Dare

by Abiola Abrams

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.

Genres: Fiction

368 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Abiola Abrams is an award-winning author, intuitive coach, transformational speaker, and international retreat leader.

Her newest book is THE DIVINE FREQUENCY: HARNESS THE MAGIC OF UNIVERSAL LAWS FOR TRANSFORMATION, MANIFESTATION, AND FREEDOM (Hay House/Penguin Random House), and her latest oracle card deck is FACES OF OSHUN ORACLE. You can also find her meditation albums on the Hay House Unlimited Audio app.

Abiola’s previous works include FROM IMAGINATION TO REALITY: SECRET MANIFESTATION LESSONS AND THE LAW OF ASSUMPTION FROM ABDULLAH, MASTER ALCHEMIST, the bestselling AFRICAN GODDESS INITIATION: SACRED RITUALS FOR SELF-LOVE, PROSPERITY, AND JOY, and the acclaimed AFRICAN GODDESS RISING ORACLE and SECRETS OF THE ANCESTORS ORACLE.

In addition to her books and decks, Abiola has served as faculty for HAY HOUSE, THE TAPPING SOLUTION, KRIPALU, OMEGA, ART OF LIVING, and other global retreat spaces dedicated to empowerment, healing, and transformation.

Although best known for her inspirational nonfiction, Abiola is also a novelist. She is currently writing her first ROMANTASY novel as a follow-up to her debut novel DARE.

As the founder of the WOMANIFESTING self-love empowerment platform, podcast, and Goddess Temple Circle, Abiola’s mission is to help you step into your power and become who you were born to be.

A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College with a degree in sociology, Abiola also holds an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts.

When she’s not writing or teaching, Abiola is a proud mom to her toddler, Ruby.

Learn more about her work at womanifesting.com and on social media @abiolaTV.

Reviews

[Racquell · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Titilayo · Rating 5 out of 5]

"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.

[Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

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

[Kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Melinda]

I 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.

[Saysha Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Lacha' · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just do you, without all of the fluff, lies and stuff.

[Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story, but it ended weak.

[Shan Rich · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful and poetic, I def would love to read more from the author

[Ursula · Rating 1 out of 5]

BORING!!!