Dare You To (Pushing the Limits #2) - Katie McGarryGrade: YA
Rating: 5/5 Stars
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
Description taken from Goodreads
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Katie McGarry has done it again with another tear jerking, heart warming, unputdownable novel. I become so engrossed in this novel I finished it in one sitting (ended up going to bed at 2am because I simply couldn't stop reading). Dare You To was one of my most anticipated reads for 2013 and I can safely say it will also be one of my favourites.
After reading Pushing the Limits and learning that the next book would be about Beth I immediately assumed Isaiah would be the love interest. Instead we are introduced to dare loving (as in "I dare you to..."), baseball and all round golden boy Ryan. As I began to get into the story and really understood who Ryan was, I realised why Ryan is Beth's "perfect fit". He's good for her. He gives her the ability to grow, to leave her past behind, and become who she's meant to be without being dragged down by the ugliness of her past. And she's good for him too. Ryan hides who he really is from everyone. Scared to break the "perfect" image everyone else has of him. A lot of this has to do with his parents who are all about keeping up the image of being up-standing members of the community. People who other families look up to. Needless to say, what happens behind closed doors is anything but perfect. And Ryan's not perfect (no one is), but it's Beth who ends up helping him to realise that that's ok, and to be proud of who he is.
Ah Katie, this is what I love about your writing! There are so many positive messages for teenagers (and young adults) to take away from your books. Your characters, although struggling and dealing with so much ugliness that life has dealt them, are true role models.
I loved this book and can't wait for Isaiah to have his happily ever after.
Kerrie
Originally Posted on Goodreads
