Review: Dare You To (Pushing the Limits #2) by Katie McGarry

Title: Dare You To (Pushing the Limits #2)
Author: Katie McGarry
Published: May 28th 2013
Published: Harlequin Teen
My Rating: 3.75 stars

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....

Dare You To is another astounding novel from Katy McGarry that brought waves of emotions and feelings through me just like what she did me in her first novel, Pushing the Limits. Although I think the latter was a whole lot more intense and emotional, the former was still definitely a very sweet and enjoyable ride.  

I'm a sucker for opposite and antagonizing couples. So of course, Beth and Ryan were sold to me. But what I appreciated a whole lot more in this kind of arrangement was that their roles were reversed - it's now the bad girl and the good guy. It was refreshing to see the guy being the one who was more understanding, more patient and tolerating. The one who waits and supports. It definitely add more to the level sweetness and swoon-y-ness of the story.    

Beth wasn't a very easy character. This girl's tendency of self-sabotaging was quite alarming and frustrating. Although I loved her strong, sassy and fierce character, I did struggle some time understanding what was really up with her. Finally learning what had really happened when she was a kid that made her think that she owed her mother, I felt sadness and ache on what she had to suffer. 

Ryan, on the other hand, was a character that was easy to identify with and understand. The "golden boy" who seems so perfect and pieced together. But digging a little deeper will make you see that his character has some torn and frayed edges too. I love how both of he and Beth, despite the problems and flaws between them, was able to help each other developed and faced their own demons. 

Although the plot had been a bit standard and formulaic, I loved how Katie presented it through the characters of Beth and Ryan and how well she was able to emphasized the significant things - the understanding the forgiveness, the acceptance, the courage and of course, the love. 

I recommend this.