The Dare

by Hannah Jayne

Two jumped off the pier that night...but only one came back alive

Bryn did everything with her best friend Erica. So when someone dared Erica to jump off the pier one night at Harding Beach, Bryn was right by her side. But when Bryn made it back to the surface, Erica was nowhere to be found. Bryn tries to make a fresh start by burying her memories of that awful night. But when a Twitter post from "EricaNShaw" pops up on her feed and a chilling voice mail appears on her phone, she realizes that someone isn't ready to let go of the past...

Genres: Mystery, Young Adult, Thriller, Contemporary, Suspense, Ebooks, Teen

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

Hannah is the author of the UNDERWORLD DETECTION AGENCY CHRONICLES from Kensington books and the upcoming young adult thrillers TRULY, MADLY, DEADLY and SEE JANE RUN available from Sourcebooks, Inc. When she's not battling the demons of the Underworld or tackling a murderer at Hawthorne High, Jayne kicks her feet up in her San Francisco bay area home and attempts to share couch space with two enormous cats.

Now that you're here, kick up your feet and stay awhile...

Reviews

[Lectus · Rating 1 out of 5]

In reality, The Dare should be called I Know What You Did Last Summer.

So Brynna and a bunch of friends went to some beach one night and she dared her best friend Erica to dive. Unfortunately, Erica didn't make it back up; her body wasn't even found.

In The Dare we have the typical case of I-shuld-have-been-the-one-to-die syndrome. Brynna is constantly feeling guilty and thinks she killed her friend. Right.

So Brynna's parents move to another town so her ex alcoholic and drug addict daughter could start over. At the new school, the first day of class Brynna meets super friendly Evan who is like "are you new? Cool, let me introduce you to the gang." At least there isn't a gorgeous evil bitch who rules the school to hate Brynna.

Further more, Brynna is now not totally convinced that Erica who might or might not be dead, is trying to kill her.

I kept reading because I wanted to find out who was playing pranks on Brynna. Pathetic who that turned out to be too.

Meanwhile, Brynna's new friends are super cool and supportive; they don't care that she used to drink and do hardcore drugs. By the way, how does a teenager gets hardcore drugs? I mean, once in a while, I understand, but constantly? Whatever, Brynna is rehabilitated now.

Because now Brynna wants nothing to do with water, everything revolves around water: Brynna has to take swim classes in order to graduate; they have a party and the best part is that it is at a pool; good friend Evan takes Brynna to the beach so she can create new memories and let go of the old ones.... all of which just makes Brynna more paranoid. Water? Heeelllp! I killed my friend! I can't get in there.

The story is filled with dull conversations and shit between Brynna and her new friends while she has flashbacks of the night of the dare and other good times with best friend Erica.

At the end we know who is pranking Brynna, duh! She accepts that she is not going crazy (somebody was after her, indeed!), and they live forever happily.

Via http://onlectus.blogspot.com/2014/06/...

[Abi · Rating 3 out of 5]

(I received a copy from Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.)

The Dare was an okay read, but it got dragged out more than it needed too.

I felt really sorry for Brynna...everything she went through must have been awful.

I liked Evan to start with, but he started to really annoy me when he was trying to find out what had happened to Brynna. I get that he cared for her, and wanted to know what was troubling her so badly, but he was so pushy! He did get better after that, but his pushiness done my head in.
All the other characters were alright, but i can't say i loved any of them.

The first chapter of this was really good, and so was the last 10%... but everything else was boring. It was dragged out too much, and when stuff actually happened, i couldn't get interested in it.

Overall, Started and ended good, but everything in between was too slow.

[Mlpmom (Book Reviewer) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Hannah Jayne's stories. She never ceases to bring an edge of suspense and mystery into each and every one of her books. An almost creepy vibe like feel keeping you on the edge of your seat wondering what will happen next and most of all, who can be trusted and who can't.

The Dare kept me guessing and wondering right up to the very end. Constantly in a state of turmoil wondering if the protagonist was crazy, disturbed or if someone was really out to get her.

As haunting pieces of that night slowly surface we are faced with the reality of what really happened that night months ago when Bryn dared her best friend Erica to jump into the freezing water and swim to shore and still we are left wondering what was reality and what was the imaginations, fears and guilt of a young girl left with the consequences and heartache of thinking that she was responsible for her friend's death.

This was probably my favorite book of Jayne's yet and really shows how much the author's ability to weave a tale of mystery has really blossomed and grown.

[Rants and Bants · Rating 1 out of 5]

0 stars.

Why is it that every summer I always end up reading at least ONE shitty book?

Get ready to hear about one of the most brutally toxic friendships I’ve ever read about in a book. Which is seriously saying something at this point.



Mother and Father of all shit. I have not had a book piss me off this badly since 2013. Brace yourselves, because this is going to be another rant n’ rage review. *cracks knuckles*

Firstly, let me start off by saying that even though this book has a gay character in it, I will not be putting it under my lgbt shelf. Why?

Because not only is said gay character an asshole, BUT, the author and the story still treat him like he’s the victim anyway. Here’s the long story short: Evan (the gay character), tells Brynna (the main character, and straight), that he’s gay. It’s supposed to be this big “secret”, despite the fact that there are numerous instances where it’s made obvious that the entire school has already assumed this about Evan. At any rate, one day Evan’s locker has some not-so-flattering writing on it, along with flyers posted up all over the hallways at school, and what do Even, and his cunt sister Lauren, do? They automatically blame Brynna, with zero evidence or reason whatsoever. Even after she insists that she didn’t tell anyone.

And then this innocent straight girl is physically attacked by the vicious, vile sack of shit that is Lauren, who actually claws at her face and makes her bleed.





I am so sick and tired of this crap. This is the third book I’ve read now where there is a gay character (or a trans character, as was the case in one book) that was an asshole, yet still treated like a special snowflake regardless. And it’s really starting to piss me off. Guys, I’m going to say something that might not be so politically correct, but it’s the truth so fuck it: Just because you are gay, bi, or trans, DOESN’T mean that you are inherently a good, innocent person. It JUST means that you are gay, bi, or trans. It’s sad that stuff like this still needs to be explained. Let me repeat it a little louder: JUST BECAUSE YOU ARE LGBT, IT DOESN’T MEAN YOU ARE IMMUNE TO BEING A COLOSSAL, BRAIN DEAD, LOWLIFE, DIRTBAG.

Let me reiterate this too: I am not saying we shouldn’t HAVE any asshole lgbt characters—as a matter of fact, I think we should. To show people that, yes, they are equal to us—so that means they CAN be just as much of an asshole as any straight person. I’m saying if you’re going to have it though, don’t act like you have to go easier on them just because they are lgbt. That is not acceptable.



But one of the most disturbing parts about the whole thing was the fact that right after Brynna gets assaulted, a teacher comes and finds the flyers and calls them a hate crime. RIGHT AFTER just having to pull Lauren off Brynna. So say something mean about a gay person, it’s a hate crime. Assault—PHYSICALLY ATTACK—an innocent straight person, and THAT’S NOT considered a hate crime?



Let me repeat this one more time, loud and clear: THE GAY CHARACTER IS CONSIDERED THE VICTIM OF A HATE CRIME, DESPITE THE FACT THAT AN INNOCENT STRAIGHT GIRL GOT ATTACKED, ACCUSED, AND TURNED INTO A PARIAH, WHILE EVERYBODY ELSE IS BUSY SYMPATHIZING WITH THE POOR GAY GUY WHO IS LOVED BY ALMOST ALL.





I’m sorry?

I beg your fucking pardon?

Fuck you. Fuck you so much if you think that makes any kind of sense at all. That is not how hate crimes work. And don’t you DARE try to trivialize MY bullying experiences by watering it down as “just bullying” but then claiming it is somehow much, much, much worse when the exact same shit (or less) happens to a gay student. I have been made fun of for all sorts of things I cannot control—my body, my skin color, my skin CONDITION, my looks in general, my shyness and nervousness, etc. If none of those are classified as “hate crimes”, then don’t you dare act like it’s suddenly a hate crime when it’s happening to someone who happens to be gay. Equality means NOT prioritizing people over others.

You know something? I used to scoff at the term “heterophobia” but now I’m starting to realize that it’s really a thing (as well as other things). This COULD be me—what happened to Brynna, could very well happen to me or anyone else that is straight, so long as a gay person points the finger at them and accuses them. In Western society, more and more people are becoming accepting towards gays, and even though there are still bigots out there, in many places and social circles, they are looked down on and wished to be cast away beyond the fringes of society. This isn’t the fucking Middle East—quit acting like straight people, as well as other so-called “privileged” groups, really have it that much better than anyone else.

And I knew straight from the start that her friends would end up turning on her. The friendship was too sudden and perfect and out-of-the-blue. Literally Brynna has not even taken one step inside her new school yet, and here comes Evan out of nowhere, in her face introducing himself, and then leading her towards the group. That doesn’t happen in real life. If anyone in real life ever becomes your friend THAT fast, I’d say be on the alert. Because they’ll probably drop you that fast too. Take it from someone who’s actually experienced the abruptness of it all. It reminded me of how annoyed, but not surprised, I was when Charlie’s friends turned on him in Perks of Being of Wallflower. But at least in that story, they A) didn’t ATTACK him, they just didn’t want to be friends anymore, and B) got mad at him for something that, to be fair, he actually did do. Right in front of their faces. None of this hearsay or jumping to conclusions bullshit. So I could accept it.

THIS however…Brynna even checks on Evan RIGHT after being assaulted by his dog of a sister, to see if he’s okay, because she’s for some reason more concerned about him than herself. That is what us lowly "privileged" people must do-put the feelings of others before our own wellbeing. And she actually tells him that she accepts him no matter what, that it doesn’t matter to her that he’s gay, and do you know what son of a bitch Evan does? He gets MORE offended, for some reason, at her telling him that she accepts him, and still tries to turn it around to make it about him being the victim and her the villain. Unbelievable.



You can’t satisfy the self-obsessed victims. You just can’t.

This is actually the only book where I’ve ever rated before fully finishing…it was quite close to the end anyhow. And I heavily skimmed about the last 30 pages or so, and nothing remotely redeemed what had transpired. Her “friends” eventually decide to “believe” her because they pitied her, and because Teddy (her boyfriend and their other friend), “took a while to convince them.” There is just…there is just so much wrong with that. They didn’t really realize they were wrong. They simply decided to finally give in, and while they won’t believe Brynna herself when she swore she didn’t do it, they WILL believe somebody ELSE. How loyal. I hope to god no one like this EVER becomes a judge, jury, or executioner. God help whoever’s fate is being decided by THEM.

There’s also this cute little part at the end where they collaborate with Brynna’s parents to try to find Brynna when she’s in trouble, rescue her, and then all gather around her when she wakes up at the hospital. So it’s like…we’re meant to just forget the entire incident happened, because they’ve supposedly redeemed themselves from the horrible thing that they did earlier?

Nope, sorry.



I don’t like being emotionally manipulated as a reader. You can’t just have a character do something vile, go awhile, have them come back and do something heroic, and then leave said vile thing unaddressed. If they had AT LEAST had a short little scene where they were apologizing profusely to Brynna and clearly feeling extremely ashamed of what they’d done (like any real friend would’ve), THEN that would’ve made it okay. THEN I could forgive it. But no. They couldn’t even bother to do that.

One more thing about the conclusion...having Fallbrook be the real culprit? That was just weird, because in her other book that I've read, "Truly Madly Deadly", there was also a supposedly hot young teacher who turned out to be bad...coincidence? Maybe this author doesn't like young teachers? I don't know, but it was a strange similarity.

And I’m tired of protagonists who never stand up for themselves. Writers—JUST because somebody’s the protagonist, doesn’t mean you have to make them so humble that it hurts. Sure, don’t make them like Zoey Redbird, BUT, they’re still allowed to fight back. They’re still allowed to get angry at people. THEY’RE STILL ALLOWED TO HAVE SOME DIGNITY AND SELF-RESPECT.

I literally had to put the book down when I read that part, and go on a walk. I’m not making that up. It made me so livid, because this militant social justice attitude is so COMMON in real life. There are people who DO CONDONE this type of behavior, who think that it is normal. Even with the reviews that I looked at, only a very few people actually criticized this scene and called it out for how truly fucked up it actually was. The level of rage I felt from this book remains unmatched with the exception of only about three or four other books. This is just some next level shit. I may be a hard person to satisfy, but it's not usually this bad. It tries to have such a strong, thickly-laid out message of friendship in the end, and it makes me cringe, because if I EVER had a friend do this to me, I’d never forgive them. Or maybe I would, if they were truly sorry, but it would take a while to recover from that. They’d have to work for it.

This is certainly going up on my blog. Usually I don’t post the negative book reviews there unless they are REEEEEEEEEEAAAAALLLLY bad. And this? Well, this made the cut.

And to think I paid money for this book…well, I left it outside on the steps of my building (and it looks like somebody took it). I could never bring myself to rip up a book, no matter how bad. Though I’ll tell you, it was pretty damn tempting. But normally with books I own and don’t want, I’d donate them to my library. However, I didn’t want to insult my library.

Where’s Negan when you need him?

I DARE you to read this, if you can handle the probably unintentional, albeit really fucked up message that it is okay to bully and abuse an innocent straight person, just because you’re gay. Honestly this is the type of stuff that divides people and makes them NOT want to support the LGBT community. Way to go.

I feel another fanfic coming on…another rage fic where I kill fictional characters in various ways.

[Devon Ashley · Rating 2 out of 5]

One night, a group of friends playing games on the beach led to a dare, one with deadly consequences. Besties Erika and Bryn jumped off the pier and into the chilly ocean, but only Bryn made her way back out again. After drowning her grief with drugs and alcohol and forced by the court to go through a mandatory stay at rehab, her parents move her an hour away to start over at a new school. High school was hard enough just being the new girl, especially when you suffer from a heavy case of survivor's guilt, but when messages begin pouring in from Erika's old account, Bryn completely loses it. Now she keeps seeing her best friend everywhere - and it's making her absolutely nuts!

Sorry, but this one just didn't work for me. Bryn came off wimpy and weak, and when someone clearly began screwing with her, she wouldn't tell anyone. Not her friends, not her parents. And she felt everything that happened to her was Erika's doing - who she didn't believe was a ghost, but alive somewhere pissed that Bryn moved on with her life. Her new friends turned out to be anything but. One is an office aid and snoops through Bryn's file, and when Bryn argues she didn't have the right to do that and needed to keep it to herself, she was mad! Like it's a huge inconvenience for her to keep her trap shut now that she knows some things about Bryn's past - who's trying to leave a tragedy behind and start a new life. And when a flyer goes around teasing a friend about something the entire school seems to know anyways, all but one of her so-called friends blame her - without any kind of evidence - and absolutely throw her under the bus. Great friends you've got there.

Also, I'm not entirely convinced of Bryn's phobia. As a competitive swimmer from the age of four on, being in the water was second nature to me. Sorry, but if a friend of mine got sucked out by a riptide, I might develop an aversion for swimming in the ocean, but what does that have to do with a pool? I'm not going to fear walking because I tripped and broke my ankle. And I'm not suddenly going to fear drowning in a pool when I'm the experienced swimmer than I am. It was awful luck, but riptide's are fierce, and even the best swimmers can struggle getting out of them. And speaking of riptides, how come all the adults seemed to know about it, but their kids didn't? Tell your freakin' kids people! You live near the beach and you know eventually they're gonna go swimming at night!

I also felt the ending was really abrupt. Some things were left unanswered and I find that highly unsatisfying. For instance, we never truly learn who wanted the punch spiked, because if a certain student did it at request of someone else, it would've had to have been a student at school to get him to agree. We're never told how it is all these phone calls and tweets and such were being sent to Bryn. When she dialed one of the phone numbers harassing her, she was told the line couldn't dial out. And I'm not a tweeter, but wouldn't these leave a trace over the internet? Even if they were private, wouldn't she be able to show them as proof of harassment if she didn't delete them? And her own phone is apparently used to get her old friends in trouble. Is the person hounding her some kind of hacker? Hell if I know, because nothing is ever explained. And we're told a certain family member of Erika's had an unhealthy obsession, but we were never really given any kind of insight on that. Like why? What kind of obsession? Jealousy? Sexual interest? There's a meaningful story there somewhere but it goes completely untouched. And as for the eye witness to the account, how could someone who couldn't swim and hanging out on the pier go unnoticed by all that night? Doesn't make much sense to me, because it was never addressed.

For me, Dare bobbled in the ocean for a bit, then shot straight to the bottom like an anchor. Too many plot holes made me feel unsatisfied, and at times, straight up annoyed. I do have a couple of Hannah Jayne's others novels, and I can only hope those will make me feel better about her work.



ARC provided by Sourcebooks Fire for honest review.

[Hannah R. · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's really good, I like the suspense in the book but at times it was confusing because they would flashback but overall its a really good book. I definitely recommend it if you like suspense.

[Kaleigh Orsucci · Rating 2 out of 5]

When a simple game of truth or dare leads to the death of a teenage girl, a whole town is flooded with confusion and sorrow. The Dare by Hannah Jayne follows the life of Brynna, the dead girl’s best friend, the girl who created the fatal dare.

Their whole lives, Brynna and Erica were inseparable, destined to be best friends for life. Then, at a summer beach party with all of their friends, a game of truth or dare fueled by alcohol caused everything to change. It was simple; Brynna dared Erica to jump off the pier into the ocean- she even offered to go with her. After a lot of coaxing and teasing, Erica agreed, and the two girls jumped in. However, only one came out. After four days of searching, the police declare Erica dead despite never having found the body. Brynna doesn’t know how to handle the whirlwind of emotions she feels, so she begins to self-medicate with whatever alcohol and drugs she can get her hands on. After getting in a car crash while driving drunk and receiving a DUI, Brynna’s parents finally force her to go to a rehab institution. When Brynna is released, her parents immediately move to a new town to escape any gossip they may face about their ‘troubled’ child, and Brynna’s life becomes a mix of going to a new school and seemingly endless therapy sessions and mandatory AA meetings.

At her school, Brynna plans to be as invisible as possible, but instead finds herself making new friends and living a seemingly normal life. She is thrilled to have a distraction from her guilt of feeling responsible for Erica’s death and her parent’s marriage problems, which stem from her father’s own alcohol addiction. “She was happy to be just Brynna and happy that at
Hawthorne High, her secret- her guilt- could stay buried” (15). Her relief is short lived when she begins receiving strange messages and gifts from somebody pretending to be Erica, tormenting her about the death. Brynna becomes so confused that she no longer believes that Erica is truly dead, and she doesn’t know who to trust. Brynna begins the long struggle to find out what really happened to Erica and who is tormenting her, while at the same time trying to heal her past wounds and discover her new sense of self.

I enjoyed reading about Brynna and her journey of recovery, and I found the book very easy to get drawn into. As soon as I started reading, I had to continue to find out what happened. At times I found the plot a little far-fetched, but overall the characters were intriguing and relatable. This is typical Hannah Jayne writing, a young adult novel full of mystery, suspense and heart-pounding plot points. The Dare, as well as many of Jayne’s other novels, covers a range of themes from self-discovery to mental health to the mourning of a lost loved one. Just like in many of the stories we have been reading in class such as The Yellow Wallpaper, the main character in The Dare feels as if she is going crazy because she has a hard time determining what is real and what is only an illusion of her mind. While Brynna is practicing in the empty pool room at her school for a mandatory swim test, she begins panicking in the water. “She worked to breathe, to let herself see that she was alone in the water, while her mind spun on, conjuring up corpses in the water pulling her under” (128). It is also similar to The Awakening in the way that the ocean holds a lot of deep meaning for Brynna. When Erica drowns, she loses all sense of who she is and refuses to go anywhere near bodies of water (with the exception of the shower) at all costs. As the novel progresses, she begins to regain her power and independence and slowly is able to enter the water again, regaining the freedom that she lost with Erica’s death.

One big issue that Brynna faces during her journey is an internal issue; she feels trapped by her parents, school administrators, and her therapist and parole officer. She feels that the system is flawed, and that even when she is trying her hardest to do everything right she cannot be successful because she is being held down by all of these people who do not understand her. Brynna finally decides to open up to her mother, but the reaction seemed to prove her fears. “Her mother looked away, and immediately, Brynna recoiled, her whole body thrumming with the knowledge that she had done something wrong, said something wrong. Her mother wouldn’t understand. She would think Brynna was crazy” (137). So, while patriarchy or society’s functions as a whole are not mentioned, a type of overbearing control system is mentioned and criticized in Jayne’s Novel. The Dare also does not have any focal points regarding gender equality or feminism, although it does hold traits that ring true to
these issues. There is a very diverse group of characters, mostly female, but people with different genders and sexual orientations are included as main characters as well. Brynna, the protagonist, seems to end up in many troubling situations due to both her actions and the actions of her tormenter, but she does everything she can to fight on her own even when a male steps in and offers to take care of everything for her. She wants to be able to do things for herself just to know that she isn’t helpless.

I would claim that this book isn’t feminist or anti-feminist; it is very neutral. The plot and topics within it do not deal with feminism or gender equality enough to be classified as feminist, but it also does portray women in an empowered way that prevents it from being labeled as anti-feminist. The main character was female, and she was able to find the inner strength to face all of her problems head on. In addition to this she was not defined by a man, or any relationships or gender roles, which I thought was a positive quality of this novel. Overall, I found this book very exciting and suspenseful, but if you’re looking to read a feminist novel I would suggest searching elsewhere.

[Ina · Rating 1 out of 5]

After losing her very best friend in a dramatic drowning accident, nothing is the same.

When such awful things happens, rumors easily occurs because Bryn and her parents move to another place to begin a new life. A way to "move on", but Bryn is still struggling. She has struggled with alcoholism to swallow the pain of the loss of her best friend. She feels it's all her fault since she drowned and disappeared during a challenge. She tries to get her "new" life to work and it seems nice that no one at the new school doesn't know her story. Neverthless, the guilt is still big. It doesn't help when she suddenly gets a tweet from her best friend's Twitter accound. After that, strange things happen and often she sees a glimpse of her best friend everywhere, but isn't she dead? Slowly, but surely Bryn knows that it is ravaging for her. Is someone playing a game with her and wanting to cause her pain, or trying to tell her something?

Since the Halloween season is coming up, I need to read some extra from the thriller and the horror genre, and I don't care if it's literature for adults or the youth. I'm weak for dark literature, but this was a bad start because this book is weak in many ways, and I'm not talking about the number of pages. What I mean is that this story is too thin to be a in a book format at all.

It's not just that the story is weak, but other factors makes this a bad book too. The main character, Bryn, is incredily annoying to read about. I get it that she has been through a though period, which she still works with and carry on with heavy guilt. Still, you get annoyed at her instead of feeling sympathetic to her because she seems too dramatically for every small thing. It's always something dramatic going on. It is also typical in books for young adult when girls move to another place, they get new friends and a boyfriend almost immediately. Not quite trustworthy. And I don't like instalove either (that you get together before you get to know each other). At least it's not trustworthy and what's up with the whole instalove thing in modern young adult books? I am just asking ...

The story itself was not as similar to the book and the movie I Know What You Did Last Summer, but the atmosphere in it is, and the girl who is not believed in what she sees and hears concept. Bryn feels alone with everything that's happening around her, who wants to believe her that someone from the dead (if she's dead) has just returned to scare her? Who around her will believe in something like that? Does the concept sound familiar?

I really miss thrillers with more intensity instead of drama and intrigues. It's exciting too, but when I read thrillers, I want action, some creepy items and with an amount of undertones. Thrillers were better at that in the good old days. Now the thriller genre looks more and more like drama. I like some thrillers still and have not given up the genre yet, but it takes some time to find the pearls. The Dare was sadly far from a gem ...

[Kaitlyn M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Personal Response:

The Dare was honestly very hard to get into at first. I wasn’t really getting hooked by anything in the book. About halfway through, I started to enjoy it a lot more because I enjoy reading murder mysteries. I started to have my own opinion about the characters especially at the end of the story, when things really got good. Overall, The Dare was a very interesting story that gave me a new perspective on things.

Plot:

It all started on the beach in Point Lobos, the night when Brynna dared her best friend to jump into the water. Brynna never meant to hurt Erica, but everything went on a downward spiral. When Brynna came out of the water, but Erica didn’t follow, she knew something was wrong. The riptide. There was a riptide at Harding Beach. Brynna’s life would never be the same.

Brynna became addicted to drugs and alcohol while trying to mourn the loss of her best friend. Her parents found out and had to send her away for many months of rehab. Her entire family had to move away from Point Lobos so that Brynna could get a fresh start at a new school. She met new friends, new teachers, and even went to the homecoming dance. Brynna always felt as though somebody was watching her. She started to drive herself a little bit crazy when she got messages from Erica, her dead best friend. She began to spiral out of control once again. She didn’t know who she could trust anymore. Erica’s remains weren’t ever found, so Brynna was starting to wonder if she could still be alive somehow.

Eventually, Erica’s remains were found. Brynna didn’t want to believe that it could possibly be her. She wanted to believe that it truly was Erica sending the messages from her old account. At the memorial, Brynna discovers a dark secret that almost ended her life. That was right when her new friends came to save her life.

Characterization:

Brynna develops a lot over the course of the story. In the beginning, she was doing good because she finally got out of rehab and was starting a new life at her new school. She could almost look past Erica’s death. When she started receiving Twitter notifications from Erica’s old account, she started to spiral out of control again. She didn’t know if it could be possible for Erica to still be alive. She began to hallucinate and lose her mind. She couldn’t even think straight. In the end, Brynna was still very scared, but she realized that she wasn’t crazy.

Recommendation:

I recommend The Dare to people who are 14 or older. It is a good read for many people because it really draws the reader in. There are some references to things that may not be good for younger children, so that is why it would be better for people who 14 or older. Girls and boys would both like this book because it has a lot of mystery in it. Overall, this was a very good read for a high school student.

[Abby Wheaton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Personal Response: When I picked up this book and started reading, I found myself not wanting to stop reading. There were so many great cliffhangers throughout the book that made me want to keep reading. I love the constant mysterious events that took place throughout the book. Overall, I thought this book was very great and my favorite part was the ending.

Plot: Brynna was a great student, swimmer, and loved her best friend Emma. When Brynna found herself getting caught up in drugs and drinking her life turned for the worst. She never meant for her best friend to die, and she wished she never would have done the stupid dare she did. She always told herself she should’ve been the one to die. When Brynna was sent to rehab for drugs and alcohol she was able to pull herself together, and her parents moved to her to a new town. She was happy to leave her old life behind, and she told herself that her secret would never be revealed to anyone. Then she started school at Hawthorne high and made friends with some great people. She even managed to get a boyfriend. She was still haunted daily by her past and managed to tell exactly what happened to her best friend Evan. He even told her his big secret. She trusted all her friends greatly, but was so scared to tell them her secret. Weird events kept taking place, and Brynna was convinced it was Emma she even thought Emma was still alive. Finally homecoming came around, and Brynna wanted to have a great deal of fun, but when she drank some punch she realized someone had spiked it. This was the first time she touched alcohol or drugs since before rehab. She had a very scary illusion, and all her friends took her back to Evan’s house. The next day she went with her parents to Emma’s memorial. It was heartbreaking for Brynna, and it killed her to think that Emma was actually gone. On their way to leave Brynna told her parents she had to go to the bathroom and to wait for her in the car. Brynna was then introduced to real story of what happened to Emma.

Characterization: Brynna was a smart and loveable girl. She always wanted the best for everyone especially for Emma. She felt so much guilt after Emma died. That was her best friend and she didn’t want to accept the fact that Emma was gone. Overall I feel that Brynna is one of the most caring people in the book.

Recommendations: I recommend this book to girls over the age of 12. I feel this because there is some stuff in the book about drugs, alcohol, and swearing I don’t think it would be appropriate for anyone under the age of 12. Overall, this was a great book and will keep the reader on the edge of their seats.

[Adele · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this to be a pretty unpredictable book. A few times I got a little angry because of the way that this story was written. At one moment, you’d have the story going on, and then you’d have flashbacks to Brynna’s life of before. However, there are unexpected events that happen in the story, and I am truly grateful for those events.

There is a serious case of Survivor’s Guilt, and an extreme case of Paranoia in The Dare. The stuff that Brynna goes through throughout The Dare is insane though, so her paranoia is justified in my eyes…

There are a lot of factors in this book. Bryn did everything she could to save her best friend, Erica. However, when Bryn starts to move on with her life, as much as she could in her situation, it really broke my heart to know that Bryn thought she couldn’t justify her own paranoia. Bryn felt and even knew that her overprotective parents wouldn’t be able to believe her.

The second factor in this book is that with Brynna moving on with her life, moving to a new school, to get a new start, things were really going up for Bryn. She started making friends. Bryn was actually somewhat happy! And then some crap happens that prohibit’s Bryn from moving on.

Support was one thing that Brynna needed the most in this story. While Brynna thought that she couldn’t have shared her problems with anyone. I think that she got support in ways that she never thought of. Yeah, her parent’s wouldn’t believe her, but the friends that she made would have.

Her friends are truly amazing. They really bring a light to Bryn’s life. They’re there when she needs them most, honestly, and Bryn doesn’t even realize that.

The feel of this book while your reading seems like everything is this big coincidence. When I got to the end though, everything clicked into place and I was just really amazed because, well, WOW! The end of this book took me completely by surprise. I didn’t expect that at all! And I’m suuper glad that her friends were there.

I didn’t know what expect when I borrowed The Dare from the library. I only borrowed this book because I had this mystery-vibe going on. Which is really weird because I don’t normally read mystery? I usually find mystery books to be completely predictable. My only wish is that I had enjoyed this book more. There were only one or two times that I had laughed, which is truly unfortunate in my opinion.

That is all for my review of The Dare by Hannah Jayne, and Thank You for reading!

[Sarah Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Source: I received a digital copy of this book for free on a read-to-review basis. Thanks to SOURCEBOOKS Fire and NetGalley.)
17-year-old Brynna is starting at a new school in a new town, after her best friend Erica drowned during a dare.
Someone is stalking Brynna though, and she’s scared that it may be Erica.
What is going on? Is Erica really gone? And who is out to get Brynna and why?


This was an okay story, but I wanted answers a lot faster than we got them.

Brynna was an okay character. I could see why she’d be traumatised over her friend’s death, and I thought her behaviour was pretty typical of someone grieving. I did feel a little sorry for her, over what had happened, but I could also see why she would blame herself.

The storyline in this was okay, but I did find it dragged. I was pretty bored by the time I got to the second chapter, and while I wanted to know what happened, I also wanted to know what was going on a lot quicker than we found out. The story just didn’t suck me in, and I lost interest really quickly. Considering that the book was less than 300 pages, I don’t think it should have felt like it dragged quite as much as it did.
There was a touch of romance, but it also didn’t interest me.
The ending was okay, but more than anything I was glad that we had answers, and the book was over, I will say that there was a bit of an open ending though, as though the author had left it that way in case she decided to write a sequel.
Overall; okay story, but dragged for me,
6 out of 10.

[Gerry Bartlett · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the other Hannah Jayne books I've read so picked this one up, anticipating a good mystery. I was disappointed and almost gave it 3 stars instead of 4. Brynna dared her friend to jump into the ocean when they were both drinking and drugging. What? Yes, that's our heroine. She wasn't a nice girl to begin with and ended up in rehab after her friend drowned. Now she's in a new school, but being haunted by her dead buddy. Could Erica still be alive? They never found her body. Frankly I got a little tired of the hallucinations and weirdness. Yes, there was a surprise and a mystery, but Brynna wasn't that cool, and I have no idea why she immediately attracted a group of cool kids to hang with. And a boyfriend too. I just felt like this book needed work. I did feel sorry for the girl. But there was just something missing here. I'd give it a pass. Okay, I'm going back up there and taking away another star.

[Spencer · Rating 3 out of 5]

2025

2023

2020
In the beginning, The Dare was amazing. Reminiscent of Ruthless or There's Someone Inside Your House. A nice, twisty psychological thriller where you aren't sure who is responsible or if the main character is going to make it out alive or not. But the end reveal wasn't nearly as shocking or upsetting as the main part of the story had built it up to be. It was still a good ending, but it was almost a little bit too predictable. A little bit predictable, but a little bit too farfetched.

Not a terrible read, but don't expect to be thrilled by the ending.

[Stacee · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was really excited for the tension and mystery that the premise implied, but it never happened. I felt like it was a cheesy rip off of I Know What You Did Last Summer.

I didn't like Brynna. She was whiny and scared all the time [which is understandable to a point], I struggled with the fact that she didn't seem to make any attempt to get/feel better. She lies to everyone about everything and it got old pretty quickly. The cast of new friends were interesting enough, but they were a clichéd set of teenagers.

The POV was odd to me. Because we didn't get a first person account of the story, the suspense was non-existent and the reveal wasn't that surprising. I wanted so much to like it, but the tension fell flat and that was the main downfall.

**Huge thanks to Sourcebooks Fire and NetGalley for providing the arc in exchange for an honest review**

[E. C. Ecchor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Also posted on my YA Book Blog.

3.4 stars.

So The Dare was one of those books that I wanted to like more than I actually did. It wasn't that the book was bad or poorly written or I didn't like the premise. I thought it was well done and I thought that it was a fairly interesting idea of guilt and mistakes and friendship, but I was never really in to it like I normally am.

I think it dragged a little in the middle and sometimes there was too much going on so there wasn't enough character development for the minir characters, I also guessed the end before the end, but all in all I liked it and I would recommend it if you like books about guilt, self destructive behavior, and murder mystery.

[Louisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, man, what a great book! Really enjoyed the mystery and the wonder if she was going crazy, and yeah, can't wait for her next book!

[Adrianna Baehman]

Student Name: Adrianna Baehman Date Submitted: 4/26/19
Book Title: The Dare Lexile: 820

Personal Response:
I wish The Dare would have had more action. I did not like how it reached its peak toward the end of the book. They focused too much on the fact that Brynna was ¨hallucinating¨ and was obsessed with Erica.

Plot Summary:
Brynna lost her best friend Erica when she dared her to jump in the ocean. As she struggles to accept the fact that Erica is dead, she moves to a different town. In this town, she feels as though Erica is not really dead, and is getting revenge on her for moving on. She experiences different things like tweets from Erica´s old Twitter account, mounds of sand in her locker, and being locked in a pool room. When Erica´s remains are found, and she is invited to the funeral, she sees someone she did not expect to show up. She soon realizes that she is not the only person that cannot let go of Erica´s death.

Characterization:
In the beginning of the book, Brynna is timid and fearful of everything around her. She wants to smoke and drink in order to rid herself of the pain of losing her best friend. She has the weight of her best friend’s death on her shoulders, and it holds her back from making a new life for herself. As she deals with strange situations and messages from “Erica”, she becomes more paranoid that someone or something is after her. This leads her to make mistakes and seem like she needs more professional help than she really does. When she goes to Erica’s funeral, and almost gets murdered, she gains closure. She learns that she has new friends to help her cope, and she now knows that Erica is resting in peace.

Recommendation:
I recommend this book to people who like to read books that are mysterious. It would be better for high schoolers rather than adults. It would also be good for people who like to predict what will happen next in a book.

[Justin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is about a girl who cries and throws up in the majority of chapters. If that’s what you’re looking for this book is for you. You also cannot solve the “mystery” of what’s happening because the author adds a detail on page 226/265 that you couldn’t have figured out prior. There’s also no explanation for how our main character is seeing all the mysterious things she is seeing that the person fucking with her could possibly know about or be doing. She constantly thinks she sees her dead friend Erica and there’s no way the “killer” could be causing this to happen. The more I write this review the closer I get to changing this to one star so I’ll end it here.

[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another excellent and suspenseful book!! I absolutely loved it! The pain, horror, and torture (of not knowing) that the main character went through had me at the edge of my seat throughout the whole book. It was a non stop reader for me.

[Layah Stock · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a good mystery book and doesn't have all the blood killing murder.

[Bryna]

Name: Bryna Boettcher

Book title: The Dare

Personal Response
The Dare is a thrilling mystery book. Bryn and Erica went to Harding Beach one night for a party. Bryn was the only one that came back from that party. Erica was right next to Bryn, but when she came back up, Erica wasn’t anywhere to be found. Her friends searched and searched. Nothing came up.

Plot summary
As Bryn grieves her friend, she is transferred to a new school. Since everyone at her previous school thinks that she murdered her best friend. Bryn makes a peculiar group of friends and she slowly escapes the grief that is haunting her. She started receiving messages from an ‘EricaNShaw’ web address and starts falling back into her alcohol and drug use spiral. The web address started calling her saying creepy things and saying that they’re Erica. Someone has to be messing with her. There is no way that Erica is still alive after all this time, especially since according to reports, Erica’s body was never even recovered from the water.

Recommendation
This book would appeal to most young teenage girls. I recommend The Dare to anyone above age 14. It is mysterious and has adult content in it.

[Olivia]

Name: Olivia

Book title: The Dare

Personal response: When I picked the book The Dare I never thought I would have found it as interesting as I did. The Dare has a lot of cliffhangers and is constantly leaving you hanging. Although it was a good book, Bryn comes off as wimpy and weak. She had all the opportunities to tell her parents or her friends that someone is messing with her.

Plot: One night, a group of kids was out at the beach which led to the game The Dare. Bryn and Erika jumped off a dock into the ocean at night, and only Bryn ended up coming back to shore. Erika's body was never found. After the death of her best friend Erica, Bryn found herself drowning her grief in drugs and alcohol. After getting caught time after time, the court forced her to go to rehab. When Bryn got out, her parents moved her an hour away to a new school with new people who don't know her past. For Bryn, being the new girl at a new school was hard but it was harder being drowned in the guilt of Erika’s death. Not long after moving, she started getting messages from Erika's old account saying “remember me” over and over again. She thought maybe it was actually Erika. Not too long after Bryn gets a call from a no caller ID, and Bryn answers the call thinking nothing of it. After listening for about 10 seconds, she realized it was a recording from the night Erika died. Bryn keeps seeing her ex-best friend everywhere she goes. This eventually drove Bryn crazy.

Recommendations: I would recommend this book to anyone who likes mystery books. I also would recommend this book to someone who like having a few cliffhangers throughout the book.

[Shelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

**I received this book from NetGalley/Sourcebooks Fire in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.**

*Genre* Young Adult, Mystery
*Rating* 3.5

*My Thoughts*

"Promise me that you'll never leave me alone."

The Dare is the story about Seventeen-year old Brynna Chase. Eighteen months ago, she lost her best friend, Erica Shaw, to a silly dare that went horribly wrong and she hasn't found a way to forgive herself, or move on. Bryn put herself through hell with grief and anger and blame. She crashed and burned (drug and alcohol abuse). She lost all her former friends because of her actions. She spent time in Rehab after being arrested for DUI. Her parents forced the family to move away from the scene of Erica's death, to a new location in Crescent City. And, that is just the beginning of Bryn's story.

**Please read my full review at Gizmos Reviews! Thanks!

http://gizmosreviews.blogspot.com/201...

*Recvd via NetGalley 05/13/2014* Published July 1st 2014 by Sourcebooks Fire

[Raymond Xu · Rating 4 out of 5]

The reason I read this book was because the cover of this book looks scary and I like scary books. The main character of this book is Brynna who gets nightmares of her best friend, Erica. Erica died because of her friend's stupid dares and Brynna is constantly getting nightmares about it. Someone may even be stalking or haunting her.
Characters:
Brynna is a high school girl who is really good at swimming, but also smokes, takes drugs, and drinks. She does this to prevent all the nightmares she keeps having from her best friend. Even though when she tries to tell everybody, no one believes her except for her new friends. Brynna keeps thinking that her best friend is still alive which makes her have these nightmares. In the book it states, " She looked at the dress, the blue spaghetti strap, ruched dress that Erica was going to wear,hung up on the bathroom door, and fingers of terror grabbed at her, pulsed for her (213)." Brynna's dress was suppose to be white and this shows that someone is truly trying to teach her lesson about dares.
I learned from this book that real friends never leave each other.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was exactly what I needed to break out of my reading rut. It was a good, suspenseful mystery. It reminded me of the old RL Stine books that I used to read. I read it very quickly and I needed to know if Bryn was imagining something or if someone was torturing her. Everything makes sense when you get to the end.

I felt like most of the focus was on Bryn’s experiences, not who she was as a character. Normally, this would drive me crazy, but it worked really well for this book. The mystery drove the plot forward, not how the character needed to change. She had already gone through big changes in her life when the book started and was trying to do better. Something or someone kept blocking that, though...

Who doesn’t love a good, spooky story?! When I saw the rating on Goodreads, I was shocked. I liked this a lot, and thinks it deserves more stars than that. Don’t miss this one!

[Megan (thebookishtwins) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received this copy free from the publishers via NetGalley

DNF 32%

The Dare is about Brynna after she dared her best friend Erica to jump of the pier, but she died. Bryn has to deal with the guilt of that night and she spiralled out of control. Bryn thought she had moved past it but someone doesn't want her to forget.

I really do not like reviewing books that I have not finished. I feel like I can't give a good judgement on the book. I was just so bored with this. The first chapter was OK, but I really did quickly lose interest. I felt for Bryn, I really did, but she didn't manage to save me from boredom. I didn't really like her friends.

Overall, the book just wasn't for me, but you may enjoy it, so if you feel like reading it go ahead!

[Erica Alyson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read Truly, Madly, Deadly and See Jane Run by this author and loved them so I knew I had to read this book! I enjoyed it just as much as her other books. It hooked me from the beginning til the very last pages.

Brynna and Erica are best friend. Brynna is jealous of Erica but she never knew a dear could lead to death. When Erica dies Brynna blames herself and faces survivors guilt. She starts at a new school where no one knows what happens. But then she starts getting messages from Erica and she thinks she sees her. A body was never found is Erica still alive?

Great story. Reminds me of Pretty Little Liars but is concluded in 1 amazing book!

[Christy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Erica and Bryanna are best friends, they did everything together together; including jumping from a pier one night into the inky ocean water. Sadly only Bryanna made it back to shore. Erica's body pretensions were never found over that period of time.

A year later, Bryanna & her family have relocated to a new town for a fresh start. However, Bryanna begins to receives a strange voice nail and messages from Erica's Twitter. Bryanna begins to become unnerved as the strange things continue to happen.

Even though I was able to piece things together, I still enjoyed this book. IMO it is fast-paced, full of suspense, and well worth the read.

[Melissa Carpenter · Rating 2 out of 5]

This had the potential to be so much more.

I was riveted at the very beginning with the flashback/nightmare of the night of the accident. It was well-written - panic inducing and terror-filling. It was that initial scene that propelled me forward and kept me reading through what ended up being an ok story with shifty (not sure if it was on purpose or not) characters and a grand exercise in telling, not showing. All in all, the story was decent but predictable and forgettable. I had high hopes based on the beginning, but they just weren't realized.