Review: When You Dare by Lori Foster

Published Date: April 26th, 2011
Finished Date: June 30th, 2011
Publishers: HQN Books
Format: Paperback
Pages: 448
Series: Men Who Walk the Edge of Honor Book 1

Blurb from Goodreads: The tougher they are, the harder they fall…

Professional mercenary Dare Macintosh lives by one hard and fast rule: business should never be personal. If a cause appeals to him and the price is right, he'll take the mission he's offered. But then the lovely Molly Alexander asks him to help her track down the men who'd had her kidnapped—and for the first time, Dare's tempted to combine work with pleasure.

Fiercely independent, Molly vows to trust no one until she's uncovered the truth. Could the enemy be her powerful, estranged father? The ex-fiancé who still holds a grudge? Or the not-so-shy fan of her bestselling novels? As the danger heats up around them, the only anchor Molly has is Dare himself. But what she feels for him just might be the most frightening thing of all…

My Review: Can I just say that I LOVED the cover? That is one hell of a man flash of an eye candy..W.O.W.

It all started out in Dare Macintosh's POV. Dare was out saving this girl from being sold to flesh traders(again), but this time was to save a good bud's sister, plus this time, he had to take up responsibilty for one captive who was more than a little unique, and hot(curvy's actually a much better word). Anyway, after having herself nursed back to health both physically and mentally(with lots of help from Dare), Molly hired Dare(who's some sort of a philanthropic mercenary) to help her find who her captors were and why did they take her since every evidence points toward someone specifically wanting her to be kidnapped. So the main story going on is about them uncovering the mastermind. Along the way, both Dare and Molly started being attracted to each other, slowly but steadily; Dare to her courage and honest character, Molly to his undeniable manliness, alpha attitude and unrivalled honor(ooh hubba hubba).

Molly: She, was kinda unnatural. I dont know...She was too calm and collected after Dare saved her from 9 torturous days of captivity, and that itself already is unthinkable and would've caused most people their sanity. I mean 9 days? Come on man, at least give us some hysteria, but no, she was plenty lucid and polite. Not the normal politeness, but the 18th century formal pleasantries infused with the many "if you might, could you...". Ok...weird. I even thought that she had some special ancestor's blood in her that could explain it. And when they finally got down and dirty, she was a little demanding and alpha-like in some ways. Yeah in bed. I mean, why? I get some peeps of the female race likes to be the dominant one, but one who's small and had gone thru an adversity so trying is just not normal. I mean if you're that confident now, how ginormous was your ego before the incident? Correct me if my logic is wrong, but i really think that it was plenty unnatural. To sugarcoat her personality is to say that it is unique, but to put it plainly, it is weird. Oh but i have to give her credit for being really smart; it was very cool how she could amaze Dare(and me) with her observant and logical self, it's just plain awesome, and that's why i do like her:)

Dare: Wow. Awesome kickass attitude. Plenty alpha dominance and protectiveness. Hot male flesh and hot bod(just look at the book cover..It's totally swoon-worthy!). Honorable. Master of combat. Perfect. Ideal. MINE(joking.........he's molly's..sigh. But i do think they're a good match).

Supporting characters, mainly Chris(gay and butler for Dare) and Dare's girls(bitches - as in real female dogs. 2 of em), were cute and they really added humor to every scene that they graced. Chris was a real charmer. He was plenty sarcastic and downright hilarious, which made me smile and burst out laughing more than once. Tai and Sargie, passive and impassive, both kept vouching for Dare and Molly's attention and were very obedient. They were adorable:)

For the romance part, i must say i am very satisfied. Foster took it slow and developed their feelings really well. She waited it out nice and slowly, and it worked out damn fine. I ached for them, felt for them, and were really happy for them at the end, albeit a little heartbroken that the journey ended there. They're relationship is really one to go down in history. It was funny, it was toe-curlingly sweet, and the best part was, they really respected and loved each other so much.

Another plus point is that Foster doesnt drag things to fill up the word count. She makes the story run smoothly and never in the whole process of reading was it uneventful. Some people would almost definitely think the ending too rushed, but when i thought about it, any other way would just be boring and would ultimately killed another one of the four stars im giving it. I loved it. I loved the constant heart-pumping action and grueling challenges that plagued the protagonists, the wicked cool logic of some parts, and the great twist in the end that really wrapped everything up nicely in a million dollar bow(haha im not making sense again, am i?).

All in all, a truly suspenseful thriller cum romance novel, and definitely worthy of a five stars rating.(It's just some parts that i thought was a little off for me, so i took one star away:/)

PS. What kind of a name is Molly? She sounds like some ancient barbie doll with a poofy, afro style hairdo, not the brave, intelligent woman she is.

My Rating: