The Love Dare

Abiola has done it again! Written THE perfect romance story.The Love Dare is a brilliantly thought out, plotted, and written romance. Perfect for a long, hot summer.The story follows Eva as she prepares to spend her last summer at home before embarking on her first solo journey away from home, studying law at university.With a long, hot, parent free summer of fun mapped out. A big birthday celebration in the pipeline. A carnival to attend and a potential romance bubbling away in the background. Eva is ready to jump in head first to try and run from the niggling doubts that she has about her future and the expectations, hopes and dreams that are placed on her by those around her.But as is always the case, things barely ever go to plan.Throw in an unexpected and expensive accident. The ultimate dare, support, and friendship from an unlikely source, and a budding romance with her total opposite can Eva seek the courage she needs in order to speak her truth and take control of her future?I really love Abiola's writing style, which is full of emotion, realism, and relatability from start to finish. Making it easy to become totally invested in Eva and Saint's story.It's an inspiring, feel-good, emotional story of love, hope, authentic connections, coming of age, staying true to yourself, and always reacing for your dreams. And one that I would recommend to romance readers across the board. Not just young adults.

I inhaled it, I literally read it in 2 days, with 10 hours of work each day in between! I love Abiolo Bello's writing and this one lived up to my expectations! It's so easy to read and the conversations between the characters, as well as the characters thoughts/moves all seem so realistic, to can tell the author has really created this world and these people fully which honestly I don't find that often. In other books I've read recently the conversations just don't seem to flow right or there's words used that people that are just wouldn't use, not the case here at all!I loved the friends to lovers vibes, the finding yourself, finding your person, learning to follow what you think and not just what you should do that was explored in the book. I could FEEL the sexual tension through the pages at points! 😂The book follows Eva, who's just finished collage, is getting ready for moving away for uni and her last summer at home. She's used to bits falling for her and earnt the name of "the pretty one" at school. So when she's set the challenge of going on a date with comic book obsessed Saint it seems too easy. ..until it's not...If you haven't already definitely recommend checking out Abiolas previous books too, they're also fab!

Abiola Bello has done it again! The Love Dare is a YA romance that is full of fierce friendships, super cute pairings, and modern humour. If you haven't read one of her books yet, what are you waiting for??Eva is in her final summer before entering uni, and her band of girlfriends have decided to try to do all the things they wanted to do but never got around to, starting with a communal dare to dance in the Notting Hill Carnival parade. Then she meets Saint, the slightly geeky boy with a love for anime and spoken word...What starts as a lighthearted summer of fun quickly takes a turn, and I'm not exaggerating when I say I was tense for the majority of this book while I waited for the date dare to slip out. Eva's feelings for Saint are so sweet, and I was so anxious waiting to see what would happen. After the perfection that was the Street Fighter II arcade scene I needed them to work out!When I got to the ending, I'll admit I was a little disappointed as it was so abrupt. That's the one weakness with these books I've noticed - the build up is incredible, but there is no time for closure or to enjoy the relationship.Despite this, I still love Bello's writing. Her style is so fresh, honest, and funny. I also love how she turns things that many people find superfluous or dull (like books or retro games) into something really fun and to be proud of. The Love Dare is about embracing what you want, being true to yourself, and not letting others pressure you into something that's not right for you, and I think that's such an important message.I've had this book on pre-order since finishing her other two novels, and I'm so happy to have been able to read the ARC early. If you enjoy opposites attract or betting tropes, this is one to check out!

This was another cute YA romance read from Abiola Bello and I enjoyed following Eva and Saint's story, especially getting more of a feel for Saint's character as the story progressed. Alongside the romance side of things, Eva has a close group of friends and this story also explores the messier side of friendships, when you don't always get the support you need and emotions run high. This added a frustrating element (in the sense that I wanted to shake one of Eva's friends) that helped add layers to the story.Eva is, overall, a good soul and struggles with the initial deception she entered in seeking out Saint, looking for ways to fix her mistakes and protect him from her less pure decisions when feelings begin to grow. It was a sweet slow burn and gives me all those fuzzy feelings as these two opposites attract, and Eva rediscovers things she loves through Saint.The writing isn't totally well developed, and I did feel really old with a lot of the pop culture references which went straight over my head, but all in all it's a good story and even comes with cameos from characters in Bello's other books.I received a free copy of this book. All views are my own.