Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Review: Dare You To by Katie McGarry

Released: January 1, 2013
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Series: Pushing The Limits, 2
Star Rating: 4 out of 5
Source: Gift
Edition: Hardcover
Page Amount: 456
Age Group: Young Adult

This is the third novel in a series. Although I do not purposefully include spoilers in my reviews, I may unintentionally include a spoiler from the previous books. If you have not read Pushing the Limits, I suggest you do not read this review.
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....
I'm not sure why, but this book took me longer to read than Pushing the Limits, but I enjoyed it just as much. I wasn't has connected to Beth as I wished I had been going into this book, but either way, it was still a really good read. Even with Beth's issues, I didn't find this novel as dark as Pushing the Limits was. In a way it almost felt like they were two separate stand-alone novels but in another way they were definitely very similar. 

Ryan is the kind of character that I typically don't like reading about, but he is the exception. At the surface, he is the typical jock, but once you start reading you find that he is a lot more dynamic than that. Ryan and Beth are very different and they do not seem, at the surface, like they should be together. Even with this at the back of my mind, I found myself rooting for them the entire way during this novel. Their romance keeps you on the edge of your seat the entire novel, and those are the best romances.

Katie McGarry's writing style is.... perfect. There is literally no other way that I can describe it other than perfect. It is flawless, and there is nothing bad that I can say about it. I cannot wait for her to come out with more books because I will definitely read everything that she ever comes out with. I really enjoy how she crafts her novels together, and I cannot see myself not enjoying something that she comes out with.

Overall, I really enjoyed Dare You To and I cannot wait to devour Crash Into You!