✨Im Literary Anxious✨

𝗘𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲🕒: 2 minutes

𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿: Scarlett Cole✍🏻 𝗣𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁: 350 📖

THE QUICK AND DIRTY:

𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘀: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
𝗦𝗽𝗶𝗰𝗲: 🌶️🌶️🌶️
𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁: Interconnected Standalone 
𝗘𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝘆𝗽𝗲: HAE
𝗡𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝘆𝗹𝗲: Multi-POV 

TROPES

🏠Age Gap
🏍️Hurt/Comfort
🏠Why Choose
🏍️MC Romance
🏠Protective Heroes
🏍️Healing MFC

“𝘞𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘮𝘦, 𝘞𝘪𝘭𝘥?” 

“𝙔𝙚𝙨. 𝙈𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙨𝙬𝙚𝙧 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙗𝙚 𝙮𝙚𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚.”

When I pick up a Scarlett Cole book, I know there’s about a 98% chance I’m going to love it, and this one kept that streak going.

I did not expect to fall so hard for Shade and Jackal, but those two burrowed their way into my heart. I loved their dynamic with each other, especially the quieter, private moments where they could be openly affectionate in a way they couldn’t around the club.

“𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶. 𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘔𝘰𝘮. 𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘣𝘶𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦.” 

“𝙈𝙮 𝙥𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙚, 𝙒𝙞𝙡𝙙.”

I’d been looking forward to The Hope We Dare because I knew Isla would be the MFC, and I was really curious to see how her story would unfold. I was definitely not a fan of “club Isla” — which I’m pretty sure was the author’s intention — but that made watching her growth even more satisfying.

Once you get beneath all the club posturing and questionable decisions, you see someone who has been starved of love and stability and went looking for it in the wrong places.

“𝙄 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙟𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙙 𝙄 𝙛𝙚𝙡𝙩 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙜𝙤𝙙𝙙𝙖𝙢𝙣 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙣 𝙢𝙮 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚 𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙖 𝙘𝙡𝙪𝙗𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙚𝙣. 𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙢𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙘𝙩 𝙢𝙚.”

It would be easy to judge her choices, but the uncomfortable truth is that her story isn’t all that unique. Most of us have stayed in situations longer than we should have, telling ourselves maybe it’ll get better if we just hold on a little longer.

The pacing did feel a little faster than what I’m used to with the Iron Outlaws books, but it didn’t take away from the story. And we also get some fun cameos — including Niro and Avery.

Avery calling King and Niro out for crying when King’s baby was born? Absolute perfection.

Thought Sprinkles:

• Shade carrying Jackal over the threshold? Be still my heart.
• Avery calling out grown men will never not be funny to me.
• “And for fuck’s sake, can we stop groping women without asking first?”

𝗟𝗢𝗨𝗗𝗘𝗥, 𝗚𝗥𝗨𝗗𝗚𝗘, 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗙𝗢𝗟𝗞𝗦 𝗜𝗡 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗕𝗔𝗖𝗞.

The Hope We Dare is available now at all the usual retailers, and on Thursday, it will be released on Kindle Unlimited and Amazon.

So if you’re a Kindle junkie, you’ll have to wait a few extra days, but trust me—it’s well worth the wait!