#BIR2013: Dare You To by Katie McGarry

DARE YOU TO
By: Katie McGarry
Published By: Harlequin Teen
Release Date: May 28, 2013
Series: Pushing the Limits (#2)
Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads Summary: 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...

"How many more of us are faking the facade? How many more of us are pretending to be something we're not? Even better, how many of us will have the courage to be ourselves regardless of what others think?"

Dare You To was packed with emotions, making the read quite a journey. I loved peeling away the layers of the characters and of the story to get to the beautiful essence underneath. Beth’s character absolutely broke my heart, but Ryan mended it. Katie McGarry has a knack for writing real, gritty, but ultimately unforgettable love stories. This book made me think about the course of my life and the nature of love all while reading about characters that came to be like friends.

"That must be love: when everything else in the world could implode and you wouldn't care as long as you had that one person standing beside you."

Be sure to check out the Best I've Read blog to find more amazing books featured this week!