ARC Review: Dare You To - Katie McGarry

Title: Dare You To
Author: Katie McGarry
Audience: YA
Pub Date: May 28th 2013
Page Count: 304
"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...

I have NOT, repeat have NOT read Pushing the Limits! That is a major regret on my part.

I'm sorry that had to be in angry bold. I just wanted to point that out. I will not be making any connections with PtL because I haven't read it. I just wanted to read Dare You To because it seemed interesting. I had heard of PtL, but I didn't know Dare You To was a sequel.

That being said, I read Dare You To with close to no confusion. The characters from Pushing the Limits (Echo/Noah) appeared in cameo and that was the only reason I figured it out to be a sequel or at least a side story.

I love the cover. I feel like it really captures the ideas of the story. No, it's not just two people kissing. To fully understand what they're doing and how the people on the cover (Beth & Ryan) are feeling, you have to read the book first. But to me, its a very good fit. You can also see the fact that they're both wet and the contrast between Beth's "rock chick" look and Ryan's "star QB" look.


As I write this review, I'm struggling to find anything remotely bad about this novel. I try to live by the fact that I don't think there's such thing as a "perfect" novel. That being said, I really did think that this book was very well written and didn't have a dull moment.

So it starts with a guy named Ryan and his friends. Through the book, you see that he likes to dare people and accept dares. I don't know what to say about that because it might just be a guy thing. Anyway,he gets dared to get the number of a "skater girl" Beth Risk. That's kind of how they meet. A lot of things happen and before you know it, they're at the same school and struggling to fight their attraction for each other.

I really liked how the chapters alternated in Ryan and Beth. It was never the same time frame and the story kept moving, but you could see how Ryan felt during the situation and how Beth felt in the after effects [for example].

I didn't really like Ryan and Beth and SOME moments, but I really think that makes them good characters. It isn't like I want to kill them the entire novel, which is usually what happens. It's just kind of like when Beth makes a mistake or Ryan does something stupid, I'm going "no, come on!" I'm rooting for the MC's all the way. That was the first sign in my conclusion that Ms [Mrs?] McGarry is an ah-mazing author.

So amazing... And I CAN'T spoil anything!!! URG...

Okay, something that I didn't like was the amount of info on Isaiah. I thought that a lot of the suporting characters were what really glued the novel together. Some of them were somewhat ignored for a while and had limited info, but I could say that even with their limited info, I liked them all the same.

Isaiah was more of a main character than a supporting, but he had the info of a supporting. I really didn't like how he was kicked over for Ryan. I was on Team Isaiah... until Ryan won me over in the end...

Thank God there's going to be an Isaiah novel after... EEP!

ERMAHGERD, It's David Tennant!

I really didn't like how the problem was only a major in the end. This novel was good in the sense that it was entertaining, but the problem was there throughout the novel in a small dose. There was never a big moment where Beth needed quick thinking. The problem was mentioned and it was explained but I always expected something major or drastic to happen.

See, there is a problem with the novel! But I had to do so much thinking to find it. AAH, amazing again, Ms [Mrs.] McGarry...

But the love between Ryan and Beth was awesome and NOT overdone. I roll my eyes when it comes to cheesy overdone romance. I once read a story where the beginning started like Beth's with the "go away, I don't need you. Leave me alone, stalker boy." Within the 10th chapter, the couple were deep in love and the girl that didn't trust anyone, trusted the guy with her life. Maybe there's some kind of "aww" factor in that, but to me it was just stupid. Listen, if you're going to write a realistic novel, the key theme is the realism. You can't not have realism; that just defeats the point of a realistic novel!

It isn't realistic if the romance is too fast. I've never been in love, but I've seen it with my own eyes and it's something that takes a while. Sorry for the rant, but I really do believe the idea is stupid and Dare You To is literally a breath of fresh literary air.

Ahh... Kitten you are lucky. I have to go to school :(

I just realized that I didn't talk about the characters! Gosh!

Beth Risk.

Miss Beth is the main character (MC) of the story, along with Ryan... I guess. Anyway, she has such an amazing personality. It blew my mind at how similar we are. Of course, I don't have a druggie mom, I'm not dating a hot jock, I don't do drugs, I don't have a hot best friend named Isaiah, I don't have a cool motorcycle, I'm not in highschool... Maybe I should take back my last statement. I would keep going, but I'm starting to make myself feel sad.

I loved the way Beth had a reason to be who she was. I've seen this done before, but there was some element of originality. Beth was not a moper. She never whined about her problems and tried to always take it like an adult. Sure, she gets into fights, but that was part of her "skater" "I-don't-care-at-all" personality.

She's one of the first MC's that didn't make me want to smash my head into a wall. Maybe it was the idea of all the swearing from her that made me like her or her feisty attitude. I do know, that she was completely and utterly, real. She has to work for everything she's ever gotten and though she's got an attitude the size of a small planet, she knows what it's like to NOT have something and that's part of what makes her so relatable.

And that's also why we feel for her when she has to deal with the problems (mostly) by herself. I actually found myself going, "Can't someone help you, Beth?"

She's the misunderstood one in the story. I felt like everyone seemed to be anti-Beth, for the most part. Even the family she was temporarily living with was like "follow my rules and do things my way or you can get your butt out of this house!"

I hope  made your idea of my rating easy enough. Just guess, come on, please? I'm almost certain I made it easy enough, though. But seriously, if you didn't get it. This book had components of humor, seriousness, love, loyalty and a kickass protagonist. I don't want to keep going; I'm going to die in my own fangirling...

 

KATIE MCGARRY was a teenager during the age of grunge and boy bands and remembers those years as the best and worst of her life. She is a lover of music, happy endings, and reality television, and is a secret University of Kentucky basketball fan.

Katie would love to hear from her readers. Contact her via her website, katielmcgarry.com, follow her on Twitter @KatieMcGarry, or become a fan on Facebook and Goodreads. 

A copy of this ARC was provided for review by the publishers via NetGalley.