The Dare Blog Tour: Review

 

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for THE DARE! Read on for more information on the book and my review!

The Dare
Author: Hannah Jayne
Genre: YA Contemporary Mystery
Release Date: July 1, 2014
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Description:

Two jumped off the pier that night...but only one came back alive
Bryn did everything with her best friend Erica. So when someone dared Erica to jump off the pier one night at Harding Beach, Bryn was right by her side. But when Bryn made it back to the surface, Erica was nowhere to be found. Bryn tries to make a fresh start by burying her memories of that awful night. But when a Twitter post from "EricaNShaw" pops up on her feed and a chilling voice mail appears on her phone, she realizes that someone isn't ready to let go of the past... 

The Dare is a contemporary young adult mystery that follows our lead lady - Brynna - as she struggles to start a fresh life after the tragedy of losing her best friend. Erica was Bryn's best friend - and when Bryn dared Erica to jump off a pier in the middle of the night - she was right beside her. Only something went terribly wrong and Erica didn't come back to the beach. After the accident, Bryn's life spiraled out of control into a world of drinking and drugs - anything to ease the grief and pain of Erica's death. Bryn's out of rehab now and is living in a new town with the hope of a fresh start. Things seem to be going better than she expected, until the day that she receives a tweet from Erica's Twitter account. Bryn tries to shrug it off as someone playing a cruel joke, but then she receives a voice mail recording of that night on the beach - the night of the dare. Is Erica still alive? Does she blame Bryn for leaving her alone in the water - and now wants revenge? Or is Bryn driving herself insane with guilt over Erica's death? Or even worse - is someone else trying to make sure that Bryn doesn't ever forget what happened?

I've read a few of the author's other thrillers and I've never been disappointed by them. I always get sucked into the story right away and end up reading the entire book in one sitting. The same happened when I read this book. I was pulled into the story alongside Bryn from the first page and I didn't come up for air until I was finished with the book. I love thrillers and mysteries - I always try to figure out what's really going on and who's behind everything before the characters do. If I can't get to the bottom of things before the reveal in the book, I consider it a huge accomplishment on the author's talent. For some reason though, I was able to see right through this one and had it figured out from about a quarter of the way in. Don't get me wrong - there were tons of twists and turns; things that had me second guessing myself and the writing was strong and fast paced - I was just able to see through everything to the heart of everything pretty quickly - which essentially botched the experience a bit for me. The plot was well written and had a lot of interesting twists thrown in, which made it an enjoyable read even though I wasn't able to completely lose myself in the book like I usually can. This is definitely a book (and author) I'd recommend to fans of mysteries and thrillers, and I'm looking forward to the next book she releases.