REVIEW: CHARADE BY NYRAE DAWN

Nineteen-year-old Cheyenne tries to portray the perfect life to mask the memories of her past. Walking in on her boyfriend with another woman her freshman year in college threatens that picture of perfection. 

Twenty-one-year-old Colt never wanted college and never expected to amount to anything, but when his mom's dying wish is for him to get his degree, he has no choice but to pretend it's what he wants too. 

Cheyenne needs a fake boyfriend to get back at her ex and Colt needs cash to take care of his mom, so they strike a deal that helps them both. But what if Cheyenne’s past isn’t what she thought? Soon they’re trading one charade for another—losing themselves in each other to forget about their pain. The more they play their game, the more it becomes the only thing they have that feels real.

Both Cheyenne and Colt know life is never easy, but neither of them expect the tragedy that threatens to end their charade and rip them apart forever.

Purchase Charade:

Goodreads | Amazon | B&N

Our Review: 

Court: Charade is one of those books that I had the wonderful joy of discovering as a self-published novel...and completely fell in love with Nyrae Dawn's writing! I went through several in less than a week, and shed 'a many 'a tear along that journey...and have since been hounding Shelley and adding it to our joint TBR list! She has and I did! 

I fell in love with Colt from the first time we meet him, and I knew this tattooed boy with a chip on his shoulder was going to be a doozy! He was. He has many a secret, but goes along with Cheyenne's game for shit & giggles. He gets way more than he bargained for, but I still remember the smile on my face when they first meet in that coffee shop! 

He's so bossy and swoony and tortured and I love it! He says what he thinks and pretty much demands Cheyenne do the same. His ability to cut through the crap and be real was refreshing...and interesting because he wasn't always so real himself. He hides behind his "I don't give a rat's ass" shield a lot, justifiably so...but it makes his desire for her to be real a smidge hypocritical.

Cheyenne, on the other hand, is a pretty relatable girl. I really liked and enjoyed getting to know her, and was super glad that she was ready to go to pretty drastic lengths to get back at the douchebag who wronged her. Since I've been giving advice this week that my friend should go glee on a cheating asshole who she met online but is married with a baby....yeah...and want her to throw a slushy in his face in a highly public place....you can see that I might be excited by such a plot line!

I liked Cheyenne and her desire to tell her ex to shove it. She really never looks back...never wants him back.. but does want him to get a nice dose of what it feels like to be jealous. I love that he tries to continually creep his way back in and she ALWAYS rejects him. She has a little growing up to do and a lot of learning how to trust but I had a ton of respect for her and her willingness to grow and learn and love Cole for exactly who he is. She never really tried to change him and she was great support (as he was to her) when he really needed it.

Then. The feels. Oh the feels. Come at you in a highly unanticipated way. I was amazed and moved by it. And while it hurt, so hard, I was really excited about how amazingly written the whole second half of the book was and how genuine the scenes are. And the fact that an unlikely fledgling relationship has these sorts of tribulations to get through....eeek! It set my heart racing! Agreed..good stuff!

I LOVED THIS BOOK! THE END! 
Ditto! A great read..can't wait for the third book!

Courtney: 5 Stars
Shelley: 4 1/2 Stars

About the Author

Writing has always been Nyrae Dawn’s passion. There have been times in her life where she wasn’t able to chase that dream the way she desired, but she always found her way back to telling stories.

One of her loves has always been writing about teens. There’s something so fresh and fun about the age that she loves exploring. Her husband says it’s because she doesn’t want to grow up. She doesn’t think that’s such a bad thing and luckily for her, he doesn’t either.

Nyrae gravitates toward character-driven stories. She loves going on emotional journeys with characters whether it be reading or writing. And yes, she’s a total romantic at heart and proud.

Nyrae resides in sunny Southern California with her husband (who still makes her swoon) and her two awesome kids.

When she’s not with her family, you can be pretty sure you’ll find her with a book in her hand or her laptop and an open document in front of her.

She writes for Entangled Publishing, Grand Central Publishing and is self-published.

Nyrae is represented by Jane Dystel of Dystel and Goderich Literary Management.

Contact: Nyraedawn [at] yahoo [dot] com | Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Nyrae Dawn also writes adult romance under the name Kelley Vitollo.