The Dating Challenge by B. N. Hale
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I received this ARC from Red Coat Publishing and the authors in exchange for an honest review.
I was looking for a light read this month, since this time of year can be especially busy and stressful. The Dating Challenge provided just the right amount of distraction to allow me a few hours of retreat from reality. There were just a few points I wished had provided more depth, although, I suppose that’s what made this read a light one.
The characters had great potential and really captured my attention at the beginning, but by the time I reached the half-point in the story I was hoping for more character development; a bit more insight into their internal struggles and a few explanations of why they acted the way they did. This would have provided the reader greater motivation and incentive to continue reading.
I thought the plot was adorable and quite ingenious. It was fun and showed a lot of creativity and certainly inspired me to add some imagination the next time my husband and I go on a date night.
The writing was easy to follow, had a nice flow to it and made it easy to imagine all the little details both characters put into planning their dates. The only thing that I began to tire of was the repetition in the description of the characters’ internal struggles and their physical appearance, but it never went further than what the reader had already read multiple times over. As a reader I wanted to become closer acquainted with the two main characters, which were kept at arm’s length, unfortunately.
Overall, it is a cute and light story, which I can imagine would be great to read around Valentine’s Day. It was entertaining, and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a light read.
