Review: "Truth or Dare" by Mira Lyn Kelly

In a deliciously sexy twist on the classic game, Mira Lyn Kelly proves that when playing truth or dare—always choose dare. After her one attempt at commitment ends with the discovery that her fiancé already has a wife and kid, Maggie Lawson vows that the only people she’ll love ’til death do they part will be her friends. Unfortunately that means Maggie letting her bestie rope her into a year-long dating dare: score a new date each month or pay a penalty. Seems doable—until Maggie’s date stands her up, leaving only one option: the sexy stud who just moved in upstairs. The problem? He and Maggie can’t stop fighting—and that’s just the beginning. His name is Tyler Daniels and the last thing he needs is his neighbor distracting him with her girl-next-door smile and sharp tongue. Tyler’s in Chicago for one reason: to woo back his selfish ex in order to reclaim the child he once thought was his—and that means keeping Maggie out of his bed. A tall order, since Maggie has become a bigger temptation than he ever expected to face. But before they can even consider leaving the past behind, Maggie and Tyler must accept a brand-new dare: real, forever love. Includes a special message from the editor, as well as excerpts from other Loveswept titles.

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House Publishing for allowing me to read and review an ARC of this book.

A truly engaging read, I thoroughly enjoyed these characters from page one! I found Maggie to be sweet, funny, loyal and feisty, which is everything I appreciate in a heroine.  Tyler, on the other hand, was completely...well, pretty awesome, actually!  Aside from how rude he was to Maggie at their first meeting, he was pretty much the ultimate fictional boyfriend.  

I loved watching Maggie and Tyler's relationship develop from outright animosity to friendship and eventually love. Kelly is a master at straddling that line between love and hate with these two, and I was absolutely riveted, just waiting to see where Tyler and Maggie would end up, especially when Tyler's past relationship gets thrown in the mix. I won't spoil anything for the prospective reader here, but I will say it's not a simple matter in the least, and the way Tyler dealt with it in the end just made me love him more!

There were some areas that I felt could have been improved upon.  I would have liked more background in regards to Maggie's friendship with Ava, Ford and Sam. They all had such a great little group going, but the details were rather absent.  I also felt that the title didn't go with the book at all- there were only two mentions of the words "truth or dare" and none of the characters ever played the game, so this didn't make sense to me.  Overall, though, I had a great time with this book and I'm looking forward to reading more by this author.

My rating: 3 stars