Review: Dare You To by Katie McGarry

Dare You To
(Pushing the Limits, #2)
By: Katie McGarry
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Release Date: May 28, 2013
Genre: YA
Rating:
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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.

We finally get into Beth’s head and it makes for one awesome story. You knew her home life was messed up in Pushing the Limits but it goes to a whole new level in Dare You To.

After being arrested, Beth finds herself uprooted and under the guardianship of her uncle Scott. Which is where she runs into the smug jock who tried hitting on her the other night. Not only does he go to her school, but her uncle has asked him to show her around town and help her get adjusted. The only problem is, Beth and Ryan couldn’t be more opposite if they even tried.

I liked that going into the story I thought the whole thing would revolve around the dare. At first it starts out with getting the skater girl at the taco shop to give him his number and then when she becomes the new girl in town, it turns to getting her to go out on a date with him. So imagine my surprise when the dare is out of the way halfway through the story. What else could this story possibly have left? Oh but there’s more. Once the Dare is done, we move onto more larger issues like Beth’s mother and her stance with her old life versus her new life. And that for me, was the best part of the story. I loved that it had more than one storyline in it.

Another thing that I enjoyed was Beth. She is a spitfire. She harbors so much hostility and yet is incredibly vulnerable at the same time. So her interaction with the other characters was funny to watch. For instance when she shows up in town and her uncle Scott introduces her to Ryan, for what he thinks is the first time. At first the two of them play along like they didn’t just meet the other night and then…

Beth: “He hit on me.”
Uncle Scott: “You just met him.”
Beth: “Not now. Friday night. He hit on me and he stared at my ass while he did it.”
Uncle Scott: “Is this true?”
Ryan: “Yes. No. I mean yes. I asked for her phone number, but she didn’t give it to me. But I was respectful, I swear.”
Beth: “You stared at my ass. A lot.” I turn and lean over a little so I can give a demonstration. “Remember, there was a rip right here.” I slide my finger along the back of my leg. “You bought me tacos afterward. And a drink. So I’m assuming you must have enjoyed the view.”

I think the whole character dynamic was what really worked for me in this story versus the first novel. Beth is brutally honest, Ryan lives in a cookie cutter world, uncle Scott managed to get out of the trailer park and into the MLB and with taking in Beth, brings her back to her old neighborhood and friends/enemies. Beth was by far the most interesting character in the first novel and this story definitely did not disappoint.

“I’m hiding in the bushes and if the police step back, they’d be on top of me. Beth’s just standing there,” Rico chokes out between laughs. “Her arm stiff at the shoulder and her forearm dangling back and forth like a pendulum. The cop asked if she needed medical help. He thought she was having a seizure.”

Everyone including me, bursts into laughter. Rico composes himself to spit out the rest. “And she breaks her self-imposed silence and says, ‘I’m a mime, you moron. Why do you think I’ve been doing all these retarded moves?'”

Previous reviews from Pushing the Limits
Pushing the Limits

4 Thoughts on “Review: Dare You To by Katie McGarry

  1. Great review!! I loved this book and took in down in one sitting 🙂 Glad you liked it too:)

  2. Great Review! I really enjoyed this book too and I loved the dynamics between Beth & Ryan. I loved the change up of having the good boy tame the bad girl. Loved the quotes you picked 🙂

  3. Loved this book, and I agree, the dynamics between Beth and Ryan was great. When I read PTL earlier this year, I didn’t think I’d ever like Beth, but DYT changed my mind! 🙂

    Enjoy!
    TBQ

  4. Great review. I have had this for a while, but haven’t had a chance to read it, but I am planning to this week.

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