Dare You To
by Katie McGarry
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.
My Review
5 Stars
(I received this book as an Advanced Reviewer Copy)
In this installment of the Pushing the Limits series, we get Beth's story. Those of you that have read Pushing the Limits will remember her as a close friend of Noah's.
I stayed up until almost 1:00 am this morning because I just couldn't put this book down until I finished it!
I LOVED everything about this book. Beth is a great character. I find it absolutely hilarious how she bursts Ryan's ego bubble when they first meet! (he tries to get her number as a dare) She has a quick wit and a sharp tongue and her interactions with the other characters was HIGHLY entertaining!
But under her tough exterior is a girl who is badly damaged by the cards that life has dealt her. Abandoned by her father and left to take care of her alcoholic mother while avoiding her mother's abusive boyfriend, she doesn't think her life will ever amount to anything good.
When events lead to her long-lost uncle getting custody of Beth, she is moved to a new town and forced to leave her mother, friends, and old lifestyle behind.
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Ryan...why couldn't there have been boys like Ryan around when I was 17??
He lost a dare when a skater girl didn't fall for his charms and give him her number. Ryan HATES to lose at anything. When that same girl moves to his town and starts attending his school he thinks he may yet have a chance to win the dare.
What he didn't expect was to develop real feelings for her. Or for the fact that his initial interest in her being only for a dare, would come back to bite him BIG TIME!
Now, this is important....In spite of the way it sounds, the original dare was NOT malicious and Ryan was never out to hurt Beth. He is amazingly sweet, very respectful, and completely genuine. He's not a womanizer or snobby in that stereotypical jock way that I was expecting and the dare really was harmless fun. I ABSOLUTELY ADORED THIS KID.
However, Beth has it in her head that a boy like Ryan (wealthy/jock/all-around golden boy) could never really want a relationship with a girl like her (poor/skater/sordid history) and Ryan has a very hard time convincing her that his feelings for her are real. She agrees to date him but won't let him have her heart.
When fear for her mother begins to drag Beth back to her old life, Ryan tries to convince her that she can't change her mother and that she has a chance to make a new life for herself.
There are countless swoon-inducing moments in this book. There are also plenty that might make you tear up! (moments between Beth and her best friend Isaiah in particular...But don't worry! He'll be getting his own book as well! There's a sneak peek at the end of this one!!)
This author is amazing and I definitely recommend picking these books up!!
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Living is like being chained at the bottom of a shallow pond with my eyes open and no air. I can see distorted images of happiness and light, even hear muffled laughter, but everything is out of my reach as I lay suffocating in agony.
"You're a lot like that bird in the barn. You're so scared you're going to be caged in forever you can't see the way out. You smack yourself against the wall again and again and again. The door is open, Beth. Stop running in circles and walk out."
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