Five Dares

This is a bit steamier than some of Eli Easton’s other books, but it is rooted firmly within the journey that these two characters discover as they heal up from a stupid stunt.

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Andy Tyler has been the class daredevil since middle school. Over the years, he’s convinced his best friend, Jake Masterson, to perform some dangerous-looking stunts with him. But the dare they attempt on the night of their college graduation goes sideways. The firecrackers explode too soon and both of them end up with badly burned palms. But hey, nothing gets the “terrible duo” down for long, and they recuperate in style at Andy’s family cottage in Nantucket.

As the weeks go by, both Andy and Jake grow frustrated over the inability to use their hands for all sorts of daily activities-including getting off. So Andy begins a new series of dares that don’t just cross the friendship line, they obliterate it. But what might be mere sexual relief to Andy is serious business to Jake, who only recently got over years of secret pining for his straight best friend. Inevitably, the burns heal, summer ends, and hearts are broken. To fix things, Andy will have to face the greatest dare of all.

The Purple Fantastic Steam rating gives this a 4 out of 5. It gets a really sexy at times, but always in service to story and character development.