Dare to Love (1)

To say the Dare siblings have a strained relationship is indeed an understatement. Robert Dare has two separate families, one with his wife, the other with his mistress. Circumstances led to him revealing the existence of his second family and as this book opens he is now married to said mistress. Ian is the oldest and is the owner of the Miami Thunder Football Team. As such he is very involved in the charity work the team supports. It's at one such event with his mother and his siblings that he first sees Riley, unfortunately she's on his half-brother Alex's arm.There's a lot to the story of this family, there is plenty of animosity especially between the brothers of the two separate families of Robert Dare.Riley is Alex's best friend, he's always been there for her and she considers him family, but he's definitely in the friend zone. Riley has some problems, the company she works for was sold and the new owners are bringing in their own people. In a Hail-Mary attempt to save her job she pulls the possibility of an in with the Miami Thunder as a new client.Why she thought this could possibly work when she only met Ian once? Even she doesn't have an answer for that. The time allotted for her to pull this off is short and unfortunately during NFL draft week.At first Ian is curious about the message from Riley, the kiss they shared still haunting him. He decides not to return the call because Alex had told him to back off.The first person Riley turns to is of course Alex and he in turn confronts Ian, letting him know he's screwed up. This happens in front of their father and Ian makes a deal with the 'devil' to get her contact information.Even though Ian wasn't her boss, the job with the Thunder presents a problem or two. Especially with Ian's interest.A fun tale with sibling rivalry, romance, and sizzling heat!

As the first book in her Dare to Love series Ms. Phillips isn't breaking any new ground but has instead crafted an engaging story with an intensely emotional storyline. With a story involving secrets, lies, and control issues there's enough upheaval to keep readers turning the pages of this emotional roller coaster ride to HEA between two people struggling with daddy issues.Ian's a commanding presence who hides the pain of a father who walked away from what Ian always thought was a happy family to create another family. This act left Ian angry, closed off his emotions, and made him completely dominant in many aspects of his life. He never wants to set himself up to be hurt again so he tries to control everything around him. Meeting the enticing Riley though catches him off-guard in the throes of insta-love. He's even more bent on having her as she's with his half-brother Alex, who he has an adversarial relationship with. He and Riley have a steamy connection, one based on shared pain courtesy of their fathers. Their scenes are intense and full of push and pull reactions to Ian's dominance and Riley's fear of being controlled that puts them through the emotional wringer. Though I didn't feel a deep loving bond between them, their sexual bond is blatant.Riley is a strong-willed woman who was verbally abused by her father growing up and wants nothing to do with powerful and controlling men. She too never wants to set herself up to be hurt but can't help being drawn to Ian despite the animosity between him and her friend Alex. Can she relinquish enough control to make a HEA with Ian or is she destined to be alone forever? It's a rocky road to redemption and the overcoming of past hurts for them to reach their much-deserved ending with lots of steamy encounters and sparring along the way. Neither character is perfect but they are memorable as they struggle to put the past behind them to preserve their future.Ian and Riley are strong characters carrying a lot of emotional burdens. They're far from warm and fuzzy but they are memorable with their strong-willed natures and sensually dominant connection. Ian in particular has a lot of emotions to deal with as he discovers his father's other family and must come to an understanding with them and his father. His pent-up emotions don't always bring out his best side but his hurts are easy to understand and his commanding nature is immensely appealing. Alex too is appealing and seeing him and Ian interact makes for an even more engaging story as they struggle to accept one another and their part in not only their father's life but Riley's too. Alex is a strong character in his own right and I look forward to seeing him take the lead in the next book in this series. Ms. Phillips crafted a solid, if average, series starter that her old fans and new fans will both appreciate!

3.5/5On discovering this author from social media promotion I devoured all of the freebies I could get my hands over over the course of a weekend.I loved Carly’s romantic writing style with alpha males with some emotional damage to overcome. Protective of their families and looking for a deep emotional connection they haven’t found before.Taken by surprise by the intense physical and emotinal attraction to Riley, Ian struggles with their relationship due to Riley’s friendship with Alex, Ian’s half-brother. Still reeling from the shock of discovering his fahter’s secret family, Ian has to make peace with his past if he hoopes for a future with Riley.Riley has problems of her own, suffering the repercussions of an abusive childhood, she finds it hard to trust people. When her past catches up with her, the repercussions could cause the end of her relationship with Ian.Carly Phillips delivers utterly swwon-worthy relationships. The stuff fantasies are made of.

A great start to this series. Dare to Love was hot, and enjoyable to read. I loved Riley from the start and how she stood her ground with Ian, especially considering Ian was so controlled in every area. But what I really liked was that as the relationship developed between them, they each started to compromise, Ian especially after learning about Rileys past.However, I do wish it had been longer. As I would've liked to have been sucked in more, and that's really why in the end, I never gave this book 5⭐ But I would happily recommend it to others.

First this was a really nice start to a good series celebrating the Dare family. This book starts with Ian Dare, handsome, successful and rich. He's very closed as a result of his fathers infidelity, but that changes when he meets Riley, she's everything he wants and she doesn't care about his money but she's also best friends with his half brother Alex, and they hate each other. Riley has had a rough past so she trusts nobody and is independent. When she's meets Ian it's instant and though Alex disapproves she begins having a relationship with Ian but will their pasts dictate their future.I really enjoyed this read, nice story and plot, lots of angst, romantic and hot, great characters, and family dynamic. I would recommend.

I hadn't read any books by this author before and downloaded it as it was a freebie. In my experience freebies go one if two ways, good book which entices you to buy more from the author or just rubbish. This luckily was the former and was thoroughly enjoyable. Some humour, angst, friends and relations whose stories you become interested in and of course the requisite steamy love scenes.Definitely worth a read and I will be downloading more from this author.

Brilliant book well written and a great cast of characters really enjoyed reading this book I couldn't put it down Will read more from this author