PLEASE, if you haven’t read Pushing The Limits, don’t read this review, this story has a few spoilers for the first book.
After I finished Pushing The Limits( you can read my review here), and read the little teaser for Dare You To, I knew I had to get my hands on this book. Beths character in Pushing The Limits pulled me in, so I couldn’t wait to read more about her, especially that her love interest wasn’t Isaiah.
Ryan lowers his lips to my ear. “Dance with me, Beth.”
“No.” I whisper the reply.
I hate him and I hate myself for wanting him to touch me again….
“I dare you…”
If anyone knew the truth about Beth Risk’s home life, they’d send her mother to jail and seventeen-year-old Beth who knows where. So she protects her mom at all costs. Until the day her uncle swoops in and forces Beth to choose between her mom’s freedom and her own happiness. That’s how Beth finds herself living with an aunt who doesn’t want her and going to a school that doesn’t understand her. At all. Except for the one guy who shouldn’t get her, but does….Ryan Stone is the town golden boy, a popular baseball star jock-with secrets he can’t tell anyone. Not even the friends he shares everything with, including the constant dares to do crazy things. The craziest? Asking out the Skater girl who couldn’t be less interested in him.But what begins as a dare becomes an intense attraction neither Ryan nor Beth expected. Suddenly, the boy with the flawless image risks his dreams-and his life-for the girl he loves, and the girl who won’t let anyone get too close is daring herself to want it all…
Beth has a really crazy backstory, and it plays a lot into who she is. We got to know her a bit during PTL, so I went into this book with the knowledge that she is not your typical teenager. I really REALLY enjoyed getting to understand her character more. She has a lot of layers, and I felt like they were all realistic. Beth has never really felt love, besides her mom, and her mom is a full blown addict, not really capable of showing the kind of love a daughter deserves. Beth struggles to depend on Isaiah and Noah, because she has only ever known disappointment. I know a lot of books will have a tough-girl-with-a-softer-side character, but Beth comes off the pages, she is written so well she can stand alone and still interest me.
At first Ryan comes across as this typical athlete that is cocky and takes what he wants. I liked getting to know Ryan, because obviously there is a lot more to him than a baseball player who likes bets. His humor is often a needed comical release during dark periods in the novel. I like that he deals with Beth in a “gloves off” sort of way, he doesn’t make excuses for her and doesn’t take her attitude. I love, love, LOVE their interaction between Beth and Ryan, because it’s funny, without being corny.
Katie McGarry has an incredible ability to make characters so real its like she is describing someone she cares about. She doesn’t hide their downfalls, but allows the reader to see a 360 degree view of who the character is. The love she has for her characters is tangible in the way she writes.The flow of the story has perfect pacing too, the parts I really wanted to slow down and enjoy were written in a way to walked me through the scene, while the high speed parts I felt like I was watching a movie and trying to grasp all the details before the moments got away from me.
I would absolutely recommend this book! Dare You To, is being released on May 28,2013. You can pre-order your own copy now!
