Review: Truth or Dare

Info:

Title: Truth Or Dare
Author: Jacqueline Green
Series: Truth or Dare #1
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: May 14, 2013
Source: I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review

Synopsis:

When a simple round of truth or dare spins out of control, three girls find it’s no longer a party game. It’s do or die.

It all started on a whim: the game was a way for Tenley Reed to reclaim her popularity, a chance for perfect Caitlin “Angel” Thomas to prove she’s more than her Harvard application. Loner Sydney Morgan wasn’t even there; she was hiding behind her camera like usual. But when all three start receiving mysterious dares long after the party has ended, they’re forced to play along—or risk exposing their darkest secrets.

How far will Tenley, Caitlin and Sydney go to keep the truth from surfacing? And who’s behind this twisted game?

Set against the backdrop of Echo Bay, an isolated beach town haunted by misfortune, Truth or Dare is a highly charged debut that will keep readers in suspense from beginning to end.

Review:

Truth or Dare sounded like a fast-paced, YA mystery. It's not the type of book I usually read and I was excited to branch out and see what I'd been missing. Unfortunately, Truth or Dare didn't quite do it for me. My major gripe was with the characters, but there were a few other things as well.

I can honestly say I didn't like a single one of the characters. Well, I almost like Callum and Tim, but they were such a minor character that they remained fairly one dimensional. Tenley was a shallow, selfish bitch. Caitlin just did as she was told and had no backbone or original thoughts. Sydney was the kind of girl who chooses to be an outcast and wears her loner-ness as a kind of badge of honour, which ended up getting on my nerves. And let's not forget Guinness, the biggest douche ever. The fact that not one, but two of these girls were totally interested in his spoiled ass-hat made me like them even less.

The fact that I didn't really care about any of the characters made this one a bit flat for me. I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more if the characters had been more likeable.

The other complaint I had was with a lack of clues for a large part of the book. One of my favourite part of mystery books is trying to guess whodunnit. While I did manage to correctly guess the culprit about 75% of the way through the book, I wished there had been more clues dropped. It seemed like anytime one of the characters thought they knew who could be the villian, it was based on some past even the reader didn't know about until the character explains it right after they make the accusation. That makes it really hard to guess!

Overall, Truth or Dare is still a fun, fast-paced, somewhat creepy read, but the characters were a disappointment to me. If you're a fan of Pretty Little Liars, you should give this one a try. If you're a fan of characters you can really connect with, maybe take a pass.

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