Dare You To by Katie McGarry

Dare You To (Pushing the Limits #2)
by Katie McGarry
[Copy received from 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....

I was really excited about reading Dare You To because I loved Pushing the Limits and I was excited to learn more about Beth because she was a character I never really got to know or connect with in Pushing the Limits. 

So Dare You To follows Beth story. I enjoyed learning more about Beth and it helped me understand why she acts the way she does.

Beth is a fantastic character. She's been protecting and supporting her mother for years which is something she shouldn't have had to do. She puts on a strong and tough facade to hide what she's really feeling underneath. She's actually scared and lost, and doesn't know what she's going to do. Beth has all this responsibility thrown at her at such a young age and it just isn't fair to her.

Enter Ryan. Ryan is popular and likable, but he's hiding a family secret that his parents don't want getting out. He struggles with this secret because it split his family up and Ryan isn't dealing too well with that. He's cocky and funny, but he's also a very lovable character.

Isaiah's character is also explored a lot more in this one. I actually started to dislike Isaiah in this one because of some of the things he did and the way he acted. He just didn't seem like that likable guy from Pushing the Limits, and I was pretty disappointed by that.

I actually loved Beth and Ryan together. I know there are people out there who think that Isaiah is the one for Beth, but in my opinion Ryan is so much better for her. He helped her come out of her shell, he stuck by her when other people were making up crap about her and he really helped her when it came to dealing with her mum. Ryan was just the perfect guy for Beth. Sure, he lied sometimes and did some things that I didn't agree with, but overall he was the best choice for Beth in my opinion.

I really did love learning about Beth. She was such a mystery in the first book and I was desperate to find out more about her and her family. I was pretty shocked when I found out about her mum and what he mum let these guys do. Her mother was just so out of it that she couldn't care for Beth and Beth has always been on her own. I also don't agree with her mother blaming her for what happened to her father. That was her father's fault, not Beth's. I hate how Beth blames herself for it because she did the right thing. 
I also enjoyed learning about Ryan and his family. His family secret wasn't anything I would consider to be a scandal, but to his father it seemed to be such a big deal and it had to be ignored and forgotten about. I really didn't like the way that his father dealt with it and I really wish that Ryan had done something about it sooner instead of letting his father's judgment influence him. But he eventually stood up to his father and told him exactly what he wanted to do and I was proud of him. He'd let his father dictate what he did with his life and I was so happy that he told his father that it was his life to run and he'd do whatever he wanted.

Overall, this was a fantastic sequel to Pushing the Limits. I enjoyed this one just as much as the first one and I'm excited for the next one - Crash Into You - so that I can learn more about Isaiah!