Another year, another new Tate James series. I don’t know how she does it. NoFear is the first book in the ClikByte series, a why choose romance surrounding a team of social media content creators. This series seemed so unlike anything else I’d read, from Tate James or anyone else, and it certainly started out with a splash.
After Noah’s brother nearly died, she was forced into a contract to join Olympus, an all-male team of social media creators known for their bad boy image and obsessive fans. She doesn’t want to be there, and the boys on the team don’t want her there, but according to management, they have no choice.
On top of all that, she has to pretend to be a man, and no one on the team can know. Noah is just trying to get through, get Cliks, and then get the hell out of the contract.
Everything is going fine, if fine means lying to the entire world while trying not to fall for her sexy teammates, until a creator is murdered on her live stream, and no one knows who did it.
Noah has so many secrets to keep, living in a house with seven guys, with a murderer on the loose, and it feels like the walls are closing in.
This is a why choose book, and it’s not immediately clear how many of Noah’s team members will also end up being love interests but there are potenially seven guys in the mix. This is a longer series, so over the course of five books, there will be time to learn all these characters, but in this first book some of the love interests stand out much more than others. It can be a lot to keep straight, but they are certainly distinct from each other.
Noah is a great heroine. She’s so many things at once, an adrenaline junkie, a woman wronged, and a girl with a crush or a few. This is a character with multitudes, and I loved getting to know her.
NoFear has a very original premise, one that is different from past Tate James books, but with that same tension and playful undertone. It’s a new angle, but retains all the wonderful excitement that makes why choose novels so great.
It’s a little reminiscent of Jane Washington’s Ironside Academy series, but with significantly better execution, and with some She’s the Man vibes for good measure.
In a departure from Tate James’ usual style, this series, or at least the start of it, is a slow burn. There is very little actual spice, but it works here. The gradual build up makes sense for these characters and their circumstances, and it definitely left me hungry for more.
I should know better than to pick up a Tate James book before the next one is out, but c’est la vie. The cliffhanger in NoFear is absolutely brutal. When I discovered that I was on the last page and there was nothing left to read, I had to stop myself from throwing my Kindle.
The second book in the series, Bubbles, is due out on August 11th, and I can’t wait to see what happens next.
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