Review: Dare You To by Katie McGarry

Dare You To by Katie McGarry

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....

Publishes in US: June 7th 2013 by Harlequin Teen 
Genre: YA contemporary
Source: Harlequin Teen via Netgalley
Series? Sort of. Companion novel to Pushing the Limits (read my review HERE). This means you don't need to read PtL to understand DYT. The next book, Crash Into You (Pushing the Limits, #3) releases Nov 26th 2013 and focuses on Isaiah (the arc has 2 bonus chapters of it)

Buy it:  Amazon  Barnes & Noble  IndieBound  BookDepository.com

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Oh my goodness. This was dark, amazing, emotional and hot. Katie has written another contemporary masterpiece and as an added bonus we get to see a peek at Noah and echo. Though you didn't have to read pushing the limits to understand and love dare you to. They would just seen like secondary characters.
I loved Beth and her tough exterior and how Ryan broke through that and while she was still amazing and kick ass we get to see get beautiful heart.
Ryan is perfect on the surface but there is a lot brewing under neath. I loved his loyalty and admired his self confidence and how hid desire to win became a theme. Though i really appreciated that he stepped up and did what wad right even if it meant losing.
There were some smoking hot scenes that made me need to stick Mt head on the freezer and then run back to get more.
The characters in this story are so beautifully written! Ryan's inner dialogue was awesome and it made me smile a lot.

"I shrug and begin to search the room for a viable reason to escape--like the curtains catching on fire."

"..tonight hell would freeze over and donkeys would fly out of my ass..." 

Lacy is a great character as well and i loved how she fit into the whole scene. She reminded nee a lot of myself with the boys was friends and the limited loyalty. As well as being on the fringes.
Gwen... Oh, Gwen. I wanted to smack her.
Loved Ryan s brother and that her read not perfect bit he too had a story and things to prove to himself.
Beth and her need to take care of her mom is so understandable and it hurts my heart all that sheer had to go through.
Isaiah... I so thought that some how this would be his and Beth story but while he was in it and their friendship was an important theme and he had a lot to add to the story it was not in the way that i thought.

Watching Beth learn to trust others and especially learn to trust herself was the most amazing part of this story. It wasn't an easy road, and she had to go through sooo much. Not only did her relationship with Ryan help, but also her uncle, Lacy and letting go of her past. She had to realize that no one is perfect, herself included, but that there are people who are worthy of the trust. Really, the theme of learning to also accept yourself for who you are is what I am coming away from this story with!

I love the dual narrative, it helped me to understand and love both of the characters all the more. It is also a unique way of storytelling where you know what the other person is really thinking and feeling. 

The ending is like the rest of the book--perfection. 

Fav. Quotes:

"A sliver of hope sneaks past my walls and I slam every opening shut. Emotion is evil. People who make me feel are worse. I take comfort in the stone inside of me. If I don't feel, then I don't hurt."

Living is like being chained at the bottom of a allow 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 in suffocating agony. If death is the opposite of living, then I hope death is like floating.  

"Leaving her would be like tearing off my own arm. I've never been in love before. I thought I had been, but I wasn't. This overwhelming, encompassing feeling is love. It's not perfect and it's messy as hell. and it's exactly what I need."

Bottom Line: Darkly captivating an emotional romance woven with hope and character growth.

Books similar to Dare You To: Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry, Easy by Tammara Webber

My question to you, my lovely readers:

Under what conditions would you stop protecting your mom?