Dare You to (Pushing the Limits, #2)

by Katie McGarry

[Angie]

I received an ARC through NetGalley.

Dare You To is not as good as Pushing the Limits. There is a pretty good story here, and I liked it for the most part, but I didn't feel that same emotional pull as the first book. I wasn't exactly a Beth fan to begin with, but I thought she would have an interesting story. She does, but I came to like her even less. I also assumed that there would be more Isaiah, but nope. He's got his own book, and Beth's love interest is the newly introduced, Ryan. Luckily, I liked Ryan and found his life story much more interesting than Beth's. Their romance was okay, but I didn't like them together as much as I did Echo and Noah.

Dare You To opens up with Beth taking care of her drunk mother, but it all goes awry and she gets arrested. Beth didn't do anything other than be in the wrong place at the wrong time, but she takes the blame so her mother won't break probation. She is way too loyal to a woman who cannot get her act together, or just won't. It's obvious to everyone but Beth that her mom is never going to change and it's not her place to intervene, especially when it may get her killed. It's a terrible situation, but I couldn't feel bad for her, especially after her uncle bails her out, gets the charges dropped, and doesn't say anything to the cops that would get mother arrested. Beth promptly tells him that he ruined her life. Um, what?! He just saved her life and kept her mom out of jail, which seems to be Beth's only concern. It's hard to root for someone when they're so dead set against accepting any kind of help. Her uncle even takes her in and tries to give her a better life, but all Beth does is throw around the f word and provoke his wife.

Ryan is the town golden boy, and is on track to play professional baseball after graduation. He's also addicted to dares. That's how he first meets Beth, not expecting to see her again, but then she transfers to his school. The whole bet thing is very She's All That, but I'm glad there wasn't some huge blow up about Beth discovering she was a bet. She knew about the initial bet, and when it was over, they developed a real relationship. Anyway, Ryan has to have some kind of drama, too. I wasn't sure about it in the beginning, since it had to do with his brother getting kicked out of the family for being gay. However, as the book moves forward it becomes clear that the real problem is between Ryan and his dad, and his brother's coming out just happened to be a turning point in the relationship. I also really liked how focused on Ryan's life after high school the story was. He's contemplating pro ball, or college where he can be a writer and play for a college team. Of course, this causes more daddy drama.

I liked Dare You To, but it wasn't emotional at all. Beth was extremely unlikeable, but she does change a bit toward the end (something that seemed to have been reversed in Crash Into You). Did I like her by then? Not at all. Did I understand her misplaced loyalty to her mom? Nope. Was I happy she was saved by the power of love? Sure. I just really don't have much to say about it, since it is a character driven book, but I didn't like half of the main characters. Also, this may seem random, but my brain kept wandering back to the fact that Ryan kept calling Beth "skater girl." Her description is not skater at all, except for maybe her Chuck Taylors. I have like 50 pairs of those, and I'm not skater at all. Maybe there's just a different criteria in Kentucky?

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.