Review: Dare You To by Katie McGarry

Dare You To by: Katie McGarry

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 totally devoured Pushing the Limits last year, and it was even one of my top 10 reads of 2012. I knew Dare You To would be as good, but it completely blew me out of the water.

Beth has been forced to pick up her life and move it to a small town where her famous uncle lives. No one understands her at her new school, and she craves the day she will be able to free her mother from the hell they both live in. What she didn’t expect is Ryan Stone, the town’s golden boy, to actually understand her deepest fears and darkest desires. Ryan is dealing with major family drama and pressure to do exactly what his father wants, but together, they surprisingly find everything they’ve ever needed. As long as Beth can trust enough to give her heart to Ryan.

Beth is a broken, broken girl. She has gone through so much in her short 17 years than most people will go through in a lifetime. Without Noah and Isaiah, I shudder to think how she could’ve turned out. Although she seems so rough on the outside, it’s just really a façade. She doesn’t want anyone to know what she is really like. I admire her strength, even when it feels like everything is going wrong in her life. She really just needed a hug. *hug for Beth*  Poor girl.

Now to the boy who broke down Beth’s unyielding walls…Ryan Stone. Now this is what a good boy should be like. I usually never go for the good boys because they are boring and all I really hear when they talk is blah, blah, blah. But oh no. Not Ryan. He’s not a super goody-good boy, which I love, and he’s just a really deep character. Now granted, he does not have the frightening home life that Beth has, but it’s bad in its own way. More on his dad later. But the bottom line is Ryan is just pure amazingness.

As always, her secondary characters are awesome. My heart freakin’ broke for Isaiah. Not nice Katie, not nice! I know that Beth and Isaiah are really just meant to be friends, that didn’t stop me from feeling insanely bad for him. I liked Beth’s Uncle Scott pretty well. I knew he was just doing what was best for her. Ryan’s dad is kind of a horrible person. What gives him the right to treat both of his sons the way he did? He totally shoved baseball down Ryan’s throat when he clearly had other talents.

As always, McGarry’s writing is just so beautiful. I feel every single thing that Beth and Ryan felt. The plot flowed as easy as a river without rocks, and I kinda possibly read it in one sitting, staying up until 3 a.m. even though I had class the next day. Oops…:) Ryan and Beth had a couple of really tough first meetings and I was wondering how in the heck Katie was gonna pull this one off. But without fail, she made it such a wonderful and sweet romance. Prepare yourself for the swooniness. You’ve been warned!

After reading Dare You To, I have a hard time picking who is my favorite, Noah or Ryan. They are both pretty damn perfect in different ways, and I am stoked to read Isaiah’s story! I’m sure it’ll be a three-way tie between the best guys.

Favorite Swoon-worthy Quote: We fall backward onto the bed and Beth continues to move with me. I moan when her hair brushes my chest and her lips kiss my neck. Against my skin, her mouth tilts into a smile. My hands wander underneath her shirt. Her body is burning hot under my touch and I was her skin brushing against mine.

Rating: 5/5 Tar Heels!