A review by katherine_christina
10 Truths and a Dare by Ashley Elston

funny lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I didn't enjoy this book as much as I did the first but it was still a fun, entertaining read! I would definitely consider this book to be more of a contemporary with a romance side plot than a full-on romance. I feel like we didn't ever go super in depth with Leo's character or personality,

which is a shame because him and Olivia had some genuinely cute moments towards the end but I just felt kinda neutral towards their romance.

Towards the beginning of the book, the setup was a little frustrating to me. I didn't really understand why Olivia thought her family would shame her so much over the PE credit, when they have done nothing to give this impression.

And when she eventually does tell them, there are all super supportive and wanting to help her.

Also how did Olivia's mom have so much free time to check her phone while on a work trip? I can get past these things though, because I understand that hiding it made for more chaos. The thing that is hard for me to believe though is that Olivia, who is supposed to be incredibly smart and driven about school, somehow thought that there wasn't any penalty for missing a bunch of class. I understand that she didn't think golf was that serious but she thought that she could just not show up and still pass? I just don't understand how someone so studious could completely disregard a class that they know they need to take,

and then when she is given a second chance, she still tries to sneak away for a bit on the first day.

I thought the third-act conflict was very believable though, and I was happy with the way the book wrapped up in the end. I think it would have been fun to include more aspects of "truth or dare" in the book because of the title, but that's okay. The thing that I honestly probably enjoyed the most about this book was Charlie. I found his POVs to be funny and this book just made me really want an all Charlie book following a story of his own!

I actually liked that this book acknowledged the possible perspective of the "Evil Jos" regarding the "Fab Four" as the mean ones, and I wish that this could have been explored even more, so that we could have seen some kind of a resolution between the 2 groups.

Overall I really liked being back with the Messina family, and I would to see more of them in the future!