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....
If you have read the first book, you’ll know that Isaiah and Beth were a thing and I know that some of you (I included) hoped that they would end up together. Well sorry to disappoint you readers but Beth will meet some “perfect” jock that will sweep her fat away.
What wasn't revealed in Pushing Limits is that, Beth has some sort of normalcy in her childhood before everything become chaotic. She has a famous professional baseball uncle whom he had a falling out with when she was a kid. It turned out that he was back in their town and was adamant to get her. Beth was involved in destruction of property and her uncle bailed her and had been granted full rights to be her custodian.
Beth Risk. She was once a girl who loved ribbons and dresses. She believed in fairy tales. She believed in Scott. But all of that change when Scott failed to return and get her out of that town. She grew up in an abusive family. Her parents are drug pushers. She doesn't have a role model growing up so Beth did what she did just to survive each day of living. She has a best friend, Isaiah. They do weed and pretty much any illegal thing together. She acts like she doesn't give a damn about the opinion of other people but deep down, she’s still that girl who loves ribbons and who wanted to be loved by the people she loves.
INSIGHT: Beth has a lot of love to give but the person whom she loved the most always fail to love her back. Maybe in a way her mother loved her too but because of her addiction, she failed to put Beth first before heroine. Beth has always tolerated how her mom gives in to all the whims of her boyfriend – to the point of being immune to her boyfriend’s abuse.
I guess one of the reasons why she hates Scott was because he failed her in some way. She believed and trusted him but he never came. That’s why she doesn't have the word trust in vocabulary anymore. She was bad news and she believed it. She had done nothing to prove otherwise. She blamed herself why the people she loves always leave her.
Ryan Stone. The jock who has a knock for writing. Everybody believes he has it all. A bright future and a perfect family. But that’s only for a show. His dad wants him to go pro after high school. His brother was kicked out of the house because he was gay. His mom wants to pretend that everything is ok. He’s torn between his love of writing and his love of baseball. He wants to do both but if he goes pro than he can’t go to college and improve his craft. Will he stand up for and fight for what he wants or would he just adhere to what his dad wants?
THE DARE
Beth and Ryan started out as a dare. Ryan and his friends are fond of daring each other and he doesn’t want to lose. And when his friends dared him to get the number of the kick-ass girl with ripped pants, he was ignored, He was dumbfounded. When it comes to Beth, it seemed like he always loses. Had he found his perfect match?
Beth and Ryan’s characters complement each other. I guess I can understand now why the author created another character instead of just continuing the story of Beth and Isaiah. To tell you the truth, I was kind of expecting them to be together. That Isaiah will reform and will challenge himself to persevere so that he can be worth it to Beth. But sadly, it didn't happen. I guess in some way, it was good since Beth started to show a bit of her old self when she’s with Ryan. Ryan may infuriate her but he showed her that his loyalty is with her and that whatever might happen, he won’t allow her to walk away from him. He challenges her to be the person she was before all those awful things happened to her. He thought her how to trust and love herself.
What I find quite annoying sometimes is how Beth always wants to run away, then all of a sudden decides that she doesn't want to go, then she changes her mind again.
Though this book is nice, I still liked Pushing The Limits more. I connected more to Noah and Echo more than Beth and Ryan. Still I recommend you to read this. You may have a different opinion than me. As long as you’re a Katie McGarry fan, then you’ll love this book.
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.
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Labels: Book Review, Katie McGarry
