BOOK REVIEW ~ DARE YOU TO BY KATIE McGARRY

Title: Dare You To (Pushing The Limits, Book Two)

Author: Katie McGarry 

Release Date: May 28, 2013

ARC provided by NetGalley

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....

Book Review

I fell in love with McGarry's writing with her first book, Pushing The Limits, and couldn't wait to read more from this talented author.

Dare You To is a powerful story and one that I devoured to find out what secrets Beth Risk, the heroine, is hiding. McGarry knows how to hook the reader, leaving a trail of breadcrumbs, hinting at the darkness that is to come, and does it flawlessly. 

Beth Risk comes from the south side of Louisville, where the unsavory of characters live. The people you don't want to run into, much less, develop any kind of relationship with. They are the druggies, the pushers, the underbelly of society. 

Ryan Stone seems to have it all--doting parents, a kick-ass fast ball that will help him achieve his goal to play pro baseball, and a killer smile that charms the girls of his hometown. But behind closed doors, his family isn't as perfect as they portray things to be. Ryan feels the pressure of hiding those secrets and struggles with the decision he has to make regarding his life after high school.   

Ryan's competitive nature and the desire to always win has him approaching the strange looking girl at a Taco Bell. All he has to do to win the dare between his friends is get her phone number. But Beth is unlike any girl  Ryan has ever met. With jet black hair, ripped jeans, and a foul mouth, Ryan knows that she is definitely not his type. But it doesn't matter--it's just a dare. Get her number and he wins...and Ryan Stone never loses.  

But Beth isn't falling for Ryan's charming ways. She leaves him in the parking lot--losing the dare. 

Both Beth and Ryan are the kind of characters that I love to read about. They present this "image" to the world, but inside, they are a mess.  Beth has this vulnerability and the inability to trust, which makes her so much more complex than what she seems. She has erected walls to protect her heart, making it difficult for anyone to see the 'real' Beth Risk. 

Ryan is at this crucial intersection in his life--facing the decision to either pursue his dreams of pro baseball after high school, or enroll in college in the fall. Baseball has always been the center of his universe, but when he discovers he has another talent--writing--he finds out the choice isn't so black and white anymore.  

When Beth and Ryan's worlds intersect, everything changes. Ryan discovers that Beth is more than just a dare. He wants to spend time with her, despite the leave-me-the-hell-alone vibes she sends his way. He sees what Beth is trying to hide, the girl she could be, and wants to burst past her walls. And ultimately, earn her trust. But trust is not something easily won, and Ryan finds out that he must risk everything to win Beth's heart. 

And Ryan Stone never loses.