The Dare (Berkley Sensation) [Mass Market Paperback]

At the wedding the next day, Connor knows there is something familiar about the shy innocent and blushing maid of honor but doesn't immediately connect her to the hot, sexy stripper of his fantasy night. Eventually, he figures out the truth, but Alyssia has run back to her hometown.

Connor decides that she is the woman for him and sets out to win her..flying out to find her, worm his way into her social circle and eventually acquiring a veritable zoo collection. The parrot, dogs, skunk, and pig provide much of the book's humor as they and Connor seek Alyssia's heart.

This book was great to read..i hope that this author keeps writing funny, unusual, fast paced contemporary romances like this one...it doesn't disappoint!

Alyssa's best friend Mindy is getting married but Mindy doesn't trust her husband-to-be to remain faithful during his bachelor party (her previous fiancé cheated on her during his bachelor party) and asks Alyssa to infiltrate the party disguised as a stripper (Alyssa's a dancer and knows how to shake her thang). During the party Alyssa drinks some booze laced punch and lets loose. Cooper, the best man and a straight-laced type, removes Alyssa from the party (letting her sleep it off in his den) when she throws her bra in his face. When Alyssa awakens she decides to have a wild a night of sex with Cooper, throwing her virginity and all common sense to the wind . . .

Cooper is smitten with the smart-mouthed stripper who has just given him the best sex of his life and intends to get to know her a whole lot better but it seems she's run away. He meets her again, of course, at the wedding the next day and recognizes her even though she no longer wears a black wig, stripper makeup and is acting all shy and innocent. But before he can have at her again she's on the run back home to San Francisco.

The setup is cute (if you can suspend your disbelief enough to have some fun with it) but from here little things begin to drive me over the edge.

Alyssa is nauseatingly over-the-top sweet. She meets a kid on a plane who whines that she wants a pony for Christmas and doesn't believe in Santa because he refuses to deliver her one. When Alyssa learns from the mom that she's struggling to make ends meet Alyssa (whose family is loaded) agrees to buy her one so she'll continue to believe in magic. I swear, I couldn't make this stuff up. She dotes on her grandfather (which is kind of sweet) and remains a virgin at 24?! Why remain virginal to throw it away on a one night fling? This girl is described as a gorgeous, wild, free-spirit but has never seen a man's anatomy up close? Sorry, I'm not buyin' it.

Anyway, Cooper is so desperate to have a repeat of the "greatest sex in his life" that he nearly becomes all stalker-like. He interrogates the other strippers until they reveal private info. that leads him to Alyssa. He then boards a plane and follows her to San Francisco, leaving his important business in the hands of his partner, when he locates her and spies on her while she dances at her place of business.

All of this adds up to a book more frustrating than funny.