Dare To Play

DARE TO PLAY is the third instalment in Carly Phillips’ contemporary, adult DARE NATION erotic, romance series a spin off from the author’s DARE TO LOVE series. This is twenty-eight year old, professional baseball pitcher Jaxon Prescott, and twenty-eight year old, Web Designer Macy Walker’s story line. DARE TO PLAY can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous instalments is revealed where necessary. You do not have to have read the previous series to understand or follow the current timeline but like the original series, there is a back story involving the Dare family, and by extension, the Prescott family as well.

Told from dual third person perspectives (Macy and Jaxon) DARE TO PLAY follows the marriage of convenience between twenty-eight year old, professional baseball pitcher Jaxon Prescott, and twenty-eight year old, Web Designer Macy Walker. Macy Walker is the guardian of her fifteen year old half sister Hannah since the death of their father eight months earlier but the return of Hannah’s mother is suspicious as the woman has not acknowledged Hannah’s existence in a number of years. Jaxon Prescott is the bad boy of baseball, and his off-field antics have pushed management too far- issuing our hero an ultimatum-either Jaxon settles down including a possible marriage, or face suspension or a trade to another team. A one-night stand with his sister’s best friend Macy results in a paparazzi nightmare for both Jaxon and Macy. In an effort to assuage team owners and thusly his family, by mutual agreement, a marriage of convenience between Macy and Jaxon would solve both of their problems. What ensues is the building romance and relationship between Macy and Jaxon, and the potential fall-out as their time together comes to a close.

The relationship between Macy and Jaxon is a best friend’s brother/ little sister’s best friend relationship that begins as a one-night stand. When both of their lives begin to implode, a marriage of convenience is the best of scenarios in an effort to ease both of their problems. One week of wedding preparations, and the ongoing threats by Hannah’s birth mother, culminate in a destination honeymoon where our couple begin to fall in love but all is not well upon their return home as Hannah’s mother begins to show her true colors. The $ex scenes are intimate, erotic and intense without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.

We are reintroduced to Jaxon’s siblings: sister Bri (and Macy’s best friend), Austin and Quinn (Dare to Desire), Damon and Evie (Dare to Tempt #2) and Dr. Braden Prescott, Uncle Paul, as well as the introduction of Macy’s half-sister Hannah, and her mother Lilah. Braden’s story is next in DARE TO STAY.

DARE TO PLAY is a novella-length story of family and friendships, relationships and love; a marriage of convenience wherein our couple will quickly discover they have more in common including falling in love. The character driven premise is sexy and inviting; the romance is seductive and captivating-the chemistry is spicy and strong; the characters are dynamic and colorful.

I am always so amazed at the totally different stories that Carly Phillips can “weave”!! I absolutely love reading about the Dare Family and their many life challenges and triumphs! This story “starts with a bang” (pun intended?), and the energy just kept going to the end. Couldn’t put it down! Absolute must read! Loved it!!

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.