Book Review – Charade (The Games Series #1) by Nyrae Dawn

4 stars

“This is a game. Our game. One that I asked for, but with each day it feels more real. More real than anything every has…. What to do. I shouldn’t fall for this guy.“

When Cheyenne’s heart is broken after finding her boyfriend in bed with another girl, she wants to find a way to make it clear to him that she doesn’t need him in her life. Colt is struggling with pushing himself though school to keep a promise he made to his dying mother. When Cheyenne sees him in a coffee shop, she proposes a deal. She will pay him to pose as her boyfriend in an effort to make her ex jealous. Desperate for the money, he agrees and so begins their charade. Their game face they show the outside world. But the more they continue it, they find that what feels most right in their lives is the charade.

“This isn’t a fucking game anymore. No charades here. I don’t know exactly what to call it, but whatever it is, it’s ours. I’m going to latch onto it. And never let go.”

The second half of this book was sooo good! It was heart breaking and had me in tears by about 90% (don’t worry, there is still a HEA!). I did liked the story in the beginning and there were a few moment I really felt for but, overall I was a little distanced from the characters for the first half. No specific complaints. I liked each of them, I liked the story, I just wasn’t feeling fully connected to it from the start, but I got steadily into it the more I read and about half way through, it got gooooood and my heart strings were pulled to the point of ending up in tears by the end. Ohhhh gosh, seriously, the 90% mark was painful!! My heart went right out to them.

I really liked the idea of how two people who barely even liked each other at first, who jumped to all the wrong conclusions about each other and seemingly weren’t suited to each other at all ended up falling head over heals in love.

“Tomorrow… don’t remind me I said this. I won’t want to talk about it, but tonight… keep me safe.”

We get alternating POVs that help familiarize us with how different each of their lives were and the pain they were each going through. I loved Colt’s POV. What a sweet heart bad boy! He was really easy to fall for 🙂

“No more games, I want you.” he says into my ear.“

This book dealt with a lot of hard themes – young characters dealing with abandonment and death and trying to hold it together and stay strong. I loved that they were able to find support and strength in each other and that out of all the heart ache, they came away with each other and with a love and a bond that you knew was going to last.

“It’s that stupid girl heart-pounding, hearts-floating-by-my-head thing. Where the guy who fights so hard to keep the distance, does something so small, it’s huge. I can’t help but let it inside. Let it mean something.“

Its not very long and could be easily read in one sitting. If you are looking for an emotional New Adult read, its definitely one to consider!

Book 2 “Facade” will follow the story of Colt’s best friend Adrian (who we see a fair bit of in this book). I’m very much looking forward to his book which will be out Spring 2013.

• Buy CHARADE on Kindle
• Buy CHARADE in Paperback

CASTING

• Colt –> Click here
• Colt and Chey –> Click here

Book #1 – CHARADE
Book #2 – FACADE