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A review by aliu6
Dare to Love by A.L. Brooks
4.0
4.25 stars
Carmen Lyttleton is too busy with her job to spend time on her love life. Maybe that's why it's been over a decade since her last meaningful relationship with a man. But when Carmen accompanies her friend to get a tattoo, she finds herself drawn to the tattoo artist—the lesbian tattoo artist. Ash Taylor was burned years ago after she fell in love with a straight woman, and since then, she's refused to put herself in another similar situation. But it's hard for Carmen and Ash to stay apart when everything feels so easy when they're together. Can Carmen help Ash overcome her fears and dare to love?
cw: homophobia (from minor characters), suicide attempt (briefly mentioned, by minor character)
There was a bit of a slow start, but then I started really getting into the story. I ended up enjoying this one.
The Characters: We get an alternating third person limited POV of the MCs, and both were very likable. Ash had her past to deal with, and Carmen needed to explore her sexuality. In the beginning, I found Carmen a bit timid. She seemed a bit bland next to all these other colorful personalities. But then it was like a flip switched and she was mature and confident, and I was loving it. Ash was pretty steady throughout, although her understandable fears cause her to do some childish things. I also really liked the side characters. We get a good deal of page time with Tamsyn and Maggie from A.L. Brooks's previous book (which was pretty good, although not as good as this one, if memory serves). Ash's niece, Sophie, who is going through her own coming out process, is fantastic.
The Romance: This was definitely a slowburn, where the MCs became friends and mutually pined over each other. And then they finally revealed their feelings, and even then, they kept to kissing until Carmen was ready to go all the way. It was really cute. I definitely got the sense of the ease of their relationship through their banter. There are a few spots of angst, but nothing major. I almost expected a bigger issue, like one of their exes returning, but I'm glad it didn't happen.
The Plot: The plot follows along the romance and with Carmen's coming out journey. There's also some sideplots involving Carmen's business and Ash's niece, which were also quite engaging. Like I said, there was a bit of a slow start, but the last two thirds of the book went down real easy.
The Writing: The writing was solid. It was pretty British in style, and I read all the dialogue in British accents (not that I'm good at differentiating between them) in my head.
The main area where this loses points is in the slow start, but this was a really enjoyable story. I like how we get deeper into the characters' lives. The coming out story is an important one, and it's different for every individual. Would recommend this!
Carmen Lyttleton is too busy with her job to spend time on her love life. Maybe that's why it's been over a decade since her last meaningful relationship with a man. But when Carmen accompanies her friend to get a tattoo, she finds herself drawn to the tattoo artist—the lesbian tattoo artist. Ash Taylor was burned years ago after she fell in love with a straight woman, and since then, she's refused to put herself in another similar situation. But it's hard for Carmen and Ash to stay apart when everything feels so easy when they're together. Can Carmen help Ash overcome her fears and dare to love?
cw: homophobia (from minor characters), suicide attempt (briefly mentioned, by minor character)
There was a bit of a slow start, but then I started really getting into the story. I ended up enjoying this one.
The Characters: We get an alternating third person limited POV of the MCs, and both were very likable. Ash had her past to deal with, and Carmen needed to explore her sexuality. In the beginning, I found Carmen a bit timid. She seemed a bit bland next to all these other colorful personalities. But then it was like a flip switched and she was mature and confident, and I was loving it. Ash was pretty steady throughout, although her understandable fears cause her to do some childish things. I also really liked the side characters. We get a good deal of page time with Tamsyn and Maggie from A.L. Brooks's previous book (which was pretty good, although not as good as this one, if memory serves). Ash's niece, Sophie, who is going through her own coming out process, is fantastic.
The Romance: This was definitely a slowburn, where the MCs became friends and mutually pined over each other. And then they finally revealed their feelings, and even then, they kept to kissing until Carmen was ready to go all the way. It was really cute. I definitely got the sense of the ease of their relationship through their banter. There are a few spots of angst, but nothing major. I almost expected a bigger issue, like one of their exes returning, but I'm glad it didn't happen.
The Plot: The plot follows along the romance and with Carmen's coming out journey. There's also some sideplots involving Carmen's business and Ash's niece, which were also quite engaging. Like I said, there was a bit of a slow start, but the last two thirds of the book went down real easy.
The Writing: The writing was solid. It was pretty British in style, and I read all the dialogue in British accents (not that I'm good at differentiating between them) in my head.
The main area where this loses points is in the slow start, but this was a really enjoyable story. I like how we get deeper into the characters' lives. The coming out story is an important one, and it's different for every individual. Would recommend this!