Dare You To by Katie McGarry

Author: Katie McGarry
Title: Dare You To
Series: Pushing the Limits #2
Publication: May 28, 2013
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Genre: YA Contemporary, Romance
Source: Publisher via Netgalley

Goodreads Synopsis:
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....

~Website

Beth has a secret. Ryan always wins. He never backs down from a dare and the moment he meets Beth, he realizes that this time won't be easy. She's a puzzle to him and exciting because she the one person that calls him out on his mess. Beth She sees him as this dumb Jock with his perfect life and calls him out on his crap but she may have misjudged him. Ryan struggles to figure Beth out, along with balancing his family drama and figuring out his future. He believes that all that for him is playing professional baseball but his has a talent that one special teacher hopes he will pursue. In the midst of all this Beth and Ryan begin to discover they have feelings for one another but as hard as he tries to convince her that his intentions are true, the more she pushes him away. Beth refuses to play his game. As this high stakes romance intensifies, Beth has never been one to stay put for long and she's struggling with her desire to run. Will she give up on a chance at love or leave behind a new beginning for a past riddled with pain?

Beth and Ryan are both emotionally damaged because of issues at home. She thinks Ryan has it made because he's well off but money doesn't equal happiness and sometimes breeds more problems. Beth comes from a broken home, taking care of her mother and dealing with domestic abuse. Let me say no child should have to shoulder the responsibility of the parent, no wonder Beth is so skeptical. She essentially a very jaded individual afraid to love, trust or let down the walls she's built because to her love hurts. But the stakes get higher when they fall and Beth had never been one to stay put and right now she wants to run but she had to decide of she'll run towards love or leave the only chance at a new beginning for past that leads only to pain.(need to reword this)

What's great about this book is the paths both characters take to figuring out what they want and who they are. It's great story about change as Beth and Ryan have some big choices to make about their lives. My favorite parts are the romantic scenes between the two of them, which will tug on your heart and make you root for them to work out. McGarry writes in such a way that it's easy to get lost in the moment until the very last page. Overall, this a good contemporary story about friendship, abuse, drugs and family. 

4 stars
I enjoyed every minute of it!