one of them is to give him her panties. He does have her crawl on the ground without the panties later which MAY cause people to see her pussy. It’s not specified.
Blood play: SHE likes drawing his blood.
Standalone | 144 Pages | Trope Challenge: Wrong Side of the Sides |
“The darkness that surrounded us could have stretched on forever, a void in which everything I'd thought I knew had been turned on its head. We were in some other world, a world where pleasure and pain, fear and excitement, were all the same.”
- The Dare by Harley Laroux
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