Description
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 could not put this book down. I find myself pulled to the New Adult genre, but Dare To You is YA and I was sucked in completely.
The story of Ryan, Beth and Isiah are weaved into perfection with this book. I found myself constantly trying to figure out it there was a love triangle or not. (don't worry, that question is resolved)
Beth feels that, "Emotion is evil. People whom make me feel are worse. I take comfort in the stone inside of me. If I don't feel, I don't hurt." The book finds her constantly running so she doesn't have to feel, even if running means in the wrong direction. But, "Ms. Antisocial, she doesn't avoid people," She stands her ground. Owns the space around her and smirks if someone comes too close, as if she's daring them to take her on. A smirk that dares turns me on."
Ryan. "Perfect Ryan" Perfect life, perfect family, perfect house, perfect friends. But, Ryan's life isn't perfect. The town doesn't know his secrets, secrets he can't share for fear that his family won't be perfect anymore. He was sworn to keep them by his family.
Ryan and Beth meet at a Taco Bell when Ryan is dared to get her number. Unfortunately, she leaves him by driving off in her friend's car with the word. "can't" written on her hand. This becomes an integral moment in the book.
Ryan is struggling with who he wants to be when he leaves school. Does he want to go to college? Does he want to go Pro? Does he want to do what he wants, or make his family and team happy? Does he want to stand up for what he believes in?
Beth is struggling with her past and present. She is dragged out of the hell that she knows as her life and placed in a world that she doesn't see is her way out. She is dealing with her alcoholic and drug addict mother who has little chance of survival with the abusive boyfriend that she won't get rid of. She is dealing with trust. Trusting anyone.
Can Ryan and Beth overcome the obstacles that are their life and be together. Truly together? Can Beth trust Ryan, a jock type that she thinks she knows? Can Ryan save Beth?
I'm so happy I got the chance to read this book. I was hooked from the very beginning. The author took some pivotal moments in every high schoolers life, and made them relatable and helped the reader put thought into these times that might apply to their life.
I give Dare To You 4 stars. What a great read. Thinking about it, I can't find anything that the author could have done differently to make this book better. It has the perfect amount of angst, the perfect amount of drama and characters that grew emotionally.
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