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My Favorite NA, Part 2: Dare You To by Katie McGarry (Book two in the Pushing the Limits series)

 

Title: Dare You To
Author: Katie McGarry
Series: Pushing the Limits
Genre: New adult, contemporary romance
Published: 2013
Pages: 456
Format read: ebook
Rating: A

I wanted to read this book because I enjoyed the first book in this series (Pushing the Limits) so much, but at the same time wasn’t convinced it could get as high of a rating from me, because I wasn’t all that fond of Beth’s character in the other book. She was prickly and difficult, and really hard to love–especially since she was always so critical of Echo, one of Limits’ two protagonists. I was more than pleasantly surprised, then, to find that Katie McGarry really made me a Beth fan in this one.

That’s not to say she didn’t still have her flaws–Beth is still critical of Echo; and oh my goodness, does she make some poor choices in this book. She is still prickly and difficult, but I *get* why she’s that was so much better now. Even while her one-track mind and blindness about certain aspects of her life drove me absolutely crazy at times, McGarry made me believe that they were reasonable responses for Beth to make.

I admit that I too was surprised at first after I finished Limits when I found out that Beth’s book wouldn’t feature Isiah as the hero. I have to agree with McGarry, though, that he and Beth ultimately wouldn’t work together. Beth needs someone who is different than she is in order to make her see things about herself that Isiah never could–he’s too much like her and had been too close to her for too long to really “see” her the way Ryan can–if Beth and Isiah had stayed together, neither one of them would have been able to break out of the pattern that their lives had become. I know there’s lots of Isiah fans out there, but he and Beth just wouldn’t have worked. Really. But there’s hope! Isiah’s book is next 🙂

Ryan…oh, Ryan. I wasn’t at all convinced at the beginning that I’d even like him. The dares! The attitude! Seriously, could this guy’s life be more perfect? We soon discover, though, that things truly never are as they seem on the surface, and soon my heart ached just as much for him as it did for Beth. McGarry really blew me away with this one.

If I had to find a flaw, it would be that the ending seemed just a little bit too easy. But really, given how much more this book was than I’d initially expected, it’s not even a half of star blip.

The countdown is on until Isiah’s book…November 26! YES!!!!!

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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