A Book in My Back Pocket

‘Dare to Love’ is the story of Lucille ‘Lucy’ Fairchild and Jake Dalton two of the most unlikely lovers I think a reader could envision. Lucy comes from the social ‘elite’ and is a successful lawyer and partner in her father's law firm. Jake is a new owner of a construction company, comes from the ‘wrong side of the tracks’ and has worked extremely hard to achieve business success.


Ever walk along a sidewalk where there is a construction project underway and admire some of the handsome man flesh in the vicinity? Well, one of those hotties could be Jake Dalton, tall, rugged, handsome, intelligent and determined to be successful. Lucy walks by Jake’s construction site and through a series of rather comical incidents ends up agreeing to go out on a date with him.


Raymond Fairchild, Lucy’s father is a controlling, snobbish, manipulative man with Machiavellian tendencies, who has intensions of marrying his daughter off in a ‘business arrangement’, to this slimy repulsive millionaire named Alex. Jaci wrote Raymond Fairchild to be one of the most malignant antagonists I’ve read in a long time. Man, I have to say, “I hated that guy”!!!


Needless to say, when Jake turns up at the door of the Fairchild mansion to take Lucy out, old Raymond very nearly busts an artery. Jake and Lucy have ‘nothing in common’, don’t you know, because of her ‘social status’.


Lucy, against her better judgment, opens up to Jake about her father’s attempts to control her life and arrange a marriage for her. Jake takes pity on Lucy and presents her with a plan to foil old Raymond by ‘pretending’ to be her boyfriend.


The romantic plot written for these two lovers can only be described as a roller coaster ride as they try and maneuver through barriers of social class, their own preconceptions about each other, and Raymond and Alex’s interference.


The love scenes once again are tasteful and written into the plot with perfection. As Jaci likes to say there is no “swinging from the chandeliers”, sex in this novel but it is rife with sexual tension and sweet moments. Jake and Lucy’s story is endearing in that it tells a tale of a love strong enough to survive social, personal, business and family conflict.