Dare to Kiss (The Maxwell Series #1)
by: S.B. Alexander
Besides her family, Lacey Robinson’s only other love is baseball. She’s on top of the world when Arizona State University approaches her to discuss a scholarship. To be the first girl ever to grace a college boys’ team is beyond what she has ever dreamed.
Her fastball is impeccable, her curveball equally as good, and her slider annihilates anyone who dares to step in the batter’s box. But fate has its own way of throwing curveballs. When she loses her mother and sister to a home invasion, baseball and her dreams die with them. Tragedy has a way of seeping deep into her psyche, causing nightmares, panic attacks and blackouts. Diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, her psychiatrist recommends a change of scenery and picking up the things that she loved to do, and for Lacey that is baseball.
After a move clear across the country, only two things matter to Lacey—overcome her PTSD and make Kensington High’s baseball team. But trying out for the team comes with obstacles—the captain, Aaron Seever, doesn’t want a girl on the team.
Her life is further complicated when she meets Kade Maxwell, a tall, sexy and drool-worthy bad boy who has a magical touch that awakens her feminine side and a kiss that slowly erases her nightmares. But getting involved with him may be dangerous when Kade’s archenemy returns to town to settle a vendetta.
To complicate matters, her PTSD has taken a turn for the worse. She has to find a way to heal otherwise she may not have a chance at anything in life, especially love.
My Review & Rating
August 29. 2014
4.5 "Take Me Out to The Ball-Game" Stars
**Copy Provided by NetGalley for Honest Review**
4.5 "Take Me Out to The Ball-Game" Stars
As soon as I read the blurb for Dare to Kiss
I knew I had to read it. I’m not a huge sports fan nor have I ever really been
into sports myself but how can anyone deny the originality and uniqueness of a
female baseball player. I went into this
book with eyes wide open and I’m so glad because it was a HOME RUN.
Lacey and her father are new in town. Lacey wants to start
living again. She wants to leave the sheltered and depressing life she and her
dad have been consumed by. Lacey is not great with sharing, not even with readers.
Overtime we learn more about what happened to her but as time goes it becomes
more apparent something awful, brutal and gruesome lies in her past.
Lacey made friends over the summer with a popular football
player. He helps her get her groove back since it’s been awhile since she’s
played. Oh and the kicker is… Lacey has to try out for the team, she’s not a
shoe in. Her well known past will only get her so far and she has to prove
herself to the coaches and fellow teammates. Most who are male and not happy
that Lacey wants to be one of them. As you can imagine high school is a bitch
and these kids hold no punches. Pranks, jokes and secrets keep these kids alive
and Lacey is like a new toy for them to play with.
Kade Maxell is our hero in this book. I wasn’t sure when we
first meet him because let’s just say their meeting doesn’t go so well and Lacey
proves she is more than just a girl who wants to play ball. She’s a take no
prisoners badass who can handle herself. Lacey does have a weak spot. Her past.
Thinking about it, dreaming about or even talking about it can be dangerous and
when there’s another girl trying out for the team who reminds her of someone
she lost, someone she just lost and someone she saw in tragic way. PTSD,
blackouts, panic attacks. Lacey suffers from them all. She thought she was
getting better but her new school and new life seem to be getting the better of
her.
Overall I really enjoyed this book. It was an interesting mix
of originality with a lot of the drama and badassery that we get from Tijan’s Fallen
Crest Series. The Maxwell brothers are very much like those Mason
boys and they don’t like anyone messing with what’s theirs. To say it’s a
hardship having so many hotties in this book would be a total lie and after Kade
and Lacey’s story is done I’d love for each brother to get their own as well.
Sports fans would probably love this book even more, but for the average reader
looking from some drama-tastic, YA bordering New Adult (for some naughty
stuff), I would highly recommend checking this book out.
I’m very mad, I’ll admit, mostly because I did not know this
book would have an incomplete end. I’m not saying cliff-hanger because I did
not get that impression but it was clear with so many things left unanswered
that this story was far from over.
**Copy Provided by NetGalley for Honest Review**
