Review of Dare You To by Katie McGarry

Dare You To (Pushing The Limits #2) by Katie McGarry

Published: June 7 2013
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Format: ebook
Pages: 304
ISBN: 9780373210633

Where to buy it

Chapters | B&N | Amazon | The Book Depository

Goodreads:

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….

My Thoughts:

McGarry goes beyond the sometimes cookie cutter plot line of YA contemporary, and she does it beautifully. She brings a fresh voice to this genre and an intensity that isn’t beyond the years of the characters of her novels.
What I loved about Dare You To that was different from Pushing The Limits was the second chance that Beth got. McGarry didn’t simply push her aside as a messed up character, but the reader got to know Beth on such a different level.

Beth is such a strong character. She has been put through the ringer of life and she is still this unbelievably tough chick. She has a take no bullshit attitude and despite how messed up she can be, she is incredibly vulnerable. McGarry did a phenomenal job implying the vulnerability without making her weak. It would have been so easy to see her falling in love with Isaiah, but because this story is all about redemption and second chances, it wouldn’t have been fitting to have her be with someone from her former life.

Ryan, upon first glance, is the quintessential jock who is good at everything and has the perfect family. On closer inspection, he is so much deeper than that. He has a tough home life, in a completely opposite way that Beth does, and that connection between them is extremely strong. He has so much respect for Beth in this story that it is impossible not to love him, other than the fact that he is gorgeous and talented and athletic.

Comparing Dare You To with Pushing The Limits and choosing which one I liked better is impossible. Both stories have something so unique to them, with each character so developed and a storyline that is perfectly paced and beautifully written.

Dare You To is the perfect sequel to Pushing The Limits and any fans of the first book in this series is bound to love the second just as much. McGarry is a fantastic author who creates a story of love and redemption beautifully.

4 our of 5 stars to Katie McGarry’s Dare You To