Meags's Reviews > Five Dares

4 Stars

Five Dares was a joy to read and is an instant favourite of mine in the new adult M/M genre.

Andy and Jake have been BFFs since forever and they are infamous among their friends for their sometimes dangerous and definitely outlandish stunt-pulling. On the night of their college graduation, Andy, always the instigator, talks Jake into one final show, involving firecrackers and their open palms. Unsurprisingly, things go pear-shaped and the boys end up injured and unable to use their hands for the foreseeable future, significantly altering the course of their summer plans and putting a kink in their upcoming work/school obligations.

With support from their parents, Andy and Jake end up holing up together at Andy’s family’s lake side cabin for the summer. Visited daily by both a property manager who keeps them fed and a nurse who assists with their wounds and bathing, Andy and Jake must learn to fill the hours while they heal.

As the weeks drag on, the boys become more and more frustrated by their inability to complete any tasks requiring their hands – most notably their inability to get off.

In his mounting desperation to find sexual relief, Andy suggests that they help each other out, no strings attached. Jake is shocked stupid by the suggestion, mostly because the thought of finally getting his hands (or mouth, as the case may be) on Andy is an overwhelming prospect for Jake, who has been pining away for Andy for years. Jake doesn’t want his heart broken but ultimately he’s unable to resist temptation and agrees to get up close and personal with Andy.

As these situations are wont to do, sex becomes more and deeper feelings, which have been suppressed for years by both boys, become undeniable. Soon enough, their hands are healed and summer is almost over, leaving Andy and Jake to make some huge life-altering decisions regarding their changing relationship and what they want out of their futures.

This was a pretty damn fantastic friends-to-lovers story, IMO. Initially, I was worried I wouldn’t like Andy very much, simply because the whole prank/stunt thing was highly unappealing to me, but as his deeper (even subconscious) motives for behaving as such were revealed, I found myself fully embracing his character.

What started off as quite a light-hearted, sexy, and even silly friends-to-lovers romp, turned into a truly moving and emotionally gripping story during the second half of the book. I loved how the final chapters played out and I was impressed by how affected I found myself by the emotional turmoil Andy and Jake experienced. Tears were shed by me, but they weren’t all sad tears, I promise. I just loved the emotional turn this story took – it surprised the hell out of me and bumped up my rating significantly.