Review:Dare You To by Katie

Dare You To by Katie McGarry 
Release Date: May 28, 2013 
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Format: eBook
Pages: 462
Genre: YA Contemporary Romance
Source: NetGalley

Goodreads Synopsis:

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:         

When we first met Beth in Pushing The Limits, I didn’t like her. I pictured a very different girl in leather and metal studs; a stuck up bitch who thought she was better than everyone else and whom very few people could stand to be around. Boy am I glad we got the chance to know the real Beth. Sweet, insecure, broken Beth.  I lost track of the number of times I wanted to save her from a situation she never should have been put in.

Beth lives in her aunt’s basement with her “brother” Noah and her best friend Isiah. Occasionally, when they are really high, her and Isiah do more than just share the mattress on the floor. That’s when she is not off with some other guy.

But one night Beth gets in trouble and her aunt calls her uncle Scott to come get her. Scott offers her a life with him and his wife, who is clearly not happy to have a teenage girl living with them. A clean slate for Beth with a new school, new friends and new opportunities Beth had previously only dreamed of. But Beth doesn’t want to leave her old life in Louisville. There is too much there and the stakes are too high, with dire consequences if she fails.

Enter Ryan, with the seemingly perfect life, perfect family, and a perfect, bright future in baseball. And he doesn’t loose a dare. But what starts out as a dare has the potential to backfire and hurt both Beth and Ryan.

Dare You To is an emotional rollercoaster. After reading Pushing The Limits, I thought there was no way Katie McGarry could top that, and since I really didn’t like Beth, I was actually worried I would be bored. But I am glad I gave Dare You To a chance. Not only is Beth a very deep, very lovable character, the storyline is amazing. A high school romance with a twist, you see why Beth is the way she is.

My favorite character is still strong and loving, tattooed bad boy Isiah. When I realized that Katie was not going to let him and Beth be together, I was mad and hurt for Isiah. He fought so hard for Beth, first being brave enough to be honest with her about how he felt, and then trying so hard to keep her from harm. If that’s not love, I don’t know what is.

Katie McGarry delivers another exceptional story in Dare You To. The plot is amazing, the characters nicely developed, and very real. Right from page 1, I had to keep reading just that little bit more, to see what would happen next. It is a very satisfying read and I would definitely recommend it to YA Romance fans.