McGarry: Website • Facebook • TwitterSeries: Pushing the Limits #2
Format: eGalley, 480 pages
Source: NetGalley
Release Date: May 28, 2013
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Genre: Romance > Contemporary
Age Group: Young Adult
Get It: Amazon • Barnes & Noble
Ryan lowers his lips to my ear. "Dance with me, Beth."~synopsis provided by Goodreads
"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...
I'm not interested in second place.So I didn't realize this was a companion book until I was about halfway through the book. I hate reading books out of series order, but at least it was standalone and didn't completely depend on Pushing the Limits.
That being said, oh my goodness. This book is amazing. I read it in a day and I just couldn't stop - not that I wanted to! I have so many great things to say that I honestly don't know where to start.
I fell in love with our main characters and their relationship. Beth has a pretty tortured up bringing but I like the fact that it doesn't stop her from trying to protect those around her - namely her mother. I can't stand her mother and Beth's desire to protect her drove me insane. I get that it's her mother, but I kept waiting for Beth to realize that her mother is not a good person and cares more for herself and where her next fix will be instead of Beth.
Ryan is a complete sweetheart and you can't help but feel for his home life. His parents marriage is falling apart, his brother isn't welcome home anymore, and he is fighting an internal debate between going pro in baseball or college first. He appears to have this perfect life on the outside, but it's far from it.
Their meeting was an accident and their relationship begins on a bet (not a spoiler, you find this out in the first chapter) and it becomes an integral part of their relationship. As their relationship grows, we begin to see how Beth's upbringing has truly affected her. It's heartbreaking to see the walls she has placed around her. The inner thoughts she has makes it all the harder. As the reader, we see that she wants to trust Ryan and build a relationship, but she can't. She pushes these feelings away to remain this hardened person on the outside to keep from getting hurt.
Ryan is able to chisel away at her walls, tiny bit by tiny bit, and gain her trust. It's a slow paced romance and I really liked that Beth wasn't immediately "Oh, okay. I'm fixed! Yea!"
The plot was fast paced and never dragged. It was a nice mixture of the romance between Ryan and Beth; Beth trying to save her mother from both herself and her abusive boyfriend, Trent; and Ryan's personal issues with baseball, his father, and college.
The supportive characters were just as great. Noah and Echo make a few appearances, but aren't really that prevalent in the novel. They're more like cameos than a supportive role. Beth befriends Ryan's friends, who are always good for a chuckle, and it was nice to see her become friends with Lacy. Scott was an amazing father-figure for Beth and it was great seeing their relationship bloom and change throughout the novel.
My favorite scene was the rain scene, both out in the field/forest and in Ryan's bedroom. I'm not to really explain what happens as it would be too much of a spoiler, but it was without a doubt one of the most beautiful and sweetest scenes from a book that I have ever read.
I loved everything about Dare You To and I'm excited to read Pushing the Limits and then Crash Into You and find out what happens with Isaiah and hope he gets his happy ending, too!
