Review: Dare You To by Katie McGarry

Title: Dare You To
Author: Katie McGarry
Rating: ★★★★★ (5/5 Stars)
Hardcover, 456 Pages
Published May 2013
Book #2 in the Pushing The Limits Series

"I AM LITERALLY FREAKING RIGHT NOW I LOVE RYAN SO MUCH AND I LOVE KATIE MCGARRY AND THE END OF THIS BOOK WAS JUST...ASDFLHKHDOAKDKDKS."

What was that?! That was my initial reaction as soon as I read the last sentence of this book. And let me just say, this book was absolutely awesome and totally deserves the five stars that I gave it. As soon as I finished, I immediately had to text a good friend of mine, who finished the book right before I did and then passed it off to me.

Well, needless to say, we both agreed that McGarry is an absolutely excellent writer. Here's what Dare You To was all about:

"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 AM STILL FREAKING OUT, AND I FINISHED THIS BOOK HALF AN HOUR AGO. Beth and Ryan's relationship is something so uncommon, so unreal. Even though plenty of books tend do to the bad boy and good girl love story cliche (which can actually be found in Pushing The Limits [Pushing The Limits, #1] by Katie McGarry), reversing the roles of the "good" and "bad" characters was the first interesting thing that McGarry did.

Second of all, McGarry tied both Ryan and Beth together in a seamless way that didn't even feel like I was reading a cliche. Why? Because I wasn't! When I look back on it now, one way to describe this story would be by saying that a good guy loves a bad girl, the whole town disagrees, and they find a way to make it work. That sounds like a major cliche.

But McGarry must have some supernatural writing ability, because I didn't feel that at all!  I've read 2/3 books in the Pushing The Limits series so far, and not once have I been unhappy with anything that I've read.

McGarry is a true genius. She makes Beth's character come alive, especially in the beginning, as a fiery, temperamental teen girl who is misunderstood, hates her surroundings, and just wants to go back to where she came from.

Naturally, the hottest guy in school falls in love with her.

I can't even think straight to keep writing this review, because my mind is still spinning with how McGarry ended the book flawlessly. Seriously. Most books I finish usually leave me with a good list of questions that I'm dying to find out. But the way McGarry ended Dare You To...it's like all of the questions were answered.

Because they were!

McGarry is true talent and I know I'll be pleased with the rest of the Pushing The Limits series as it continues to be released.