Truth or Dare

Jayne Ann Krentz

Ethan and Zoe Truax have been married only a few weeks. But the relationship is tenuous. They married to protect her from her in-laws. In the meantime they discovered each other. They have decided to give the temporary marriage a chance.

There is still a lot of baggage, though. It's the anniversary of the time Ethan's brother had been kidnapped and murdered. He, his sister-in-law, and his nephews are fighting the memories. Zoe's friend, Arcadia, is afraid the husband who tried to kill her isn't dead like he pretended. Zoe is trying to establish a new interior design business in Whispering Springs. She also appears to have someone who is stalking her spaces.

Ethan and Zoe are careful around each other. He is afraid she'll decide he isn't worth her love. She is afraid he can't accept her psychic side. She constantly buys healthy food, protective gadgets, and high spf sunscreen to protect Ethan. He resists all renovations to his ugly pink house. Both have nightmares that wake them in the middle of their nights. Both still have memories from the past they can't banish.

Now it appears someone is stalking Ethan or Arcadia. They have to investigate all the oddities that are happening. Arcadia feels like someone is watching her. Ethan has odd people showing up in his life both as clients and as contractors.

Truth or Dare is standard Jayne Ann Krentz fare. That means that I enjoyed it but it's not one of her best ones but not one of her worst, either. In fact, I thought this one is better than the first companion book, Light in Shadow. I liked the interaction between Ethan and Zoe. Both have fears about their marriage, but they face them with each other by half way through the book. I'm glad they don't carry that throughout the book. The rest of the book is involved in the mysteries Krentz has woven into the story.

The solution to one mystery has hints to it all the way through. There are some others that are smaller but add to the story, making it more believable. The one that was supposed to be a surprise was fairly obvious to me, but not the reason behind it. Although Krentz's Arcane Society series started shortly after this was published, there are still a story or two that can come out of this novel. Krentz is good at interweaving old story lines (Eclipse Bay, for example) into new ones, so they could still reappear.

Truth or Dare is a fun fantasy romantic paranormal suspense novel. I enjoyed it, but recommend reading Light in Shadow first.

Notice:  Explicit sexual content, Non-graphic violence