Tag: family dysfunction

YA

Review: Dare You To by Katie McGarry

Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

Series: Pushing the Limits #2

dare you to -katie mcgarryRyan 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….

5 Drink Me Potions

Dare You To truly surpassed its predecessor, Pushing the Limits. I started the book with one thought: Biker Chick Beth is the protagonist and I have to be in her head now?? As a secondary character in Pushing the Limits, she wasn’t my favourite character at all. So, with that thought in mind, I was 100% dubious of what this reading experience would be like.

With that being said, I would like to TAKE THAT ALL BACK. Katie McGarry is truly one amazing author. I was taken into Beth and Ryan’s story. Beth is all sass and attitude, not afraid to dish it out to the guys. Ryan is the golden boy or Prince Charming stereotype of many YA novels; the kind of gentleman character that was missing in McGarry’s previous story. I must say, I do like sweet guys a little more than bad boys so you can see why I was drawn into this story more than Pushing the Limits.

McGarry continues with her amazing story telling and characterizations. Ryan feels like a real guy you may have met or known back in high school. Yes, he’s been raised to be a gentleman, but of course he still thinks like a guy and acts like one. As for Beth, she’s just as hard-edged as she was before but the development of her character throughout the story was beautifully done. Not only was it realistic in the way that she slowly tore down her walls for Ryan, but falling for each other wasn’t done in a way that made no sense. It was well-paced throughout the story, not rushing into their romantic feelings for each other until they started trusting each other more.

With both protagonists fighting their particular emotional battles, readers won’t be able to put down the book. I swear. I sure couldn’t. I think the ROMANCE here was a lot more entrancing, like a spell was cast over the story. Beth’s insecurities that a guy like Ryan would never fall for a girl like her was endearing, especially seeing how Ryan goes to great lengths to prove her wrong.

Overall Recommendations:
Beth and Ryan are both well-thought characters with emotional baggage that needs to be resolved. Although they may seem like opposites initially, as McGarry put it, they’re the perfect match for each other. Dare You To will NOT disappoint, with many heart-touching moments between the 2 protagonists as they slowly fall for each other (against their will initially, I must say) and learn to trust one another with their secrets. ROMANCE lovers, this is for YOU!
This is the “Prince Charming falling for the girl no one thought he should” kind of story. The 5 stars are well-deserved. If you enjoy cute love stories, give this is a shot and you won’t regret it.

YA

Review: Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

Series: Pushing the Limits #1

pushing the limits -katie mcgarrySo wrong for each other …and yet so right.

No one knows what happened the night Echo Emerson went from popular girl with jock boyfriend to gossiped-about outsider with “freaky” scars on her arms. Even Echo can’t remember the whole truth of that horrible night. All she knows is that she wants everything to go back to normal.

But when Noah Hutchins, the smoking-hot, girl-using loner in the black leather jacket, explodes into her life with his tough attitude and surprising understanding, Echo’s world shifts in ways she could never have imagined. They should have nothing in common. And with the secrets they both keep, being together is pretty much impossible.

Yet the crazy attraction between them refuses to go away. And Echo has to ask herself just how far they can push the limits and what she’ll risk for the one guy who might teach her how to love again.

3 Drink Me Potions

I’ve been putting off this book for the longest time, for no particular reason really. However, diving into Echo and Noah’s lives, I realized that Katie McGarry is a genius when it comes to character building. Having never experienced anything remarkably similar to what our two protagonists have gone through, it’s an amazing feat to really feel what they do and understand (with patience, sometimes) their reactions.

For example, my heart tore for Echo when it came to her family. Feeling always second to her stepmother-slash-nanny and having an extremely controlling father, it’s no wonder she feels like a mess for most of the book, besides her scars, of course. As for Noah, he has a mouth of a sailor and a mischievously dirty mind, but it adds to his realistic personality. Not every story has the golden boy or Prince Charming featured as the male protagonist. I liked that he was who he was, molded by his experiences, but still able to change from love.

Their characters are so real, with moments that would make you laugh at how they would respond or think about a certain situation. For example, in a situation with her controlling father, in Echo’s POV:

“Are you ready to take the ACT on Saturday?” my father asked.
Did chickens enjoy being put on trucks labelled KFC? “Sure.”

And Noah can be so endearing. For a bad boy with a reputation that walks out the door before him, it makes his moments falling for Echo that much more enjoyable. Plus, what girl doesn’t love being the one and only that makes a player become a faithfully attached guy?

“Not sure how I felt about Antonio and Echo, I linked my fingers with hers. Antonio cocked a surprised eyebrow. Damn straight, bro. I did just mark my territory.”

With his backstory, a previous golden boy that fell into the foster care system after his parents died, he was constantly fighting to get his 2 younger brothers back. Seeing his pain and knowing at the end of his story that he could release it for the first time was heartbreaking in itself. Of course, it’s still a little humorous the way McGarry puts it.

“…I tried hard to shove down the pressure building on my chest. Men don’t cry. My parents. Men don’t cry. Fuck. Men don’t cry. I wiped my eyes. I missed my parents.”

Let’s just say, this is a book to try. I’m not saying it’s for everyone, as there are heavy things the characters deal with. But it’s most definitely worth a shot!

Overall Recommendation:
Pushing the Limits was an emotional story that takes you on a ride with our two strong protagonists, Echo and Noah. With beautifully crafted personalities and amazing secondary characters, Katie McGarry draws you into their world and the problems they have to deal with. I recommend it for mature readers who want to read the heavier stuff sometimes and not just the fluffy, chick-lit sort of romance. Give it a shot! It may just be the best book ever.

YA

Review: #scandal by Sarah Ockler

Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

#scandal -sarah ocklerLucy’s learned some important lessons from tabloid darling Jayla Heart’s all-too-public blunders: Avoid the spotlight, don’t feed the Internet trolls, and keep your secrets secret. The policy has served Lucy well all through high school, so when her best friend Ellie gets sick before prom and begs her to step in as Cole’s date, she accepts with a smile, silencing about ten different reservations. Like the one where she’d rather stay home shredding online zombies. And the one where she hates playing dress-up. And especially the one where she’s been secretly in love with Cole since the dawn of time.

When Cole surprises her at the after party with a kiss under the stars, it’s everything Lucy has ever dreamed of… and the biggest BFF deal-breaker ever. Despite Cole’s lingering sweetness, Lucy knows they’ll have to ’fess up to Ellie. But before they get the chance, Lucy’s own Facebook profile mysteriously explodes with compromising pics of her and Cole, along with tons of other students’ party indiscretions. Tagged. Liked. And furiously viral.

By Monday morning, Lucy’s been branded a slut, a backstabber, and a narc, mired in a tabloid-worthy scandal just weeks before graduation.

Lucy’s been battling undead masses online long enough to know there’s only one way to survive a disaster of this magnitude: Stand up and fight. Game plan? Uncover and expose the Facebook hacker, win back her best friend’s trust, and graduate with a clean slate.

There’s just one snag—Cole. Turns out Lucy’s not the only one who’s been harboring unrequited love…

4 Drink Me Potions

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I first started #scandal. I have read some of Sarah Ockler’s previous works, and I can see some of her unique writing styles in this one too. Has anyone else ever wondered why she gets the protagonist to narrate what an animal/pet in the story might be thinking in certain situations? Beats me.

Anyway, this story surprised me, though I’m starting to think that’s the trend with Ockler’s books. It may seem like just another romance story, with the big “OOPS, I broke the unspoken rule of never going after a best friend’s ex” kind of theme. Reminded me in areas of The Unwritten Rule. However, she always turns the story into something more than just melodrama. It looked into cyberbullying, a very real threat in this present day and age of social media. The anonymity of the internet provides an outlet for people to say and do things that would deter them if they had to do it face-to-face. It was interesting, and of course, sad to see how Lucy, our protagonist, would deal with it.

Although I was looking forward to a fun, light read, #scandal still had its merits.
1) There was the underlying intrigue throughout the story of who ACTUALLY posted up the incriminating picture(s) and got Lucy into trouble. Who that turned out to be may or may not be so obvious to you, unless you’ve read/watched as many mystery plots as I have.
2) The relationship and sideplot of Lucy’s famous (albeit scandalous) older sister was an interesting look into family relations. You don’t have to like the sister, but she felt real and her character does develop over time.
3) The new friends that appear out of this darkness are all different, quirky and unique. A cute French Canadian dude who follows Lucy with a cute puppy-dog kind of love? A not-so-bad stoner known as 420? A crazy group of anti-vanity social media (ie. Facebook/Twitter) led by a leader in a wheelchair? Man, what a variety of characters! Not to mention, our own protagonist is an ass-kicking warrior/princess/mystery girl—that is, if you’re a zombie on her game.

I do wish that there were more Cole-Lucy moments. The story could have centred on them a bit more. I know (hypothetically, in their world) it made sense to lay low in the public eye from each other, but in MY world, come on! I was waiting to see him pop up whenever he could, though there were not enough dreamy moments with just him. Le sigh.

Overall Recommendation:
#scandal is many things all at once. A sweet forbidden romance at one moment, and a pulsing anger of betrayal in the next. From friendships forming to cyberbullying (and physical bullying) from the school population, this book covers it all. So I hope you jump into this knowing that it is way more than what it first appears to be. Reminiscent of The Unwritten Rule, it considers the consequences of being in love with your best friend’s guy, and finally standing up for yourself.