Book Review: Dare You To by Katie McGarry

Title: Dare You To (Pushing the Limits #2)
Author: Katie McGarry
Release Date: May 28th 2013
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Source: Received from the 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

Katie McGarry really knows how to get that teenage voice spot on.
Both Ryan and Beth are really great characters, each with a healthy dose of angst and parental disillusion; both a little battered and bruised and carrying around their fair share of secrets.

The love between Ryan and Beth is so tender and sweet it’s impossible not to get all gooey over it. But they have their fair share of ups and downs too, and battle their way through some tough situations; but when it’s all said and done, they need each other.

Dare You To is full of great writing that engages your heart and a story that completely enraptures you, making it hard to put down; hard to stop reading.

Did I feel a little sorry for Isaiah, absolutely; but his story is yet to come and I know the wait will be worth it, I just hope the girl is to!

This author has once again broken my heart with her emotional portrayal of first love and yes, I cried a tear or two!
Heartfelt teenage love at its best 5 stars ~<;]

Book Review: Pushing The Limits by Katie McGarry

Title: Pushing The Limits
Author: Katie McGarry
Release Date: July 24th 2012
Publisher: Harlequin
Imprint: HarlequinTEEN
Source: Received from the publisher via NetGalley

SO WRONG FOR EACH OTHER...AND YET SO RIGHT.

No one knows what happened the night Echo Emerson went from popular girl with jock boyfriend to gossiped-about outsider with “freaky” scars on her arms. Even Echo can’t remember the whole truth of that horrible night. All she knows is that she wants everything to go back to normal.

But when Noah Hutchins, the smokinghot, girl-using loner in the black leather jacket, explodes into her life with his tough attitude and surprising understanding, Echo’s world shifts in ways she could never have imagined. They should have nothing in common. And with the secrets they both keep, being together is pretty much impossible.

Yet the crazy attraction between them refuses to go away. And Echo has to ask herself just how far they can push the limits and what she’ll risk for the one guy who might teach her how to love again.

My Thoughts

I read Pushing The Limits and not one simple unrelated thought entered my head. I didn't stop to take notes or critique anything, and the few breaks I did have involved me thinking of ways to get back to reading this truly wonderful and engrossing book.
 
This really has been one of those books that has enraptured me - to the point that I wasn't sure I'd want to leave the sweet embrace of its pages, to walk away from such a beautiful and often harrowing story of self discovery and first true love. *cue gooey sighs and puppy dog eyes!*
 

Full of complex and emotional story arcs, Pushing The Limits will leave a scar on your soul, it really is that good. 
The writing is flawless, smooth, almost lyrical in its pace and flow, and I was enraptured from the start, and hours after finishing - I still am.

I have nothing but gloriously gushy things to say about this truly wondrous reading experience. 
5 Stars ~<:]

*note* The sneak peak of Beth's story was torture. Torture, because I have to wait to read it!!

About the author:

Debut author KATIE McGARRY was a teenager during the age of grunge and boy bands and remembers those years as the best and worst of her life. She is a lover of music, happy endings and reality television, and is a secret University of Kentucky basketball fan.