Review: Dare You To by Katie McGarry

Title: Dare You To
Author: Katie McGarry
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Publication Date: June 7th 2013
Page Count: 462
Buy The Book: Amazon | Barnes and Noble
Rating: 4/5

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...

Favourite Quotes

"It's our rain Beth." Her head barely shakes to show her confusion while I rub the back of my neck and search for my courage. "I told you I loved you in this rain and when you doubt my words, I want you to look at this bottle.”

Few Wild Words Quickie

Engaging, realistic and definitely another emotionally attaching book from Katie McGarry.

My Thoughts

I don't know what to say other than the fact Katie McGarry managed to hook me with another one of her books. It tugged at all the right emotions and there is no doubt that I love the main character Beth.

There's something about Beth that totally appealed to me. She's strong headed, won't let others push her around and can stand alone. However, Beth is not only that, there are multiple layers to this girl, her fears, weaknesses, broken life and so many flaws that make her who she is. Beth isn't perfect but that's what I liked about her. From the beginning till the end I noticed little changes to her character, Beth doesn't completely change, she becomes a mix of her past and present blended. McGarry beautifully developed the main character and gave us parts of Beth's life piece by piece. By the end of the book, we were left with a character that as a reader I had grown close to and understood.

Moving onto Ryan, I liked him, I liked him a lot. There were times when I totally loved Ryan because of the way he interacted with other characters and that fact he was crazy sweet. Though there were other points which made me think what the hell Ryan, mostly that happened when I felt he was being overly possessive. Ryan was also far from perfect much like Beth, there's a lot more to him than what meets the eye. Then there's Isaiah, I can't work out what I'm feeling about him, there weren't too many moments with Isaiah but my heart went out to him each and every one of those times.

DARE YOU TO for me, was a story about love and change. It presented two teenagers with real life struggles, ambitions and problems. It showed me their journey to find some sort of happy, any solutions they could find, and it told me their story along the way. They were moments during the book where I had thought things were unrealistic but I don't think they bothered me too much. I enjoyed the book and the ending warmed my heart. You should definitely give the book a try.  

Links

Katie McGarry's Website