DOWN AND DIRTY ( Dare Me #2) by Christine Bell-a review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Released Feb 2013

He was a dare she’d never been able to resist…

Cat Thomas has never been the kind of girl to stick. A self-professed infatuation junky, she latches on the newest, hottest guy on the block, then finds a reason—real or imagined—to dump him. When she accepts a dare to rekindle her high school flame and jump in bed with her brother’s best friend, Shane Decker, she knows she’s in trouble. She can’t resist the man, even after all these years apart, and that just won’t do.

Shane has come back to town for a couple reasons. The biggest one? He’s tired of living away from those he loves, including Cat. But now she’s spooked and will do anything to drive a wedge between them, including trying to fix him up with other women through an online dating service.

What does he have to do to make her see that settling down doesn’t mean settling, and he’s ready to spend a lifetime proving it?

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REVIEW:   DOWN AND DIRTY is the second storyline in Christine Bell’s contemporary series Dare Me. This storyline focuses on Cat Thomas (Galen Thomas -our hero from Down for the Count sister) and his best friend Shane Decker.

Like Down for the Count, our couple have a previous history-one that started as teens but never proceeded any further. When Galen left for college he asked his best friend Shane to look after and protect his younger sister Mary Catherine, but little did Galen know that Cat and Shane had feelings for each other. And like most teens neither one was willing to act on their emotions. Shane became the over protective big brother-one that refused to allow Cat to have fun or stray. And Cat thought that Shane’s over bearing attitude was a sign that he hated her from the start. Only Shane has wanted Lacey for a very long time.

The relationship between Cat and Shane reconnected on a chance meeting years later when Shane attended Galen’s final professional boxing match. Without a place to stay, Cat reluctantly offered her hotel room, secretly hoping that the feelings she once felt for Shane no longer mattered. But to her surprise she had difficulty separating her emotions about the man with who vowed his protection many years before. As the storyline progressed Cat continued to waiver with regards to her feelings for Shane fearing that to accept his protection meant she accepted defeat and in doing so pushed the one many away who mattered most. By accepting a dare, Cat placed herself in a position to watch as Shane was forced into seeing other women.

Cat was a difficult character to like. She had become a successful fashion designer with her own line and feared losing her identity to a man-any many-especially a man who had sworn his protection. She wanted Shane; she knew she had lost her heart to the man; but she refused to give into the idea that loving the man would make her a better person. Cat’s identity was wrapped up in her business and she didn’t want to lose herself in a man like she believed happened to another. She pulled Shane in and then pushed in out-several times. And with one final push she may have pushed Shane away forever.

DOWN AND DIRTY is another storyline with a hero who knows what he wants and a heroine who waffles at every stage of the story. There is some angst as Cat pushes one too many times and your heart will break when Shane realizes that Cat has yet to grow up. But in true contemporary romance fashion, our couple will have their HEA but it takes a virtual stranger to show Cat that to accept love doesn’t mean you give up.

Reading Order
1. Down for the Count
2. Down and Dirty

Copy supplied by the publisher.

Reviewed by Sandy