Even If It Hurts is the 1st book in the Coastal Elite series. This is a book where we see the beginning of the latest series by this author. I recently read Undertow and wanted to read the first book. I have been hearing all the best things about this one and I was curious to see how this one would compare with the elite "Untouchable", and while I definitely enjoyed this one and delivered a powerhouse of a bully romance, its nowhere close to how good Untouchable is for me. But having said that, Even If It Hurts was a phenomenal read and wow this one was definitely intense, dramatic and dark. If you only read contemporary romance, I do NOT recommend this book as it does contain dark themes with a anti hero who is a psychopath---literally haha

Even If It Hurts is a story that begins with our heroine, Aubrey, who is working hard by staying good in High school and taking care of her mother who has cancer. But with one altercation with one of the mean girls of the school, she is brought into the sphere of Dare who is the king of the school but also pulls no punches. At first there is a dare with Dare and his girlfriend to play a trick on Aubrey. But it becomes apparent that there is definitely more going on for Dare than meets the eye. And one has to wonder if he will protect Aubrey and betray her in the end...

So Even If It Hurts was completely different from "Untouchable" and even though there are some similarities, they are completely different. I did find that Dare to be much more of a sociopath than Carter Mahoney. Carter is just different in some ways and doesn't quite get as unhinged as Dare can get. So its definitely an experience to get Dare's perspective. And to be honest, in the first half, I wasn't seeing it haha but yeah once you get into the later half of the story, his character really shines through and you definitely see the sociopath that Dare is. I actually loved the heroine to be honest, I know she isn't everyone's favorite, but honestly, she really just worked for me so well on this one. I really was intrigued by her character and her reactions to Dare. The writing in this one is just as addictive as what you see in Untouchable, so I do think fans of Untouchable will be easily won over by this one here. But this one is so DIFFERENT from Untouchable, so keep that in mind. As I feel like people will go into this expecting an Untouchable type of story. It definitely has depths to the story that is typical of Sam Mariano, but at the same time, its going to deliver a story that is completely different than anything that you have read previously.

Overall I found myself hooked in line and sinker into Even If It Hurts, and this author really magnified the greatness of the complexity of their abilities in this one. It delivers on the dark, on the edgy feels and on the heart! If you are a fan of dark bully romance, then this one needs to be on your checklist! ( )