My review of Dare You To

Dare You To (Pushing the Limits #2) by Katie McGarry
Release Date: May 28, 2013
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"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...

Katie McGarry has done it again. She has successfully delivered another gripping, emotional and entertaining novel that can simply not be missed. Dare You To is just as breath-taking as Pushing the Limits is. Readers' high expectations for this book will not fail to be hit by McGarry's imagination and unique characters.

Dare You To is told from the point of view of Beth, who we briefly met in Pushing the Limits; a daring girl with a troubled life that few people can relate to. And Ryan; a baseball star with a good future ahead of him, but under that image is a boy who just wants to be himself. When he is dared to ask a girl for her phone number, he sees it as an easy challenge. What he doesn't know is that the girl is not the type of person to be fooled by a boy's charm. Nope, Beth's fallen for that act once before and she's not prepared for another heart break. As the two are thrown back together by a wave of events, they can not avoid their intense attraction and slowly fall for each other. But can Ryan face up to who he really is, while Beth learns to trust again?

Katie McGarry has a rare talent of hooking readers in from the very first page and making words and characters come to life. I could not put this book down and read it in a matter of hours. And in those few hours, I felt like I was on a crazy roller coaster that I never wanted to get off of.

I wasn't too keen on Beth when she appeared in Pushing the Limits, but Dare You To has completely changed my view of her. She's simply a girl with a troubled past and all she needs is for someone to understand her. She also has trusts issues, which is completely understandable considering what she's been through, and the only people she trusts fully are Noah and Isaiah. Then she crosses paths with a jock named Ryan, who annoys her immediately but she can't help that longing to be loved. As I got to know Beth on a deeper level, I found it hard not to love and care for her. 

Ryan. Ryan, Ryan, Ryan. He is just... amazing. Yes, at first we see him as a jock who only cares about completing and winning dares, but then... BAM! We get in his head and realise that he is so much more than a jock. He is also a writer, well, a secret one. He has a controlling father who fails to see that Ryan's heart is not completely into baseball, so he writes in the safety of his room and only shares his work with his English teacher. Ryan is a really sweet guy underneath with plenty of love to offer. I think I love him. I can't even put choose between him and Noah because the two are very different. Unlike Noah, Ryan is not a bad boy who smokes and swears. He is his own person and I would love a guy like him. Sigh.

Ryan and Beth were the cutest couple to read about... well, once they realised they liked each other, anyways. Ryan is a very poetic person and the stuff he says is really beautiful. They made me laugh a lot, they made me smile and they made my heart yearn for the love that they share. It was perfect. Actually, it was not entirely perfect. Like any other couples they have their problems, but with these two there just seems to be an unlimited amount of them to solve.

I must say, my expectations were extremely high for this book because Pushing the Limits was mind-blowingly-fantastic. Dare You To did not let me down. Not at all. It was just as amazing, intriguing, romantic and irresistible as Pushing the Limits was. I think I must finally declare Katie McGarry as a writing genius. She is incredible and I can not wait to read more of her books. Luckily, there is going to be another book! *Screams of thousands of fans around the world* I hear you, my friends. I'm excited, too! It's titled 'Crash into You' and it's told from the point of view of Isaiah... I. Need. This. Now.

For all of you out there who have not read Pushing the Limits, please go a book shop close to you and purchase it because it is one of the best YA books out there. Pushing the Limits is a book that YA lovers should not miss for the world, and neither is Dare You To. So when you get the opportunity you must read these books, okay? 

Dare To You contains an irresistible romance and plenty of to-die-for characters. After reading you may feel like you've just lost your best friends, and fall into a slight depression when you remember that Crash into You is not yet available and you will then wickedly plan a way of kidnapping Katie McGarry so she will let you read it. But soon, reality catches with you, and you realise that you are going a little crazy and have to sleep because it's 4 in the morning and you have school/work in a few hours.

Yep, Katie McGarry is one amazing writer.

Rating

A review copy was provided by Harlequin UK

Favourite Quote:
“You're a lot like that bird in the barn. You're so scared that you're going to be caged in forever you can't see the way out. You smack yourself against the wall again and again and again. The door is open, Beth. Stop running in circles and walk out.”