★★★★★
Release Date: May 28, 2013
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Age: Mature YA
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Abuse, High School, Relocation, Opposites
Format: ebook
Source: Author via Netgalley
Buy it: Amazon | Barnes and Noble
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 absolutely, positively fell in love with this book! It is definitely a must read!
Pushing the Limits, the first book in this series was amazing! It was one of my favorite reads and led me to a new favorite author
This story happens after PtL and we get to see slivers of Noah and Echo, and we also get Beth's POV on their relationship. But, this is all Beth's story not theirs. It was nice to hear about them in passing.
After a stint in jail Beth goes to live with her baseball star uncle, whom she wants nothing to do with. She moves out of the city into a rural setting and is supposed to cut all ties with her past. Her best friend Isaiah isn't having that. Their relationship is filled with kisses and they lean on each other, but for different reasons. Isaiah's feelings may be running deeper than Beth's. I really loved the growth of relationship between Beth and her uncle; and the growth in Beth in general. To hear about their past together and see how much he truly cares for her. Beth is rough around the edges, she's mean and downright dirty, all claws and bite; but she's still a teenage girl who needs stability and love.
There were a lot of labels in this book. The characters are immensely different and have these preconceived notions about one another. I really had to step back and think about the importance of Katie adding them in throughout the story. I felt that the labels served as a reminder to all of us that what you see is never what you get. When walls and barriers come crashing down it didn't matter what the other person wore, no one changed their appearance; they were loved for who they were. This book became a powerful love story and a story about one girls struggle with family and life. Such an impacting and forceful read, I hung onto every word; it didn't let me go.
There's so much to discuss from this story from Beth's mom's monster of a boyfriend, Trent; to the mean girls at school and everyone in between. Beth's "I don't care attitude" is cocky and full of it and the way she treats her uncle's wife is obscene and awful, all of these elements and character traits make this book three dimensional and real. Real, raw, and unforgettable.
This book is definitely filled with mature material and concepts and not something that I'd consider for younger YA. It's a mature and gripping read comprised of adult elements and situations. I fell in love with the broken lead character and her flaws, I also fell hard for Ryan and his charm. It's books like this that make reading and reviewing an amazing part of my day!!
Also, check out Crossing the Line a Pushing the Limits novella
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