ARC Book Review | Dare You To by Katie McGary

  

Title: Dare You To

Author: Katie McGarry

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Expected Publication: June 13, 2013

Source: publisher via netgalley

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....

My Thoughts:

First of all, thank you Harlequin for auto-approving all my nEtgalley requests! It's like I was awarded with a special power of attorney document, but clearly not an atty for me, probably just 'reviewer' will do. ;)

And of course thank you to Katie McGarry for creating such emotional, moving and relatable characters. Reading Pushing the Limits last year put me on the edge, and I loved every bit of it. It's one of my most memorable read last year, and I read a lot of books last year...so considering that... anyway, It still sticks to me. And now, Dare You To touches two core sensitive topics: drugs and abuse, and icorporated with the book is another topic I love reading about: sports. here, it's baseball. :) 

the subjects discuseed in the book is not new. the characters' attitudes and problems are also not new. There's the usual theme of characters carrying heavy baggage. While Beth suffered from a traumatic childhood and a current sore and sucky life, Ryan on the other hand has a "perfect" life, but beyond that facade, people don't know his family is suffering inwardly. His brother's gay and his parents hate each other and have disowned his brother. While he has baseball and his friends, but everything has changed when he met Beth. And everything has also changed for Beth when she met Ryan.

Ryan has led a steady and happy life of just having baseball in his eyes. His plan has always been to go pro in Baseball after High school. Then it all shatters and life is suddenly confusing when there's a choice between pursuing college, having a scholarship, and he can study and develop his writing skills, because he's good. As for Beth, she is one screwed up girl. The things she did and does for her mother is unbelievably martyr and selfless and brave, but she is still a girl and needs someone to take care of her. But when she was brought out from all of that kind of life by her uncle Scott, and given a chance to live a nicer life, she unknowingly and maybe also knowingly makes way to go back to her old life. They are both screwed, but together there's something flickering between them. Hope? Love? Trust?

Dare You To is such a compelling and raw novel that will drag fans of Pushing the Limits across the desert. Feeling the heat of the story, the intensity of the characters and the sensitivity of the topic and the honesty oozing from the characters' narrative will hook you to the story. Not to mention the kind of swoon the scenes between Ryan and Beth brings and the giddy kind of smile they're able to gauge from me.

Note: Reviews are my own. Copy was received in exchange for an honest review.:)