I Dare You

LoveReading4Kids Says

Best friends, Willow and Alma, are fame hungry and certain that their best chance of achieving it is by going viral. So begins an increasingly elaborate series of dares, all filmed and uploaded to TikTok in search of likes and followers. As their popularity soars the risks they take turn from funny to scary. Soon doubts creep in and the girls must confront how far they are willing to go, and whether online adoration is worth losing everything for.

Modern teens will undoubtedly relate to the allure that viral fame holds over Willow and Alma, wincing as they consistently make poor decisions, but also empathising with the relentlessly addictive nature of social media notoriety. Winter builds tension fabulously from the very first page, we know something will go wrong eventually, but must watch helplessly as the friends hurtle towards disaster.

Equally well-portrayed is the friendship between Willow and Alma, burning with an intensity that belongs only to teenagers, the girls love and depend on each passionately, even when they bring out the worst in each other. Narrated by both girls in alternating chapters, it is slowly revealed that even though they are fiercely close, their lives are very different. Alma has an affluent and close family, whilst Willow is less well-off, and struggling with the imminent wedding of her mum and her dorky stepdad. Willow is the stronger willed of the two and sees internet fame as her ticket out of the domestic mundanity she endures. Whilst Alma is easily led by Willow, she also already feels guilty that her family can afford to give her exciting opportunities that Willow can only dream off, so doesn’t want to let her friend down.

Readers will laugh and possibly even shed a tear, as they discover whether Willow and Alma, and their friendship, can survive they campaign for fame. I Dare You firmly cements Tamsin Winter as a must read for all young teenage girls – it is funny, thought-provoking and incredibly realistic.

Amy McKay

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