The Pink Lantern (Truth or Dare Series #4)

/WARNING: This contains the FULL synopsis of The Pink Lantern and includes spoilers. Skip this section if you don’t want to be spoiled!

Joan, the daughter of Jason, Kenzi, and Donovan, is 18 and eager to start the next chapter of her life. She’s spent her entire life on Hannsett Island and she’s looking for a change. She attends university in England, but finds herself struggling. She has her first kiss with a girl in her school, but as a result, her classmates begin to bully her. Specifically, the boyfriend of said girl.

The story starts with Joan running from her bully and his friends. She crashes into Ezra. Ezra no longer attends the university, but he sees Joan in trouble, so he offers to help. He puts her on her knees and pretends to engage in a blow job so the pack of bullies will run right past them. It works, but Joan is annoyed by his antics. They go out for drinks together (he drinks, Joan doesn’t) and she finds out he’s looking for a roommate after he broke up with his last roommate. Joan offers a solution: she’ll move in with him. Since she’s a lesbian, it will solve his problem of sleeping with his roommate. Plus, it will solve her problem of the on-campus harassment. Ezra agrees and lets her move in.

Meanwhile, Joan starts attending a gay bar called The Pink Lantern. She finds a community of people like her and gets cozy. She also finds Nell, a vibrant femme with a magnetic pull. Joan is instantly in love and desperate to impress Nell. She decides to “up” her queer game and goes to a sex toy shop, where she purchases her first strap on. However, she’s not sure how to use it. She enlists Ezra’s help to “teach her.” What should be a simple lesson turns into an erotically charged moment when Ezra takes her dildo in his hand and starts to stroke it. The two are interrupted by Ezra’s date for the night and they both try to shake off the new energy growing between them.

Unfortunately, the next time Joan sees Nell, it’s when Nell is exiting Ezra’s bedroom. Nell and Ezra start hooking up, leaving Joan’s heart bruised. She does her best to support the couple, but she’s licking her wounds. It doesn’t help that Nell appears to reciprocate the attraction. When Nell and Joan share a kiss on the coast, Ezra catches them in the act and gets upset. Joan tries to mend things with Ezra, but she’s wrestling with her own complicated emotions.

Things are tense at home. Joan and Ezra won’t see eye to eye. Then Joan gets a call: her brother is sick. Otto has had medical complications her entire life, and Joan has always known that, one day, she would have to donate her kidney to save his life. Well, that day has arrived. Seeing that Joan needs him, Ezra puts aside his feelings about the messy Nell situation and immediately goes to comfort Joan. He supports her through the process as she goes back to Long Island and gets the surgery to save her brother’s life.

When she returns to England, she discovers Ezra has thrown a surprise party for her. Best of all, Nell is there. Ezra expresses his approval for their relationship and Nell and Joan share a kiss in the hallway. Meanwhile, Ezra’s father shows up unannounced. We discover that Ezra’s father is an intolerant, strict man, and he takes an instant dislike to Ezra’s “new friends.”

Joan becomes sick with post-surgery complications. Both Ezra and Nell take Joan to the hospital. Joan gets emotional, overwhelmed with gratitude for both of them.

As Nell and Joan officially become a couple, the three of them form a tight bond. When Ezra is moody about a breakup, Nell and Joan take him out to The Pink Lantern. The three of them have a joyful, affirming time. They dance together, an intimacy between them growing.

When they go outside to get some air, they run into Ezra’s “friends.” They’re a group of intolerant men who are curious as to why Ezra is hanging out in a gay bar. They taunt him and Ezra gets into a fight. Joan rushes to defend him, which Ezra lashes out at her for. The three of them go back home, hurt. They apologize to one another and all cuddle in Ezra’s bed.

News of the incident, however, has reached Ezra’s father. He punishes his son by locking him out of the apartment (that his father pays for). Without a place to stay, Ezra and Joan brainstorm. Nell announces that her moms have a lighthouse they take care of on the coast and the three of them can stay there for the summer while they figure out their next moves.

The three pack up and move into the lighthouse. While taking care of the lighthouse is challenging, they grow even closer in the small space. All three start to share a bed together. They reveal more things about each other; Nell confesses that they are non-binary and would like to try “she/they” pronouns. Nell’s self-discovery is met with open arms as Ezra and Joan readily embrace their new identity.

One night, a storm hits, cutting the power. They huddle together and entertain themselves with a game of Would You Rather? Things get tense when Nell proposes a question to Ezra: Would you rather f*** me, or let Joan f*** you?

Joan becomes embarrassed, until Ezra tells her: “You. It’s always been you.” With their mutual affection for each other now out in the open, Joan, Ezra, and Nell open the door to intimacy. They get in a bath together and then get in bed. Ezra brings out Joan’s dominant side, while Nell brings out Joan’s submissive side. The three of them enjoy a hot, steamy, romantic night.

The next day, the dust has settled, and the three of them go to the top of the lighthouse and watch the skyline. Ezra confesses he’s unclear of his place in the relationship. Joan offers a solution: Joan will be Nell’s girlfriend and Ezra’s boyfriend. The genderqueer relationship feels right for all three of them and they look forward to exploring, growing, and changing together.

The book ends with a short epilogue: Joan is considering medical school, Ezra has opened his new practice and left his father’s clutches, and Nell is exploring their own creative endeavors. The three of them are happily enjoying their unconventional, perfect-for-them relationship, and Joan expresses that she feels freer and happier than ever.

• Main characters:
  • Joan – the daughter of Jason, Donovan, and Kenzi. Now attending university in England.
  • Ezra – Joan’s roommate, a rising lawyer in England.
  • Nell – A femme, non-binary hockey player.
• Tropes and themes: New adult romance, sapphic romance, coming of age, found family, polyamory, F/M/Nb, nonbinary representation, queer joy, trans representation, she/they pronouns, forced proximity, “only one bed,” roommates to lovers, friends to lovers.
• Tone and style: Character driven story with dramatic elements. Told in first person, present tense from Joan’s point of view.
• Trigger warnings and content tags include but aren’t limited to male/female/female group scenes, female/female scenes, they/them representation, gender exploration, characters dealing with homophobia, physical assault against female main character, physical assault against male main character, toy play, consensual degradation, organ donation, chronic illness.

Q: Is this part of a series?
A: Yes! The Pink Lantern is Book #4 in a complete, 4-book series called the “Truth or Dare Series.” This is a complete story and can be read on its own, but for the best reading experience, it’s recommended to read the other two book first.

The reading order is as follows: The Bully’s Dare (Book #1), The Doctor’s Truth (Book #2), Two Truths and a Lie (a bonus novella that takes place between #1 and #2), All I Want for Christmas is Them (Book #3), and The Pink Lantern (Book #4).

Q: Is there a cliffhanger?
A: No, The Pink Lantern is a standalone story where the three characters get their hard-earned happily ever after at the end.

Q: Is it multi-POV?
A: No, The Pink Lantern is the only book in the Truth or Dare Series that is a single-POV book, told from the point of view of Joan.

Q: Is there F/F (sapphic) content?
A: Yes, there is sapphic content with Nell and Joan.

Q: Is this a spicy book?
A: Yes, although I would consider this a slow burn, medium heat book. The spice scenes are open door, explicit, and kinky, but they don’t come until later in the book, once the characters have earned each other’s trust.

Q: Where are the spicy chapters?
A: TBD.

Q: Is there an audiobook?
A: Yes! You can listen to the whole Truth or Dare Series on Audible or whatever platform you prefer to listen to audiobooks.

Q: Is it in Kindle Unlimited?
A: Yes, the entire Truth or Dare Series is currently enrolled in Kindle Unlimited. If you are a Kindle Unlimited subscriber, you can borrow “The Pink Lantern” and subsequent books in the Truth or Dare Series for free.