Review: Dare to Lie by Jen McLauglin

Posted January 8, 2017 by Cocktails and Books in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review:  Dare to Lie by Jen McLauglinDare to Lie by Jen McLaughlin
Series: The Sons of Steel Row, #3
Published by Berkley Publication Date: February 7th 2017
Pages: 336
Also in this series: Dare to Run, Dare to Stay
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four-stars

As an undercover DEA agent in the most powerful gang in Boston, Scott Donahue accepts the risks of living a double life. But when Tate Donovan, leader of the Sons of Steel Row, assigns Scotty to take his place in a bachelor’s auction sponsored by his sister’s sorority, he’s exposed to a whole new level of danger. Even though Tate makes it very clear—Skylar is off limits—the second Scotty sees her, he’s a goner. But how does he tell Sky she’s falling for a man who doesn’t exist?
Sky can’t resist Scotty’s cool confidence or the raw, edgy power oozing from his perfect body. She’s always been the good girl, but he brings out the bad in her. And even though she knows so little about who he really is, Sky’s willing to take the biggest risk of all. But putting her heart on the line is no guarantee that Scotty won’t slip through her fingers...

Cocktails and Books received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect our opinion of the book or the content of our review.

I have enjoyed the Sons of Steel Row but I was a bit nervous about Scotty’s story.  He is an undercover DEA agent and I was worried that it may not be accurate or true to life for me.  Jen McLaughlin did an excellent job at moving this romantic suspense along and making it seem probable that Scotty could actually be an undercover DEA agent.  Scotty’s role in the first two books gives us just enough to want more and to know what is going to happen to him.  He is walking a fine line of deceit and treachery to stay entrenched in the Sons of Steel Row and you worry that there may be no way out for him.

To make matters worse, Scotty is given the worst possible mission:  babysit a hidden sister of the boss.  No one knows about her and Scotty needs to make sure it stays that way.  Tate Donovan, his boss, also makes it clear to keep his hands to himself.  Once Scotty meets Skylar, he quickly realizes that proposition is going to be extremely difficult.

The stakes become even higher when his DEA boss tells him to use Skylar for information.

I enjoyed this book.  The pacing was perfect, action at every turn and the romance was hot.  As a reader, you keep flipping pages because you just can’t imagine how Scotty and Skylar are going to make it out of this not only as individuals but as a potential couple.  Scotty’s lies and deceit start to stack up and he realizes that he may have no choice but to sacrifice Skylar in the process and he doesn’t want to do that to her.  By the end of this book, you can’t help but love both of these characters and are just praying they come out unscathed.  And somehow, Jen McLaughlin made me want to know Tate Donovan’s story and he oozes bad….I guess we will wait and see.

About Jen McLaughlin

Jen McLaughlin is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of sexy books with Penguin and Random House. Under her pen name Diane Alberts, she is also an USA Today bestselling author of Contemporary Romance with Entangled Publishing. Her first release as Jen McLaughlin, Out of Line, released September 6 2013, and hit the New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal lists. She was mentioned in Forbes alongside E. L. James as one of the breakout independent authors to dominate the bestselling lists. She is represented by Louise Fury at The Bent Agency.

Though she lives in the mountains, she really wishes she was surrounded by a hot, sunny beach with crystal-clear water. She lives in Northeast Pennsylvania with her four kids, a husband, a schnauzer mutt, and three cats. Her goal is to write so many well-crafted romance books that even a non-romance reader will know her name.