Dare You To by Riley Hart
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Previously released in the anthology, IT WAS ALWAYS YOU.
A Wild Side Series prequel novella.Austin Thompson spends most of his spare time reading or logging in extra hours at the LGBTQ youth center where he works. His only standing “night out,” if you can call it that, is his weekly movie night with his best friend, Dare Nichols. Between work and Dare, it’s hard to find time for much else, so when he does try to date, it ends in disaster.
Dare thrives on living life on the wild side—surfing, mountain biking, sky diving. If it’s extreme, he’s game. Between sports and spending his evenings at his West Hollywood bar, Dare never sees a dull moment. Still, with all that excitement, most of his favorite times are when he’s tucked away in Austin’s apartment. Probably because he’s the best friend Dare’s ever had.
Then the kiss happens and the men realize they don’t want to stop there. As they explore this new adventure in their relationship, Austin realizes the excitement he’s been looking for has been right there all along, and Dare must decide if he can conquer his only fear by risking his heart.
This story was a great start of the Wild Side series but can also perfect to be read as a stand alone. :3
Austin and Dare are really sweet chracter and you get a feeling they are “real” when they are together. Both guys are friends for a long time and never expected to be more than this. But under the surface the emotions are simmering.
I am really a hooker for friends-to-lovers-stories and Riley Hart is perfectly able to create a capturizing story about this simple fact.
She puts a bit thrill into the story in creating tension, but also in giving the character incredible depth although it is just a short story/novella. I realy appreciate the deep dig into the character development and along with this the character are palpable in their emotions and history. You are as curious as Austin to reveal Dare’s secrets for example.
The sexual tension is fast built up but nonetheless sensual and sexy, nothing is rushed or hurried in an inppropriate way. In the well known Riley manner we get the super sexy scenes with a lot of emotions.
Riley Hart did again a great job and wrote a book I totally recommend. 🙂
5 out of 5 stars for this. Some people may reduce stars because of short stories or novellas, but I don’t do this.
Mikku-chan 
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