One Bossy Dare
by Nicole Snow
My review:
“One Bossy Dare” by Nicole Snow is an enemies-to-lovers experience as energizing and enticing as your favorite craft coffee or other decadent treat. It combines complex characters with just the right touches of darkness and sweetness to create a book that will stay with you have a happy memory long after you finish reading the last page.
Cole is the single dad of a teenage daughter, and the CEO of a successful coffee empire that’s been passed down through generations. As is part of his ownership style, he makes a quality control visit before business hours to one of his company’s stores. While there, he’s verbally assaulted by a sharp-witted, sharp-tongued, stunning woman who sends his pulse racing and his heart pounding in ways that the strongest espresso never could. Eliza works as a freelance virtual assistant while she pursues her primary interest, which is experimenting with and creating coffee flavors that are more like experiences. After a heated confrontation with Cole, a man as grouchy and unreasonable as he is hot, Eliza is so flustered she leaves behind a jar containing one of her coffee experiments –- an oversight that changes everything in both of their lives.
This story is so well-written it grabs your attention in the first chapter and never lets go. The characters are depicted thoroughly, and with beautiful complexity. Excellent dialogue brings them to life, as does the alternating dual point of view through which the story is told. The dynamic and chemistry between Cole and Eliza is beyond steamy and feels authentic. I thought this story was paced very well. I was surprised at some of the twists and turns, and at the depth of feeling the story achieves. Good secondary characters round out the story in interesting ways. Destiny, Cole’s teenage daughter, is a vital part of the story, and she also provides even more humor and emotional depth. There are fun appearances by characters in some of this author’s other books, and cool mentions of places of importance in other series. Cole and Eliza experience so much on their way to a richly deserved conclusion to their story. I’m a big fan of epilogues, and the one at the end of this book is as delicious as the topping on your favorite dessert coffee. Nicole Snow gives us a strong indication of who the next bossy alpha will be, and I am so ready to read his story!