It’s a cliffhanger but I don’t care - I loved it!
5 stars

Cliffhangers are normally a hard pass for me - I’ll usually even black list authors who write them. So the fact that I even read one is amazing - but the fact that I actually loved one and would highly recommend it is a pure miracle. And it speaks to the fact that Maya Hughes isn’t just a great author - she’s one of the best.

This is Dare and Bay’s story and from the first I loved them both. Bay is the girl that most of us probably were in high school. She’s not part of the cool group but not edgy enough to fit into one of the other groups either. She just does her own thing, tries to keep her nose clean and mostly fades into the background. I also loved the way she reacted when Dare started to pay attention to her - she didn’t fall at his feet, didn’t sass him - too much, anyway! - but she reacted with suspicion. She made me laugh and I liked her immensely.

Dare was, in some ways, a very similar character to Bay - except he was definitely part of the cool groups, being the high school hero football player that he was! Yet he was actually quite a loner - and in some ways was just as overlooked as Bay was. He was an angry man but with completely good reason. And that reason was heartbreaking. A strong young man who is actually hiding a tortured and damaged soul - so someone I want to wrap up in a huge hug - is my hero catnip. The fact that he could do a bad thing and I still loved him showed me how much I loved the guy.

While excellent individually, together is where Bay, Dare and the book as a whole, shines. They both come out of their shells both as friends and then as lovers and are really their authentic selves with each other. If there’s one thing I love, it’s a love story where the couple can finally be themselves, and find that another person accepts and loves them just as they are. But there’s also a lot of teasing and banter between our couple - and that definitely made me smile.

As I mentioned, this is the first book in a trilogy telling Dare and Bay’s story. Next up is The Sin of Kissing You and finishing up with The Hate of Loving You. This book tells Dare and Bay’s story starting from several months before graduation in their senior year of high school. So I suppose that technically makes this a young adult book, even though we know this is happening prior to “present day”. There is kissing and some sex in the book but it all fits in with the story and not gratuitous. Perfect.

Since I’m such a suspicious person who loves true crime, I would say that in a book, it’s hard to surprise or shock me. But this book managed just that - and with the last line of the book. I don’t want to spoil it by saying too much but my eyes must have bugged out like a cartoon character when I realised…and then I found myself going over every part of the book muttering “well, of course!”

Yes, this is a cliffhanger but I’m secure in the knowledge that the next book is coming out very soon. I’m still not going to change my stance on them as a whole, but if you’re a fan of Maya Hughes or absorbing and involving new adult romance, give this one a go - you will not be disappointed. 5 stars. ( )