FIVE DARES
by Eli Easton
When a freak accident forces a summer of convalescence in Nantucket, two lifelong friends are surprised by their mutual attraction.
At a college graduation party in Brooklyn, Andy dares his best friend, Jake, to hold lit fireworks to a count of 10, with predictably disastrous results. Both suffer second-degree burns and end up having to spend their summer recovering at Andy’s family cottage on the Nantucket Sound. Jake is a closeted and sexually inexperienced bisexual who has been secretly in love with Andy for years. Andy is straight and oblivious. But when he realizes the sexual implications of the large bandages covering his hands, Andy dares Jake to try a “mechanical solution to a logistical problem.” They do something that will satisfy their mutual needs while taking them to uncharted sensual territory. Easton’s (Snowblind, 2017) latest m/m romance does not improve from the ridiculous setup. Andy’s sexual transformation needed more than an ill-timed injury to render it believable. Stock secondary characters, like the overbearing homophobic father who has groomed Andy since birth to be a rich corporate lawyer, add little to the narrative.
Lots of sex with little plot or character make this m/m romance a dare not worth taking.