I think this novel has full points for me for the choice of having unsympathetic characters, i.e. a cheater and a manipulator. Or at least that is the first impression, but I actually went beyond this standard label.

It’s true that Morgan is married, but his story is not the usually “old” story: his marriage is really only by name, his wife has a life of her own, and she is not more interested in Morgan as a companion, they are more like roommates sharing an house. But nevertheless at first Morgan is not the victim of Danny’s play, he sought out Danny for his own personal casting couch, and he did so in Danny’s shelter, the place where he can be Danny, and not Dan Blake, the famous screenwriter. Hurt in the place where he feels it more, Danny reacts treating Morgan like a toy, and he will do that for the following years, a treatment that Morgan willingly accepts for the return of small favors here and there in the Hollywood scene. Now years later, both of them want something more and above all, something different.

As I said the strong point in this novel is their characters. Nor Morgan or Danny are good, positive role models, on the contrary, for most of the novel they are far from being a good example, and as I said I’m not referring to the fact that Morgan is married. Both men have actually big self-esteem issues, and for Morgan is also an issue of not being to a level of independence suited for his age. It’s like Morgan put a stop to his personal development when he left home in search of fame and fortune in Hollywood. On the other side there is Danny, who is suffering from the classic syndrome of the middle child, the one that always feels like he hasn’t enough love and moves this feeling to his adult life.

Amazon Kindle: Taking the Dare: Truth or Dare, Book 4
Publisher: Breathless Press (February 3, 2012)

Series: Truth or Dare
1) Keeping House: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/1342479.html
2) Telling the Truth: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/1777097.html
3) Giving Up
4) Taking the Dare

Reading List: http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle


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