Author: Katie McGarry
Series: Pushing the Limits
Book: 2
Rating: ★★★★★
Blurb from Goodreads:
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 Rating/Thoughts:
"I dare you to kiss me."
I LOVED THIS BOOK! And I am quite surprised I loved it a little bit more than Pushing the Limits because I could not stand Beth at all in PTL. She was irritating, immature, selfish and just a real witch to Echo that I could not stand her. I didn't care that she got her own book and didn't even want to read it. But I decided to pick it up because I wanted to see what happened with her and Isaiah (since I loved him so much) and I am so glad I did! I was so hooked and wouldn't go to sleep until I read a couple chapters every night. This story was more touching because Beth had so many walls up and Ryan worked so hard to break them down. I loved their relationship so much. It wasn't so much instalove. There was insta-attaction, but it wasn't love. At least not in my eyes. Love was worked for, trust was worked for and earned. I really enjoyed the dark aspects that this novel had because it shows the ugly side of families, the addictions, the lying, the false facades. It has so much more raw emotion that I just couldn't turn away.
“Screw what Mom and Dad think. Screw the rest of the town. Screw perfection. This girl is mine.”
I think what I loved most about this book was Ryan. He was such a lovable character that I just want to squeeze him and keep him for myself. He's funny, dedicated, loyal, protective, motivated, and loves challenges. He is constantly challenging himself and he hates losing. Once he sets his mind on something he will not stop until he accomplishes it. He makes some pretty hard decisions and he just does what he thinks is right. He goes against what his father wants even though it's hard. He changes his "plans" and pushes for his own dreams. He pushes Beth and he broke down her many walls and got her to trust him. I nearly cried when she finally told him that she trusted him. It was so touching and I got so teary eyed when he was teaching her how to swim, the first sign of trust.
“I don't lose. Do you hear me? I don't lose and that includes losing you. I'm done being kept in the dark. Im done feeling like you're slipping right past me. You are not saying goodbye to me. I'm in love with you and you love me back. You are staying.”
Ryan is just amazing. I love him. (I'm sorry Noah, You're still bae though).
“Emotions is evil. People who make me feel are worse. I take comfort in the stone inside of me. If I don't feel, I don't hurt.”
Beth was a complex character and I did end up really enjoying, but I'd be lying if I didn't say that she irritated me for 50% of the book. She got under my skin in PTL and that carried into this novel as well. To me, she was just so stubborn and childish! I hated that anytime someone said something she didn't want to hear she would quickly just say "*eff* you!" This got so old, so fast and I was praying for some hardcore character development. And thank God we got it! Beth changed and made a new, promising life for herself at her uncle's. (Sidenote: how adorable was Scott and his love for Beth? He took care of her when she was a small child and loved her like she was his own. This was so touching and I loved every minute of it!) And I also couldn't stand the way Beth would tell Ryan or even Isaiah that they didn't love her. Now I understand this was her own issue and she doesn't believe she is worthy of love. Especially from Ryan because he is this perfect golden boy with the perfect life and "guys like him don't fall for girls like her" but don't you dare try to diminish his love or act like its nonexistant! Don't tell him how he is feeling or what he does feel isn't real! Same goes for Isaiah. Yes he may not look at you the way Noah looks at Echo, but to him, she was everything to him and he did love her. Maybe it was the great love, but it was love and it's all he's known and let him find out his own feelings without Beth trying to shove it in his face and rejecting him that his love isn't real. That's the only thing that really bothered me. Other than that, I enjoyed her a lot more. She had some dark demons she had to battle and she had to learn to trust and love herself. I really enjoyed reading her story.
“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?”
Like PTL, I was so impatient with the plot twist. In PTL, Echo is trying to find out what happened "that night" through the whole book and we don't find out until the very end. I get why, but my impatience can't take it! This was the same thing! What is in that room?! What happened?! Why did Beth's dad leave and blame her?! UGH!!!! But I am glad for the results, it was way more messed up than I would have imagined. I just loved this book so much. The characters are great, the guys are so lovable, the friendships, the family, the tough decisions, standing against family to do the right thing. I loved all of it!
“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.”
Would I recommend? Yes!
No comments:
Post a Comment