Review: Dare You To by Katie McGarry
Title: Dare You To (Pushing the Limits #2)
Author: Katie McGarry
Publication Date: May 28, 2013
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Genre: Contemporary Young Adult
Find It: Goodreads, Amazon, B&N, Book Depository. Bookshop
Source: e-ARC via Netgalley
Rating: 3 stars – stick to your bedtime
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.
Truthfully I may have just grown out of this type of book – young adult that is full of angst and drama. While I was and still am a fan of Twilight (and understand it’s weaknesses) this kind of serious teen drama has never been my favorite. However, I’d heard so many amazing things about Katie McGarry that I decided to give Dare You To a try.
I haven’t read Pushing The Limits, the first book in the series, and I’m not sure if that’s a good or bad thing. On one hand I did not have anything to compare this book to but, on the other hand, I also did not have a lot invested in this world or these characters.
The premise of the book was a little cliche. Popular jock is dared to ask out the “alternative” girl from the wrong side of the tracks. Luckily it doesn’t go the super predictable route and there’s no makeover montage a the end of this.
I didn’t feel a huge connection to either character. I definitely felt more for Beth. She’s had a difficult life and takes the fall for her mother to keep her out of jail which is something no kid should ever have to do. Beth is an angry person, and she had a right to be, but part of me just wanted to shake her and tell her that she needs to take care of her own life and not destroy it for her mother, who is an adult and shouldn’t have to depend on her teenage daughter to keep her out of trouble.
On the outside Ryan seems to have the perfect life. He’s good looking, a sports star, and loved by his family. That is just the surface though and his life is far from perfect. He and Beth have more in common than either would have guessed and their dare becomes something much more than either anticipated. I enjoyed the push and pull of their relationship even though I found Beth’s distrust frustrating at times. I understood it but it was still annoying.
If you like angsty teen dramas with some dark subjects, you’ll probably like this. Unfortunately that is not really my thing and I am probably not the best audience for this, especially since I didn’t read the previous book. I may be missing on these characters. I may still go back and read Pushing the Limits at some point, as I have only heard great things about that book. I just have to be in the mood for something more emotional and gritty than what I usually go for. Dare To You is a well written book but it was not my cup of tea.
*I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affected my review or opinion of the book.
