Series: Pushing the Limits, #2
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Publish Date: May 28th, 2013
Source: ARC via NetGalley
Goodreads

Rating: 4/5 – Another great love story from Katie McGarry!

Synopsis: 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... -Goodreads

Thoughts: I was so thrilled to be approved to read Dare You To after absolutely inhaling Pushing the Limits late last year. When it comes to topnotch teen dramatic romance, you really can’t go wrong with Katie McGarry.

Like Pushing the Limits, this book focuses on characters who haven’t exactly had it easy. While Beth’s home life definitely leaves a lot to be desired, even golden boy Ryan has a lot going on that his friends don’t know about. What makes these books so enjoyable to read is that they never cross that perilous border into the world of unnecessary angst. Sure, there’s a little here and there, but the characters are teenagers with a lot going on. But both Beth and Ryan are people first, they just happen to be teenagers… so they’re incredibly easy to relate to, even though I have next to nothing in common with either of them.

At first I wasn’t sure how I felt about the second novel focusing on Beth–I didn’t really like her the first time around. But seeing into her back story made it easy to root for her, especially once she began to relax a little. She does transfer schools at the beginning of the book, so there isn’t as much Noah or Isaiah as I thought, but it still worked. There are new characters to enjoy, plus the added emotion of Beth finding a balance between her old life and her new one. It makes for an interesting read.

Dare You To is dark, emotional, romantic, and so so good. Highly recommended!

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Second Opinions:
@The Book Goddess
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@A Little Shelf of Heaven