For Your TBR Pile - Dare You To

New Blog Series--so it turns out that since I am officially "a book blogger," publishers started approving me for galleys! Me? Little old me?? YES! So since I get to read all these awesome stories, I wanted to start a new blog series letting you know which ones are worth putting at the top of your TBR stacks.

So without further adieu...my first recommendation for your TBR Pile is...

DARE YOU TO by Katie McGarry

When it will be published: June 17th, by HarlequinTEEN

From GoodReads: 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....

What I liked most: Katie McGarry writes incredible romances. The writing is steamy and tension filled. I love the whole I-hated-you-since-the-moment-I-met-you-but-am-so-wildly-attracted-to-you thing. Her characters are always broken in these beautiful ways. I loved the contrast between Beth's poor, trailer park upbringing and Ryan's upper-class, high-society life, and how they could relate to each other anyway. 

Why you should have it in your TBR: I love companion novels, but they rarely measure up to the original. It's awesome to see the characters you loved the first time around come back for a second story. With DARE YOU TO, McGarry creates an entirely new story for Beth, a secondary character from Pushing The Limits. Beth is taken away from Noah and Isaiah in the city and is forced to move to her uncle's farm. Unlike most companion novels, DARE YOU TO completely stands alone.

The one scene I'm dying for you to read: The rain scene. I can't say anything, but there's rain. And ribbons and bottles. And kissing.

Also, I totally pictured Channing Tatum the whole time I was reading as Ryan. And Beth has always reminded me of Mandy from the Showtime series, Shameless.