I really wanted to like this book. I actually convinced myself that I did for a while. But now that my mental health has...changed, I can definitely tell that this book is not good. At all. It’s too problematic and insensitive. I came in looking for a dark aesthetic thriller with good tension and compelling characters. I wear so many different hats, from adviser to counsellor to mother,” she says. “I’m there for them to come and cry to if they have relationship problems, or their parents are going through a divorce. It’s a huge responsibility, because sometimes you’re the only person that they have.” YOU CAN'T JUST SAY WORDS THAT SOUND PRETTY AND "AUTHORY" AND CALL IT WRITING. THEY NEED TO MEAN ACTUAL THINGS. I CANNOT READ THIS BOOK, FOR THE WRITING IS SHIT AND TERRIBLE.

One of the legal liabilities of any sport and certainly any sports injury lawsuit involves the failure to warn the participants in the activity of the dangers of their participation. There seems to be little doubt that cheerleaders, especially young cheerleaders, and their parents are not sufficiently aware of the dangers they are being exposed to by participation in the sport of cheerleading. While we are not in favor of the sometimes recommended scare tactic methods of warning athletes of dangers (don’t create self-fulfilling prophecy psychology), there is no doubt that cheerleaders would be safer if they understood that safety practices are never to be bypassed. And she gives the girls cigarettes and then serves them alcohol at her home, with no mention whatever that this isn't okay. There is tons of teen drinking, drugging, drinking and driving, drinking while driving, with no mention at all that anyone is at all aware that these things aren't right.Everyone's complex. It's hard not to make a serious connection to Lolita, from the cover of the novel to the layers and layers of personality within Addy and all the versions of Beth and Coach French to which we are treated. although i think if she did write YA, she would be amazing at it. i think she could foster an entire generation of strong, cool, toughgirls. In the end, "Dare Me" answers the question of how far its cast will go to be on top, or risk losing it all, even if it has deadly consequences. I thought the book was brilliant for what it chose to show, with some rough edges and suspensions to take into consideration. I would read this again, readily, for how dark, twisted, and vivid the presentation came across in Abbott's narrative.

Basically that's it. Oh and a suicide thrown in for good measure. And a hint of pseudo lesbianism thrown about which doesn't even materialize into anything, but constantly lingers. DARE ME is narrated by 16-year-old Adelaine (Addy)- who at the start of the story is best "frenemies" and lieutenant to Beth- the manipulative and emotionally abusive captain of their school's cheerleading squad- until the arrival of an attractive and exciting new coach- Colette French. As Beth starts losing control of Addy and the rest of her team- coach becomes "the enemy" who must be destroyed. Beth and Addy are both deeply awful, and yet I sympathized with their complex characters completely - even when they're dislikable, they interest you, keep you reading. The relationship between Beth and Addy is deeply messed up by the forces of competition and codependency and yet they remain so interesting to read about. There is no character that you have hopes for or care for or even like, other than perhaps the victim, but even there, what that person was doing was wrong. Who in this whole book actually does right? And OMG, Beth. Can we talk about Beth? She's probably the character that's love to hate here. She's tugging strings and she doesn't care, but the text manages to give her human qualities in the scheme of things, even if you're not sure why she does the things she does up until a certain point, especially when Addy starts revealing things from their past that suggests her own callousness that could run parallel with Beth's manipulations. The two are really more similar than you'd think from the beginning of the work, and neither one of them are necessarily more "moral" than the other. It's just a matter of seeing why they act and react the way they do. Even then, there are points where it leaves you guessing because you're not exactly sure why their loyalties still lie to each other, but yet they're still willing to hurt and manipulate their close relationship. It's a power play, and the fact it's done by these teenage girls who have such social standing is scary enough to think about, especially when it comes to their coach and what they know and how they choose to dance with that information. There's some suspension of disbelief to be had, and I think Abbott works it well - but for some readers, that suspension may not be enough to drive some of the strong symbolic qualities and overarching themes this work has to offer. And that's a shame, because when it hits the ground running, it does remarkably well. I saw it, and I loved it.There was nothing unique about this except for the overblown drama, which of course happens to Addy and Beth because of course they’re the top two cheerleaders. The characters started out decently, at least in concept, but I really had no connection to any of them. Even Addy, who is the freaking narrator, was an enigma wrapped in a mystery. As Beth points out at one point, Addy doesn't even know herself. And, lest you get confused, I don't mean that in a good, "Who am I?" YA thematic way. I mean, literally, Addy has no clue who the hell she is, why she's doing any of the things she gets involved in, why she likes anyone at all in the book (when they're all so unlikeable) or basically why she's even alive at this point.

I really wanted to like this one. I found out about this because I wanted to watch the TV show (the actual TV show, not clips on the Internet) and learned that it was based on a book. So I decided to read the book instead, since I figured that would give me enough of the aesthetic that I was interested in. Born in the Detroit area, she graduated from the University of Michigan and received her Ph.D. in English and American literature from New York University. She has taught at NYU, SUNY and the New School University and has served as the John Grisham Writer in Residence at The University of Mississippi. Megan Abbott is the Edgar®-winning author of the novels Die a Little, Queenpin, The Song Is You, Bury Me Deep, The End of Everything, Dare Me, The Fever, You Will Know Me and Give Me Your Hand.

Forewarning: this will be a long review, possibly one breaking the character limit. That might be surprising considering I'm giving this (close to) 5-stars. In the aftermath of reading this, I will definitely be reading more of Megan Abbott's work. No question. This is... a weird book. And it's definitely going to be polarizing. But holy shit, for me, this book was fantastic. It's not necessarily a book you'll enjoy, but oh my god, does it stay with you - this book along with Abigail Haas' Dangerous Girls got me interested in the suspense genre. It has been over a year now since I read this book and it still haunts me.