Dare You To by Katie McGarry ~ Review

We love Katie McGarry at The Sarcastic Palmtree! 
This week I am reviewing all of Katie's books and doing a giveaway for a paperback of her YA Novel 
Pushing the Limits 

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....

What to say about this book... I fell in love with Katie's writing in Pushing The Limits and immediately moved on to Dare You To.  In Dare You To we watch the tough as nails Beth move from the terrible life she has known for so long to one that is completely opposite.  We seem to have a lot of books out there featuring "bad boys" and we all tend to love them, but I enjoyed Beth so much because she is what I would consider a "bad girl" and I found it very refreshing.  Katie is exceptional at building her characters and I truly loved Beth.  I loved her flaws, I loved her courage to do what she felt was right and I also loved her strength.  Ryan was a very different character for me but in a really great way.  It is really hard to describe how I feel about him.  He always had his heart in the right place and Beth made it really hard on him at times and used him quite a bit to get what she wanted, but he stuck it out with her because he knew he needed her and she needed him.  I really loved how he would push Beth, to make her better in a lot of ways and I felt like he really did care about her and was willing to give her a chance.  I seriously am at a loss for words with Ryan.  I just wish I could let you all into my heart to let you feel what I do for him as a character.  It is unique from anything I have felt and I appreciate the fact that Katie McGarry could write a character that could, in fact, render me speechless.

Beth's struggle with her new lifestyle was interesting to read.  I loved how her uncle set certain limits and she would test him and try to push back as much as possible (as any teenager probably would) until eventually they fell into a happy medium between the two.  The relationship between her and Ryan was one that was a push and pull it seemed. I loved watching them test each other and push each other to make each one better.  This, I believe, is what friends and companions do in real life to help make each other better which is why it works so well.

Dare You To is a continuation of the Pushing the Limit series where we first met Beth.  I love how much crossover there is between characters in this series.  It makes me curious to know more about each one and want to get to know them better.  We all have people that are woven into different parts of our lives and Katie is a pro and showing that real life aspect in her books.  As much as there is crossover, each story is unique and different and written so you could easily read it as a stand alone.

Flamingo

at The Sarcastic Palmtree gives

Dare You To

by Katie McGarry

10 Palm Trees

We also are giving away a copy of the first book in this series, Pushing the Limits. Be sure and enter below if you haven't had a chance yet this week!

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