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Dare
A brainy poet pretends to be a sexed-up hip-hop star in this steamy urban novel by passionate living expert and TV personality Abiola Abrams. Double-dipped in cocoa with brick-house curves, Maya Hope is a lover of jazz, a political poet, and a sociologist. Her best friend and roommate, Athena Jackson, is her opposite in every way—a petite ex-cheerleader who’s always blaring rap, grinding out rhymes, and ready to take the next man home. When Maya is forced to pinch-hit in an audition and bust Athena’s rhymes, she finds herself on an undercover escapade in the wild world of hip-hop as the raw, sexy, roughneck Jezebel. After striking a deal with her own personal devil, Maya sets off on the tempting roller-coaster ride of a lifetime—finding music, more fun than she’s ever had, and even a man or two...but not without consequences.
- GenresFiction
368 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2007
About the author
Abiola Abrams
19 books112 followersAbiola Abrams writes for readers who love goddesses, ancestral magic, divination, and women claiming their power.
Her novel HONEY GODDESS follows a heroine over 35 and her circle of friends, who all receive supernatural powers. Expect found family, slow-burn romance, and open-door spice. The story blends rootwork, oracle cards, and tarot with African diaspora spirituality and Mother God energy.
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ABIOLA ABRAMS is a NY-born award-winning author, intuitive, and oracle card creatrix. Her obsessions include women remembering who they were born to be, writing love-soaked, magic-kissed stories about ancestral power, desire, and identity, and channeling spiritual books and oracle decks. Her work is rooted in sacred wisdom, ritual, and the divine feminine.
Her newest novel, HONEY GODDESS, is a romantasy about ancestral power, ride-or-die sisterhood, African and diasporic spiritual traditions, and a woman awakening to the goddess within. Her first novel, DARE, was a magical realism romantic comedy.
Her bestselling spiritual books and oracle decks include AFRICAN GODDESS INITIATION, AFRICAN GODDESS RISING ORACLE, and her newest deck, MOON GODDESS SHADOW ORACLE. She has led Goddess Circles everywhere from her Harlem living room to international retreats.
Abiola has been a writer since childhood, when she turned her toy stove on its side and declared it her first desk. Born to Guyanese parents with Bajan and African heritage, Abiola was raised by a minister of practices rooted in African spirituality. She learned early to honor the seen and unseen worlds.
Her past lives include ghostwriter, ESSENCE Magazine sexpert, lifestyle journalist, gossip columnist, documentarian, and TV big mouth. Abiola studied sociology and creative writing at Sarah Lawrence College and holds an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts.
Her most demanding audience is a tiara-wearing mini goddess with off-the-chain opinions about bedtime stories and snacks.
Her novel HONEY GODDESS follows a heroine over 35 and her circle of friends, who all receive supernatural powers. Expect found family, slow-burn romance, and open-door spice. The story blends rootwork, oracle cards, and tarot with African diaspora spirituality and Mother God energy.
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ABIOLA ABRAMS is a NY-born award-winning author, intuitive, and oracle card creatrix. Her obsessions include women remembering who they were born to be, writing love-soaked, magic-kissed stories about ancestral power, desire, and identity, and channeling spiritual books and oracle decks. Her work is rooted in sacred wisdom, ritual, and the divine feminine.
Her newest novel, HONEY GODDESS, is a romantasy about ancestral power, ride-or-die sisterhood, African and diasporic spiritual traditions, and a woman awakening to the goddess within. Her first novel, DARE, was a magical realism romantic comedy.
Her bestselling spiritual books and oracle decks include AFRICAN GODDESS INITIATION, AFRICAN GODDESS RISING ORACLE, and her newest deck, MOON GODDESS SHADOW ORACLE. She has led Goddess Circles everywhere from her Harlem living room to international retreats.
Abiola has been a writer since childhood, when she turned her toy stove on its side and declared it her first desk. Born to Guyanese parents with Bajan and African heritage, Abiola was raised by a minister of practices rooted in African spirituality. She learned early to honor the seen and unseen worlds.
Her past lives include ghostwriter, ESSENCE Magazine sexpert, lifestyle journalist, gossip columnist, documentarian, and TV big mouth. Abiola studied sociology and creative writing at Sarah Lawrence College and holds an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts.
Her most demanding audience is a tiara-wearing mini goddess with off-the-chain opinions about bedtime stories and snacks.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
July 14, 2008
I am a teacher of literature who secretly reads what they classify as urban or street lit. I can't help it! It's an addictive fix. Anyway, I bought Dare expecting to have my quick fix needs satisfied and then I realized that this was something totally different. Dare is hip hop literature. If you are not used to reading literature this book may confuse you, but if you are a reader who appreciates real literary authorship Dare is for you. The story was beautiful, funny, sexy and moving and I look forward to more. I guess that they had to label it as urban fiction because it features hip hop. That's unfortunate because this is more the story of an African American sociologist.
May 25, 2011
"We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful what we pretend to be." pg 340
This book was real awesome. I love hip hop. I love tales of transformation, personal growth, foolishness and mayheim. The fact that its set in a town named "Faustus", the main characters whose last name is Hope makes a "deal" with the devil, her best friend is named Athena, there is a limo driver named Legba, a random undergrad named Ifa Ochun, carcitures from the rap world, and pearls of wisdom sprinkled through out made this the best book i've read so far this year.
This book was real awesome. I love hip hop. I love tales of transformation, personal growth, foolishness and mayheim. The fact that its set in a town named "Faustus", the main characters whose last name is Hope makes a "deal" with the devil, her best friend is named Athena, there is a limo driver named Legba, a random undergrad named Ifa Ochun, carcitures from the rap world, and pearls of wisdom sprinkled through out made this the best book i've read so far this year.
December 23, 2007
I LOVE this novel. It was written by my former boss, Abiola Abrams, a Sarah Lawrence College (SLC) alum. Excellent writing, poetry, spoken word, plot. About an insecure woman who sells her soul to gain courage enough to be a superstar.
October 22, 2013
I like it, was rather endearing. Young poet and sociologist, love for words but too afraid to put her talent out there. Given a chance as if by fate she was choosen to do just that; explore and display her writing through a rhythm she thought she hated.
She gained it all, almost lost it all to find out to find her true self and that the love she wanted was right there all along with Rob- whom I loved dearly in this novel
She gained it all, almost lost it all to find out to find her true self and that the love she wanted was right there all along with Rob- whom I loved dearly in this novel
May 26, 2009
Never read Ms. Abrams before. The book was kind of deep crossing the the differences b/w the suppposed intellectual world of "poetry" and the supposed "ghetto" of rap. We find that in a lot of cases that the worlds are the same and people are not all that different. Not a light read. Thought provoking nevertheless.
Want to Read
May 11, 2015I haven't actually finished this book. I decided that I just couldn't handle the story right now. Some day I want to finish this book because I really like the premise and I've really connected with the characters but I'm not ready to experience the hardship and conflict that they are about to go through. So I'm adding this to my partially read shelf with hopes of returning to it.
March 21, 2008
I gave up...
This cover of this book is nice and so is the title, but Dare didnt do it for me at all. The characters are colorful and this book had so much potential to be good. In my opinion, the author focused too much on spoken word, poetry an hip hop versus actually developing a STORY.
This cover of this book is nice and so is the title, but Dare didnt do it for me at all. The characters are colorful and this book had so much potential to be good. In my opinion, the author focused too much on spoken word, poetry an hip hop versus actually developing a STORY.
January 14, 2009
Just do you, without all of the fluff, lies and stuff.
August 2, 2011
Good story, but it ended weak.
February 23, 2021
Beautiful and poetic, I def would love to read more from the author
September 1, 2008
BORING!!!
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews