Mini Reviews: Take Me On, Flirty Dancing And The Kissing Season

Take Me On by Katie McGarry (via Netgalley)
I was pretty excited to read this one because I've enjoyed McGarry's Pushing the Limits series so far. It's not amazing but it's entertaining, and this book pretty much followed suit. Although I have to say it's probably my least favourite in the series. I don't know if I just wasn't in the right mood, but while I liked it I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would. I didn't particularly connect with any of the characters and I didn't find the romance very swoon-worthy. It did have some cute moments but I just wasn't rooting for these guys as much as I have for other characters and couples in the series. I am not really into fighting sports or stories based around them, so that didn't help as that's the main focus of this book. But if you're a fan of McGarry I'm sure you'd enjoy this.
Rating: 3/5

Flirty Dancing by Jenny McLachlan (via Netgalley)
The title and cover initially drew me to this book, and when I read the synopsis I knew I had to read it. I love dance stories with a bit of romance thrown in (hello, Dirty Dancing!), and the whole awkward girl entering a dance competition with the popular guy sounded too fun to resist. It IS very cute and fun but, unlike a lot of YA, it doesn't really transcend the age bracket to provide a satisfying read for not-so-young adults. Instead of reading a good book about teenagers, I felt like I was reading a good book FOR teenagers. There's nothing wrong with that, of course. That's what it IS. And if I was 15 I would have loved the pants off of this book. I'd definitely recommend it for actual teens, but not necessarily adult YA fans.
Rating: 3/5

The Kissing Season by Rachael Johns (via Netgalley)
I've had this book on my Kindle for so long and I finally got around to reading it. Although it's a Christmas story, it was still fun to read in the middle of the year. It's set in a small coastal town, where the children of two families have come home for the holidays. Hannah has sworn off men for the moment but Matteo really gets under her skin, and playboy Matteo meanwhile finds he can't stop thinking about her. Their early interactions were kinda ridiculous and unrealistic in my opinion, but they had some really cute and hot moments too, and I quite liked both characters. This was a fun, quick read, and definitely makes me want to try more of Johns' books.
Rating: 3/5

Review: Crash Into You by Katie McGarry

This series is like the literary equivalent of a Snickers bar: addictive, satisfying, not very good for you but oh-so-delicious. It's not the kind of thing you want all the time, but it's a fun treat on occasions and - dare I say it - a guilty pleasure.

I've seen a lot of comparisons between this series and the Perfect Chemistry series by Simone Elkeles. I get it. They're both focusing on a new couple in each book who are somehow connected to the previous book, with lots of obstacles and tension, and chapters told from both the girl's and guy's perspective. But what I love about this series that I found lacking in the Perfect Chemistry trilogy is that each book, while along a similar vein, has unique characters and plot lines. It doesn't follow the same old formula for every single book, which is very refreshing and makes you want to keep reading more.

Case in point: while Crash Into You follows the whole bad guy from the wrong side of the tracks falls for the good rich girl trope, it takes some twists that you totally don't expect. Although I still love the second book in the series, Dare You To, the most, Crash Into You definitely packed the biggest emotional punch yet. At one point I had to spoil myself because it got so intense. It's interesting and unexpected and yes, melodramatic, but not so much that it makes you roll your eyes. Instead, you just want to race through the pages and find out what happens next.

It helped that I really liked the main couple. I adored Isaiah. I felt so bad for him in Dare You To when Beth broke his heart, and he's still hurting at the beginning of this book, but it's nice to see him find someone new and discover his true feelings. I really liked Rachel, and the fact that she wasn't the typical "good girl", as well as that she was dealing with an anxiety disorder. It's not something you see in YA heroines very much unless it's an "issues" book, and it was dealt with pretty well here.

There were a few plot holes that irritated me a little, but overall I really liked Crash Into You. It's the perfect book for when you just want to switch off and be entertained.

Rating: 4/5

Head Cast

Candice Accola as Rachel

Rafi Gavron as Isaiah

Fine Print
Published: December 2013, Harlequin Teen
Source: Netgalley
Get It: Booktopia

Mini Review: Crossing the Line by Katie McGarry

After loving Dare You To I wanted to devour anything I could get my hands on by Katie McGarry. Which happened to be this novella, Crossing the Line. Set in between Pushing the Limits and Dare You To, it tells the story of Echo's best friend, Lila - or a snippet of her story, anyway.

Lila is by herself at home for the first time ever, and freaking out about not only being alone for the night, but being alone when she goes away to college, too. Enter Lincoln, the guy she has been writing to for years but has only ever met once. He was meant to go to college with her but has screwed things up somehow. He travels across the country in an attempt to make it up to her. Cue fights - and making up, of course.

I liked both Lincoln and Lila. They're as fleshed out as they can be in the limited space. This is a short story that gives a snapshot of a lovely romance but not much more. The concept of a penpal love story is great, but while there are some cute moments and a decent amount of tension, there's no space for a whole lot to actually happen. You get an outline of the past through letter excerpts, which is a nice framing device, and there's a pretty clear picture of where these two are going in the future. But that's all there's time for, really. Still, it's an entertaining way to spend half an hour, and will tide you over slightly if you're hanging for the next book in this series (like me!).

Rating: 3/5

Fine Print
Published: 2013, Harlequin Teen
Get It: Harlequin

Review: Dare You To by Katie McGarry

To be honest, I don’t know what possessed me to read Dare You To. I wasn’t a massive fan of Pushing the Limits and the idea of a book focused on Beth, a character I couldn’t stand in the first book, wasn’t exactly appealing. Plus the suggestion that Beth would somehow ditch the sweet, caring Isaiah sounded awful. Combine that with the fact that people who did love Pushing the Limits didn’t love Dare You To, and I thought I would surely hate it. I wasn’t going to bother.

So don’t ask me how I ended up staying up until 2am reading this. I honestly can’t say how I started. Only that once I had, I couldn’t stop.

Dare You To is told from a dual perspective, like Pushing the Limits, only this time it’s about troubled Beth and baseball jock Ryan. The two meet at a fast food restaurant and don’t exactly hit it off. When Beth has to live with her uncle, a baseball superstar, Ryan is keen to get back into her good books – especially with a dare riding on a date with her.

You can totally see where this is going, right? But it doesn’t matter. Because getting there is so much fun. Having insight into Beth’s thoughts and motivations makes her a much more sympathetic and, dare I say, likable character. I understood why she’s awful to Echo. I understood why she treats Isaiah the way she does. And boy, did I understand why she likes Ryan.

Ryan is adorable. OK, he’s a bit of a douche to start with and does get a little possessive in a couple of instances, but it’s nowhere near as bad as Noah in Pushing the Limits, and Beth doesn’t exactly put up with it. There’s great chemistry between these two, and their budding relationship – and the complications that go along with it - feels quite realistic. There are some really sweet, not to mention totally hot, scenes, and I loved the fact that the usual tropes were reversed and Ryan was a virgin while Beth wasn’t. I am so over the pure, good girls being seduced by experienced, bad guys. It’s so not true to life and reinforces restrictive roles and screwed up expectations. It was really great to see something different here.

While I loved the romance, I really liked the other aspects of the plot, too, and appreciated that there was more going on in each character’s life. Perhaps because my husband is obsessed with baseball, I actually found myself enjoying that part of Ryan’s story, and I felt for his family situation, too. But of course, Beth’s story is much more dramatic and emotional. My heart broke for her, yet the terrible moments made the good ones that much sweeter.

In addition to liking the two leads, I adored the secondary characters in Dare You To. Ryan’s friends are great, and there are some very funny moments between them. I especially loved Lacy, Beth’s childhood friend and Ryan’s current friend. The way she accepts Beth back into her life and has her back in the end is so awesome. On Beth’s side, we see Noah and Echo make a few appearances, which is nice, even if I’m not their biggest fans, and Isaiah, oh Isaiah... I felt for him, but at the same time I was happy with the way things turned out. I’m looking forward to Isaiah hopefully (who am I kidding - definitely) getting his own happily ever after in Crash Into You.

So, despite thinking I would hate it, I actually really loved Dare You To. It was a page-turning, swoony, emotional ride. I’m so glad I went on it.

Rating: 4.5/5

Head Cast

Austin Butler as Ryan

Ksenia Solo as Beth

Bonus: Couple shot courtesy of Life Unexpected.

Related
Katie McGarry includes a playlist in the back of Dare You To, which I compiled here. It is a bit too country for my taste, but fits the book pretty well overall.

Fine Print
Published: 2013, Harlequin
Source: Netgalley
Get It: Book Depository

Review: Pushing The Limits by Katie McGarry

 

I am in the minority on this book. Coz I didn't love it. I did like it. Kind of. It was a quick read and entertaining enough, but so many things annoyed me about it. I was actually quite perplexed as to what people see it in that I didn’t, especially at the beginning. There’s been a lot of comparisons to Perfect Chemistry and I can definitely see the connection: the dual narrators, the good girl and the bad boy who are paired together for school and find themselves falling hard for each other, the melodrama and the cheesiness. I was worried it would be too similar, but in the end there were enough differences to separate the two stories, and it was actually something else that annoyed me entirely. Noah.

Noah is a foster kid, separated from his little brothers since their parents died a few years ago. He's been in bad situations and has a serious chip on his shoulder. The only thing he cares about is getting his family back together. Until he meets Echo. Cue sparks and professions of undying love. While it's not quite insta-love, it's pretty damn close. Noah's internal monologue, especially when he's thinking about Echo, didn't feel authentic to me. It was like a fantasy of a guy, as opposed to a real teen boy.  I also didn't really buy the bad boy act - for most of Noah's life, he had a stable family and a promising future. I know what he's been through would screw someone up, but I don't think it would change your personality that dramatically. I could be wrong, but it bugged me anyway. But what really bugged me was his possessiveness. Note to YA/NA authors: this is not romantic. At all.

As for Echo, I didn't like or dislike her. Except for her name. That's just really stupid. Other than that, "meh" about sums up my feelings about her. Like Noah, she's been through a lot, and she has the emotional and physical scars to prove it. I was interested in discovering what had happened to her to make her this way, but I have to say I was a little dissatisfied with the resolution of that plot point. The way mental illness was dealt with made me a little uncomfortable at times.

Something that made me really uncomfortable was the fact that the only explicitly black character in the book dropped her Gs. This was something I noticed with the portrayal of non-white characters in the Perfect Chemistry series too. A lot of people probably drop their Gs in real life, but why is it only non-white characters that seem to do it on the page? It annoyed me so much in Pushing the Limits I almost stopped reading at the 10 per cent mark.

I'm glad I kept reading, because it did get a bit better. It was predictable, but it still kept me turning the pages. Despite my problems with it, it was highly readable. Though I still don't quite get the hype around it.

Rating: 3/5

Head Cast

Steven R. McQueen as Noah



Holland Roden as Echo

Fine Print
Published: 2012, Mira Ink
Source: Netgalley
Get It: Book Depository