Dare You to Choose Truth

by Lauren Lipp

Prudence Taylor, an audacious music journalist, is shocked when she is assigned to the biggest music story of the decade. She's been sent on tour with Gnasher, a legendary grunge band from the 90s that mysteriously broke up in 1996 after winning a Grammy and reaching the peak of success. Their sudden reunion due to a viral resurgence has everyone excited, but Prudence's goal is to uncover the real reason behind their split.

As she dives into the world of rock and roll, Prudence faces resistance from Macallister, the enigmatic manager of one of the band members. He's just uncovered a secret about the band that he's desperate to keep hidden, and Prudence's constant presence and persistence is a threat. He struggles to block her attempts; and eventually, his feelings for the lively and beautiful reporter start to blur the lines between professionalism and passion.

Diving into this adventure filled with music, mystery, and romance, Prudence must navigate the complexities of the band's relationships and Macallister's defenses to uncover the truth, a truth that could forever alter the trajectory of multiple lives. Will she bring the band's hidden past to light, or find out something else entirely?

365 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 5, 2025

Reviews

[Brianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really enjoyable romance story! I never expected to get so invested in a story about a music tour, but I was drawn into the characters and their journeys. I really liked the relationships built in the story, even (or especially) the platonic ones. I liked Prue and the way her varying allegiances and her past affected her actions. She drew me into the story and I felt like I knew her. I wasn’t always so on board with Macallister, partially because he felt too overprotective in a way that was never critiqued by those around him. Other than that issue, I was on board for their relationship and enjoyed its progression. There are a couple of things I wanted to change, mainly at the sentence structure and word choice level. They were mainly things like repetitive phrases or sentences that were worded a bit weird. For example, there were way, way too many instances of “tilt my(or her/his) head”, which stands out to me in books because I always read it as “tit my held”, but that’s a me problem. I would also recommend avoid using the phrase “fully erect” in a romance book when you are just talking about someone standing up straight. Further, there were a couple of scenes where I had to read them a couple times to figure out how something happened because the action wasn’t clear. Little continuity issues can throw a reader off, such as when it doesn’t mention when someone puts their suitcase back in its place so you start to worry that it got left behind or someone you were picturing fully clothed is suddenly naked. Overall, though, these things didn’t majorly mess with my enjoyment of the book. I did think it gave away its twist a bit too early and had too many signposts for figuring it out ahead of time, but a twist doesn’t have to be completely surprising to still be enjoyable.

Honestly, this was closer to a 3 star read for me for a lot of the time, except one majorly important thing stood out to me and added a star on its own: the music aspect of the story. One of my absolute biggest pet peeves for books is when there is a break in the narrative for an entire song to be written out. Naturally, as this book’s focus is music and a stage tour, I worried I would run into this a lot. But this book did something revolutionary (for me) and completely set the standard for how I want to see all music addressed for practically every book going forward. First, it never included the entire song, just the snippets that were the most salient to the scene. If any book is justified to include all the lyrics to a song, it would be this one because it is about a tour with a band playing, but the author showed brilliant restraint and care for the reader by not doing so. Second, all the songs are in the back of the book if you are the kind of person who does like the full music in the story. I liked them there because they didn’t get in the way of the narrative but I could always refer to them when I wanted to. Finally, and most importantly, the author is not the one who wrote the songs. Her husband, a musician and song writer, wrote the music. This is such a good idea and I wish all authors would take note. The music for this book actually feels authentic to the time it would have been performed. It feels like real music and not something an author tried to fumble their way through. This choice again shows care for servicing the story over ego, for creating a meaningful experience for the audience to lyrics that jump off the page because they were written by someone who knows what they are doing with that genre. I know this might not seem like the most important thing to spend so long discussing, but I was genuinely so elated as this aspect of the book!

[Alex Freeman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this read! I was wholly invested into the characters and found the side quests the characters went on made all of them more endearing. I cannot wait for the rest of the series, it was spicy and smart! I adore strong female leads with a strong MMC that loves her for it, and actively encourages it.

[Cameron Bennett · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed it! It was cool to see the life of a rockstar behind the scenes, and I liked the internal tension of Prue feeling like her job forces her to exploit the trust she builds with the people she interviews.

[Micheal Mayowa · Rating 5 out of 5]

You have such a unique voice, and I really admire the way you were able to make every page so engaging. Honestly, it’s one of those books that stays with you long after reading.